Some say that a review round-up is easily confused when confronted with a Wii U, and that the review round-up is the real power behind e-tolling. All we know is, is that there are some review scores after the jump.
The general consensus is that while Forza 5 may be a dedicated and sublime racing game that is filled with details that only a petrol-head could pick up on, the car porn on show leads to rather short cargasms. Here’s what the critics have to say.
It’s far more than just a great racing sim, or a gorgeous showcase for the types of feats the Xbox One hardware is capable of. This is a game built on the romantic thrill of motorsport in all its forms, and that love for its subject matter is all but impossible to resist.
Forza 5 is beautiful, sure, with a stunning, light-filled world of engines and tire smoke. But with the introduction of aggressive, convincing AI that makes every offline race feel like a multiplayer competition, Turn 10 has charted a course for the future of the series — and created the Xbox One’s first must-own game.
Beyond all of the fancy AI tech, physics calculations, or high quality visuals, what I really love aboutForza Motorsport 5 is that it’s packed full with automotive adoration. For me, the walkarounds of a collection of cars narrated by Top Gear‘s Jeremy Clarkson are just as enjoyable as any race.
And if you’d just like to take it easy and have the car drive itself, that’s totally fine too. Progression in Forza 5 is too pleasant and assured to feel like a grind.
Forza 5 is often simulation racing at its best, but Turn 10 hasn’t quite rendered all its previous work obsolete. Given the reduced track and car count, and the present wobbliness of Drivatars, the game sometimes feels like it hasn’t quite burst out of its shell.
But Forza 5 is not a racing game. Not really. It’s a driving simulation that features races. Despite all the quality of the production, these chases aren’t as thrilling as those of Forza 4, let alone GRID or F1 2013. So unless you’re convinced the remarkable graphics and attention to automotive detail are absolutely worth your money, there are other racing games that play much better.
It’s quite possibly the best looking next-gen title. Hardcore fans will enjoy it to its full extent, but it’s fairly forgiving to newcomers as well. There’s just not a ton of middle ground, you’ll either really love it or not be interested at all.
Last Updated: November 21, 2013
oVg
November 21, 2013 at 12:10
No Nürburgring No sale.
Spathi
November 21, 2013 at 12:14
No G27/G25 support, no sale!
oVg
November 21, 2013 at 12:33
WTF? You would think that the Hardcore petrol heads are their main demographic. The ones that make their own car cockpits in their man cave, yet all that expensive SIM equipment is void because the Next Gen want to be greedy cocks.
Why does it not work?
FoxOneZA
November 21, 2013 at 13:03
It has Spa. I can live with that over the Snorburgring.
Spathi
November 21, 2013 at 13:18
Now I get why you don’t like GT.
FoxOneZA
November 21, 2013 at 13:25
No. I’m tired of taming the ring in Forz 2, 3, 4, PGR2&3.
Gr8_Balls_o_Fire
November 21, 2013 at 16:42
There is no getting tyred of the ‘Ring.
Ha. See what I did there? ^-^
CypherGate
November 21, 2013 at 13:06
They will DLC the shit out of this game…. FOR A PRICE!
FoxOneZA
November 21, 2013 at 13:25
$50 for half the DLC 😉
CypherGate
November 21, 2013 at 13:27
and the other half $50 ^_^
rikflh827
November 23, 2013 at 23:45
my dad’s friend recently got Volkswagen Golf just by working
from a home pc. read here http://www.Bay35.co?
Spathi
November 21, 2013 at 12:14
The game is very pretty!!
TiMsTeR1033
November 21, 2013 at 12:15
WOW! those visuals are simply breath taking! Unreal what they can achieve on Next gen hardware! Looks almost better than the real thing!
Gr8_Balls_o_Fire
November 21, 2013 at 12:18
This makes me sad I don’t own an Xbox One. But not enough to justify an R8000 (+-) purchase. I’ll have to stick to Gran Turismo 7 and all it’s cardboard engine notes. :((
Spathi
November 21, 2013 at 12:22
They are working on it! In GT6, some cars will sound better already, and Kaz said that they’ll maybe patch in more improvements.
Also, take a car like the Gallardo or the C63 in GT5, they sound amazing! It is only the older and standard cars that doesn’t sound good.
Skyblue
November 21, 2013 at 12:30
And a ton of microtransactions, Good luck with that, GT6 has been scrapped from my list.
Spathi
November 21, 2013 at 12:38
Did you actually go and read what that entails? You can buy credits, and only credits. There is nothing hidden behind a paywall. If someone else wants to buy credits, what does it matter? Nothing changes with regards to how credits work. It stays the same as all the GTs before this one.
Gr8_Balls_o_Fire
November 21, 2013 at 12:56
I think what Skyblue is implying is that with these microtransactions for credits, they will definitely make it that much more difficult to earn credits through gameplay, in order to coax you to pay for credits.
Spathi
November 21, 2013 at 12:57
If that is so, then I agree, that will be super shit! I’m not sure they can make it more difficult though, GT5 takes a lot of grinding 😀 (without the seasonal events)
Skyblue
November 21, 2013 at 23:21
Yeah those seasonal events are really cool and I spend most of my time on GT5 playing those as they’re also way more challenging.
FoxOneZA
November 21, 2013 at 13:04
You lost me at Kaz said after the mess up that is GT5.
Gr8_Balls_o_Fire
November 21, 2013 at 12:37
I had GT5. It was utterly insulting! Forza and NFS got the engine notes right. And that’s a major factor in enjoyment.
Spathi
November 21, 2013 at 12:38
Then we’re playing different games.
oVg
November 21, 2013 at 12:22
iI do not care that the cup holder in each car now has 50million polygons.
