Forza Motorsport 3 (Xbox 360)

This is an awesome racing game..The first Forza on the 360 was a great game, mainly due to the sublime physics engine and car handling. What was missing was a bit of charisma in the visuals, something to bring it to life like the amazing GT series did on the Playstation consoles....especially with GT5 looming up in the wing-mirrors.The upgrade is fantastic. Cars look amazing, you get a real buzz when right up behind an opponent, with a big BMW badge or something right there in front of you. Detail to wheels and bodywork is excellent, and lighting effects reflecting off paintwork very convincing. There are a fantastic variety of cars, including old classics like a 1970s BMW.Tracks also look streets ahead of Forza 2, being vibrant and colourful, yet realistic. There's a nice blend of circuits, with some stunning scenery in the road-based ones. Overall they don't quite match the imaginative magic of the GT series' tracks (Trial Mountain etc. were simply amazing) but they are a fine attempt nonetheless.A great feature of this game is that you can pick up and play without a frustrating learning curve, by tailoring the driving assists, and using the braking line feature. The latter illuminates yellow / red on the road and is great if you don't have too much time for gaming and learning the tracks. It removes all the frustration in one clever swoop - brilliant.AI is variable though in general good. If you try to overtake from way back, launching into a space dangerously, you'll often come unstuck, whereas a methodical, sensible pass will be more effective. However, opponents will sometimes mash into you for no good reason, even when you make a fair overtake on the inside line; this can be annoying.Car handling is outstanding, with a superb sense of realism. Some cars will let you wrestle them around the track applying power recklessly, whereas some will spin or oversteer if you try to accelerate whilst cornering. It's very satisfying to drive the latter type, and get the hang of braking in a straight line, cornering, then getting back on the power. You can also realistically induce oversteer and drift, for example using braking and weight transfer going into corners (or, by not braking for example, then drifting in).The framerate is marvellous, fast and smooth at all times, which makes the experience realistic with a great sense of speed. There is an in-car view, which is fun, and the usual views. As usual with these types of games, it can be confusing to decipher exactly what the bumper and bonnet cams are for, as some will give you a decent driver's eye-level view whilst others are fractionally too high or low for this purpose, though not always noticeable unless tailgating someone.Adding to the fun is how well this works with a decent wheel and pedals; I'm using a Logitech system and it feels perfect.Overall this is a masterfully crafted race sim which has clearly had huge amounts of time and effort spent on it and is highly recommended!

This is of course now an old game. However I have just bought another copy as my last disc had gone out of balance for some reason. This new one is very quiet in the machine, in fact the best copy I have ever had and this is my 4th.The driving style is slightly less responsive than Forza 4 but the average person would be hard pressed to notice. The Graphics are not quite as good, the pictures you take are not as good as 4 and the design studio is not as comprehensive. However, personally I find the colours better in 3 than 4.In Forza 4, where I am at driver level 400, so I have played it a bit (LOL) you have reached as high as you can get when you reach level 50 for the marque of car. That covers all cars of that marque.In Forza 3 each separate car has an attainment level of 5. Having gone back to play Forza 3, and I played it as much as I have Forza 4, there are still loads of cars I can score points for. Unlike in Forza 4 where that is starting to be somewhat limited to the marques with only 1, 2 or 3 cars. It is a shame however that Forza 3 only goes to driver level 50, which I must have hit 5 years ago now, whereas they adjusted Forza 4 to driver level 999 I believe.The main issue with Forza 3 as compared to Forza 4 is how difficult it is to build points to gain vehicles. I bought the DLC on 4 but you could easily obtain cars by simply racing. I have 500 cars in the garage which is the limit. With Forza 3 I have now had to sell half the cars in my garage to buy some others, even though I am still earning points. That would not have been necessary in 4.If you haven't played Forza 3, you should. If you have played Forza 4 and left Forza 3 behind, I suggest you go back and re-visit it.I have been enjoying it and now remember how much I like the background menu music over Forza 4. In 3 you also have the full Italian Rivera course and New York, both of which I like a lot and really missed in Forza 4. Forza 5 apparently has even less tracks.Myself I have yet to try Forza 5 because until XBone becomes much cheaper, I won't be buying one. I do not like being ripped off. If I had been able to play Forza 3 & 4 and my many other Xbox 360 games on it I probably would have one by now... but not when you have to start from scratch.All in all... Forza 3, worth every penny. It's graphics are still better than the newish Grid Autosport.I come back to Forza 3 & 4 all the time. Both quite brilliant imo.

When it came out Forza was for the xbox the more realistic racing counterpart to Project Gotham Racing (Project Gotham Racing 4 - Classics Edition (Xbox 360)). Whilst Gotham gives you rewards for driving badly (in the eyes of racers) Forza rewarded and encouraged good driving. Forza has always let you modify your cars and tune your suspension which Gotham hasn't done so yet; and this adds an interesting twist to playing with your friends on xbox live as you strive for the best Fiat 500 for ferrari that you can build. If you are new to forza then you will fine lots of driver assistance options for new wannabe racers, even as far as automatically breaking for you if you forget.In Gotham you can jump in and get some quick fun tail sliding around a corner racing in mostly narrow streets; Forza wants more of your time; it wants you to do lap after lap improving your times. For Forza 3 they have added several new race modes; including drag racing and drift racing; drag racing doesn't bring much to it for me drift racing is slightly reminiscent of Gothams style.Forza Motorsport 2 was the best racing game on the 360. Forza 3 is an evolution; they have improved the graphics and added a lot of tracks. The downside with this is as with all current 360 games you spend a lot of time between races waiting for maps to load even when the game installed on your hard drive.