Forza Motorsport 7 TEST

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After having literally bluffed us in its last appearances in playable form and on Xbox One X, Forza Motorsport 7 has finally fully committed to us, letting us discover its plethoric content and its different modes on Xbox One "normal" and on PC. The opportunity to finally give you a final opinion on the one we expected not only as the new reference genre. but also as a particularly significant episode in the series.

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The few times we were able to try out a few well-chosen races of Forza 7, it had impressed us. Nervous, visually beautiful, easy to take in hand but full of good feelings ... A real slap. A test that we hoped to see transformed with the complete game, once reviewed all the details of its content and the organization of it. So we naturally went to the solo mode to start, with the idea of checking if one of the weak points of the saga " Mortorsport " would finally cross a course. Because despite all the qualities of Forza, and despite the efforts made to each new album by Turn 10, the solo campaign has indeed never really shone against the competition. It was always more or less a series of championships, through austere menus or at least without originality, which was struggling to hold us in the long run. This time, I must admit that it is much less the case: the solo mode of Forza 7 is more "engaging" than it has ever been before and offers some original and well-felt novelties.

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Self-serve buffet

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The campaign is divided into 6 major championships, which themselves contain numerous mini-championships and some "rallies" (special stages). They are all interested in a different type of vehicle, and you will be able to freely choose which ones you want to do and in which order. GT races, small compact cars, trucks, all-terrain vehicles, antique cars ... it's a very varied menu that is offered to you from the start, and the good news in all this is that you can completely avoid imposing things you do not like(For my part the races of trucks or small all-terrain vehicles for example, which I find totally uninteresting). It is enough to accumulate a certain number of Points of Series (SP) to be able to pass to the big following championship, and the completion of 4 or 5 mini-championships / gatherings (on the 10 to 15 proposed each time) is amply enough if you finish well ranked. In short, we have a very varied offer in which we draw what we want, according to his tastes, and it's like that from the beginning to the end of the solo.

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A principle all the more enjoyable as the famous rallies put a little originality over the variety of racing and classic vehicles, with for example this duel against Ken Block, this challenge of overtaking against all the old models of a vehicle of which you drive the most recent grind ... All these challenges are shorter (well except the endurance race obviously!) and always refreshing, even if we would have appreciated to have a little more, and especially with a few more new ideas , because you will also have to - again - bowling on the track Top Gear, as well as challenges auto-cross (slalom course) not very exciting. We would have liked a little more originality, more risk, Forza Horizon totally bluffed us on this point ... But hey, that said, this solo mode is already doing better than in previous episodes.

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It is a collectionite Monsieur

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But the most significant change is this new principle of car gallery, which will quickly change your habits and make you a compulsive collector. In Forza 7, a "Collection Level" is added to the Pilot Level. If the latter always increases with your XP earnings, the Level of Collection, meanwhile, increases each time a new cashier enters the garage. Of course, not all cars have the same value or the same rarity ... and therefore not the same contribution in collection points. There is also a new menu in which are compiled small images of the 700 (and some) cars of the game. A real little Panini album that allows us to instantly see the cars we have and do not have, the price of the ones we are aiming for, the number of collection points they would bring back, etc.

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In this nice little catalog of images, each car is classified in one of the 5 categories (from "Municipality" to "Legendary", passing by "Rare", etc.), all in an interface as simple as efficient and readable. You will have every interest in managing your collection, because your good progress in the game, the opportunity to participate in this or that mini-championship that makes you an eye, depend on it. With each passing of the Driver Level, you will have to make a choice: pocket a plethora of credits, a new free car / with a big discount, or get a new driver combination? Suffice to say that it is better not to choose the latter option, but rather favor the car, especially when it belongs to a category allowing you to make a mini-championship without having to pay another full pot, and even more if it brings you a good collection of Collection Points.

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Of course, the higher your Collection Level, the more interesting the cars you will be offered ... and the more you accumulate, the more your level will increase ... In other words, we put our finger in the gear and that we never come out of this spiral again! I who did not have the habit of stacking cars in my virtual garage, I clearly changed my mind and got caught up in the game of this leap forward collector. With pleasure. A good point, then.

