‘Forza 6’ finishes shy of first

By Austin Miller, @AMiller_DE

Ladies and gentleman, start your engines.

“Forza Motorsport 6” drives its way into players Xbox’s just two years after the release of “Forza 5,” which left much to be desired back in 2013.

“Forza 6” makes up for the lack of content in “Forza 5” and leaves it in the dust.

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More than 450 cars are drivable, twice as many as the fifth installment, and the game offers 26 racing tracks. More than 15 Ferraris, 10 Lamborghinis and an electric Tesla are all packaged in. Everything but a race car bed is in this game.

Not to mention, every car looks gorgeous. Saying a video game looks like real life is usually a hyperbolic statement, but these vehicles look just as breathtaking as they do in reality.

I could live the rest of my life never seeing a Bugatti Veyron in person and be content with seeing it in “Forza 6.” Flying around at 250 mph is astonishing yet terrifying at the same time.

The graphics and packaging of “Forza 6” are fantastic. Unfortunately the gameplay is underwhelming.

These games are known as a realistic racing simulation, and they definitely are, but they have hit a point where the games are so real they feel fake.

Various difficulties provide different amounts of ease. The lowest difficulty brakes for players and prevents them from driving off the track. But jumping to the highest difficulty feels like a foreign experience.

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I have never driven a Formula One race car, but I think they brake a little easier than the game demonstrates on harder difficulties. Cars have to brake a mile before a turn to not fly off the track. 

Moving down back to medium difficulty does not make the experience much better. Nearly every race had two possible outcomes: Players either pull ahead early and have no competition, or get stuck in a gaggle of computer players with no sight of the leader. A race may occasionally come down to the wire, but it’s not enough for a racing game.

As cool as it is to drive an F1 car — essentially a rocket ship with wheels — it takes too long for players to take the wheel of those machines.

Driving at night and during rain are the biggest updates to the game. While the changes are refreshing, they do not enhance the final product. Yeah, it is cool to feel the car hydroplane over a puddle and drag off to the side, but unfortunately, the puddles are not dynamic, meaning they appear in the same spots on tracks every time. Spending enough time in career mode, players can remember the location of each tricky pool.

Career mode is based around several series where players drive fairly average cars most of the time. Nobody pays $60 to drive a Ford Fiesta virtually. Not even owners of Ford Fiestas. Why should people have to finish several races in those cars when everyone wants to drive a McLaren?

“Forza 6” is great if you are a fan of the series. It looks wonderful and has bursts of fun, as long as you keep your playthroughs short. Spending several hours playing it becomes tedious and fairly boring.

It is not a terrible game, just underwhelming.

Stars: 3.5 out of 5

Austin Miller can be reached at [email protected] or in Twitter @AMiller_DE

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