My Thoughts - Kinda still liking this whole Forza 6 thing

Forza Motorsport Legacy Motorsport
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First and foremost, apologies for being way too positive but after completing career mode, giving the online lobbies some extensive use and posting my best efforts across the class D leaderboards I’ve most definitely come to the conclusion that F6 is one hell of a good game. So, bit by bit - here goes:

Career/showcase:
My initial thoughts were probably the same as the bulk of many others in the sense that it’s all pretty generic stuff. A standard short series of small races with slow cars, building up to slightly longer races with considerable more powerful machines. Uninspiring stuff I guess. But then something completely game changing happened - namely the drivatars!
All of a sudden ‘doing the Forza thing’ of picking a car, starting mid-grid, barging your way to the front and subsequently winning by a country mile was being compromised by these super fast freaky drivers with other ideas about your ease of progression.

“woah, I don’t want this…this is difficult stuff…this simply isn’t Forza”.
“Oh, hang on a minute, this is actually quite good fun… Yes I most definitely I do want this”

The result being that career mode turned out to be a highly rewarding experience. Having to actually carefully decide which car you chose (and then tune it) in order to have a reasonable chance of progression was, nay, should be the way Forza works so I personally am rather thankful for these dodgy drivatars. Volume 5 (I did it in reverse order) was incredibly difficult but I never altered from the setting that’s one below ‘unbeatable’ and after getting my head around the (sometimes) seemingly impossible nature of everything it really was well worth the effort.
The only real downside was that as time progressed, whilst the back end of the grid racers continued their obsession with bouncing anyone and everyone out of the way, the front of the pack (the non ‘broken’ drivatars) did start to become just a little too polite - sometimes offering no real resistance when trying to defend their position. Oh and towards the end of career mode these super racers had all but disappeared and I did kind of miss the challenge they presented.

Highlight: Showcase endurance events
Unforgettable moment: Winning the Nords showcase endurance by 13 feet and 120 feet from second and third place respectively. Squeezing 2nd place onto the barrier and crossing the line sideways was a real “I don’t want to have to do this event again” moment :slight_smile:

Leaderboards:
Again, no issues with the layout of the leaderboards, although it would be nice to see the reintroduction of a combined (total) time for each class. Adding all track times together to create a total time leaderboard for each respective class was probably my favourite inclusion of F4 and it’s a shame that it disappeared. Another strange omission is not being able to choose your current car from the initial menu. Scrolling thru your ever increasing collection of vehicles can sometimes make the selection process needlessly tedious.

Highlight: The ‘at a glance’ info for each track is a nice touch.

Multiplayer:
OK, this one is a little tricky. I’m not a fan of matchmaking and because class D is my choice of weapon (very) small races aren’t exactly my cup of tea either. So taking those two points into consideration the current multiplayer system doesn’t work for me personally. I understand that custom lobbies will probably never appear in F6 and matchmaking is pretty much here to stay so what about a compromise for those who don’t particularly want a one lap race around Spa? Surely the easiest option by far would to introduce (example) “class D Long” and “Class D short” and therefore give racers a choice as to the length of race they want. Just a thought.

Random track voting is not a problem for me because at the end of the day a race is a race and it shouldn’t really matter where the majority should choose you race.

Kick voting:
No!. My experience of public kick voting (F4) is not so great. You drive a Chevy Spark and that’s ok… You drive a Chevy Spark quickly and that’s not ok… Cue the tactical kick vote. It actually got quite boring having to race people to click the “vote to change track” in order to stop some lower end finisher voting to kick a player purely on the grounds that he was too fast. Something that I don’t particularly want to ever have to revisit.
Personally I feel that the system in F6 is good enough. If you have an issue with a particular driver you vote in private. If someone else has an issue with the same driver then he does the same thing. If enough people have an issue with the same driver then he is kicked… End of.

Online racers:
No problems again. If they’re bad drives with a poor racing mentality they usually end up finishing near the back of the pack and will eventually get bored and leave. Once you’re towards the front of the pack then the racing becomes a lot more civilised and an awful lot more fun so the racing is exactly how it should be. Sure, there will be times when you get bogged down at the back but that’s just the way it is - there will be other races to redeem yourself so getting caught in the occasional first corner pile up shouldn’t be the big deal that people make it out to be because every single racing game ever made has suffered exactly the same problems and people should sorta be getting used to that fact by now. Nothing will ever change so my advice is to just take it ‘as is’. Whilst some races will be borderline pointless the bulk of them will be pretty decent so over an average session you should have a decent experience.

So, aside from the relatively short races, I think the multiplayer hoppers are pretty much as good as can be expected.

And finally the other stuff.

