SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - Review: Forza Motorsport 2 (Xbox 360)

The tracks included may be recycled, but FM2 offers a decent mix of fast courses and turns so steep they defy metaphors. A word on the graphics here. The visuals are nice, but it’s obvious that most of the processing horsepower is going to the physics and damage models, as well they should.

That’s not to say it’s an ugly game. Quite the contrary, and there are some very impressive efforts to visually maintain the level of depth to the game. Of course, I’m a huge fan of the Nurburgring Nordschleife so one of the first things I did was drag out Lotus Elise and drop the hammer on the track. I kinda wanted some decent tunes for this road course, but I figured I’d be fiddling with the car stereo right about the time I’d be confronted with an Armco safety barrier. I understand the ‘out-of-pocket’ to fix those things when you break one is a little over $20,000 USD.

So, tuneless, I wound my way through the track and from my peripheral vision I could see the more modern F1 course and grumped a little at its non-inclusion. After saving the replay and going through it, I noticed the front end of my once-glistening Elise was now thoroughly covered in road grime. This little visual nod to realism was one of the nice finishing touches to the game. One of the other sights that really blew me away in the replays was when I or someone else would really clamp down on the binders and the brake discs would glow orange from the massive amount of friction.

Forza Motorsport 2

Satori

The audio has also been on the receiving end of a kick in the pants. The once-bland engine noises are gone, replaced by something more visceral. When I step on the gas now, I can hear the difference between a normally-aspirating engine and a turbocharged one. Also gone is the horrid music from the original Forza. That may disappoint those who were looking forward to hearing the synthesized version of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” again -Hell’s Muzak- but it’s been replaced by a very funky, eclectic mix of tunes that includes artists like The Crystal Method and Prodigy. It also mercifully falls silent when your race starts.

I did get at least one surprise from FM2’s audio. I was watching a replay of myself running a lap in a 2005 Ford Mustang GT at Sebring, listening for the Doppler effects of my passing car when I heard what sounded like a cardinal in my right ear. At first I thought the window next my office desk was open when I heard a crow’s call in my left ear. Then I realized I still had my headphones on. There were sounds of nature intermingled with the audio that I thought was absolutely outstanding.

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