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[Grassy]

Due to night-time driving, all car models had to be upgraded for both lights and interior dashboards illumination.

I guess it took some hefty time to get it right (lights colors, illumination colors, etc.), so the probable reason is partially because of that.

You'd think they would model all that stuff in the first place to save them having to go back to certain cars, especially rare ones. I know that the Mitsubishi Starion they laser scanned for Forza 4 had it's headlight functions done(the owner said so), even though they obviously didn't use the headlights in the game.

 

[titch]

Never been a huge fan of the Forza style but after playing the demo this is pretty top notch!!!

 

[saladine1]

Man, it still feels a little strange trying to drive in this game.

Perhaps i'm just used to open road games being aracdey..

Deep down inside, I actually think that games of this nature are better suited to the arcade physics than 'sim'...or perhaps I just need to change my driving style..

 

[Baconsammy]

To be honest, I wouldn't have known that it was 30 FPS if I didn't know it before playing the demo.

The game plays smooth imo.

Same with me. All I knew is that the FPS were rock solid and the game was incredibly smooth.

 

[The_Monk]

Man, it still feels a little strange trying to drive in this game.

Perhaps i'm just used to open road games being aracdey..

Deep down inside, I actually think that games of this nature are better suited to the arcade physics than 'sim'...or perhaps I just need to change my driving style..

You need to adapt. Maybe you need to turn Sim driver to Music lover and music lover to Wristbands Lover but you'll get it.

For the people who already playing the game:

- Any news about the number of cars from Loyalty (Forza 4) ?

 

[Fox Mulder]

Man, it still feels a little strange trying to drive in this game.

Perhaps i'm just used to open road games being aracdey..

Deep down inside, I actually think that games of this nature are better suited to the arcade physics than 'sim'...or perhaps I just need to change my driving style..

I always felt the same about test drive unlimited. The physics were sim enough.

 

[DeejayKnight]

Wish we'd have been able to get a review copy, as I love Forza games. I'll get it eventually based on scores, though.

Congrats to the team for creating such a stellar game!

 

[Duriii]

- Any news about the number of cars from Loyalty (Forza 4) ?

Apparently, those cars will be unlocked even with Forza 3 saves. Put in spoiler tag, just in case.

Spoiler

Lv01 – 2011 MINI Cooper S
Lv05 – 2011 Citroen DS3 Racing
Lv10 – 2012 Dodge Charger SRT8
Lv15 – 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS
Lv20 – 2008 BMW M3 E92
Lv30 – 2012 Jaguar XKR-S
Lv40 – 2009 Gumpert Apollo S
Lv50 – 2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4

Just got past lvl 50 in Forza 4, so I won't have to "grind" that at the last moment, heh.

 

[GlamFM]

Apparently, those cars will be unlocked even with Forza 3 saves. Put in spoiler tag, just in case.

Spoiler

Lv01 – 2011 MINI Cooper S
Lv05 – 2011 Citroen DS3 Racing
Lv10 – 2012 Dodge Charger SRT8
Lv15 – 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS
Lv20 – 2008 BMW M3 E92
Lv30 – 2012 Jaguar XKR-S
Lv40 – 2009 Gumpert Apollo S
Lv50 – 2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4

Just got past lvl 50 in Forza 4, so I won't have to "grind" that at the last moment, heh.

Great! The level 20 car is all I want and I got way past level 30 in FM4.

 

[The_Monk]

Apparently, those cars will be unlocked even with Forza 3 saves. Put in spoiler tag, just in case.

Spoiler

Lv01 – 2011 MINI Cooper S
Lv05 – 2011 Citroen DS3 Racing
Lv10 – 2012 Dodge Charger SRT8
Lv15 – 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS
Lv20 – 2008 BMW M3 E92
Lv30 – 2012 Jaguar XKR-S
Lv40 – 2009 Gumpert Apollo S
Lv50 – 2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4

Just got past lvl 50 in Forza 4, so I won't have to "grind" that at the last moment, heh.

I don't have a Forza 3 save file (sad face) but I'm around level 211 on Forza 4. If that list apply to Forza 4 too then it looks a decent list (wouldn't mind a few more), Level 20 Car is nice.

Do they give you those at the start of the game? Thanks a lot for answering!