Weather / Night racing.
Hmmm, after craving the option to drive in alternative weather for many a Forza I’ve most definitely come to the conclusion that it’s nowhere near as much fun as it initially sounded. Night racing has never been my most favourite scenario because I struggle finding points of reference and end up plodding around tracks in races full of awkward braking moments. I’m sure others find it fun but it’s perhaps not to my liking as much as I thought it would be.

Handling:
It’s Forza, not Project Cars. You buy a car and it drives like a donkey so you stick a wing on it and tune it. End product is a car that drives better. Short and sweet.

Car selection:
Excellent. I don’t care how many times “copy/paste” has been mentioned because there are loads to choose from and tune to your heart’s content so that will do for me.

And I conclude with the only negative point I can think of… Track selection.
I’m not sure of Turn 10’s logic with this one but with it’s huge volume of American tracks the game is starting to lose the “world” side of ForzaWorld. No disrespects to my American friends but some of those circuits are insanely boring and I never thought i’d live to say that there is a circuit that’s even worse than Yas Marina. Yes, Daytona is truly awful!.
To be honest the entire track choices are a bit ordinary - with the new ones lacking in inspiration and the older ones getting a bit long in the tooth now. I would have liked to have seen a little more creativity and a more varied set of locations but beggars can’t be choosers I guess. They’re not bad,bad - just a bit bland.

But all in all the whole Forza 6 experience has been far from the epic disappointment that the bulk of people seemed to make it out to be. My overall experience has been the more you play it, the more you appreciate it - and even though i’m fast approaching driver level 600 and gawd knows how many hours i’m still appreciating my investment so that can’t be an entirely bad thing.

The best Forza ever? Haha, that is a matter of opinion. Maybe the second best behind Forza 2 :slight_smile:

That’s it…thanks for reading.

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I almost totally agree with you. My Forza experience has been just as good.

I only disagree with the following;

Yes it’s harder to find your brake points and turn in points and it’s sometimes confusing as to where you are on the track when you don’t have the distant background references. And the puddles require you change your line and even your set up. This is part of the fun of these conditions. Run some hot laps in these conditions when you are tuning and you’ll start to love them I think - especially if your practice and specialized setup helps you win more races in these conditions.

But sadly we are missing the best part of these alternate conditions - the dynamic nature that can be seen in other racing games. There is nothing like doing an endurance race at Lemans and seeing the sun go down and/or rise back up in the morning. And we don’t get to experience the thrill of making a crucial tactical decision on when to pit for intermediates or rain tires. So I agree that these static alternate track conditions are not nearly as fun as they could have been.

Well… I am an American so I guess my opinion is biased. But I really love the track selection. We have most of the real life tracks we had in F4 back with the exception of the Japanese tracks which is a shame. But I really like Daytona as much or possibly more than Indianapolis. I’d certainly rather have it than the “fake Daytona” (Sunset) in FM4. I also really like that addition of COTA and Watkins Glen. These tracks could be anywhere in the world, but I think they are fun regardless of them being in the US. …and Limerock is a fun little short track. (here I am biased because this is my local track :)) On a side note, the track selection in Gran Turismo and also Project Cars is also really good.

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Sounds like you’re one of the lucky ones online. I can’t say my experience has been that good. I’ve seen plenty of quality racers finish in the back because they were unable to get through the carnage. If the lower class races were longer, they might have a better shot.

The vote to kick doesn’t work as intended. It doesn’t matter if someone is trolling the lobby. The person will never get booted unless by chance you are in the lobby where you have numbers on your side (people who actually talk or friends). Ive still yet to see it work…well except when a T10 employee booted a guy out.

Give it time. You’ll see how godawful the multiplayer is.

Personally I like name and shame vote to kick provided. Given now you can’t vote to skip tracks, a visible vote to kick should work as intended more often than not.

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I have about 10,000 racing between fm5 and fm6. About 9000 of these races there was atleast one player that deserved to be kick. Ive only seen it happen 10 times work. Mics also dont work well enough.

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Fair comments, but what you have to remember is that the vast majority of (especially) first corner incidents are more accidental/careless than intentional. With upto 24 guys heading for a corner with cars of different performance (and more importantly different braking zones) it’s always going to be inevitable that someone will get it wrong - or someone will slow down to avoid impending doom and get hit from behind by someone else who simply isn’t paying attention (or isn’t expecting you to slow down so early). Lots and lots of variables.
If everyone is totally honest the bulk of their accidents are more than likely caused by someone who has been a bit lazy on the brakes and shunted you as opposed to a full on Burnout style takedown.
Yes, you will always get those who have absolutely no intention of finishing a race and i’m not condoning their actions but one thing I have noticed after being involved in racing incidents and having to fight my way back through the pack is that the vast majority of those you pass are actually racers who have put themselves in over performing / under gripping vehicles, turned all settings off and completely overcompensated their ability to drive that particular car. In terms of accidents these people are probably the biggest culprits.

