izigame.me

Tl;dr: even if you are a die hard Forza Motorsport fan, I wouldn't recommend purchasing this game for even HALF PRICE in its current state (Oct. 7, 2024).

For perspective, I have been playing been playing the Forza series solidly since Forza MOTORSPORT 4, and I have never been so disappointed in a Motorsport release in my entire time with the series. While the driving and physics have certainly seen a lot of reworks since the previous Motorsport entry, Motorsport 7 (Sept. 2017), it pales in comparison to the numerous issues that plague this festering heap that I begrudgingly call a video game. Despite being released in Oct. 2023 (6 years after the previous Motorsport release), this game suffers from frequent issues that are unacceptable of a new release, let alone a game that has been released for around a year now. These issues consist of crashes, soft locks, black screens, missing textures, excessive loading times, and poor UI, among other issues.

To keep this review concise I'm going to just list issues as I think of them
-Frequent crashes, soft locks, black screens, missing textures, excessive loading times
-Terrible UI - good luck navigating menu after menu after menu for things that could just have a single link such as My Cars, Upgrades, Go Race (seriously to upgrade/tune cars you have to navigate Garage>My Cars>Select Car>Upgrades, and then rinse and repeat for each car with a loading screen in between each)
-Tuning and Upgrading have had more meaningful, useful, and likeable changes in Horizon 5, changes that are also not present in Motorsport (being able to hear your exhaust change WHILE upgrading in Horizon 5 v nothing in Motorsport). Despite being "built from the ground up" the tuning and upgrades system is essentially the same as it always has been
-In an effort to making the racing have more meaningful outcomes and impacts there have been numerous changes, such as an addition of dedicated qualifying and practice for races. This would be an amazing addition if it wasn't implemented so poorly. Every racing hopper follows these rules, even the lobbies whose whole purpose is quick racing, effectively turning a session from having several races in the span of 20 minutes into barely a single session. Not every race needs a qualifier and practice, who thought this was a good idea? This is also exacerbated by the fact that you cannot upgrade a vehicle whilst in a server, only tune and adjust fuel load and tire compound.
-Shifting has been redone to get rid of the "powershifting" glitch present in every other Forza title. A much needed update to make shifting a much more deliberate action. Did it work? No. Instead of implementing a reasonable shift time for every vehicle, every vehicle shifts like a Peterbilt if you don't have a racing transmission or clutch. Is the glitch at least fixed? No, now the racing transmission doesn't even require the usage of the clutch, so powershift as desired.
-Sounds frequently bug. I hesitate to say every race, however near every race engine noise bugs on launch, so unless you are paying attention, you are likely to overrev because the engine noise gets stuck for 2-3 seconds. This issue persists outside of start line launching.
-The PI Class system makes a return! I personally don't find this to be inherently an issue, however it is how it is implemented that has been consistently the issue. The Open Class balance is probably the worst it has ever been. Really guys, I don't think it's that hard to fix this one. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, hoppers such as GT2 and GT3 thrive as homologated lobbies where cars are much closer or identical in performance. Open lobbies could have similar balance if there was some kind of effort to define what an S800 Car should perform like, upgrades, etc. In it's current state it feels like it was simply thrown together.
-Penalties are implemented! Another welcome change that has been so crudely put together the game is hurt by it's presence. If folks get spun, why are they getting penalties the way they are? This isn't an issue of a system never being perfect, it's an issue that there hasn't been enough work done to implement such a system.
-Tire compound and wear has been implemented! Or so they like to talk about, the tire compound system is only present for racing tires, with wear being incremental instead of progressive. What does that mean? instead of your tire steadily wearing, it reaches a certain point in it's health determined as minor wear, moderate wear, and severe wear. What that means is that you will have full grip until it noticeably drops off once you receive the "x wear" message.
-Do you like racing with your friends? Well instead of making it easier this has somehow been made harder as well. The implemented party system is roundabout, and frequently you will find that if you are currently in a lobby then you will need to quit before joining up or inviting a friend.

Concise was probably the wrong word to describe this list. I could continue but if you've read this much, all I can do is beg you. Please do not buy this game. Do not buy this game if it's on sale either. This game is currently not worth any amount of money. This game lacks features and tracks that other entries in the series had. This game lacks features that games such as Gran Turismo were doing over 20 years ago. This game lacks the features and polish that games such as Need for Speed and Gran Turismo had over 20 years ago. To name a few, progressive tire wear, simple car upgrades, functional UI, responsive menus, and quick race functions. To say this game is a disappointment is an understatement. This game fails to provide a cohesive and functioning experience that other entries within the series RECENTLY have provided. The only thing keeping this shovelware on life support is the fact that Sony refuses to release Gran Turismo 7 on PC. It is embarrassing that this is the shape Microsoft's flagship racing title is in after 7 years of development, and that they are okay with that.

DO NOT BUY, IT'S JUNK!