 

[Mascot]

Actually, if you use the glitch that allows you to place the camera "inside the car" in photo mode, you can see all car models with disappearing headlights actually have their headlights fully modeled and textured under the hood, despite the game never showing them.
I think FM4 was supposed to have night time racing, or at least working headlights for races taking place at dusk.

Don't forget the working windscreen wipers, too.

 

[shinnn]

lol @ polygon review...

I think they did an awful interview with stupid questions at E3 too.

But looks like it will be the first Forza game below 90 on Metacritic =\

Should be at 89 without the Polygon score.

 

[derFeef]

I always felt the same about test drive unlimited. The physics were sim enough.

The physics in TDU were sim enough? They weren't even arcadey... they were something else.

 

[Megasoum]

The physics in TDU were sim enough? They weren't even arcadey... they were something else.

TDU 1 was a really great game. TDU 2 was one of the biggest pile of shit I've seen.

 

[Brandon F]

Is the jury actually out on whether the Polygon review criticisms are bullshit? Or is this just a case of certain zealots being whiny over pointless Metacritic scores?

I'm dying to jump in with my wheel, but those review criticisms about AI rubberbanding and career brickwall moments are worrying to me.

 

[Terbinator]

The physics in TDU were sim enough? They weren't even arcadey... they were something else.

This, so much this. Although they did gradually get better in TDU1 at least - from the first demo, to the second and then the final game.

 

[derFeef]

TDU 1 was a really great game. TDU 2 was one of the biggest pile of shit I've seen.

Oh it was a great game, I had 100 of hours of fun in it, but the driving itself was only bearable because of the other stuff.

 

[Shortt Sirket]

Is the jury actually out on whether the Polygon review criticisms are bullshit? Or is this just a case of certain zealots being whiny over pointless Metacritic scores?

I'm dying to jump in with my wheel, but those review criticisms about AI rubberbanding and career brickwall moments are worrying to me.

I will be honest, I really respect Phil Kollar. I have been following him for years and he is one of only two reviewers (Chris Kohler being the other one) that I actively follow on Twitter. He has always seemed very straightforward and honest about his thoughts and his review doesn't really bother me. (Note: I don't care about most reviews and they have little to no impact on me other than something to read/watch) I feel his review was consistent with how he felt about the game.

Certain things in the game that we might not care about apparently rubbed him the wrong way. I understand his annoyance with the crappy people, nothing really being tied to popularity or a lack of car/place/prize for getting first place even if I don't consider them big deals. He does bring up an excellent point about the rubberbanding thought. It has no place in any racing game (IMO), but it is even more egregious in a sim racer. The game wants you to drive the cars as you would need to in real life and making the opponents artificially quick completely ruins that.

Would I have scored it as low as he did? I am not sure yet but probably not. However, I feel his score is consistent with what he wrote. We constantly complain that people don't use the full 1-10 scale and then when someone does, people complain. His review sounds like Horizon is a slightly better than average game to him and his score reflects that.

Again, review scores are essentially meaningless to me so that might be why his score doesn't bother me.

 

[H3rTz DoNuT]

I hope that PG/T10 will include this in the one of the car packs, I really do! Helios you know anything about that?

 

[Out of Working Order]

I hope that PG/T10 will include this in the one of the car packs, I really do! Helios you know anything about that?

Wow: I never knew Horizon looked this good. It looks even nicer than GT5.

 

[Warm Machine]

TDU 1 was a really great game. TDU 2 was one of the biggest pile of shit I've seen.

It did pretty much everything better than TDU 1 though. The driving was better, road surface collision was better, the roads were smoother especially curvy mountain ones. The negatives were the terrible "story" the radio stations being cut down, and the framerate in traffic congested areas like cities.

 

[diffusionx]

Joystiq posted a review:

Forza Horizon's difficulty curve is also a bit out of whack, both in terms of progression and the difficulty settings themselves. Setting the skill level of the CPU drivers to "medium" presented virtually no challenge until the very end of the game, and overall there were very few circumstances where I didn't win first place on the first time out.

Kick that up a notch to "hard," however, and I was lucky to come in sixth out of an eight-man heat. Drivers became faster, made fewer mistakes and as a result, earning a podium finish became nearly impossible. I typically enjoy difficult games and I like a good challenge, but the stipulation to that rule is that the challenge has to at least appear obtainable, which isn't the case here. This changes the functionality of the driver skill setting from its intended purpose, which is to adjust the desired level of challenge, to "Do you want to win: Yes/No."

Sounds like Forza 3, which is not a good thing.