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Accessible simulation and immediate pleasure

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Well it's nice all this, the solo mode is more engaging than usual - Check. It still deserved a little more novelties and originality - shame. But let's go to the most important: what's the point once the pad in hands? Unsurprisingly, as you've been told for months now: it's a pure pleasure to drive in Forza 7 . Of course, the game still benefits from the arcade compromise / historical simulation of the series, configurable at will via the help to activate or not, but everything has once again improved, enhanced. Braking, mass transfers, loss of grip ... the physical models are revealed as we gradually deactivate the helpers, bluffing us with realistic, sometimes violent, but always understandable and never frustrating reactions. The game does not offer the same degree of realism and demand as a Project CARS 2 , it is not even its goal, but its physical engine remains consistent and allows both immediate pleasure and a subtle driving, with a large margin of progress. The pleasure is always there.

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These advances on physics, you will see them gradually in many details, but what really will blow your eyes is the new dynamism, the new vivacity of the whole. The camera is indeed much less static than before, and it's a lot of good to play. Every shock, every braking and every acceleration can be felt more nervously than before, thanks to subtle camera movements. They also make us feel the instability of a situation, for example when we are launched at a very fast pace on a track a little dented and it starts to vibrate in all directions ... we can really "feel" that the point of rupture is near, that it would not be necessary to leave in lollipop. So we lift our feet, or we take risks, depending on the situation ... All this adds much to the pleasure of driving we know since many episodes of Forza, and about camera: special mention to the new cockpit view, closer to the windshield, which is ideal for driving, of course, but not that, since the controller also takes advantage of his field of vision more focused on the track, and by far it makes this view my favorite.

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Attention eyes (and ears)

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The legitimate concern that Microsoft was still showing Forza 7 on Xbox One X was that the classic Xbox One version was visually disappointing, or even downgraded from the rest ... well, no, Really he surprised us by his graphic qualities on our good old Xbox One ! It's even very impressive, and whatever platform it runs on, Forza 7 is certainly the most beautiful racing game in the world . I have done my best to take nice screenshots, but honestly they do not do justice to the game, which must be turned to realize the wonderful job delivered by Turn 10, both technically and aesthetically.

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Of the 32 tours available (more than 120 different versions), only one newcomer is entering, Dubai, and it's a marvel . Visually, we immediately feel that it was designed for this seventh episode, it is more beautiful than all the others. Special mention for the rendering of the rocky reliefs, which surround certain portions of the circuit and whose photorealism is striking, but also for all the details that swarm here and there. Sand that covers the asphalt and flies away as the cars pass, helicopter that passes over you, traffic on the other side of the rails defining the circuit, confetti cannons, buildings that appear on the horizon ... The class.The other circuits for their part have been more or less redone on the basis of previous episodes, so that we note a difference, but they also benefit from all these new details that make them more "alive". The shot of the chopper is often repeated, but we can also see a swarm of birds crossing the sky, dead leaves cross the track, etc. If you play in cockpit view, you will obviously find the reflections of the dashboard, but will also find that the windshield gets dirty progressively over the course of the race. Really, the details are swarming.

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Side sound design, again this Forza impresses. Not that the previous episodes fished on this point, far from it, but here again progress is quickly noticed. You will fall in love with the sound produced by each car, love to go from one view to another to note differences, listen as never once in the tunnels ... A pure delight, which is also appreciated in the little details, such as those noisy passages of your wheels on grids on the ground, or the thud of the helicopters.

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It'll slide sweetheart

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And what about the weather effects and different brightness of the day and night? These novelties were introduced in Forza 6 , but they come back this time in "evolutive" mode. So you can start a race under the storm and finish it under a beautiful blue sky, go out at night and see the day get up on the last lap ... The players demanded this option to corte and cries and they were right, Here they are satisfied (partially, we return to it below), and this obviously adds a lot to the pleasure of play. Especially since these effects are absolutely fabulous visually , especially the rain and the sunsets, but not only.

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We often rediscover each circuit open-mouth, when conditions have changed, almost deconcentrated by the beauty of certain renderings. Among the many images that have etched in my retinas after my fifteen hours of play, there is for example the Suzuka circuit, after a first round under the storm, which became a clear and bright once the clouds pierced by the rays of the sun. The track, still wet, then beautifully reflected the elements of the scenery, including the famous giant wheel, still lit, while in the distance we saw a mist form above the natural elements that surround the circuit. The awesome Spa Francorchamps circuit also amazed me with its colors at the end of the day, under a light drizzle ... And of course all these elements have a great influence on the gameplay.We do not pilot the same in the dark night, and the rain forces us to be more cautious , to brake earlier and less strongly ... besides the management of puddles, initiated in Forza 6 , is always a pure happiness we do not get tired of.