Public kick voting isn’t always the solution though because of the tactical implications that come with it. If you happen to fall into a lobby with a clan of, say, 3-4 racers and you beat them on a regular basis is it fair that they can vote to kick you en masse simply because you’re better than them and they want to win? Trust me, from my Forza 4 days, once you get 4 kick votes the sheep brigade will follow suit and you’re gone!

Also, another scenario. You’re turning into a corner and get t-boned by driver xx who has been shunted into you by driver yy … All you see on your screen is driver xx hitting you so your first thought will always be “bad driver…vote to kick” because you never assume that you’re at the back end of someone else’s accident. If someone else sees only the back end of the incident then all of a sudden you have a racer who has done absolutely nothing wrong with a couple of kick votes and a potential name and shame kick. Is that ok?

Again way too many variables and without the ability to sit down and analyse replays (who on earth wants to do that) the whole public kick system can become a little too unreliable when determining who actually should be removed from the lobby.

I’ve raced an awful lot of Forza (as well as many other racers) online and nothing has ever changed (nothing ever will) so frustration and retribution (for me) is a bit old hat nowadays. I just try and enjoy the racing as best I can and if I am fortunate enough to find myself in the top few then I know there will be a decent race to be had. If not then, hey, there’s always next time.

One of the lucky ones? Nah, just one of the more tolerant ones.

Thanks

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It’s not like fm4 were issues could be tolerated. My opinions rests on actual racing after the first few corners. Many times people are using good tunes and still causing mayhem. Most people don’t deserve to be booted but in every lobby you can count on a handful of players who simply don’t care and ruin the race for everyone.

I got really good at avoiding this mess in other forzas, but it’s impossible at times in this version. It’s to the point where I have little desire to make new cars or race online. Waiting 10 or so races to finally have a good race is what is turning me away. I never had these issues in other forzas.

I dominated fm4 lobbies on many occasions and almost never got booted. I also didn’t race leaderboard cars. There were numerous times were I would DNF half the field and never got a vote to kick. Now if you’re running leaderboard cars and getting kicked, you only have yourself to blame. A visible vote to kick is the best option because the current one doesn’t have any impact on cleaning up lobbies.

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as far as multiplayer goes - I have probably only played public lobbies a handful of times and only two nights of league racing but in that limited experience the racing has been great. (only a few poor drivers in the lobby) But I suspect you are right. If I give it more time I’m sure I’ll find more issues.

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I agree with the OP about multiplayer.
I mostly do leagues and if you can get through the first couple of corners it opens up. The guys at the front nearly always race fair. There is of course the odd exception.
I didn’t get disconnected at all tonight!

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As rpm swerve said, you are lucky you had a good experience so far. I’m glad you are having a blast, honest, I am.

For me, and I guess a whole lot of people, things have been different. I am growing frustrated with multiplayer. I am a long time Forza fan, but i feel things are getting worse. Let me explain:

This afternoon i tried getting in an s class hopper lobby. The first lobby I joined was already in the middle of a race on hockenheim ring. 1st lap out of 4. So I waited for them to finish. Took about 7 minutes. Then by the time everybody was back, track was voted for and race started took another 3 minutes or so.

The race starts and i’m in 2nd place or 3rd. First corner, the usual happens, i get slammed. Fine, i tell myself, i expect it by now, as you said most racing games are like this. So i get back on track and i’m now 10th out of 24 players or so. I keep racing but before the second turn comes up, i get taken out, again, by another guy. That’s alright i tell myself he probably didn’t do it on purpose. I get back on track, now 16th place, and i’m racing clean as possible, without hitting anyone for a bit before i slow down to avoid a 3-car crash ahead. The guy behind me doesn’t think it’s a good idea to slow down and crashes into my rear end, sending my car flying into what appears to be outer space.

By the time the car settles i’m last. I get back on course, determined to catch up, but the guys in 23rd, 22nd and 21st place will do anything to keep their oh so high positions, and they keep swerving to prevent me from passing them. So at that point i’m getting very frustrated and i quit the race, thinking if i was running simulation damage i probably couldn’t move by now anyway.

I wait for them to finish the race to get on another and hope to do better. Within the first minute of the second race, i get disconnected. So, then I try joining another lobby but I get: Unable to connect to servers or something like that…

Figure, i’ve been “playing” for a half hour, i’ve done 1 race, that was complete garbage, and the rest of the time i was waiting in lobbies for people to finish a race or trying to connect.

The problem is, experiences like this happen nearly everytime I play online, leagues or no leagues, hoppers or not. Only when i’m playing with friends, the races are clean. I don’t have 100 friends playing forza at all times as you can imagine…

So yes i’m dissatisfied, and i’m willing to bet experiences like mine are all too common. I honestly don’t think i’m being too negative, or that you are beign too positive for that matter, but when i read your post I really couldn’t find the same enthusiasm as you, sadly.