 

[Brandon F]

Joystiq posted a review:

Forza Horizon's difficulty curve is also a bit out of whack, both in terms of progression and the difficulty settings themselves. Setting the skill level of the CPU drivers to "medium" presented virtually no challenge until the very end of the game, and overall there were very few circumstances where I didn't win first place on the first time out.

Kick that up a notch to "hard," however, and I was lucky to come in sixth out of an eight-man heat. Drivers became faster, made fewer mistakes and as a result, earning a podium finish became nearly impossible. I typically enjoy difficult games and I like a good challenge, but the stipulation to that rule is that the challenge has to at least appear obtainable, which isn't the case here. This changes the functionality of the driver skill setting from its intended purpose, which is to adjust the desired level of challenge, to "Do you want to win: Yes/No."

Yea, this is how I felt about the demo as well. On Medium, I was blazing past the pack for first on all the races, but replaying on Hard and I was barely managing above 8th place.

I suppose most reviewers still had plenty of fun just blazing to victory without any adjustments, but does that really constitute a competent racing experience? Did any "glowing" reviews ever consider the variance in their place standings being adjusted based on time and experience learned over the course of their play during the review process?

I'm not trying to be down on this game, PGR4 is still my favorite racing game this year and my wheel and I have spent untold hours putting time into Forza 3/4, but I am very concerned over this.

 

[Neuromancer]

I'm OK with winning.

 

[Diablohead]

I don't see why they could not do a dynamic AI like with forza 4, if you keep losing the AI becomes a little softer, keep winning and it get's faster and harder to beat.

For this kind of game it would work best like that, but I will be playing on hard as I hate always winning, is there a stupid get first in every race achievement in this game? hate those in forza 3 and 4.

 

[NullPointer]

I'm OK with winning.

Haha. Same here.

If anything the events are just barriers to keep me from free roaming in the cars of my choice.

 

[Shortt Sirket]

Yea, this is how I felt about the demo as well. On Medium, I was blazing past the pack for first on all the races, but replaying on Hard and I was barely managing above 8th place.

I suppose most reviewers still had plenty of fun just blazing to victory without any adjustments, but does that really constitute a competent racing experience? Did any "glowing" reviews ever consider the variance in their place standings being adjusted based on time and experience learned over the course of their play during the review process?

I'm not trying to be down on this game, PGR4 is still my favorite racing game this year and my wheel and I have spent untold hours putting time into Forza 3/4, but I am very concerned over this.

There is always a problem with using the difficulty as a negative, and that is the reviewers skill level. Unfortunately racing games, and fighting games, tend to be those games where very few reviewers are any good. Just look at the Giant Bomb Quicklook to see how some reviewers play racing games. I was able to get first on the events on Hard without too much drama. I didn't have to cheat, or slam into cars, or any of that either.

I am not saying his opinion is invalid, quite the opposite. It is VERY important to know how the average person will feel about the difficulty settings and that massive change toward the end does not sound good. However it is difficult to really know how big of a deal it is when we aren't sure how skilled the reviewer is at this genre.

 

[BruiserBear]

Is the jury actually out on whether the Polygon review criticisms are bullshit? Or is this just a case of certain zealots being whiny over pointless Metacritic scores?

I'm dying to jump in with my wheel, but those review criticisms about AI rubberbanding and career brickwall moments are worrying to me.

Considering other reviews have mentioned it, I'd say it's probably true.

 

[sneaky77]

I will be honest, I really respect Phil Kollar. I have been following him for years and he is one of only two reviewers (Chris Kohler being the other one) that I actively follow on Twitter. He has always seemed very straightforward and honest about his thoughts and his review doesn't really bother me. (Note: I don't care about most reviews and they have little to no impact on me other than something to read/watch) I feel his review was consistent with how he felt about the game.

Certain things in the game that we might not care about apparently rubbed him the wrong way. I understand his annoyance with the crappy people, nothing really being tied to popularity or a lack of car/place/prize for getting first place even if I don't consider them big deals. He does bring up an excellent point about the rubberbanding thought. It has no place in any racing game (IMO), but it is even more egregious in a sim racer. The game wants you to drive the cars as you would need to in real life and making the opponents artificially quick completely ruins that.

Would I have scored it as low as he did? I am not sure yet but probably not. However, I feel his score is consistent with what he wrote. We constantly complain that people don't use the full 1-10 scale and then when someone does, people complain. His review sounds like Horizon is a slightly better than average game to him and his score reflects that.

