Forza Motorsport 7 Review (Xbox One)

Forza series used to lag behind when it comes to competing with other franchise including Gran Turismo but the release of Forza Motorsport 7 marks a significant milestone for the franchise. Not only it is one of the best racing game released this year, it is also one of the best Forza Motorsport game by a wide margin. This is a great turnaround after the disastrous launch of Forza Motorsport 5 on the Xbox One. While Forza series has thrived with its spin-off Forza Horizon on the Xbox One, the mainline games used to lag behind when it comes to offering a great experience however after having played Forza Motorsport 7, it has quickly become my favorite racing game on the current generation consoles.

Before starting the review, I should clarify my position and stand on racing games so that it is easier to understand my impressions. I am not really a dedicated racing fan but I do enjoy the gameplay experience offered by them. I don’t really care much about how the game offers a true ‘simulator’ experience so this can be essentially a racing sim, but Forza Motorsport 7 is not really aiming to be one here. Instead the aim of the developers with Forza Motorsport 7 seems to draw in the casual crowd with a simplified control scheme and user interface. The game also offers advanced options for those dedicated fans who want to have complete control over their car. There is a large variety of customization and tuning available if you want to dig even deeper and personalize your car.

Single player mode offers a Forza Driver’s Cup where you can compete in various racing series. You start easy with the Seeker cup and as you gradually progress through each series and get points called ‘Series Points’ or SP for short, you will unlock more of them and once you have obtained the necessary points, you can progress to the next championship. The rest of the Championships include Breakout, Evolution, Domination and Masters. The last one is the Forza Driver’s Cup and it offers the ultimate challenge for your skills.

This mode is also a good way to earn cash and increase the experience points for your driver. Once you have completed it, you should have more than enough cash to buy any car you want. You can keep a car collection in the game which only applies to the cars that you have bought. The game gives the option to ‘rent’ any car for a race if your current car roster doesn’t have one which meets the requirements of the race. This can be useful if you want to particular in the multiplayer early in the game without having to worry about cash or buying the required cars.

If you are done with everything in the Forza Driver’s Cup, which should take you a while since it depends on how good you can perform in each race and your skills, you can then tackle a set of challenges with ‘Rivals’. The challenges that you can tackle here range from Spec Challenge, Track Days, Autocross and Drift Zone. This mode basically is a test bed to practice your skills by challenging a rival’s score in each race. If you are done with most of them, you can also try to test featured events that are from Turn10 Studios. These events will change frequently so you won’t get to play the same events every time.

The single player component of a racing game is of course incomplete if there is no split-screen to offer here. Forza Motosport 7 does include a split screen mode where you and a friend can race offline through a set of tracks. You can have a standard race, timed race or drift challenge if that’s what you want. Although the split-screen mode is not as content rich as the main game, it does fulfill its job nicely. Free Play is also available so you can test drive around each lap and master every turn and corner for the best result.

Forza Motorsport 7 multiplayer lets you join a lobby with other racers to participate in different modes. The multiplayer is divided among the various car types. You can select from Modern Hot Hatch, Classic Street Muscle, Historic Road Racing, Rice of the Super Car and Track Toys. Each mode has a specific spec requirement but as I have explained earlier, you will be able to rent a car for a short amount of cash if you don’t have it for the race. As far as I can tell, the multiplayer will require you to master each track and also perfect the gameplay because if you are using assists for gameplay, you won’t be able to get the full performance against other players.

Turn 10 Studios appears to experiment with microtransactions in Forza Motorsport 7 as seen in the form of the loot crates. They can reward you with mods, customization items and cars. While this might sound terrible at first, the loot crates can be all bought with the virtual currency that you can earn in the game and since there is currently no way to purchase them through real money, it is hard to determine how much of an impact they can have on the actual game. Mods can be used to gain some extra rewards in races and they have limited use. You can equip atleast 3 mods and you will get extra credit by the end of the race if you manage to fulfill the conditions required for the mod. Some mods are as simple as doubling the credit that you earn at the end of the race, thus making it easier for you to get cash after finishing each race. Others will require you to change the circumstances of race and introduce a challenge which might reward you with more credit.

Visually speaking, Forza Motorsport 7 is absolutely gorgeous. The lighting and weather effects, the attention to detail inside the car and sound design is easily one of the best for a racing game. I was playing Forza Motosport 7 on the Xbox One where it manages to stick to its 60 fps target with ease, but I absolutely cannot wait to see how the game manages to perform on the Xbox One X with support for 4K resolution.