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A faultless?

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But not everything is perfect, you can imagine. Even from a visual point of view: the circuit of Maple Valley for example, which celebrates its return in this Forza 7 , is far from leaving the same impression as the others, with its vegetation with garish colors and questionable modeling. Nothing catastrophic, but we hoped for a more serious facelift. It is the most "shocking", but say that all circuits do not seem to have been redone with the same care . Moreover, if indeed the weather effects are absolutely superb visually, if they are finally evolutive, they do not concern unfortunately all the circuitsand it's a real little disappointment. It is impossible, for example, to go to Prague or the Bernese Alps in the rain or at night. If we do the accounts, it's still almost half of the lines of the game that can not be practiced in the rain...

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We would have appreciated also that the damage on the body is more neat. It's been a few years since we'd like to see Forza get close to what Codemasters was able to do in his day, but that's still not the case. It stagnates a little.

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One would also be tempted to quibble a bit about the quality of finishing in some places. Turn 10 got us so used to a high degree of tweaking that we were very surprised to notice some small display bugs (textures) and, above all, brutal and unexplained frame rate drops on some races (there for the first time). is never seen in a Forza ). In addition, there seems to be a bug in the suction, which seems purely and simply disabled, even though it is part of the statistics counted. Strange, just like this level of difficulty of the Drivatars, which must be constantly adjusted as it is unbalanced from one race to another, from one vehicle to another.

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Turn 10, wake up

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If Forza 7 is divine on many points, even if you want to mention some faults, let's finally open the chapter on things that get angry, because the players have been asking for them for too long and they are not coming. I am talking for example about the lack of qualifications. We would like to be able to position ourselves correctly on the starting grid, thanks to qualifying laps, but no, we are invariably placed in the middle of the pack. Why not offer sports fans a real race weekend, with tests, qualifying, and race? In addition, if this time we can stop at the stands (without animation), it is almost useless, including the special endurance event proposed in the second championship.

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But let's come to the thing that shocked me the most - and frankly it's the ponpon: not only did Turn 10 not add that kind of element claimed for ages, but it removed something that did for me the DNA of Forza: the gains that increase with the deactivation of the piloting aids! It has simply disappeared, and now only the increase in the difficulty level of the AI ​​adds percentages of bonus earnings. I find it amazing: risk-taking, skill, are no longer rewarded. The only way now to increase your earnings after the race: the Mods. A novelty in the form of cards that we team before leaving in the race, and which have different properties. Sample card: make 3 drifts during the race to earn 20% bonus credits at the end. These Mods, you win them on different occasions, but especially by buying boxes to loot (in a dedicated menu), which can also contain cars and pilot outfits. These boxes exist in several types and categories, with prices sometimes exorbitant in-game credits ... Yes, you see it coming: micropayments are not far! Currently absent from the game (we wanted to avoid a controversy at the Forza 5 ?), We can already see them coming for miles.

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It's a little shy all that

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If we decide to put aside these annoying little details, Forza 7 remains a superb and very effective racing game. Nevertheless, we can not help but regret his lack of originality, risk taking . Forza Horizon has already been mentioned above, but it's impossible not to think of him, who has put so much new blood, when he regrets the lack of new ideas shown by Turn 10 on this one. Certainly, the saga Motorsport wants more "serious", less delusional, but this does not prevent that. The classicism and lack of effort of this Forza 7 is obvious especially when we look at the multi-mode, which offers what we expected, but nothing new . he does not get out of nails for a single second, even suffer from some instabilities (on our games anyway) and a rather impressive defect: it does not punish turns cut by a drop speed imposed. Already most players play like nags ...

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Apart from the multi, you will also spend a lot of time in the Rivals mode, always nice to challenge yourself, but we really would have liked to see a few more original ideas, new things, surprising things in the solo. It is repeated, the latter is engaging and very nice to go, but remains too "wise", like the entire game.

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