Forza Motorsport 2

Rating ESRB: Everyone Genre driving Publisher Microsoft Game Studios External Links Official Site

There are two kinds of racing games, the hardcore simulation racers, and the more relaxed, less serious ones. Forza Motorspot 2 is one of the former. It is quite obvious that Forza’s makers, Turn 10, took painstaking measure to make sure that every facet of this game is a realistic as possible. It’s a trade of fun my opinion. Either you make a serious, realistic style game, or a “forget the physics, just race and have fun” game. Personally I’m more fond of the lighthearted racers than the simulations but FM2 is still enjoyable.

The game plays very similarly to the PS2 title Grand Turismo 4. At the beginning of the game you are asked to choose a starting region: the U.S., Europe, or Asia. This determines what cars you can initially buy from dealers. There are several different cups that you can race depending on things such as model of car, drive of your car, engine mounting, car year, car weight, and other stipulations. Each completed race earns you cash, driver rating, and car reputation. Raising your driver rating and car reputation allows you unlock more vehicles to purchase as well as discounts on cars and upgrades.

Completing a cup also earns you a car, which you can either sell right off or use in later races that may require its specific specs to participate. Each car can be upgraded in several ways. You can purchase better tires, suspension, brakes, intakes, turbos, and anything else you can imagine putting in a car to increase its performance. You even have the option to give your ride a new paintjob and add decals to your ride to give it that “Hey I spent money on this” look. Nothing says I’ve got a cool ride like flame decals.

An interesting option to FM2 is the ability to play online with other modified cars. You can even trade and gift cars to friends and strangers or auction them off to the highest bidder. You can also take pictures of your car while watching through replay mode and upload those photos to the game’s website. A not-so-interesting option is the Forza Motorsport TV, where you can watch other people racing. This option seems a bit pointless, as it is lost on me why someone would rather watch a virtual race than play in one themselves.

Forza Motorsport 2 is a solid racing simulator with all the realistic sound effects, car models, and vehicular damage you could want. If you have enjoyed the first Forza Motorsport or any other racing sim in the past, you wont be disappointed here.