I still find enjoyment in this game through the career as you mentionned. I’m playing on unbeatable difficulty, and i agree with you that finding the right car and tune for a specific track to overcome the AI is fun.

As for the kick voting, I personally think we should be able to see current voting for kicks, i think it would help tremendously in having cleaner lobbies and also serve as some form of punishment for bad behavior on the lobbies.

As for the Rivals, it is where i spend most of my time on this game. I just wish the rivals you beat would get a notification whenever you beat their times, and vice versa. This helps in creating a friendly competition.

So there it is, i’m sorry for the long post…

Also if you feel like adding me for some clean racing, feel free to do so.

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I’m sorry but, that is a hilarious recollection of your race! LOL I know that feeling of flying into “forever.”

I must be really lucky as I don’t get into races where too much happens. Yes, I get smacked around and end up last in the first STRAIGHT(!) but I can usually battle back and get a decent finish. I’ve had a fair share of the races where I end up at the back end too though. I generally only race in league lobbies so it seems like there’s “better” players there but it’s not perfect by any means. I havent been frustrated by the ramming players enough yet to complain though. Leagues are a little better but I’ve had to fight my way through the field there too sometimes.

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It seems you have the same amount of luck as me. It’s become so much of a problem I might just end up switching to horizon 2. I’ve seen multiplayer gameplay, and it is nowhere as awful as on fm6. On horizon 2 ppl will tap the sides and the rears of the car all the time and not spin out at all.

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Well, funny you mention that, because i then switched to horizon 2 and found none of those problems, despite being much more arcady. To be completeley honest i played fm6 tonight and found a good lobby, but it just happens so rarely, something like 1/20 chance to find a good lobby. Compare it to horizon 2 and you get closer to 9/10, which to me explains why it’s so much more fun. By the way, I have no source to claim this, aside from personal experience, so take it with a grain of salt.

Come to think of it, if forza horizon 3 is as good as i think it will be and forza 7 as disappointing as I think it will be, I figure i’ll move away from the motorsport franchise until turn 10 figures out what is wrong. It’s a real let down for me to see my favorite franchise heading the way it is currently.

“This is what we have been racing towards”

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Good post, OP. Never apologize for being too positive, there’s not enough of it around here.

Question for those who are determined to have dynamic night/weather:

What’s the point of it when most of the races last between 5-8 minutes? It made sense in Horizon, but the only time it’ll make sense for Motorsport is in endurance races. The sun doesn’t rise or set in 5-8 minutes, and starting a 5-8 race without rain and ending it with rain (or vice versa) is a tad pointless. Would be a major waste of developer resources when they could be working on things that add much more to the game.

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I agree with you there. I don’t understand why others are asking for the dynamic weather/time considering the fact that the races are pretty short. Maybe for endurance, but honestly I am not to impressed with the capability of the XB1 vs the 360 for the forza games like I thought I would be. Other than better graphics I am seeing less capabilities elsewhere n the system.
I am enjoying the online play, but just dissatisfied with the career (having to finish 3rd feels very arcady to me) and free play design. It really wouldn’t be an issue if there wasn’t so much lobby dropping or failed to find server messages. .lol

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Dynamic weather is the standard among racing games now a days, baked in wet weather was done in Gran Turismo ten years ago.

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Ten years ago was GT3. A: I don’t remember it having dynamic weather, B: the game was poo!

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Let’s just say they implement dynamic weather in the future. How would the leaderboards work with that? All the fastest times would be set in clear weather. At least with the current static weather, the wet tracks are always the same for everyone. They are a separate track essentially, with separate leaderboard.

I think it would be cool to have dynamic time of day for endurance races. Maybe sped up by a factor of 10, so a 2.4hr race would simulate a 24hr day/night cycle. Could even put in 20-40 minutes of rain, but then if they did this, I would want to see a separate endurance leaderboard for each track in each class, that records just the total lap count instead of fast lap. So event runs for 2.4hours, has set amount of rain in it, same amount for everyone, maybe none on some tracks. Once you hit 2.4 hours, you finish the lap you are on and the leaderboard would be total number of laps in 2.4 hours plus the remainder time it took to finish your last lap. Weather wouldn’t be exactly dynamic, because then it couldn’t possibly be fair for everyone if it was truly dynamic.

I don’t really have an issue with the static weather, but I’d prefer less of the big puddles on the wet tracks.

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yeah my mistake, you are right on both fronts. For some reason I always think GT5 was released earlier than 2010, feels like ages ago.

GTR FIA Racing did have dynamic weather 10 years ago, although that was a pc game.

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Probably because GT5 SHOULD have been released earlier, but fans of that game had to wait some 7 years!! LOL

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totally agree with you. My Forza experience has been great.
only thing i’m still having a hard time with is breaking