I have to admit, I really like Tsukuba, for some reason just clicked with the track in F3 (like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6Y1hVzc9TA ) but it's so easy to see why F4's track list is so disappointing.
In Forza 3, we got seven new environments, and, technically, are getting almost the same number in Forza 4. However, a look at the environments and F4's just come up painfully short.
1) F3's flagship environment was
Montserrat (and Ladera and Iberian) an impressive network of roads both within a race compound and in the surrounding mountains, giving us 10 separate tracks, including the 7km 'Extreme' course. F4's flagship environment is the
Bernese Alps which gives us three courses to run on, all using the same primary loop.
Though both environments are equally gorgeous and well built, there's simply no comparison in what they bring to the racing table.
2) F3's
Catalunya and F4's
Infineon are pretty much equal entrants. They are both impressive recreations of world-class race tracks. Both have intersting layouts with some tricky turns and a bit of elevation changes. Personally, I like Infineon better, but that's really up to the individual.
3) I guess
Sedona would be compared to
Indianapolis with one being a legendary motor speedway, and the other an original creation, but Sedona's club circuit is a far more desirable course, as well as the environment being much, much more visually interesting.
4) F3 gave us
Le Mans. Le Mans. Easily one of the most famous courses in the world and home to the single most prestigious race in motorsports. Hell, Steve McQueen starred in a movie named after the place. F4 brings
Hockenheim. A flat track so bland its most notable feature is the fucking spectator stand. The imbalance here is worse than any of the others.
5) Then you get to two amazing original environments in F3
Positano and
Fujimi Kaido. Between them, they offered over a dozen incredible street courses. There are literally no environments in F4 that could be compared to either. But I guess since all the others are taken, the
Top Gear Test Track has to go here. A flat, featureless environment that can't even be used as a proper race course. Then again, it is on TV.
6) Finally, we have the day 1 downloadable environments. For F3, that was the
Benchmark Ring, an open playground which got shoehorned into being a race environment by adding arbitrarily designed courses. In F4, that's the
Top Gear Soccer Pitch which has absolutely nothing to do with racing, but might provide an entertaining multiplayer alternative.
(who am i kidding)
