Amazon.com: Forza Motorsport 4: Xbox 360: Video Games

170 Reviews

5 star:		(130)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

Average Customer Review

4.6 out of 5 stars (170 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

94 of 104 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What we've all been waiting for., October 11, 2011

Joseph Sayre "The Hellkite" (Chemung NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars

This review is from: Forza Motorsport 4 (Video Game)

Finally, the game is out. The third Forza this generation, better graphics, more cars, and better physics were promised in this iteration of Turn 10's Driving sim. Did they deliver?

Oh god yes.
-----------

This review will have a few sections, this table of contents will help.
(enter in ctrl +f dialog box to search)

**1** Game mechanics
---Graphics
---Damage
---Menus
---Career
---Community
--------Auction House
--------Storefront
---Autovista
---Freeplay
---Marketplace
---Driving
**2** Online
**3** Customization
**4** Difficulty & A.I.
**5** Sounds
**6** Cars
**7** Wrap Up

**1**Game Mechanics:

---Graphics:
Great, they do occasionally look surreal, but the gloss textures are excellent, the drive by graphics are decent and the cars themselves are great. The lighting in this game is what really sells the realism, the cars interact with the environment and look like they are supposed to be there. Comparing this feature to the occasionally underwhelming tracks in GT5 and Forza 3 where sometimes the car was better animated than the track, the cars in Forza 4 look right in place on the pavement. Graphical hangups are nonexistent, and animations are fluid. In a word, Forza 4is beautiful.

---Damage:
Damage returns more or less exactly as Forza 3 had it. The car has prescripted crumple zones and damage is animated cosmetically if you set it, but also internally and performance robbing if you set it as well. The cosmetic damage leaves a lot to be desired, but with see-able damage on 500 + cars i can't complain. Though the damage is weak, it is better than it was in Forza 3. Bumpers and other components cave in and warp much more, and the damage zones are more plentiful allowing the damage to be more localized when hit. T-boning an opponent will leave a few dents in his doors along with much of the paint being stripped on the area hit. Its nothing like Dirt 3 or Grid's damage model though. Choosing to allow damage to performance is much more detrimental, hitting a wall can literally ruin your race, causing damage to the engine, transmission, gear box, brakes, suspension, driveshaft,and body will all cause power, handling, or aerodynamic performance damage. All of this causes lowering of top speed, shift times, braking distance, and a multitude of other issues. This is where Forza leaps into the big leagues as a sim, race clean, or don't finish 1st.

---Menus:
Forza is set up in a very simplistic manner, with a few main tabs to pick from that open to other tabs, the five main are Career, Community, AutoVista, Free Play, and Marketplace.

---Career:
Career works here much differently than Forza 3, there is actually a completion of career, and its guided by the announcer. The longer you play, the higher you'll level, the more races you can participate in, and the more places you have access to race. You start as an amateur and progress to the big leagues. after about 1.5 hours I'm 1.2% Should give you a good idea at the length. (300+ events in event list)

In this tab, you can do all of the stuff you'd expect, buy sell cars, tune cars, upgrade cars, and see your stats.

---Community:
Play online with people around the world here.
You can also make car clubs (like guilds for you Rpg people) to race with, check your rivals and leaderboards, and use the auction house and the storefront here.
For new players:

--------Auction house:
Exactly what it sounds like, a bidding place to purchase cars other players are selling. Usually you can turn good profit on nice cars here. Ironically you can usually save money buying here as well.

--------Storefront:
A player's place to sell their custom content like pictures, liveries, tunes, and custom vinyl work.

---Autovista:
Kinect featured but usable with a controller, Autovista is a first person look at some of the coolest cars in the game, and probably the closest thing to sitting in a Ferrari 458 Italia as you'll ever get. With voice over and 100% view-ability of components of the car. Its awesome for any gear head who wants to see these exotics close up.

---Free Play:
Basically an arcade mode, go race where you want using a car. Use this mode to test drive cars you want to buy buy can't afford yet.

---Marketplace:
One of the best Xbox live integrations for DLC I've seen, actually shows you what you're buying and what it is. Nice addition for those inevitable car and track packs you might not like.

