Forza aims to be a simulation foremost. Sure there is an arcade mode for pick up and play if you just want instant action but there is no denying that Forza is one of the most realistic racers on the Xbox to date. Not everyone will be able to afford the new Speedster 3 wheel which was made specifically for Forza so the game offers assists to help you drive the best you can. Three assists are available for the cars which are ABS, Traction Control and Stability control. ABS reduced the chance of locking the brakes under heavy braking, Traction Control stops the wheels losing traction under heavy acceleration and Stability Control helps the car around corners by applying equal power to the wheels where needed. On top of these assists is a Driving Line which can be turned on or off. When turned on a green line appears on the track where it recommends you take the lines through corners, chicanes, hairpins and the like. If you approach a corner too fast then the line changes red at the point where you will not make the bend. As you slow down the line changes from red to orange to yellow and eventually to green.

Ideally once you are used to the vehicles and the tracks you should be able to take the corners while the Drive Line is yellow but if you are really confident you can turn it off altogether. It's a good option to have it on as you learn the tracks but rewards benefit from those who have the assists and drive line turned off. The harder you make the game for yourself, the more credits you win at the end of a race. Each assist turned off will give you 10% more credits from a win so turn all three off and you will get an additional 30% more credits. Using a manual transmission, removing the Drive Line and turning other options to simulation such as tyre and fuel wear and car damage will also increase the credits won. This is an excellent feature as it rewards the players for increasing the skill level rather than finding the easy way through the game.

The most innovative feature in Forza is the Drivatars. Within your career mode you can select to train your Drivatar. What this is is basically you programming the AI to how you drive. When you first start the training you are given five tracks and a different style car for each track. You are required to drive three laps in each car and at the end of each race you are evaluated upon your performance. Every corner you take in the training will be graded and it also takes into account how good you are in specific types of cars. You may excel in Front Wheel Drive cars and perform poorly in Rear Wheel Drive cars. Once the training is complete you are free to continue on in Free Training picking any track and car you like from the available list. Eventually you can use the Drivatar to drive for you in any race during your career mode. This is ideal for the later Endurance races that have a minimum of 35 laps. Of course, using the Drivatar will also cost you a percentage of winnings, usually somewhere around 75% so if you win a race and it pays 10,000 credits, then you will lose 7,500 of those because you used the Drivatar.

These Drivatars can be transferred to a memory card and given to a friend, or even swap with them so you can race each other offline in single player. I had to personally try this out against myself and found after a 5 lap race I ended up coming second and not only that, I came off the track once and so did my Drivatar in the exact same place, although on different laps. It was really something trying to out drive a version of yourself that was making the same mistakes you do.

The game itself looks and sounds quite impressive as well. Each car has huge amount of detail to the point where you can make out the badges on the car and what they say while the tracks have some excellent trackside detail and are quite colorful. The gameplay keeps a very stable frame rate even when the cars are all bunched together on a corner. The only gripe we have with the graphics are the reflections on the cars from the trackside detail. Sadly these run at half the rate of the game so they look a little jerky. It is nothing that really deters from the game play, it is just very noticeable in the replays. For those with a good sound setup you are in for a treat.

The engine sounds are some of the most realistic heard in a game. As you upgrade the car the sounds of the car reflect this. A V8 will be quiet when standard and when modified will start to have a grunty throbbing sound while the Rotary powered cars have a higher pitched revving sound. You can literally hear the separate car noises from the exhaust sound, the engine revving, the turbo whistling and the whine as the car gets up to speed. Even traveling next to another car you can hear the wind, it really is something else. The ambience sounds may need a little adjustment though as they can override the engine sounds in game.

Forza gives you the chance to race online with up to seven other players with the limitations set by the host. Circuit racing and point to Point races are available and car classes can be limited if the host chooses. Because pit stops are available in game these can also be used online and are handy for the longer races, in fact the race length can be set from one lap all the way up to 75 for the hardcore. Aside from the racing you can also have online buy and sell lobbies for exchanging cars. Pressing X over a particular car tells you how many owners its had, how far it has traveled, how much money has been spent on modifications and how many races the car has won. We have managed to test out all these modes on Xbox Live including the online career and they work really well. The net code is impressive and the car collision detection is very friendly which is required in close racing online.