Carlos Bastarache: forza-7.jpg

I always thought things that sounded too good to be true usually aren't told why discovered this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHR1JsIGkfY

The first few hours of a Forza game are some of the purest in gaming. As a new racer, just starting your professional racing journey that will last for near-infinite miles, you bond with your first few cars, customize them, grow with them, and then retire your machine to your shiny fleet as you move onto the next class of vehicle. Even if you’re not a fanatic of rumbling hoods and drifting turns, there’s something about Forza that makes you a Car Person, even if it’s for the length of a play session. The game fetishizes racing and motor vehicles in such a beautiful and respectful way, you’ll look at cars on the street differently.

Now as the series enters its twelfth year, and as the big brother to the open-world Horizon series gets its best outing on the Xbox One after the disappointing launch title Forza 5 and the far more complete Forza 6, Microsoft’s Forza 7 is a showcase for the system. Like the previous iterations of the series, are like a benchmark for the technology of the time. Not only does this game run better than any previous entry in the series, always maintaining a smooth 60 frames per second, but the dynamic weather effects and day/night cycles show off and enhance what could be the best-looking racing game, or possibly the best-looking video game to date.

Even on the Xbox One, instead of the 4K-ready Xbox One X that this game is optimized for, Forza 7 looks stunning. Every platitude in the book applies here: Jaw-dropping, astonishing, incredible, unbelievable — all of these words can be used to describe the game. If my high-end PC visuals are in-line with what the Xbox One X will push out on 4K TVs, this is a game you’ll show off to guests to your home.

It’s this sugar-coated shell that protects the shortcomings of the game itself, which is, unfortunately, a grind. The rigid and formulaic upgrading of car classes so you can move onto the next series of races feels like a campaign that would be better suited in the early years of racing simulation games. It’s pretty much Gran Turismo but 2017. Ironically, there many instances when I was thinking to myself: “This is the racing game I’ve wanted to see for 20 years,” while not realizing at the time that the wish was coming from an immature gameplay perspective.

Turn 10/Microsoft

It’s not that the game plays poorly, it’s possibly the most refined Forza yet, with slight taps of the analog stick on the Xbox controller slightly shifting the weight of your vehicle that you can see moving the frame of your car ever so slightly. The default controls are set up for the beginner, which might say a lot about the primary demographic the game is going after. This feels like a hardcore racing game for the casual fan, but it’s also a stepping stone into the series. If anything, Forza feels like Madden — the upgrades are small but important to the lifelong fan, and are great for players who pick up every third game, but for many, especially those without the 4K TV setup, there isn’t enough here to make this a must-buy.

The 700 cars you can collect will definitely keep gamers busy for the long haul, and the racing looks and feels so good that you sometimes forget that the game boils down to: Race, loading screen, menu navigation, race, loading screen, menu navigation. It makes me long for Forza Horizon‘s world of wonder and delight, driving around and discovering hidden items, or finding the perfect car for the perfect track rather than having everything clinically served to me on the prettiest piece of crystal plating I’ve ever seen.

Forza has a knack for creating a racing game that you can be invested in on a personal level thanks to its lovingly-crafted recreations of some of the world’s best race tracks, and fans will love speeding around Daytona as the sun sets and Dubai as sand whips across the track, but there’s a lack of ownership over what you do. In Horizon, I go and do what I want for the most part. This is my life as a pro racer and I’ll progress how I see fit, but in 7, it feels like boxes are checked and your emotions are grounded in racing against Drivatars, or the AI tendencies created by the racing habits of your Xbox friends. Other than that tether to the real world, it’s just any other racing game, albeit quite pretty and playing nice.

On one hand, it’s unfortunate that gaming’s history has gotten so long and illustrious that the biggest complaints about a solid title like Forza 7 are that it doesn’t push any clear gameplay or campaign boundaries while simultaneously pushing the envelope when it comes to the core elements of what makes racing games great — the driving and visuals. But on the other hand, there is so much to play and do out there that casual fans who might be interested in this title could be better served picking up Horizon 3 with all the DLC.

Maybe this is a “me” problem rather than that of the widest possible audience, which Turn 10 and Microsoft hope to attract with a game that will probably be played in every TV display possible across the country. But then again, the feel of the open road, the roaring of a powerful engine — it’s all a metaphor for the agency someone has when they grip the wheel and emerge from a race victorious. If only Forza 7 could deliver the cathartic feeling of individual freedom within the game’s passionate menu-driven museum of automobile greatness.

In the end, a Forza 7 purchase depends on a few things: Are you a racing fanatic? If so, get the game. Are you someone who wants to show off their new Xbox One X and 4K TV? You should probably get Forza 7. If you’re looking for a racer after not playing one for a few years, you should skip. The game is good for beginners, but why settle for good when you can pick up the great Horizon 2 or 3 for half the cost?