Forza Motorsport 7 Review - Everything You Could Possible Want in a Racing Game

Forza Motorsport 7 is a beast, and it would be difficult for anyone not to admit that it’s an impressive technical achievement and that it’s one of the most comprehensive racing games ever made.

Racing games have been around forever, and it’s the one thing that really brings all kinds of gamers together. Not everyone likes first-person shooters, RPGs, or sports sims, but when it comes to racing, it’s difficult to find someone that doesn’t enjoy it or has at least tried it.

The fact that so many people play racing games is the reason why this type of titles have the most critics and fans. It’s also a divisive genre, with some people valuing realism over fun, and vice versa.

The trouble with racing is that we’re probably never going to get a racing game that’s both fun and easy to drive, and realistic at the same time. The truth is that driving a car at high speeds is not easy under the best conditions, let along on a racing circuit with other vehicles around doing the same thing.

Hitting the right spot

For a game to be successful, it has to aim at a particular niche in the market and cater to those people. If you want to build a realistic racing simulator, you’re going to get some pretty hardcore players that already know what they want, how cars are supposed to behave, and so on.

On the other hand, when you’re making a game such as Forza Motorsport 7, you’re going to get a much wider audience because it’s a game that tries to be as fun as it’s realistic. It’s difficult to hit the right spot between the two, but it manages to do just that.

Forza Motorsport 7

So, how likely is it that you’re going to have fun playing Forza Motorsport 7? If you want to get the best possible sim, you can turn everything off and try not to hit the railings. You’re going to try, and you’re going to fail. I can’t see anyone playing on that difficulty setting without a steering wheel and a whole lot of time.

If you want just to have some fun, turn on the assists and enjoy racing some of the most exotic cars out there, in some of the most beautiful locations in the world. The fact that all are real tracks makes the game all that much better.

I think that the fun is somewhere in the middle, with just the ABS and traction control at minimum settings. That way, I can still get some notion of control when I exit curbs at way too higher speeds.

Of course, like any serious racing title, Forza Motorsport 7 is not about being the fastest, it’s about braking. Mastering the art of braking will ensure that you win every race, at least against the AI. It’s also worth noting that the AI is also quite good at breaking, but it never takes risks.

Forza Motorsport 7

As a side note, we have to mention that Forza Motorsport 7 would benefit from less than perfect drivers. It would be nice to see them making mistakes, spanning out, or simply taking a wider turn because they hit the brake late. I’ve only seen one driver going out, and it wasn’t even during a wet lap.

Choices, choices

When a game has too few cars, players will be ready to say that it should have had more. Now, with Forza Motorsport 7, I feel that there are too many of them. The developers say that there are over 700 cars, and I have to believe them. There are pages after pages of cars to choose from, and it’s a little bit distracting. I couldn’t make up my mind with two or three cars as a selection before a race, and now I have 15?

The number of cars is definitely one the shticks in Forza Motorsport 7, and it’s there to impress. Well, consider me impressed. I never knew that so many variants existed even for the most basic models, but any game that allows me to drive a Ford Mustang 1965 in pristine condition deserves recognition. To make things even more interesting and complicated, all the cars can be tunned with great accuracy, and it can have real and palpable effects on the gameplay. It's even possible to buy new or better parts, but that commitment is reserved for players with much more time and knowledge than the rest of us.

Forza Motorsport 7 car selection

It’s hard to imagine that the game doesn’t have your favorite car, but there is a downside. Forza Motorsport 7 only has a few unlocked cars to play with, from Tier 1, and you’ll have to earn credits to buy anything that you like. Of course, you can either play lots and lots of races or win championships to get to those credits, but you can also buy them with real money, along with some other perks.

The fact that Forza Motorsport 7 has some microtransactions has been a point of discontent in the community, and I can’t blame them for it. There will never be a time when this kind of feature will be acceptable in a game unless it’s for cosmetic purposes.

Graphics and sound

Forza Motorsport 7 is a gorgeous game, and that’s obvious at any point. Whether you’re admiring the cars in the garage or you’re racing them, the attention to details is mind-boggling. I don’t know why there is a need to render everything correctly, even down to the screws on the wheels, but everything is there only people's enjoyment.

Now I can’t even look at another game and not compare with Forza Motorsport 7. What’s really interesting is the fact that the developers managed to implement a dynamic system that adjusts to the performance of your PC, and it works most of the time.

Here is the bad part though. All of this beauty needs high system requirements. If you want to hit that Ultra setting, you’re going to need at least an i7 and a Geforce 1080 GTX. And there is no guarantee that it’s not going to drop the frames from time to time.

Even on PC, it takes a long time to load the levels, and I can only imagine how long it takes on a console. On the other hand, hitting the 60FPS limits feels pretty good, but don’t let that setting uncapped. It’s not a well-optimized game, and you’re going to feel it.

Forza Motorsport 7

To make things a little bit worse, the game is not recognized by Geforce Experience, and you can’t take screenshots and videos with the help of Nvidia. You have to use the Gaming Bar, and it’s a terrible experience, all around.

As for the audio part of the game, I have to say that it’s almost flawless. The sound of the engines is beautiful, distinct for all the cars, and a joy to listen to, especially when playing from the cockpit.

On the other hand, I missed a voice from the pit giving me indications and additional information. Going around the circuits with only the sound of the engine and my swearing is not the ideal scenario.

It’s all about the cars

Sometimes it feels that Forza Motorsport 7 is built just to showcase cars, and less about driving them. The entire garage is made to show just how beautiful the cars are, and I often just stare at them with no desire to drive them.

But then I spot yet another car that I like, but I don’t have the credits, so I have to play the game to get those credits. This entire system is centered on the premise that it’s about choosing cars from a large pool, and not about owning all of them. Any gamer will tell you that it’s impossible to look at that long list and not think that you have to have them all.

Then there is the credit system itself, that encourages people to spend real money. You get either free cars or mods that can be used during races. For example, you use a mod that provides more credits if you get at least 100 feet distance from the second place when winning. The food news is that cars and mods can be sold, for credits of course.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion