Now I know this has been said a million times and that the game received so much criticism that this all may sound like a broken record already, but I just want to share my thoughts on Forza 7 and what actually happened to the Forza franchise. If you have had enough of these threads, then please, by all means, stop reading and do something you think is more productive.
First of all: Graphics.
There is a reason why I put this on 1st place. This seams to be T10’s biggest selling point. You see, they keep shoving that 4K tag in our faces. But not only that the game doesn’t run 4K (yet), a lot of the actual details have had their detail reduced.
You may have noticed that the cockpit of the cars doesn’t look nearly as detailed during a race, as opposed to Forzavista. The tracks also have very poor quality. Don’t get me started on the horrible 2D trees in Mapple Valley or Le Mans for example.
I know this game runs on a 4-5 years old hardware and compromises had to be made for the new weather and lightning, but this is completely counter productive. And when 4K actually comes? I will be staring at the same dull 2D trees but with double the pixels. Eye candy!
Moving on to my second point: Advertising.
I don’t really need to say that advertising a game has never been easy. In this case however T10 seams to be doing something… off in the last few years. The most obvious example can be taken from this video: Forza Motorsport 7 pit stops are so lazy - YouTube
Most of us know that pit stops have never been animated in a Forza game before, that’s not the point. Don’t the 2 trailers seem like false advertising to you? That certainly looks like the case to me.
The sentence “All in-game 4K footage” is not at all true. You never see these pit stops anywhere in the final game, and the 4K footage statement is only 50% true. As if T10 wants to impress with their super realistic graphics, but only on the most important aspects like the cars and the drivers, everything else gets left behind.
My third point is Sound and Music.
I’m actually happy how they implemented the sound effects, it really gives you the feeling the you are racing at high speeds. The sounds from the rumble strips for example are very well made.
However more and more cars start sounding the same, they aren’t as unique as they used to be. It gets boring to hear the same engine sounds over and over again, even when you know that 2 different cars have slight differences in engine note that are practically non existent here.
Up next: Gameplay, Career and Multiplayer.
I really like the updated physics, the cars feel a lot more like actual cars and not like bricks on 4 wheels. Not much to say here, the handling model is pretty good.
Career though… Sigh. Where should I start? The homologation system is good on paper but the implementation is very poor. Not only that you have to drive cars matched to the same restrictions and have a very small upgrade window to work with, but the AI have seamingly much better performance than you, especially on the straights. Sebring is the worst case, the AI are basically impossible to beat via conventional means like clean racing. Plus the rubberbanding that isn’t in the game is another lie. I was literally chased down by 2 AI who did better times than the 1st person on the leaderboard during a Daytona race. Ridiculous!
I don’t think there’s anything to be said about Multiplayer and rivals. They are becoming less and less attractive. Every race turns into a wreck fest, and you can’t even take your favourite D Class car for a few laps around Monza. Both Multiplayer and Rivals are a mess, that shouldn’t have passed beta testing.
Next: VIP fiasco and loot boxes.
I had no problem with the loot boxes in FM6, but here T10 are basically trying to put everything possible into them, suits, mods, badges and even CARS! What is this, Monopoly?
The sole fact that T10 messed up the VIP membership in the first place is an alarming sign that something isn’t right. And it really wasn’t. Why change something that was working fine in the first place? No point whatsoever.
Speaking of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” moments, we have some misc stuff that worked just fine before this game. Mainly the UI.
Such things are the test drive menu. I’m still trying to find out why the put that in the middle of nowhere in the pre race screen. It makes it million times more inconvenient. Also the main menu is a lot more confusing than it should, and I normally don’t have issues with the menus.
Last point: Weather
The so called “Dynamic weather” isn’t dynamic at all. You always have 3 subsections in the event weather which have a chance to change mid race. And if always happens, 1 condition in the beginning, 1 in the middle and 1 in the end. It’s all more or less baked in, only thing that changes is the amount of water on track. You also always start with wet weather tires, regardless if it actually rains during the race or if there’s just very thick fog, that switches to overcast later and stays in that way until the end of the race.
And finally, I want look back and see what exactly happened to this once great franchise.
Forza used to bring people together, to make friendships, to connect car enthusiasts, racers, painters and tuners together in 1 big family. Now it’s nothing more than a dead community. Forza in its current state is just a shadow of its former self. A chassis without the coupe.
Over the years since Forza 5 came, things has been going downhill. This once great franchise is now turning into something of the likes of FIFA. T10 is trying to appeal to the casual gamers and not the Forza veterans who still think Forza 4 is the best, 6 years later.
And you know what made Forza 4 so special? The community. Not 4K nonsense, not HDR, not the loot boxes. Forza 4 had one thing that none of the newer Forzas have - passion. It had quality, not quantity. It relied on experienced players to keep itself going and not on newcomers who will pay to look at pretty graphics and never touch the game after 2 weeks. It was made with fun in mind, not profit.
Looking back doesn’t bring me joy, it pains me to see what this franchise has become. It is now in disrepair, losing sales, with T10 trying to figure out why, by removing essential features that made Forza what it was.
The entire community wants a change. Not a change to new things but a revisit to the previous games. The current model isnt working out and for some reason T10 fails to notice it, which is trully dissapointing.
I myself was very excited about Forza 7, but it turned out to be just one big mess. I’m always looking forward to each game, this one though is just… there. It doesn’t stand out as much as it should have, which was the 1 thing it needed to be as awesome as Forza 4, or at least Forza 6.
Don’t get me wrong, I really like playing the game and I enjoy every moment spent in it. But this isn’t Forza anymore, it feels like an unsuccessful Forza clone. This game lost so much of what made it great, that it has no soul anymore. This isn’t Forza we used to love and adore. Forza is now in T10’s eyes a means of making money regardless if the community likes it or not, which is very sad.
Thank you for reading my post. You may agree with some of it and disagree with something else of it, but that’s ok. I have always accepted each Forza game for what it was and never complained about it, but I really needed to speak up for this one.