Xbox One’s Forza 5 may be the best driving game you’ve ever seen

The launch of the next generation gaming consoles has given game developers a new set of tools, a new power, a new specification to build games to and Forza 5 may just be the perfect example of that.  It’s stunning to look at, stunning to drive and has new features that bring a new style of race-gaming to your lounge-room.

I said in my review of Call of Duty Ghosts for Xbox One that the game suffered from multi-platform multi-generation development.  Forza 5 however is built from the ground up just for Xbox One.  And it shows.

The first few minutes are so well scripted, so well read, so well directed that you are immersed into the car loving mindset from the get go.  Jeremy Clarkson’s introduction to the game (and my first realisation that it is pronounced fort-za not forsa) and the McLaren supercar are just fantastic.

Jump into your first car and you’ll get straight to racing and see for the first time those amazing graphics.  It’s not really the basic graphics that impress, its the detail, it’s the reflection of the dashboard on the windscreen, or the shine on the track or the cars around you.

After just one race you’re let loose on the Top Gear test track in a comical London driving simulation and the fun just keeps on going.

Back to the garage and you are now able to not just walk around the beautiful vehicles but also get in them and look around, it’s like a motorshow on your TV.

Aside from graphics, here’s the top four reasons to go get an Xbox One and Forza 5.

Driving Physics

The team behind Forza have done amazing things to bring a new level of realism to the dynamics of the cars, the steering, the crash and bump dynamics seem ever better and it really does make for  a better racing experience.

Drivatar

Forza learns you, it learns how you drive, then it sends your data up to the cloud and adds your driving style and information to the database of drivers.  What you are driving are not computers but computer models of real people.  Real people’s apex cutting, real people’s acceleration – and it does seem to make a difference even from day one.

Controller

Man o man, that Xbox One controller rocks.  You get vibrations in your fingertips for acceleration and braking and while I’d still always prefer a steering wheel over a thumb and finger controller, this one is the best in class and really makes the vision come to life.

Bathurst

We’ve all driven Mt Panorama on some game somewhere, but never before has it been available in this level of detail, quality and driving experience.  This is the game to have with the TV snapped to the side of the Xbox One screen while Bathurst is on next year.  Playing the game demonstrates to me why Xbox invested so much in marketing to the V8 supercar crowd – if you love that sport – this is reason alone to get into the game.

Overall there’s not many better, in fact there isn’t one – on the Xbox anyway.  Playstation will have Gran Tourismo 6, and really, it’s a Holden vs Ford battle.  The choice will likely come down to other titles you play and other needs you have for the system, but today, if I had the money, I’d rush out to buy and Xbox One just for Forza 5 – it’s stunning.

[schema type=”review” rev_name=”Forza 5 for Xbox One” rev_body=”Stunning Graphics, Stunning gameplay, and a level of race driving you won’t have played before” author=”Trevor Long” pubdate=”2013-11-20″ user_review=”5″ min_review=”0″ max_review=”5″ ]