Forza Horizon Catch-All

Rezzy wrote:

Game showed up last night (Microsoft $15 deal).
I'm digging it, but I almost wished that the damage model was closer to Burnout Paradise... There seems to be very little incentive to care about avoiding rails or traffic. I handed the GF the iPad and after about a minute of watching me she started setting waypoints to explore the world and find discount targets.

Edit: Also, the terrain is a little bit weird at times. "I guess I can't drive through that bush" was said more than once.

Wait, what's this now?

SmartGlass
She sees a real-time map of where I am and can send instructions to my in-game GPS.
I'm trying to teach her to be my navigator for longer races.

Edit: With very little success.
"There's a hard left."
"After the one I'm taking right now?"
"No, that's it."
"So you saw me steer into the turn..."
"Now there's a right!"
"I'm in the middle of the turn! Are you just telling me which way the little arrow is going?"
"Yes?"

So how is the GWJ car club doing. I've sent a couple of requests with no replay. Are folks still participating?

Jayhawker wrote:

So how is the GWJ car club doing. I've sent a couple of requests with no replay. Are folks still participating?

I've been neglecting Horizon a bit due to other releases. I'll hop on this afternoon and accept the request soonish if it's still there.

Rezzy wrote:

SmartGlass
She sees a real-time map of where I am and can send instructions to my in-game GPS.
I'm trying to teach her to be my navigator for longer races.

Edit: With very little success.
"There's a hard left."
"After the one I'm taking right now?"
"No, that's it."
"So you saw me steer into the turn..."
"Now there's a right!"
"I'm in the middle of the turn! Are you just telling me which way the little arrow is going?"
"Yes?"

That is awesome.

I don't think I have the rights to accept member requests in the club. And I've been away from home for about two weeks, to boot.

I'm still into Horizon, I just haven't had any time to play with the Thanksgiving vacation and now I probably shouldn't be driving with my busted up knee. I'm not so hard up for games that I'll stoop to using the controller to drive.

WooHoo! My copy of this just arrived after the MS store's $15 sale. Hoping to hop in tonight...

firesloth wrote:

WooHoo! My copy of this just arrived after the MS store's $15 sale. Hoping to hop in tonight...

Same here (though I'm no longer in your timezone, Firesloth. We'll just have to fight it out on the Leaderboards.

Trashie wrote:
firesloth wrote:

WooHoo! My copy of this just arrived after the MS store's $15 sale. Hoping to hop in tonight...

Same here (though I'm no longer in your timezone, Firesloth. We'll just have to fight it out on the Leaderboards.

I actually found the leaderboards to only be adequate. They didn't feel as well integrated as the SSX async.

With SSX I actually spent more time racing GWJers than I did playing the main campaign, the opposite was true here. Forizon's Rivals just felt tacked on by comparison. YMMV.

Thin_J wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

So how is the GWJ car club doing. I've sent a couple of requests with no replay. Are folks still participating?

I've been neglecting Horizon a bit due to other releases. I'll hop on this afternoon and accept the request soonish if it's still there.

Apologies for the dereliction of duty. I jumped on and accepted the pending club invites.

Farscry wrote:

I don't think I have the rights to accept member requests in the club. And I've been away from home for about two weeks, to boot. :D

Congratulations, I've promoted you and monkeyboy somewhat at random.

LupusUmbrus wrote:
Thin_J wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

So how is the GWJ car club doing. I've sent a couple of requests with no replay. Are folks still participating?

I've been neglecting Horizon a bit due to other releases. I'll hop on this afternoon and accept the request soonish if it's still there.

Apologies for the dereliction of duty. I jumped on and accepted the pending club invites.

Farscry wrote:

I don't think I have the rights to accept member requests in the club. And I've been away from home for about two weeks, to boot. :D

Congratulations, I've promoted you and monkeyboy somewhat at random. :D

Random promotion! WooHoo!

Also, try the S class modified vintage VW I dropped in the garage, it's a hoot!

Kind of what I always wanted to do to mine, but never had the means as a lowly student /firstcarlove

LupusUmbrus wrote:

Congratulations, I've promoted you and monkeyboy somewhat at random. :D

Hooray, I'm a real boy now!

My copy should arrive today. What is this GWJ car club and how to do I get invited? You'll probably want to add me because it will make all the other member feel better as I'm sure I'll at the bottom of the leader board.

When you get to the Horizon festival (happens very early; I think after two introductory drives and some annoying "movie" scenes I couldn't skip), one of the stations around the loop is the Club station. Just go in there, search for GWJ, and you'll find us. Hit the button to apply for membership, and one of us will approve the app, and you're in!