I want TRACKS, fun tracks, long fictional tracks. Not 4000 Nissan Skylines.
Project Gotham Racing for the win.
Spathi
November 21, 2013 at 12:24
10km x 10km (at least) track creator coming to GT6. You can drive around in real life and import the track to the track creator! WHOOOOT! Going to be awesome!
I also want long driving tracks, not necessarily racing tracks.
Captain GUZ
November 21, 2013 at 12:44
For real? that’s amazing
Spathi
November 21, 2013 at 12:47
“Course Maker
This feature, available at a later stage through an update, will allow you to create your own custom tracks that can be driven in the game. Additionally, in another update we will add the possibility to generate a track by capturing the GPS coordinate data of a mobile app while you are driving that course. This GPS-generated tracks will be available in the game as playable content.”
Captain GUZ
November 21, 2013 at 12:55
So I could GPS track my route home from work and then see how fast I could do it in a super car! Frikken aswsome
Spathi
November 21, 2013 at 12:59
In theory yes 😀 We’ll see how the game handles that however…
Captain GUZ
November 21, 2013 at 13:00
The game will properly think Jbay is on a dirt road or something
CypherGate
November 21, 2013 at 13:09
I heard that there is a new PGR being made. Not sure if thats just a rumour.
FoxOneZA
November 21, 2013 at 13:29
Y UUUU NOOOO PLAY FORZA HORIZON!!!!
Spathi
November 21, 2013 at 13:29
He has taste.
FoxOneZA
November 21, 2013 at 14:08
Y UUUUU LiCK YOUR GAMES!!!!
Spathi
November 21, 2013 at 14:46
I only smell them 😀
Lardus-Resident Perve
November 21, 2013 at 12:23
Got a hands on at Rage. Graphics looked amazing, and the triggers rumbling when you accidentally go off the road are a nice touch. Ok ok, 50%+ of the lap was off road. Not a big fan of racing games so I won’t get it even if I decide on XBone next year, but great looing game.
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 21, 2013 at 12:25
Looing? So you’d play it on the toilet? 😉
Lardus-Resident Perve
November 21, 2013 at 12:31
Then it might turn out pretty k.a.k hey 😛
LoL spelling errors.
Rock789
November 21, 2013 at 12:25
This is a game that SERIOUSLY tempts me… Man, I love the Forza series and would love to own this! Car porn indeed…
CypherGate
November 21, 2013 at 13:11
I love the Forza series as well, but it is kind of a blunder knowing how much of the game is reduced compared to Forza 4. I mean… with each new iteration shouldnt they build on that instead of release less content? The other issue i have currently is this DLC business that you going to pay almost a full games price. I know they going to DLC the hell out of this game to maximise profits and the sad part is… We will most probably pay it because we want a full game like this so bad.
Gr8_Balls_o_Fire
November 21, 2013 at 14:34
In my experience with Forza, I never bought all the DLC. Usually wait till all the DLC packs are out, and pick and choose which of the packs or individual cars/tracks I wanted. Still expensive though.
CypherGate
November 21, 2013 at 14:40
Yeah still quite expensive. Unless they release a collectors edition with all DLC included, but then again who would really want to wait that long till one is available when you want to the game now.
Gr8_Balls_o_Fire
November 21, 2013 at 16:02
That’s textbook marketing 😉
Gr8_Balls_o_Fire
November 21, 2013 at 16:03
I think if you have a long enough backlog, then waiting wouldn’t be much of a problem.
Deano
November 21, 2013 at 12:26
A decent launch title 🙂
Go Xbox one!
Gr8_Balls_o_Fire
November 21, 2013 at 12:46
Racing games should move on like this:
Have these tracks, but also include the option for open world free-roam. Basically combine this and Horizon. But keep the sim physics.
They can’t not have the resources now.
Spathi
November 21, 2013 at 12:50
In 2010 Kaz said he was looking at an open world for GT. Hopefully one day in GT7 we will be able to enjoy it. Don’t know if you ever played Test Drive? When activating the “hardcore” physics mode, it was really enjoyable!
Gr8_Balls_o_Fire
November 21, 2013 at 12:54
Had it on PC which ran like sh1t but I loved it! Test Drive 2 was worse of a letdown than GT5
Spathi
November 21, 2013 at 12:58
Have you played GT5 in the past year if I may ask? They game has improved a lot in since release.
Gr8_Balls_o_Fire
November 21, 2013 at 14:35
I traded it after a week since release. Developer’s loss. Improving a game is always very good, but personally I felt the game was not finished in the first place, and that is not acceptable.
Spathi
November 21, 2013 at 14:47
True. It was released too early! But I’m glad they did something about it.
MacDoodle
November 21, 2013 at 12:53
Almost makes me want a bone
FoxOneZA
November 21, 2013 at 13:30
Who here thinks that the X1 exclusives will pwn the PS4 exclusives by next Monday? It just takes one good game to get the ball rolling 😉
Spathi
November 21, 2013 at 13:32
*chirp* *chirp* ….. *chirp* *chirp*
Gareth L
November 21, 2013 at 13:44
For sale: one left nut.
Mabenito
November 21, 2013 at 14:03
Too lazy to real all the reviews, but does it have day-to-night, rain-to-dry simulation?
Spathi
November 21, 2013 at 14:46
Nope
Deano
November 21, 2013 at 21:32
As much negative press that Xbox one gets on here and some places on the net, im glad to be hearing that Xbox pre-orders may be closer to PS4 than many expected 🙂
Boom!
Maksimus
November 25, 2013 at 17:29
Forza Motorsport game series as close as possible to a real sport. I appreciate it for Forza.