This is just my opinion and I’m in no way making a rant. I just wanted to make a little post (I barely post as it is) about how I feel about FM7.
I’m a long time Forza fan, I’ve got many many many hours across all of the games starting from FM2 to FM7. I read lots of reviews in relation to FM7 but being a long time fan, I was going to buy it either way. Below are my own personal thoughts with the game.
The Good:
It’s beautiful to look at and great to play but I personally am finding it hard. It seems as if the Driveatars have taken a massive step up! I can’t remember what Driveatar level I’m on (I think it’s the one before Pro with the 60% bonus). I can get from my starting position of 10th/11th and into 3rd fairly easy but getting further than that is very difficult within the laps given in standard form (3/5 laps). I.e. It feels like the top 3 driveatars are miles above/ahead of the rest. But upping the laps to long makes that easier and I prefer the longer races so it’s not a gripe as such.
I like the fact we can change our driver and allow him/her to wear different suits. It’s a small thing but to me, it makes quite a bit of difference, it gives that little bit more immersion factor.
Dynamic weather and day/night look great and make a wonderful addition to the game compared to before.
The sound is fantastic. I have nothing to complain about in this regard. In fact it sounds better than FM6 did.
The Impartial:
I’m not a huge fan of having to buy cars to then unlock the tier required to get other cars. I do love collecting cars in the game but I was disappointed that this was the case. However I have put it in the impartial category as after about 2/3 hours of racing, I’m already at Tier 3 and I haven’t bought anything other than the cars required to do the championships, so at a guess, I’ve only bought 5 cars, while the others have come from levelling up the driver and choosing the cars as a bonus.
I personally am not a huge fan of the menu system in FM7 and much prefer the menu system in FM6 but again, this isn’t a major thing, just something I’m not personally a fan of.
The home space, I personally preferred the outdoors home space like in FM6. I was able to get a better look at my cars and when customising them, the outdoor space and brighter lighting made a welcome difference to choosing colours. Currently the FM7 home space is within a garage but the cars on a shady part.
Forzavista videos with voiceovers and the small history about the car/manufacturer. I miss this feature from FM6, if it’s there I do apologise as I haven’t been able to find it. It’s something I could live without in honesty but why is it missing from FM7?
The Bad-ish:
There are no incentives to turn off the assists as with the other FM/FH games. The only assists I have on in the game are ABS on and Braking Line with Standard Steering. With the other games, there was a CR bonus for this, however with FM7 there isn’t. I personally would like to see a return of this bonus but whether it happens is another story.
Where has drafting gone?
Mods, now I may just not be far enough into the game but so far Mods don’t seem to be unlimited any more, i.e. in FM6, there were some mods like ABS On/TCS Off/STM Off or Braking Line Only where they could be used for as long as desired. I have found the alternatives in FM7 but they have a maximum use of 3 times only.
Crates, I’m fully against this. I’m glad you don’t need to spend REAL money to buy crates but I’m still against them being in FM7, I don’t personally see a need or want for them in a racing game. Apart from the ones I’ve been gifted as part of the loyalty rewards, I doubt I’ll be buying any more. Generally, gaming wise, I’m against Micro transactions.
These are just my thoughts after 3 or so hours with the game so I may add to this later but as a whole, it’s a good game. In my opinion, it’s not the best by T10 but it’s still enjoyable and I’m sure I’ll put in a lot of time just like I did with the other FM games. For arguments sake, my favourite FM game is FM4.
In the mean time, feel free to add to it and put down any thoughts or counter thoughts.
I´ve read your thoughts and I agree with you with almost every point. Here´s my thoughts as well.
The Good:
Graphics. I really like how they improve the graphics and dynamic weather is really, really good. It looks absolutely stunning when sun starts shining after heavy rain. I´m playing on Xbox One S and I am really wondering how the game will look on One X. I would probably upgrade to One X just because of FM7.
The Bad:
Tuning options seems to be always the same. I would expect much more progress here as I believe almost every player likes to tune their cars. Rims are the same, everything is the same.
The cars. Yes, there are like 700 of them, which is really impressive number. But in case you have played FM6 with all car packs, there are basically no new cars at all except GT2 RS. Is there any other car which is REALLY new?
I´m playing the FM7 since Friday 29th, few hours per days and I am already at the last (offline) league. I would probably finish the game today. I mean there are still a lot of races to be done, but “main story” is not that long
There´s one more thing I have to say. I really like NHL from EA Sports, but I stopped buying it because every year it is the basically the same game with minor improvements. I hate to say this but I´m starting to have those feelings about Forza Motorsports as well. Don´t get me wrong, I LOVE FORZA and I consider it as the best racing game ever. I was a big fan of Gran Turismo but I when I first played FM, I sold my Playstation and bought Xbox with Forza instead. I really love this game, however the lack of improvements is not making me happy. What is actually new in FM7? Dynamic weather, Porsche GT2 RS and Dubai track. Oh and gears for your driver, which has no affect to game at all… Almost everything is the same, but dressed in new coat. Driving model is pretty good since FM2, but not perfect. How much did it improve since then?
They took out assist based bonuses but buffed drivatar difficulty bonuses. The difference is a wash.
I think drafting still works or seems like it does. There’s just no visual indication that it’s working.
I don’t mind mods, but they should have some super restrictive mods that add more incentive like ABS off instead of normal braking, or Sim steering instead of normal. Go to the highest level of assists with mods.
Crates you can take it or leave it. I’m not really a fan but it’s not a game breaker. I’ll have all the GT cars that I want sooner or later and every thing else is just gravy. Plus the Porsche 928 was buyable from the start.
@DraganOne: I haven’t bought any of the Horizon 3 or Forza 6 car packs or DLC (except FM6 Porsche) so there’s ton of new cars to me. For others they would have to wait for FM7 DLC.
I thought sound was very good as well. I’m not one to nitpick and be like “that Ferrari sounds like the wrong Ferrari.” How would I know. I just know that the cars sound like the type of car they should and that the dynamic response of the sound as it varies between car views and places on the track and in tunnels is amazing, especially when played loud in headphones.
Not really a review or rant, just my opinion of the game. I play on PC only, haven’t played racing games on console since 2012.
I played FM1-4 and really liked them. I only got this one because it is on PC.
I was never expecting a sim, maybe simcade at best, but I really think it has regressed to arcade.
The graphics and sound are fine for me. Looks good and sounds ok.
After a lot of tweaking, I was able to get my wheel and pedals working ok.
I like bashing through the AI in single player. I doubt I will even try multiplayer. I have iRacing with 100% content for multiplayer racing.
In summary, FM7 for me is a fun, single player, arcade racing game for when I’m not in the mood to spend a lot of time getting ready for a real sim race.
I also race Iracing and use a wheel. With a good group of friends you can get a similar feel of sim. Obviously not using assist and ridiculous tunes - we all share our tunes so you can make you’re own adjustments.
Problem with Forza online is the hoppers are full of garbage racers who enjoy demo derby. You’re welcome to join us - typically Friday nights.