It's actually really easy and straightforward.

Farscry wrote:

When you get to the Horizon festival (happens very early; I think after two introductory drives and some annoying "movie" scenes I couldn't skip), one of the stations around the loop is the Club station. Just go in there, search for GWJ, and you'll find us. Hit the button to apply for membership, and one of us will approve the app, and you're in!

It's actually really easy and straightforward.

Awesome. Thanks for the info.

Had my first time with this last night. Felt much more relaxed than Forza 3 (the last in the series I played). I hate unskippable movies/cut scenes, but maybe I'm through most of them now?

Fun driving. I haven't figured anything out yet, though.

Yeah, after the intro setup you're basically done with the movies.

Picked up some Forizon for 15 notes on Black Friday. Already in the Motor Pool (thanks Lupus!), and enjoying blasting around bouncing off everything.

Honestly, I burned out (no pun intended) on regular Forza. Played Forza 2 and 3, and simply couldn't be bothered with 4. This is a very different experience, and none the worse for it.

Jonman wrote:

Picked up some Forizon for 15 notes on Black Friday. Already in the Motor Pool (thanks Lupus!), and enjoying blasting around bouncing off everything.

Honestly, I burned out (no pun intended) on regular Forza. Played Forza 2 and 3, and simply couldn't be bothered with 4. This is a very different experience, and none the worse for it.

I had exactly the same experience.

As much as I really enjoyed Forizon, once I knocked out the last achievements, I haven't had any desire to return to it (rally expansion notwithstanding). I know the joy of the game should simply be the driving, but with no events left unraced, all desired cars owned, a surplus of credits, and having put a Veyron engine in the EB110 and hit 269.6 mph, I don't really feel compelled to continue playing it.

That's definitely not a knock against the game—it sits on the shelf with many other games that gave me a solid 30 hours of above-average experiences, though will never be re-played (AssCreed II, Bioshock, Bully, and so on). But I feel like Forizon should, basically, have more for me, because... 13 months later and I'm still compelled to play Forza 4! So much left to do in that game that, in the game's favour, I want to do.

But that's two different games with two different structures, and Forizon isn't the worse for not being Forza 4. In fact, what I think it is is that while I thought a realistic open-road wham-bam driving game is what I always wanted (and it is), it's no longer an exclusive desire. And despite myself, I've really fallen for track racing, technical precision, finding the racing line, waiting for passing opportunities, and shaving hundredths of seconds off lap after lap after lap. Ahh Forza 4, you've irrevocably ruined/vastly improved racing games for me.

That's a fair contrast, Gravey, and I find myself agreeing with the bulk of it.

The two games balance each other out fantastically, each nailing their design goals.

What continues to blow me away about Horizon is how taking the cars off the track have allowed me to truly experience the feel of each car in a way closed-circuit racing simply can't. The open-road nature of Horizon allows me to push the vehicles in a wide variety of paces as my desire dictates. Barreling breakneck down a road, spinning 360s, simply cruising along, stops & starts. It's given me a greater appreciation on how the cars could potentially handle in real-world circumstances and as such given me a greater appreciation for both the actual vehicles themselves and the overall coding that went into the physics engine.

Still loves me some Forza 4, but I had no idea that I'd take such a shine on Horizon. At the end of the day, future releases of both mainline Forza and Horizon have instant Day One status in my house.

Doing the co-op 'challenges' online with Gravey was some of the most satisfying driving/playing I have ever experienced in a game.

We were, quite literally, cruising around Colorado in our dream rides, swapping the lead, chasing each other down winding tracks, etc. It was the most 'complete' feeling experience I've ever had online, just nudging out hiding in a deserted subway station with Nel e Nel, awaiting the incoming horde.

I am very tempted to pick up FM4, but I'm worried it will fall into 'grind' territory. I am yet to fully race all the events in FM3 for that particular cheev.

OK, enable, dissuade, recommend me on the following options.

$22 - FM4, new, factory sealed, Australian edition from eBay. Features 10 V8 Supercar team cars. Will have to wait on delivery for at least a week.

$36 - FM4, new, from EBgames. As above, but I can have it in my hot little hands tomorrow, for play on Monday.

$68 - FM4 and Xbox 360 Wireless Speed Wheel. Speed wheel is $58 by itself, so I'm looking to see if it's worth the money as a racing controller (always used the standard controller up to this point). If it's flawed, by how much, or would those flaws be able to be overlooked, if it could be purchased for half-price (rationalising it as $68 - $36 = $32 actual wheel cost).

I know it's not going to be as sublime an experience as three monitors, and full wheel/peddle immersion, but any thoughts, experiences, impressions would be appreciated.