---Driving:
For the most important part of a racing experience, this has to be spot on. It is, this is the first time I've seen a competitor really give GT a run for its money in the physics dept. High powered cars behave uncontrollably and require a knowing and practiced touch around corners, while underpowered cars must be mastered in the corners as well, as their weak powered engines depend on cornering to get fast lap times. The cars behave predictably and correctly in almost every way, and each one handles differently. Tuning works the way it should, and is intuitive and speaks to both gearheads and newbs alike. Driving is also fully customizable, allowing the user to put as much or as little burden of sim on themselves as they wish. The more assists you take off, the more money you earn in career.

Forza does a great job as a simulator, but does fall flat in the rollover physics as one particular glaring flaw, as occasionally the car will just up and flip for no good reason if you hit a wall hard enough. Bit as often as you'll flip, I don't think this is enough to remove the game's physics engine realism.

**2** Online:

The multiplayer from 3 returns, but with one distinction. an extra gleaming gold tab on the find race tab. "User-Created Races" Basically, this is the room from forza 2 we missed so much, the ability to do whatever we want as a host. Sure we can't choose who the host is, but now options can be tweaked again. Thank you turn 10 for listening to us and giving us our player lobbies back. The best of forza 3's seek and play server usage combined with the option to play like forza 2. If this was holding you back, be scared no more.

**3** Customization:

Forza returns with its massive set of internal and external customization options, from engine swaps to body kits and spoilers, if you can do it in real life, you pretty much can do it here. Also comes with the best livery editor ever put in a racing game. over 1000 usable shape spots on most surfaces of your car means some awesome, detailed liveries, and some of the coolest things you've ever seen on a car. Your old stuff from Forza 3 is also importable to 4, downloaded a lot of custom vinyls? You won't lose them. Finally, a fully customizable and spectrumed paint creator is right there at your fingertips to paint your car any color you want. Forza has all of the tools for infinite possibilities for personalization, meaning no 2 users can easily make the same car. The best part? Upload your creations to your storefront to make money if they're good enough. If there is a market for your stuff, people will buy and you'll become known on the leaderboards as a tuner, creator, photographer or replay capturer. In addition, performing on the track will net you achievements and driving bonuses such as doing 20 perfect passes. Do these challenges and you unlock names and avatars for your forza playercard. Players can look at this and see what kind of driver you are or how far you've played in your career. All there for even more customization.

**4** Difficulty and A.I.

As a whole this game can can be really hard, but you have to set the difficulty to be hard yourself. So if you're really good, up your challenges and remove the assists for a challenging experience, or add some assists or lower the AI difficulty if you're having trouble. The game will reward better drivers with more cash and EXP though. So its in your best interest to try to get better to remove your training wheels.

The AI is okay, its could be better, but its got a lot more life than the likes of GT where cars pretty much never fall out of line or differentiate from the best line. Cars here will get spooked, screw up corners and avoid traffic and you, and also will take aggressive action to keep position on occasion. It depends on the driver, as each is different. (able to be looked up in the opponents tab in my profile)

**5** Sounds
Sounds are great, the soundtrack is good and upbeat and contains a good set of racing music, mostly as ambiance rather than sing along music, the menu music is nice, lower key music that's still just tense enough to not be annoying or grating on your ears.
Engines and ambient sounds are well done and modified depending on car stats and mods, as you upgrade turbos, intakes and exhausts and other components the exhaust notes and engine sounds change. Engines also sound different (ford v8 vs a chevy v8) I used a Corvette Z06 06' and a Mustang Shelby GT500 10' to test this. Both sound good, and have their distinctive roars, without being the same.

**6** Cars
over 500 with the install disc and more planned for November etc. Every type of racing archetype is there, Muscle cars (in abundance!) Tuners, exotics, trucks, SUV's, Nascar (stock car shells), GT1, 2, 3,and Prototype racers are available. There is something for anyone. The Performance Index or P.I. also makes a return, rating cars from the cream of the crap to the cream of the crop on a scale from 100 to 999 with the index being split into F, E, D, C, B, A, S, R3, R2, and R1. I'm Unsure if the X... Read more ›

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse | Permalink

Comment Comments (24)

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply amazing, October 14, 2011

C. Boeshaar (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars

This review is from: Forza Motorsport 4 (Video Game)

If you're a fan of the Forza series, or of cars and/or car racing in general, chances are that you will love this game.

