Review: Forza Motorsport 2 (X360)

Forza 2 successfully steals the simulation crown from Gran Turismo. Forza 2 is a petrol-head's dream.

For: Superb physics engine; great sense of speed; cool paint shop mode

Against: Pure simulation; repetitive racing; you can buy success early in the game; average textures

Achievements: Medium

Forza Motorsport 2 fills the "simulation" gap in the X360 portfolio of racing games. The game features 100s hours of racing both offline and online, 300+ vehicles and the best physics engine in any racing game.

Forza 2 is a pure racing simulator, it does however make a decent attempt to improve the accessibility of the game for non-racing aficionados. Novice players can enable various driving assists, including racing line and breaking zones, to instantly jump into the racing without having to worry about oversteer and understeer. Expert players are rewarded for turning off the assists and can dabble for hours with the tuning and vehicle upgrade features.

Forza 2 features three game modes: 'arcade' is a basic race and unlock mode; 'career' is the core game which has you earning money to buy, sell, auction and upgrade vehicles in your garage and compete in a huge variety of class & manufacturer based racing events; 'multiplayer' is basically the career mode online with financial rewards for finishing well and avoiding damage. All game modes are enjoyable and the driver AI is pretty accurate avoiding the "drone" like qualities of the AI in the Gran Turismo titles. If Forza 2 does have a weakness in gameplay, it is the fact that you can buy success through copious use of upgrades - especially early on in the career mode. However, this does allow you to progress and learn the tracks before the real challenge kicks in.

Forza's party trick is the Paint Shop. Here you can decorate and customise the look of the car, exercising the creative half of your brain. If you come up with a really good design (and not the 1000s of Gears of War designs you'll see) you can auction the car and design for more in-game credits. I found myself loosing hours in the paint shop. I always love design style games (SimCity et al) and I find the paint shop feature very satisfying; it is easy to use too.

Forza 2 is a highly polished title with quality presentation in both visuals, music and sound. The track visuals are good, but not special -there's little fancy lighting effects-, but the framerate and animation is super smooth. The engine sound effects all feel right, and the in-menu music features some well chosen songs and tunes.

Forza 2 represents superb value for money, provided you love your cars. It is a real anorak's game, with 300+ cars to collect plus stats to compare and tweak. 100s of hours can be spent without progressing very far at all as you fiddle with stabliser bars, vinyls and gear ratios. The actual career mode is massive, whilst the excellent online racing is infinite. I've seen Forza for <£40 in most shops, and at that price it is an absolute steal.

Forza Motorsport 2 is the pinnacle of racing simulators. It makes a decent attempt to welcome casual racers, but ultimately it is a game for motor racing and sportscar fans. If you are a true petrol-head you won't need to buy an Alpha Romeo, you'll just need Forza Motorsport 2!

9/10