Count on me, I'm gonna win the race - room-dah-bee-boom the
whippering dong.
We have no fucking clue what lovable Swiss
weirdos Yello were on about in that latter part, but the first bit
makes sense.
Winning the race is, of course, what Forza
is about, and this doesn’t change in this seventh iteration.
Seriously though, is there anything that they could have improved
from the one two years ago? As it turns out, yes.
Visuals are
HDR enhanced, and should your teev support it this adds amazing
depth, especially in night races. We’re talking serious visual
yummy, which we can’t wait to see in 4K – which, with the launch
price of the kiss-hug-kiss will, sadly, be around 2022 for us.
Sound’s incredibly immersive, and little tweaks abound that make
things acer – even down to being able to change cars without
drilling down several menus.
That’s not to say that there
aren’t annoyances. Unskippable cutscenes always give us the shits,
and many will take issue with how hard it is to get to play with
dream machines – especially when you unlock an appropriate race and
have absolutely no chance of adding any of the qualifiable machines
to your garage without serious grindage. Even our humble Fiesta ST
is locked away! Winning occasional showcases at least gives a taste
of the 700-plus car upper echelons.
Then there are loot
crates (aka “prize crates” here). A pox on the inventor of these,
especially when real world money ones are coming to gain a Forza
7 advantage over those who aren’t rich – or stupid - enough to
drop serious bucks on such follies. This is not an even playing
field – or racetrack, for that matter! Plus, it adds gambling to a
game that kids will play. Forget the pox, we want to clonk the
inventor of these over the head repeatedly with a whippering dong.
Ultimately, Forza Motorsport 7 parks in the sweet spot
between Project CARS 2
and Gran Turismo. It’s arcade enough for those who want a
fun track blat, but challenging enough for those who don’t fear the
assists-off switch.