PROS:
- Absolutely stunning graphics
- The Autovista mode is gorgeous, it really does look as good or better than real life at times
- Career mode is more engaging
- Choices for reward cars make the game feel more personal, more choices mean you can either stick to a certain brand/style or hoard everything possible
- Control is excellent and very responsive
- The assists have more choices, allowing you to cater the difficulty level from brand new beginner to hardcore simulation player
- Excellent variety of cars available, all are extremely detailed and a joy to look at
- The Top Gear inclusion is excellent and Jeremy Clark adds a lot of character to the game
- The Music score is good and very fitting for the game's theme

CONS:
- No weather effects or night driving is a real shame
- More new tracks would've been great, only a handful of new ones added on
- No Porsches available due to the EA contract, really lame move from EA. The rights are said to expire later this year so hopefully that means Turn 10 can add them as DLC or what-not

Overall: This game is not only extremely enjoyable, but a work of art in terms of graphics and sounds. A must-have for car-fanatics and racing fans alike.

9.5/10 HIGHLY recommended.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse | Permalink

Comment Comments (2)

16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Ticket to Ride!, October 11, 2011

Tiger CK - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars

This review is from: Forza Motorsport 4 (Video Game)

With Forza Motorsport 4, the creators at Turn 10 Studios have come up with a beautifully designed fun to play new game that manages to surpass even the previous versions of Forza Motorsport. Motorsport 4 has a range of impressive features that put almost any other car racing or driving game to shame.

1) Car Selection: The range of cars that you can choose to drive on Forza Motorsport 4 is truly amazing. Over 75 different car manufacturers are represented and there are over 500 vehicles that you can choose from. Remarkably, each of these cars seems to perform a little bit differently. You can feel the sportiness of the Ferrari or the relative stability of a Ford. If you have played Forza Motorsport 3 you will receive gift cars according to the level that they achieved in Forza 3. This will make it possible for you to avoid using the relatively dull starter cars that are offered.

2) Production Values: The production values for this game are simply astounding. The track locations, including the Bernese Alps and the Amalfi Coast in Italy look beautiful and realistic. The effects (such as the sunset and the smoke) all look great. But Turn 10 Studios not only made improvement in the visuals (which are the most noticeable) but also in the sound track. Every thing ranging from engine noise to the sound of the tires is impressive. Remarkably all of these sounds seem to change as you make adjustments to your car. Damage to the car is more realistic and specific than it was in the predecessor game, Forza 3. Forza 4 shows dents to many different parts of the car (bumpers, sides, etc.) depending on where you hit them.

3) Game Play: Game play is fun and easy on Forza Motorsport 4. Players receive credits after each race according to their performance and can use these credits to purchase new vehicles or to enhance the cars they already have accumulated. Players also receive affinity points for specific car manufacturers. Thus after your reach different levels with specific brands you can receive part discounts and other benefits if you continue to drive with the same brand. This makes it pretty important to choose your vehicles carefully.

The game has a variety of different levels ranging from easy to professional. As you reach the higher levels it becomes more important to handle turns and other hard points with caution. As you reach the higher levels, you will also be allowed to participate in more different races and compete in different venues. There are also a variety of new Kinect features in this game. Players can steer without a controller by holding out their hands and pretending to have a steering wheel. The device can also monitor your face and shift your view depending where you look. This feature can be tricky to use, however.

The online feature of this game allows races of up to 16 people. It is possible to compete with other people from around the world and to form racing clubs with the game keeping track of rankings within the club.

On the whole, I would highly recommend this game. If you enjoy driving games this is the best racing simulation experience to date.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse | Permalink

Comment Comment

2115|R2HOQI5MG377HX;2115|RCPR5O4V2FJ9J;2115|RYTIGGRKBP6H;

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 170 customer reviews...

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Game
This is a great game, period. The ridiculous amount of content makes it well worth the asking price. Read more

Published 13 hours ago by Trevor M. Warren

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic
Game is hands down the best racing game out right now. Great selection of cars. I have had no problems whatsoever.

Published 7 days ago by NotacElyk