I really don’t want my first post here to be negative, as I love a whole lot about Forza 7, but as we are on V7, and I’ve followed the game since V1, I would like to see if my gripes are shared.
For fun I thought I’d do this in advertising copy lines.
“Forza 7 - Where you’ll never be on pole.”
No qualifying on V7? Really? In career mode I’ll always start in the middle of the pack and have to chase cars slower than me to win?
“Forza 7 - Chasing, not racing.”
Following on from my ‘no qualifying’ gripe, real racing is being among 2-5 cars that are almost the same performance as you. Spending a lap or three waiting for that opportunity to cut inside and take a place is racing nirvana.
This simply cannot happen if you keep starting 11th.
By definition, it’s a chase over 3 laps to catch the car in pole, which means you are clearly far faster than any other car on the track, so no neck and neck racing in a ‘racing’ game here.
Just chasing.
So you up the Drivatar level so that you pass the pole position car as near to the end of the race as possible.
On what planet is racing actually like THAT!
Surely something can be done about this. I want to race 3 or even 30 laps with cars that are at my level, vying for position. Is that so hard in SINGLE player?
“Forza 7 - Where you’ll get a new track every two years.”
I waited till recently to get Forza 7 as I was busy with PC2. Imagine my disappointment when I found that there was only one new track over previous Forza games!
Did I miss something? I’m playing career on the same old tracks I played career on in Forza 6, with some brought in from Forza 3 or 4?
Not good. New York? Madrid? London? Project cars had many great locations a decade ago. And where is Monaco? Don’t need a license, just call it Monte Carlo.
Sepang? Knockhill? Turkey? Surfers Paradise? Surely more tracks can be produced for a game of this level?
“Forza 7 - Where you get 700 cars but you’ll only ever drive 30 of them.”
700 seemed a lot till I went through and found an endless list of cars I’d never drive if Forza didn’t force me to buy them for the career mode. A Limousine? Really?
“Forza 7 - Where you can drive ATV’s on tarmac.”
Why put ATV’s and other rally/off road cars in there if there’s no dirt tracks? Why race Catalunya with an ATV? To pad out a forced career mode? To get through a career I had to drive a stupid off road thing just to complete that section, and to add insult to injury, I had to buy the damn thing, and I’ll never use it again, so a waste of hard earned credits!
“Forza 7 - Where you’ll race for hours and hours before racing an actual race car.”
I’ve no issue with a career progression, but when all the decent race cars I’ve been racing in Forza 6 for TWO years are hidden behind race after race with hatches, ATV’s, Limos and Utes, I feel like I’ve gone from University back to kindy.
Do they even realise the frustration of tackling the career mode in 7 after you’ve been racing LM and F1 cars in 6 for two years?
And 5, and 4!
“Forza 7 - Where it goes from blazing sunshine to monsoon in 90 seconds.”
I think the weather effects in Forza 7 on Xbox One X are stunning. What I’m getting sick of is starting a 3 lap race in sunshine and ending it in a monsoon! Here and there would be a novelty but it happens all the time!
Feels more like a graphical show off than any attempt to produce a racing experience. It’s not like anyone pits in a 3 lap race!
“Forza 7 - Where you can’t race against other cars like yours.”
So, I buy a Formula E car, but it slides all over the place due to rain tires as standard.
I buy some slicks for it. It feels awesome. I’m ready to race.
I go into open career races but I’m over specced. I go into free races but can’t specify to race against cars EXACTLY like mine.
I can’t spec a car then race against 23 others exactly like it?
Seriously?
I just want to race a Formula E car with slicks against another 23 FE cars with slicks.
That’s all.
“Forza 7 - Where you can’t create a custom championship.”
So I can go into a free race. ONE race. Why can’t I do THIS for example.
Choose 7 circuits, make the cars the same spec as mine (including upgrades I’ve done) and race a championship?
On V7 in 2018 isn’t this pretty basic? To create a single series championship to a certain spec? Apparently it’s not basic at all.
Just one off races. But not even to my cars spec obviously.
Now I’ll finish by saying this.
Forza 7 is stunning in so many ways. It looks incredible, the cars handle in a very accurate but accessible way, and everything is there for a stunning racing experience.
It’s fun to play, but I feel I’m always fighting the game in order to really have fun.
It feels like the fun is coming, if I get more credits, or more cars, or more something, but it never actually does.
I’m always chasing the car in pole, from the middle of the pack.
All of this incredible work goes into Forza to make it so real, and then it seems to go to extreme levels to make the game nothing like real racing.
In short, I want to race in Forza like people race in real life.
Forza 8 maybe?