Because racing never tires on me!


Review

Played on: Xbox One
Released: 2015

With a two year release cycle, the Forza franchise is ready to release the next instalment of it's Motorsport simulation series. Forza Motorsport 6 is here and, as always, is made by the original developers since the first game, Turn 10. Perfectly in time for the ten year anniversary of the franchise!

What did I expect since 2013's, that's early 2014 for Tier 2 countries, visually pretty but sparse in content, Forza Motorsport 5? The latter was launched alongside the Xbox One and felt a little rushed when it came to longliverty.

Let's take a look at FM6 and see if they actually do deliver a stronger title this time around.


Apparent from the intro, thera are the stylish menus accompanied with guidance from a female announcer, making FM6 the slickest presentation  of the series so far. It's top notch and brings players at an ease into the world of Forza Motorsport. Maybe even a little too gentle for experienced FM players, considering it's a mandatory introduction race on the brand new Rio de Janeiro circuit. Not that I mind, it's a truly stunning looking circuit.

Luckily, the announcer leaves you alone after a few mandatory races. I really appreciated the introduction to car types, cups and special events, explaining what they offer, complimented with small historical facts about the cars and circuits. There's an overall expereince of very polished product here.

It's quite obvious that FM6 is a far larger, more content packed, title than FM5 ever was. Going from FM4, which was jam-packed with content, to FM5 always felt disappointingly sparse, even though the visuals were stunning. FM6 contains far more cars, variety in car types and race circuits to speed around. Making the singleplayer playthrough a much improved and diverse affair.

Mods to enhance your car and XP earnings are added for those seeking easier and more arcade styled play, even with the prize wheel from FH2 is added. Mixing things up for racing sport beguinners in a positive and less simulator approach way. A racer needs content and FM6 delivers this in quantity and quality.



A huge change for the series, a one that has been often requested, is the addition of night and rain effects. Last years Forza Horizon 2 had both, and as such, players expected the weather variety to hit the mainline series too. They are here, although they're sadly not dynamic like in FH2 or the recent Project Cars. In other words, rain can't break out at any time or daylight can't change to night in real time. However, even if they are static, they're a welcome way of adding variation to races.

A race circuit does indeed feel very different both at night or in the rain, and FM6 depicts this well. I love how these effects look visually, especially the rain effects look stunning and I would have loved to see them added to every ace circuit, not just selected ones. Night racing has a huge amount of light sources and each cars headlights shine up their own spot of tarmac. Very impressive visual stuff!

"A racer needs content and FM6 delivers this in quantity and quality."

Once again, the sheer dedication from developer Turn 10 to making this run rock solid 60 fps is incredible, and at 1080p to boot! It's just what a simulation racer needs and the framerate proves itself as a must-have when racing games move so fast. It keeps high speeds controllable and responsive. It's even more technically impressive when the cars per race are upped from from 16 to 24. Seeing all the cars bunched up, without a single hiccup in the framerate, is extremely impressive.

All the tracks look incredibly detailed. I love how they've added falling leaves, dust clouds, fog and other small effects to spice up and touch up the visual variety from FM5. Tracks like the new Rio track or FM5's Prague, look absolutely stunning. There's a nice mix of real racing circuits and fictional ones. I perhaps miss Forza classics like Maple Valley and Camino Viejo, lets hope they arrive as a download!



Are there issues? Well, there are some, apart from the non-dynamic weathe. I don't really care for the system of first, second and third place as a winning pass, something they introduced in FM5. It's basically that you must place one of these places to advance. It seems strange, when the main game mode consist of various events with multiple races to complete. Why not just let us get points for the placings in each race? If I mess up a race, let me get low points, but at least let me continue to the next race!

This makes the main game feel slightly restrictive, especially when you are forced to certain car types and classes. I can understand that they have done so for the more inexperienced players, but for racing fans it feels cumbersome and restrictive.

Also, in each race you start in 12th place, why? It leaves the twelve remaining cars behind you, kind of redundant, unless you mess up badly. There should be some qualifying or a way to auto-qualify like in Project Cars. I love the Drivatar concept of "real" A.I., based on players driving data on the cloud servers, but they need polishing and balancing on certain areas of race circuits. They still drive quite aggressive, like in FM5 and FH2, but luckily they've added a low aggression option.


One could argue that each FM game doesn't bring a revolution with it and don't push large boundaries with each iteration. But the thing is, I much prefer to have a solid, quality title with small upgrades for each version. Rather than having to sacrifice framerate or overall quality for new things like dynamic weather and lighting. After all, the hardware dictates the limits of the game and FM6 perfectly stays safe to deliver the solid framerate it's famous for, while still looking visually striking.

The FM series is about evolution and it really does evolve. Not in huge leaps, but with smaller steps. FM6 is, without doubt, the best console simulator to be purchasing right now, even topping the mighty Project Cars in my opinion. Simply because the overall quality is just more consistent, all over the board and the amount of tracks and cars really give players a fantastic racing package.

A must-buy, and together with last years more arcade styled title, Forza Horizon 2, there really is no reason at all that you shouldn't own a Xbox One if you love racing games!