Dazza's-STi

Team, being an avid GT player on PS for those who've played GT well, and then switched to the 360, just how good realistic is forza in comparison...

Is it worth getting a 360 over the new PS???

thanks in andance
Daz

PS not that into gaming, although the kids are, but really like the GT on the PS... if forza feels too gimmiky, not the same feel as GT then i'll be erring on the PS...

Iain Young

Forza2 has much more realistic handling han GT4 ever did, and includes stuff like damage, wear&tear etc. It does feel very different to GT4, but personally I think that's a good thing. If you go for the PS3, it's likely to be another year before GT5 appears, and nobody knows how good that's going to be yet...

messiah

I've always preferred the GT series - no. 4 especially and I tried Forza 1 and hated it.

In the middle of playing Forza 2 and it's OK, but the presentation is nowhere near as polished as GT - ok so it has better graphics, damage etc but GT4 is still ahead in many ways - one of which being lifespan (GT4 has double the no of events of F2) and variety of racing (snow, rally).

Been doing F2's endurance events - and I use the word "endurance" lightly - each race is about 45 minutes.

F2 is excellent online, the combinations are almost limitless and the leaderboards could keep you occupied for long time.

The car painting facility is a big thing in F2, but personally, it doesnt interest me, other than putting L plates on some of my cars.

F2 is good - but GT is still the benchmark.

Iain Young

I think it's mostly down to personal preference. I thought the presentation in GT4 was badly designed and very slow to use (I found it frustrating). I got bored with the game within a week and haven't touched it again since. I n fact I thought Forza 1 was better than GT4 True, GT4 had the snow/rally events, but they were pretty badly done. It's a midly entertaining arcade game, but nothing more imo. Looking forward to see what they (eventually) do wih GT5 though...

messiah

My biggest gripe with F2 is trying to scroll through the cars - it just seems to take ages for it to appear on screen and wont let you go onto the next car until it comes it - the whole game just seems riddled with bugs & graphical glitches - the disappearing road being the worst.

The opening titles are laughably bad - I've seen better in a PS1 title, if you compare it to what you get at the start of every GT game (even concept & prologue) you get a much bigger sense that you're experiencing an event.

I dont know what it is, but Forza 2 just seems to be a generic racer, and why did it take 19 months longer to make than PGR3? There's very little in there thats over and above the launch title.

Neanderthal

iTrader: (6)

I bought a (albeit 2nd hand) PS2 just to play GT4 on. Think I managed a week longer than Iain with it before getting bored.
I found the handling on GT4 a bit hit and miss.
The first time I had reason to try a handbrake turn and it wouldn't let you!?! that's with all aids off as well!
GT5 will sell a lot of PS3's. It's just how long will it take to arrive?! (GT Mobile on the PSP anyone?!)

Iain Young

I don't understand that one. I can scroll through the list ok (using the d-pad) and it lets remove to the next car before the graphic is displayed. Even with waiting for the car to be displayed, it's still quicker than the GT4 menus...

I've still not seen that one. In fact, I've not noiced a single bug yet

Can't comment on that. I always skip past the title sequences. If I wanted to sit there just watching something, I'd rent a movie

Vastly superior AI, vastly superior handling, damage, aerodynamics, tyre degradation, tuning etc. It's a different type of game. The simulation aspects take a lot longer to model, unlike PGR3 which was basically just an arcade game with somewhat dodgy handling, a much more limited selection of vehicles, and a vastly inferior online system...

PeteBrant

I wouldn't say the AI is vastly better in Forza 2 - In fact, it's every bit as bad as PGR3/GT. I would agree with the rest of the above though with regards to the handling/damage etc. As you say, PGR is an arcade racer, Froza is a sim.... sort of.

With regards to the menu, it does take an age to scroll through the car menus while it loads the model.


My main gripes with the game are the fact it doesn't cache track data at all, you have to reload the track every time. There is no replay/photo mode in multiplayer (split screen) games, You can't add in computer drivers in Mutliplayer games.


There is a bit of slow down here and there, and the odd graphical glitch.


However, notwithstanding the above, I think it is an absolutely brilliant game, I don;t need to wait for GT5 on PS3, because Forza 2 does everything you could possibly want out of a semi sim racer.

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

Are you for real? the opening titles? Who gives a rats **** about the opening titles?

messiah

If you've not noticed any bugs or glitches you've been fortunate (or myabe you've hardly played it) - I've had a couple of disc-read errors and thought my 360 was gonna be going back to MS yet again but a few of my online buddies have had the same thing. Generally the interface is a bit clunky.

