Forza Motorsport Review: A car game for car people

The tortoise and the hare.

I’m not a car person, but if I had a gun to my head and had to declare myself one, I’d be a car person that likes Top Gear. Or The Grand Tour, or whatever. You know what I mean: car stuff, but car stuff sandwiched between things that are… less boring. Italy and some comical Wacky Races-style fare, perhaps?

I’m that kind of car person, and it’s from that position that I review Forza Motorsport, a non-numbered entry in the fabled franchise that’s meant to reposition it as a neverending live service affair. ‘Cause, you know, that worked so well for Halo Infinite.

Thankfully, the same mistakes haven’t been made here (though whether or not Turn 10 and Microsoft keep to their word as to Motorsport‘s future remains to be seen, nor predicted).

I previewed Motorsport when I was back home in Canada on an Xbox Series S, and while I could appreciate it, I wasn’t exactly sold. A car game is a car game, right? Yes, and no. Since putting 15 or so hours into the full retail build of Motorsport, I appreciate it quite a bit more. That’s because the full build removes the shackles of Career mode and the Builders Cup, letting you explore new, stupidly fast cars. That’s exactly what I did, jumping into Rivals mode and seating myself firmly in the cockpit of a bloody rocket, some car which has a make a model I do not remember, but a class that I do: X. Not Elon’s stupid thing, but X: the fastest of the fast.

If you’ve played a Forza Motorsport before, you’ll be familiar with the racing paths it traces on a track; they can be coupled with driving assists that help you steer, brake and the like. I turned all of those off, bar the racing line.

Let me tell you this: I’ve never had so much fun.

I flew down the track, hitting speeds of close to 300km per hour and giggling as I did so. I barely had time to react with most corners — and in some cases, I didn’t at all — but I had Forza‘s handy rewind mechanic if I felt inclined to correct my mistakes. I largely didn’t. I played around with views whilst doing so — suddenly appreciating the difference in sounds I was hearing when in the actual driver’s seat or looking at the car in third-person — and quickly noticed what things like fuel and tyres meant whilst churning out laps.

If you’re a bonafide car person, I’d imagine it’s here that Motorsport will engage you. Casualness aside, I can’t tell you how elated I was after my first real multiplayer session — and win. By this point, I’d dialled down some assists and was driving more like an actual driver. I started off just holding down the gas pedal and letting Forza compensate for my laziness; slowly, I realised I should let up on the gas myself, taking corners at better speeds and then accelerating out of them. Even then though, I was still at least a full second slower in my qualifying laps than the other solitary person queued up for the race.

It didn’t start well. They rocketed off; I could see them in the distance, but I was certainly lagging behind right off the start. While that was disconcerting, I knew that I’d taken the time to lessen the amount of fuel in my car, leaving far less than the 19 laps that the Indy circuit required. Why? Well, I knew full well from practice laps that my tyres wouldn’t hold out for the entire race; a careful, calculated pit stop would be needed. It was at lap 8 of 19 that I could feel my own tyres start to give way, though it was manageable. On the other hand, my opponent was clearly pushing it too hard. They were fishtailing all over the place, and the four second lead that they’d earned was quickly diminishing.

By lap 9, I’d basically caught up with my prey, and the lack of confidence that had plagued me for the entire race quickly washed away. My opponent decided they needed to take a pit stop then and there, but I knew that my tyres could make it one more round. I slammed down my gas pedal and tried to claw as much lead time as I possibly could before making a pit stop at the end of lap 10.

That decision, 100%, won me the race. Sorry, eh?!

My opponent kept driving as they had, and since they made their pit stop one lap earlier, all I needed to do was hold on. I was overtaken in lap 17, but I wasn’t worried; I was effectively two laps ahead when it came to tyres. My opponent started to fishtail again and I easily overtook them in the same lap; by lap 18 I knew that my vehicle had far more endurance. Slow and steady did indeed win the race — I won by close to a minute when all was said and done.

Was I a real car person now? I don’t know, but the full video detailing my journey is embedded nearby; you can decide. I have no idea why my car’s speedometre is practically upside down. Is that a real car thing, or just a bug? Am I even talking about the right thing?

Regardless, I was absolutely exhausted by the time I finished that 19-lap race, and that’s what both Career and Multiplayer modes feel like to me: a real, proper effort. You can’t just jump in and press the gas; you have to practice, qualify and then actually race. The car people — the real car people — will be overjoyed at this, but to me it started to feel like a second job. Scratch that — it felt like a third job (Stevivor is my second).

If you like the idea of a Forza Horizon, let me tell you this: apart from renting a stupid fast car and doing rivals laps, it’s practice laps where you’ll shine. I experienced a profound sense of enjoyment on my own, attempting to use my newfound knowledge of gas, tyres and auto-tuning (yeah, I still don’t understand that) to simply better my lap time. If not my lap time, my segment time at the very least. Practice mode, coupled with telemetry, are a visual bombardment of the senses, and it’s here that I learned how to actually race better. I went from assists handling braking, steering and throttling… to hardly any at all. I was actually racing at that point, competing against myself to be better than I was.

… and then I went back to Multiplayer mode. After securing a second starter qualifying spot, I was almost immediately t-boned and sent careening off the track by the person that would eventually come last place. Cool, cool.

I’m not a car person. Or, if I need to be, the car person in me still prefers Forza Horizon to Motorsport for the stuff around car racing that isn’t just hardcore car racing. I’m certainly no expert, but I think car fans will love this. That said: is it for everyone? No.

As a casual player, there’s certainly enjoyment to be had, but much like Mortal Kombat 1, I think I’ve had my full just a couple days in. If you’ve got an Xbox Game Pass or PC Game Pass subscription — not to be confused with an Xbox Game Pass Core subscription — certainly jump in and have a go. Earnings seem fair, and there is fun to be had; I also managed 38/57 Achievements just by pissing about, so there’s that too.

Forza Motorsport speeds to Windows PC via Steam and the Microsoft Store, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X and Xbox Cloud Gaming from 10 October; you can do that thing that makes it come out ahead of “day one” by throwing Microsoft some extra money ahead of time.

Forza Motorsport was reviewed using a promotional code on Xbox Series X — and previewed on Xbox Series S — as provided by the publisher. Click here to learn more about Stevivor’s scoring scale.

Forza Motorsport 10 October 2023 PC Xbox Series S & X   Buy on Windows PC via Steam Buy on the Microsoft Store Play via Xbox Game Pass subscription Buy on Amazon: Xbox