Forza Motorsport 5 Reviews
Turn 10 may not have crafted the biggest, boldest, and most definitive Forza experience with Forza 5, but they have delivered one of the Xbox One's best titles so far. Not to mention a breath of fresh air for the franchise's devoted fan base, and a promising step forward for the series as whole.
Forza Motorsport 5 is a technical triumph, offering up incredible achievement in both precision and realistic graphics good enough to show off your new Xbox One. Unfortunately a few baffling design decisions ultimately hold it back from feeling truly next-gen, making Forza Motorsport 5 a good racer, but certainly not built for everyone.
Motorsport 5 often feels like a warm-up rather than the victory parade. It may not be introducing us to the future just yet, but as Xbox One's best launch game, it's giving you an exhilarating tease.
It's quite possibly the best looking next-gen title. Hardcore fans will enjoy it to its full extent, but it's fairly forgiving to newcomers as well. There's just not a ton of middle ground, you'll either really love it or not be interested at all.
The Drivatar system is a great idea that again needs some tweaks, and the lack of tracks disappoints, but this is still a solid launch title to showcase Microsoft's shiny new black box.
As a visual spectacle and with some interesting innovations, Forza Motorsport 5 makes up for its lack of content, racing to the front of the pack in a strong Xbox One launch lineup.
While it may seem like a step backward with its lower track count than previous Forza versions, in reality it is quite the opposite. The tracks are an example of quality over quantity, and one could assume that a future DLC solution will address this anyway. The new Drivatar system is basically a crowd-sourced AI training system and results in a more realistic (and, at times, frustrating) racing experience. Multiple configuration options allow the challenge to be finely calibrated to any skill level. If nothing else, the visuals alone are worth the upgrade.
Make no bones about it, Forza Motorsport 5 should be a game that you should definitely consider when buying your shiny new Xbox One.
Forza has some major problems, but the core gameplay is as good as ever.
Forza Motorsport 5 combines superior visuals, futureworld technology, and the series-standard love for cars and car culture into a flagship launch title for the Xbox One.
Forza Motorsport 5 is a lifelike racing simulation experience which will appeal to those who love cars and fantasize about owning the most expensive rides out there. However, despite its removal of A.I. racers in favour of players' analyzed ghosts, the game is still quite sterile, which is something that may bother newcomers.
Forza Motorsport 5 offers something for everyone. You don't have to be a racing fan to appreciate how thoroughly detailed Turn 10 was in their development. Within just a few hours, we raced SUVs, Asian imports, luxury cars and even Formula-1 racers. Toss in a ton of customizations for each vehicle, and no race ever felt the same. The Drivatar concept brings about a sense of unpredictability. Even better is that your Drivatar will race for you while you aren't playing Forza 5 in order to keep a steady cash flow for you to keep upgrading cars or to buy new ones. Forza 5 is an excellent fan service to all aspects of racing and shows that the Xbox One has started the next gen console race at full speed.
Forza Motorsport 5 keeps the series in the seat of the best racing simulator out there, even though there are still some small details that I feel Turn 10 is missing. Fortunately, most of those details are just visual and don't detract from the fun of driving fast cars down a winding road.
Forza Motorsport 5 is a great game hindered by a lack of content – the offering of cars and tracks here is simply too skimpy. The Drivatar system impresses though, and is a rare game feature worthy of its own silly portmanteau.
Forza Motorsport 5's Career mode is a shell of its former self, giving little reason for players to keep coming back. Couple this with a dismal launch lineup of cars and tracks, and this is a surprising step backward for the Forza franchise as it helps kick off Microsoft's next-gen console.
If Forza 5 does not really keep all of its promises (reduced content compared to 4, still no weather, night races or pit stops, visually downgraded compared to what we had seen so far. .), it still stands out as the strongest game of this Xbox One launch. A sure bet for all car racing fans, who will once again find the very best in the genre with this fifth episode. Because Forza 5 is beautiful, fast, fluid ... and above all it offers extraordinary driving sensations, which adapt to everyone and make each turn exhilarating.
Review in French | Read full review
Forza Motorsport 5 is a great simulator, supported by an immoderate love for the automotive world, and full of class touches (the partnership with Top Gear is very useful in this sense). It is also a somewhat “trunk” episode, with certain aspects developed in a hurry (the music is really terrible), which represents a good start but not a perfect lap.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Bearing the weight of Xbox One's launch day racing hopes entirely on its own, Forza Motorsport 5 is a more than worthy addition to the storied racing franchise's history, and a strong first crack at next-gen. However, it's a game that's so in love with its own style that it forgot to bring the substance. Drivatar is a brilliant innovation, but where's the weather, night racing and improved damage model? Turn 10 has a lot of room to improve with the next Forza Motorsport game. For now, Forza Motorsport 5 will do.
The end result is, that not through lack of effort, Forza 5 turns out to be the first true regression the series has seen since its inception.
It seems that for all their focus on recreating how a person drives, they lost sight of why.