This is my first topic on the Forza forums, and it may be my only. Just thought I’d come here and share my first impressions of FH3. Haven’t played it too long (only rank 29), but I’ve felt I’ve seen enough to come to an understanding of how most of the games works. I don’t buy every Forza that comes out; in fact, the only Forza game I’ve actually bought is FH3. Only reason I got FH1 was because it was the free game of the month. I don’t feel Forza, whether Motorsports or Horizon, is a game I need to buy every year, but when I do get them or play them, I enjoy them or a lot.
Gameplay and graphics-wise, FH3 is as solid as ever. Map is beautiful. I’ve had some moments where I just pulled over and watched the sunset. Not a whole lot of games that do that to me. The map layout is fantastic and offers something for everybody. Game just feels great, don’t know any other way to put it. Was driving through the Rain forest on my way to the barn find in that area. Was driving in my Huayra and picked up two other Paganis as well in my convoy, and the AIs and myself were just cruising through the winding roads, and it just felt amazing.
While the AI in the open world is great, they are a little less when it comes to racing. AI seem to brake way too hard in the corners. Even coming around slight bends where I keep all my speed, they just brake and slow down by 30 MPH allowing me to fly by. Very easy as well to make passes in sharp corners as they don’t defend the inside very well at all. I am playing on Expert so I don’t know if they are any better on the higher difficulties.
Not a fan of how you earn XP and CR. Races seem to give you nothing. Winning a race with all the bonuses for difficulty and assists will only give me 11k-ish Credits and 9k XP. Meanwhile. Meanwhile, if I drive down the highway between Surfer’s Paradise and the outback, I can earn 200k times a 5.0 XP multiplier in 1-2 minutes going one way thanks to the Skill Chains, and that’s without the Skill Song or whatever on the radio. That’s a little out of balance there. I road up and down that several times and ranked up 20+ times. Used the Skill Points to gain even more XP, CR, and Wheelspins. CR also seems out of balance. A race will give me 11k just about, but most of my CR comes from the Instant Rewards in the Skill Shop and from luck in the Wheelspins. What’s the point in racing (other than to further the campaign) when I can just drive down a highway and back over and over again and earn 20 time as much XP, CR, and Wheelspins than I would by racing? Just doesn’t make sense to me, and I see it as a massive design flaw.
I also don’t like the way you can sell cars. In FH1, I believe you could sell your cars back to the dealer for full price (upgrades not included) or a percentage of the price. Only way to get rid of unwanted vehicles in FH3 is to just throw them away by removing them from your garage or putting them up for auction. Auction is a great idea, but I just don’t think it was done right. There just needs to be a way to sale cars back to the dealer. Thanks to the Wheelspins, I have two F-150 Raptors and two Lamborghini Countaches. Maybe just have a system where duplicates earned from Wheelspins can be sold back at 25-50% price. Instead I have to put them out for dirt cheap on the auction, and I still haven’t gotten an offer on either of them even though I have them at the lowest possible starting and buyout price.
I may be wrong here, but I don’t believe there’s a way for you to hop back in your car you were driving before starting a race. For example, was driving my Huayra, raced a buggy race, and then had to stay in my buggy after the race. I know you could choose to stay in the car or go back to your previous car in FH1. If there’s an option in FH3, then I just haven’t noticed it, and that’s a sin on me. I also wish there was a way for me to upgrade a car and change its designs without having to get into it. Last one isn’t a big deal, but it would be nice and faster to not have to switch cars every time I wanted to change something.
Overall, still loving it. Just has some key design flaws in my opinion.