Forza Motorsport 3 game director Dan Greenawalt makes no secret of the fact that it was Gran Turismo that turned him on not just to racing games, and even the broader world of motorsports in general. But according to him, his own team has dethroned the genre pioneers with Forza 3 – and at this point, he makes a convincing argument.
Everything about Forza 3, from the graphics to the car selection, track detail to physics engine, takes an impressive step forward. It boasts a selection of 400 cars, 100 tracks, fully functional cockpits (the gauges all work), and programming that accounts for everything from drag to tire flex – which you can even see in minute detail if you zoom in on a car paused in the middle of a turn.
We’ve heard this all before from simulator games, of course, so what makes Forza 3 any different from any of the other snoozers out there?
Surprisingly, Forza’s creators insist they’re trying to account for all audiences, not just gearheads, this time around. That means even the six-year-old kid with a Lamborghini poster on his wall should be able to pick up a controller and have fun.
To that end, the team has incorporated some obvious features, like reduced damage in easier game modes, as well as some more complex ones, like autobrake, which slows down cars automatically in the turns, so novice players can concentrate on smashing bumpers and slamming on the gas, not sliding off the track every time it curves. You can even rewind the game action at any point – without a penalty – to redo failed maneuvers in a race, so that you don’t have to invest another 10 laps into the next race to perfect it.
You can hop into your own BMW M3, Lamborghini, or Ferrari, with training wheels if necessary, on October 27 when Forza Motorsport 3 comes out for Xbox 360.