Again, review scores are essentially meaningless to me so that might be why his score doesn't bother me.

That's a great post.

 

[Gek54]

Rubberbanding is realistic. People are usually faster when trying to catch someone and then it also depends on the speed of the lead.

 

[Shortt Sirket]

Rubberbanding is realistic. People are usually faster when trying to catch someone and then it also depends on the speed of the lead.

The problem is that no game uses "realistic" rubber banding. They don't make the AI push harder, they just make the cars unrealistically quick. When it is bad enough for the AI to catch you in the last 1/4 mile with cars that are no where near as fast as yours, there is a problem.

 

[diffusionx]

There is always a problem with using the difficulty as a negative, and that is the reviewers skill level. Unfortunately racing games, and fighting games, tend to be those games where very few reviewers are any good. Just look at the Giant Bomb Quicklook to see how some reviewers play racing games. I was able to get first on the events on Hard without too much drama. I didn't have to cheat, or slam into cars, or any of that either.

I've played a lot of racing games in my time and it did not take long to see that Forza 3's difficulty curve was all out of wack compared to the other games out there. It wasnt about skill level or anything, the game's difficulty settings were just not done well. I didn't even bother with F4 and this makes me very hesitant about Horizon.

 

[chixdiggit]

Any reviews mention how it works with a wheel?

 

[TJP]

Any reviews mention how it works with a wheel?

The Inside Sim Racing FH review was completed using steering wheels - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oXABrWjXts&feature=g-u-u

Wheel support is said to be very good per ISR's review comments. I have read the in-car wheel animations are set to 270 degrees which may look strange if a wheels is set to 900 degrees aka the default for a road car.

 

[H3rTz DoNuT]

Here is a little something for the VW guys It's probably not what you wanted but hey, it's still VW

And a little love for Lancia Stratos as well...

Have a great night guys

Cheers, HD

 

[CrunchinJelly]

 

[NullPointer]

Mmmmm Stratos.

Are those liveries standard? Or are those your creations? Or do those come with the LE?

 

[H3rTz DoNuT]

Mmmmm Stratos.

Are those liveries standard? Or are those your creations? Or do those come with the LE?

All my work, if I post a picture of a car that has a paint on it, it means it will be available day one to download of my storefront

 

[NullPointer]

All my work, if I post a picture of a car that has a paint on it, it means it will be available day one to download of my storefront

Stellar work as always H3rtz. I've got a bunch of your work on my cars in Forza 4 and looks like this game will be no different.

 

[H3rTz DoNuT]

Thanks NullPointer, my team is working on another car

 

[Slayer-33]

Dat

 

[adamsapple]

Dat

Engine !

 

[Mascot]

I don't see why they could not do a dynamic AI like with forza 4, if you keep losing the AI becomes a little softer, keep winning and it get's faster and harder to beat.

Good God, please not. The dynamic AI in FM4 was broken beyond belief and made the World Tour mode (ie the interesting career mode) pointless to play. AI seemed permanently set on Easy.

Difficulty spikes towards the end of arcade racers are nothing new. I'll never finish Split/Second for this reason.

 

[Steve McQueen]

All my work, if I post a picture of a car that has a paint on it, it means it will be available day one to download of my storefront

Awesome job, will download asap

 

[soundscream]

Thanks NullPointer, my team is working on another car

I find stilettos are best worne when working on engines. They assist the body in leaning forward and down, making engine access easier.

 

[madmackem]

Thanks NullPointer, my team is working on another car

The one closer to camera looks like the girl that works on comic vine website. Those pics of the vw dammmmmmmmmmmmmn.

 

[Mascot]

Stellar work as always H3rtz. I've got a bunch of your work on my cars in Forza 4 and looks like this game will be no different.

Ditto. It's such a shame you can't put custom liveries on the AI cars to make every race look like, you know, proper motorsport. It's something I hope they allow for FM5 (are you listening, Helios..?)

 

[soundscream]

Here is a little something for the VW guys It's probably not what you wanted but hey, it's still VW

If you enhance the area under the season pass sign, it says it cost $50......

 

[acm2000]

Polygon gunning for the hits as usual i see, 6/10? the only review below 8, when most are 9+

 

[so1337]

This game looks unbelievable. I actually find it a little hard to believe this is running on a 360.