POSTED 23/11/13


FORZA MOTORSPORT 5

Microsoft
Xbox One

Tonight! Our repair bill skyrockets, the Stig’s digital cousin gets pantsed and we feel an astonishing sense of déjà vu...

Hello everybody and welcome! We begin with the latest incarnation of Xbox’s Forza Motorsport. Obviously with a 5 in its title it’s the fifth, ignoring Forza Horizon as it was different. Much like James May’s wardrobe.

It’s a return to the circuits, cars, put the two together and let laps happen Forza way, and it looks stunning. Which you’d expect of a so-called “next gen” game – especially one that’s leading the Xbox One’s deb ball.

If your racing enjoyment hinges solely on prettiness, toddle off and buy this. But if you’re a Forza fan and expect other improvements, stay and be miserable with us. Or buy a Hyundai. Same thing, really.

Out of the box, Forza 5’s predecessor bulged with some 500 cars and 27 tracks to drive them around. So, you’d expect an upped ante, yes? Well, no. 200 cars, 14 tracks. Sure, one’s Australia’s Bathurst, and the Top Gear test track returns (inexplicably sans the current ‘reasonably priced car’), but this is serious content circumcision. Yet the price remains the same... Naturally more content than Richard Hammond’s had ploppy pants is coming. For a price.

Beyond a nobbled career mode, ‘Drivatars’ are new. Rather than Smurfs in cars, its virtual imitations of your friends’ – or strangers’ - driving to compete against. We quickly learned that everybody else is completely bonkers, and clean races don’t happen. Besides, race dirty and times improve.

With oodles of extra pixels, we expected advances like, say, insects splattering on windscreens and weather other than blinding sun glare on every track – as it’s seemingly always sunny and the same time of day. While car sounds vary, they lack model-specific personality like crackles and pops. As for in-game music, it seems The Stig’s Riverdance CD got jammed.

Our Top Gear top tip? If Forza 5 were a chocolate bar, it’d be a snack-sized Aero.

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