There's something quite endearing about how seriously Forza Motorsport takes itself. Take the series' live action openings cinematics, for example. Where the Horizon spin-offs begin with carefree visions of sanitised festival-going alongside its oil devouring, carbon-fibre love interests, the Forza 6 demo - which is out on Xbox One today - opens with an unskippable micro-art film that features grim-looking children, lots of longing shots of wheels, and a portentous voiceover all about how cars are better than legs (I may have drifted off).
The demo itself is appropriately all business, offering a tutorial ride, a 3-race slice of the game's career mode, a single historical Showcase event (an Indycar jaunt around Indianapolis Motor Speedway) and, once you've finished those, four Rivals challenges that change the conditions of racing on the other four playable tracks (Lime Rock, Yas Marina, Sebring, Rio National and Indianapolis Speedway).
Are you interested in cars? Here are all the bloody cars:
- 2017 Ford GT (the nice blue one from the box)
- 2009 Honda S2000 CR
- 1997 Mazda RX-7
- 2013 Toyota GT86
- 1998 Subaru Impreza 22B STi
- 2014 Volkswagen Golf R
- Audi S3 Sedan
- Ferrari 430 S
- Corvette '15
Here are some stray observations, having finished the demo:
- Driving in first-person in a 220mph Indycar is legitimately more frightening than most horror games.
- The game's mod booster packs and random level-up rewards feel more gamey than something that lets you turn on realistic tire wear has any right to be. I like it
- I've never considered a single puddle a genuine nemesis before.
The game's out on 15th September - and the demo will let you know that repeatedly.
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