That's easy.

$68 - FM4 and Xbox 360 Wireless Speed Wheel

For starters, I'm not sure what your history is with the Forza franchise is, but the leap from Forza 3 to Forza 4 is pretty dramatic. My first impression was that I immediately saw a two pronged difference. First the career progress was totally overhauled, introducing a narrative voice-over to each event accompanied by a global GPS zoom in to every event. Add to that leaderboard stat tracking as seen in the NFS franchise. It made the solo career feel a lot more fleshed out and personal. Far less clinical than F3.

Next is the in-game overhaul. The cockpit cam has seen an incredible upgrade where you get high speed shake and inertia shift in turns that feels far more immersive than the static interior feel of previous Forza titles. It's a night and day difference going from Forza 3 to 4 that you can easily tell from simply giving the F4 demo a spin. I sunk dozens of hours into F3 and almost gave F4 a pass because it released so soon after I put down F3. But the demo for F4 made me stand up and take notice with a fast quickness.

Now for the Wireless Speed Wheel. I bought it on a whim after falling for F4. I thought it might be goofy, but to my surprise it blew me away after giving it a go. I went in knowing that it couldn't compete with full-on force feedback wheels, but I was looking for a happy medium between the game pad and a huge rig setup. The Speed Wheel offered a more refined driving experience along with a compact design that fit my needs fantastically.

The wheel is simply way more immersive than the controller. You can hold long turns with ease, vs. the "tap, tap, tapping" of the control stick. And honestly, it's just bad-ass seeing your on-screen avatar arms turning in a 1:1 ratio to your movements. It just make for a way funner experience at a fraction of the cost and space of a legit racing rig setup. And it works way better than it should for what it is.

I guess it's one of those deals where you really have to give it a go yourself before you can really appreciate what it has to offer. As I said, it looks a bit goofy on paper, but it's freakin' ace in real life.

Aaron D. wrote:

That's easy, and all the reasons why.

Awesome response, thank you! Downloading the demo as we speak, and I should be giving it a spin when I get home from work tonight (sleep be damned!)

Seems my resistance to FM4 is coming from the same place as yours (and Jonman's earlier in the thread). Hope the rest of my experience echoes your own. Thanks for taking the time to write up such a comprehensive one!

Fingers crossed they still have a few units in stock tomorrow.

m0nk3yboy wrote:

I am very tempted to pick up FM4, but I'm worried it will fall into 'grind' territory. I am yet to fully race all the events in FM3 for that particular cheev.

Slow progress towards the Affinity Level 50 achievement keeps me plugging away at FM4, but not in a grindy sense—I'd keep playing the game anyway (those bucket list achievements might as well not even exist for me), it's just a nice, distant but reasonably attainable, goal.

The real reason I keep coming back to FM4 was pretty well described by Aaron D. right there. Even if you've played FM3, the sequel just feels different. FM3 was very clinical and precise, but that seemed to have been borne more from obsession. Passion, sure, but there was no... life. I thought FM4 would be more of the same, but in addition to the expected prettier graphics, the game was suddenly, surprisingly alive. Forizon is supposed to feel alive, with its cutscenes and people and music and jaunty menus—but it's a cynical, calculated, focus-tested life. FM4 feels genuinely alive, made with a real joy for the cars and driving, with no other considerations or concessions.

I'd say it's a categorically different game than FM3, not just a version upgrade. It doesn't have the quirky goofiness of a Gran Turismo car roster, but it finally has personality, which isn't discoverable without playing it. So yes, I'm enabling you.

Now the Speed Wheel is goofy, but it's also a totally different experience from the controller. I didn't use it much for Forizon, but it's fun to bust out for low-pressure races in FM4.

Oh, and m0nk3yboy: you can be my wingman anytime.

Also picked this up for 15 bucks, and boy am I glad I did. It's such a breezy, happy, fun game world.

I'm amazed that my 4 year old can play reasonably well, tooling around Colorado on Easy settings, and by bumping up the difficulty I can have an insane challenge on the same turf.

I'll definitely check out the GWJ car club... looking for more rivals beyond Aaron D and Gravey (they are mostly kicking my butt...)

m0nk3yboy wrote:
Aaron D. wrote:

That's easy, and all the reasons why.

Fingers crossed they still have a few units in stock tomorrow.

Last one in Store. Still marked at full price too of AU$129.95. The manager nearly fell off their chair when they checked the online price...

Off to the Forza 4 Thread now to avoid any further derails. Thanks all!

Spoiler:

Only 20 hours until the wife and kids leave me to my own devices tomorrow morning, SQUEEEEE!