written by owen on 2025-Jan-30.

The game definitely feels slow. Even though it starts out with a top level car then instantly drops you down to the slowest car in the game. I do like the world tour vibe. Despite the fact that the Essentials edition has less content than the full 2 disc version of F4, I am not really concerned since I am just here for a taste (also why I am play the game on easy).

The graphics are excellent. There is this overblown sheen on the track when you are facing the sun that could be reduced but besides that the game looks good. The game is very friction-less. Much less friction than Gran Turismo 4. I basically set the game difficulty on easy and drove from location to location doing races then collecting cars. There are no real menu choices or dealer locations. So far I spent 1.5 hrs driving and 40 minutes in the menus and I am only 0.9% into the game.

I like the mountain track and the easy mode makes it really easy to drive with steering and auto braking assists. I once adjusted the difficulty and the handling was much harder; so hard I could not even navigate the first corner. So easy mode really lets you focus on the driving and looking at the pretty graphics.

The speed of the game does pick up as you upgrade your car to S class. And the upgrades are also easy, just drive until the game tells you that you are no longer competitive and you should do an upgrade. Then select "quick upgrade" and your car is instantly faster. I have more credits that I have used for and more cars than I need.

So far it's definitely a 9 out 10 game. If you want all the DLC make sure you buy the full Forza game and not the "essentials" edition. I am not sure how much longer I am going to play the game because I can feel myself really getting sucked into it since there is so little downtime. You are basically going from race to race with 1 or 2 choices between. So far it's fun. Make sure you play on easy.

Annoyances

The audio level for the announcer is very low and there is no way to adjust it in comparison to the car SFX so I have to turn up the volume between races. On easy mode there are no failure states, you cannot lose. Even if you end the race in last play you can still select continue, get your points and continue. I really do not mind but still.

Conclusion

After about 8 hours my completion percentage was about 2% so I looked up the time to beat the game. The website how long to beat reports it to be 40 hours of playtime for the main story! Well I have had enough of that. I think I have seen all the major locations in the game and acquired about about 30 or so cars. Its a fun game, but I cannot continue playing it - for me it is a bit grindy but if you love driving over the 27 locations then there is lots of driving waiting for you. 9/10 lots of driving, shiny roads. no license tests, no car shops, auto car upgrades, really stream lined, you are basically just given everything.

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