Some of us are drivers who prefer arcade racers, but we’ve always appreciated the Forza series from a distance. But Turn 10’s Dan Greenawalt is convinced that this is the racing game for us. “One of the things about is that it's not an arcade racing game,” he says. “We think of it as an action racing game.”
Forza Horizon is an interesting hybrid. It carries certain core elements of the Forza series--rewind functionality, the green trackline--and weds them to a more forgiving, more daring driving style. It's a game that lets you drive cars with a degree of permissiveness (compared to most simulation-focused racers), in order to let you pull off far more outrageous maneuvers that what's been seen in past Forza games. It's a game that, so far, will feel immediately intuitive for those accustomed to slipstreaming behind other ridge-racing sports cars and taking down the opposition.
With that, we jumped into the first 45 minutes of FH. It's plot-driven, and the action starts, quite literally, with your nameless hero hopping into his 1995 Volkswagen Corrado and furiously racing past other "civilian" cars to stake out a spot in the Horizon Festival. It's a solid introduction into FH's handling, which feels like it occupies a sweet spot between Forza Motorsport's precision and the looser, more forgiving handles of a Ridge Racer game.
FH looks to provide some entertaining race parameters. In our first Horizon-sanctioned competition, we raced a Mustang against an aircraft. As the plane looped around certain checkpoints, we hugged tight rust-hued desert curves and followed the trusty Turn 10-designed green line of stability. It's hard to tell if the plane was "rubber-banded" to keep the race tight and intense, but we certainly felt a palpable relief as we hit the finish line just shy of the aircraft. The early race also serves as an introduction to vehicle inheritance. In the case of this Mustang race, we unlocked the car as a new vehicle. You may not always want to abandon your current ride for those fresh wheels, but it's nice to have the option.
We jumped into another race, and it was here that we began toying with the difficulty settings. It's possible to win even more experience points by turning off assisted settings. If you're inclined to rack up the XP, you can adjust a number of variables, including transmission, opponent AI, and anti-lock brakes. There are numerous tiers that will allow you to either maximize or minimize your risk before jumping into a race.
Forza Horizon is a pleasant surprise. Its vehicle handling feels immediately accessible, yet it can be tweaked for extra doses of both challenge and reward. Its setting allows for a range of visual diversity, from mountains to deserts, and it looks to fuse the trademark tropes of Forza Motorsports' driving with the accessibility of more casual friendly racers. With less than two months to its October launch, this looks like a racer that's worthy of your attention.