Other things I've noticed is that the game will pause for a second at the start of a race, when online racing, the host will start the race but he'll be the only one playing - the other cars will be there but the drivers will still be sat in the lobby. The disappearing road manifests in 2 ways - one will be that the texture map vanishes, leaving the road completely black, or that the ground will disappear altogether, usually resulting in the disc read error.

I dont think the AI is anything to write home about - granted its better than GT's but not by much - the cars still try to drive through you and have a nasty habit of spinning you off - none of them will yield if you outbrake them into a corner.

The tv advert says it all - the game is unremarkable.

Iain Young

I completely disagree there. In GT / PGR3 the Ai opponents basically just stick to the racing line (almost as if hey are on rails). In Forza 2, they actually race each oher. I've watched them slip streaming each other, getting it wrong and crashing, deliberately going off the racing line to overtake etc. Those are things that the GT/PGR series have never done (so far).

Mine doesn't. Sure the car models do take a while to load, but I can skip to the next model quickly using the d-pad on the wheel without waiting for it to do so. I've certainly not found the menus the slightest bit irritating to use. Perhaps I'm just more patient than you lot

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

I'd say GT3 was the benchmark, GT4 sucked. As much as I'm loving Forza 2 and am very impressed by the whole package, I think where it lacks is in the depth and variety that GT3 had. GT5 is going to need to be very, very good.

Iain Young

I'm up to about level 25, and have had quite a few online games as well, so I think you can say I have played it a bit.

Never seen that. Sounds like an internet connection issue. It's always worked fine first time for me so far. Was plaing for about 4 hours online at the weekend, and it was fine...

Nope, definitely not seen that one yet. I've not had a single disc read error either.

Well don't play it any more then and leave it to those of us that are enjoying it

Neanderthal

iTrader: (6)

Lets not forget that Turn10 have probably got a lot of DLC to release.
I reckon every major title for MS will hold some things back so they can reap some more $'s for DLC.
I'm not interested in more cars, but more tracks would be nice.

I disagree on the AI as well, GT4, PGR3 were just drones sticking to the race line, in F2 I've have some right ding dong battles with the AI cars (although there's no substitue to playing against clean racers online).

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

Good point about the DLC. Bugs will be patched pretty fast and new modes will no doubt be added

messiah

Fair enough, I only tend to watch them the first time I put the game in though myself, but I always see the opening titles as kind of a trailer, in that respect it does nothing to build your excitement.

Iain, level 25, fair point (I'm at 41ish, so quite a bit further) - to be honest the bugs I've noticed are not regular occurances, been playing the game every night for about 4 hours since last thursday and the online bug has happened about 3 or 4 times - the disappearing road trick was happening quite regularly at first but not for the last few days. we usually get whoever has the best connection to be host, normally a lad with a 20mb DL connection.

Dont know how many cars you've bought / unlocked but it the interface clunkiness seems to get worse the more cars you have available to you - but only tends to happen when online or in the arcade.

Awesomepossum

My 2 pence worth.

I am loving the F2 but GT4 is still the daddy for one simple reason, the Driving Force Pro. If Microshaft had designed a wheel as good as the DFP with stick shift and 900 degree of rotation, then F2 would be trouncing the opposition alive. Imagine what F2 would be like with the DFP or even better the G25 wheel from Logitech

I dont think DLC will be specific for 360 owners, i reckon the PS3 will have DLC as well for its games. When and what the DLC for PS3 will be is unknown but the GT free demo was a good starter

Tidgy

i've been looking at buying a xbox to get forza 2 and had a play on a mates the other day, have to say not that impressed , the number of tracks was very very small considering how many crs there were, so if you find a car you love driving you can only do a few different races, the damage is good, and the graphics are god but compared to the screen shots i've seen for gt 5 im not impressed.

although i planned to buy oine think i'm gonna hang fire

Iain Young

What screenshots for GT5?

Tidgy

there were in one fo the computer mags a couple of months ago

Neanderthal

iTrader: (6)

Any 'publicity' shots of GT5 I would take with a pinch of salt. Sony are past masters (along with Codemasters) of releasing 'actual ingame footage/screen shots' that are in fact high res renders.

Tidgy

is there a demo of gt5 you can download?

Iain Young

Nope. It's not due for a while (late next year the last I heard).

Tidgy

you can download gran tourismo HD concept. no idea whats its like though

Iain Young

It's a cut down demo of GT4 with HD graphics. It's got nothing to do with GT5.

RB5-Black

could be the PGR3 screens sony keep using

Tidgy

ahh righto, not realy up on whast what tbh, thought it was the preview to gt5

messiah

There have been some screenshots of GT5, but none of racing, purely the cars in various locations.

Iain Young

I never started it

Of course, real cars don't have damage do they? At least the cars on Forza 2 actually handle in vaguely the same way as a real car (unlike GT4)...