Forza Motorsport 2 - impressions

This isn't simply Car & Driver magazine on an Xbox 360, though. It's a videogame and needs to speak to gamers too. Thus, customizing your car in any way - be it with a new tire tread or a whole new engine - will directly affect its performance index and class. Forza Motorsport uses aspects as obscure as load sensitivity and core temperature to calculate that all-important number and letter, and its developers hope watching them improve will be an addictive reason to keep playing.

This isn't simply Car & Driver magazine on an Xbox 360, though. It's a videogame and needs to speak to gamers too. Thus, customizing your car in any way - be it with a new tire tread or a whole new engine - will directly affect its performance index and class. Forza Motorsport uses aspects as obscure as load sensitivity and core temperature to calculate that all-important number and letter, and its developers hope watching them improve will be an addictive reason to keep playing.

Another compelling reason? Damage. Gamers love watching stuff fall or fly apart and Forza Motorsport 2 is taking the kid gloves off this time. They've fought with the car manufacturers to make the collision damage as realistic as possible, even if that means the vehicle doesn't look perfectly pristine. Smash into a wall going over 100 miles per hour and it'll show. Quite appropriately, your hood will crumple, your rear bumper will dangle and your windshield will crack. Your side mirrors can take hits individually and your car will even accumulate dirt in real-time. Not ideal for the show floor, perhaps, but great for gamers. And to prove they value fun just as much as accuracy, the developers have programmed the race marshals not to remove debris from the track between laps because it's simply more enjoyable to try dodging it.

Another compelling reason? Damage. Gamers love watching stuff fall or fly apart and Forza Motorsport 2 is taking the kid gloves off this time. They've fought with the car manufacturers to make the collision damage as realistic as possible, even if that means the vehicle doesn't look perfectly pristine. Smash into a wall going over 100 miles per hour and it'll show. Quite appropriately, your hood will crumple, your rear bumper will dangle and your windshield will crack. Your side mirrors can take hits individually and your car will even accumulate dirt in real-time. Not ideal for the show floor, perhaps, but great for gamers. And to prove they value fun just as much as accuracy, the developers have programmed the race marshals not to remove debris from the track between laps because it's simply more enjoyable to try dodging it.