The biggest question for fans of this genre is control. Rest assured, Microsoft has done a commendable job of dialing in the controls for the real-life cars. In fact, when watching replays of races, you can see the meat bones of the control. During playbacks, you have the option of viewing a wide array of graphs and charts that display number-heavy physics elements, from the grip your tires have on the asphalt to the G-forces pulling on your vehicle to your suspension travel. All these numbers translate to a very seat-of-your-pants driving experience. One thing that Forza really nails is communicating as much as possible the behavior of your car when racing. Braking, turning and accelerating realistically shift the weight of the car around, allowing you to counter oversteer and create understeer, among other basic driving tricks. Overall, the control is very well done, and racing-sim fans will feel right at home with Forza. Unfortunately, you cannot flip your cars completely over, although turning off traction control and steering assist will mean you can spin out much more easily. On a side note, the triggers on the Xbox controller, with their relatively large amount of play, are much more suited for gassing and braking than the PS2's DualShocks and their analog action buttons.

Forza boasts plenty of cars, and unlike GT4, includes Ferrari in its lineup. The selection isn't as huge as GT4's list, but there aren't too many "repeat" cars that have nearly identical counterparts. As expected from any sim-racer worth its salt, different cars have unique driving characteristics. This can especially be noticed in cars with different drivetrain configurations. Front-wheel-drive cars are more likely to experience oversteer, mid-engine cars are balanced and nimble, rear-wheel drive cars are better drifters, and so on. Not all of the cars are production models, such as Bentley's insanely fast Le Mans racecar. With over 230 vehicles, there's a car for nearly every type of car enthusiast.

The selection of modes in Forza are standard. There's the arcade mode, which has you racing against the computer for the top three spots in order to unlock additional cars and tracks. Time trials pit you against the clock, against other racers using cars with the same specs. Free run lets you practice on any available tracks, and multiplayer mode pits you against other players via a two-player split-screen, eight-Xbox LAN setups, or Xbox Live. The mode that you'll spend the most time with will likely be the expansive career mode.

The basic progression of the career mode doesn't completely reinvent the "buy car, race, upgrade, repeat" formula that the GT series has laid down, but steps have been taken that make the system more interesting. When you win races, you acquire credits that can be spent on upgrading performance or cosmetic components. The amount of credits you win doesn't just depend on the place you finish, but also whether or not you have turned driving assists off, such as traction control or the racing line. Playing bumper cars is discouraged, as your purse is charged for the damage you incur during a race. Microsoft has included a well-planned class system for cars as well. As you upgrade your car with performance parts, you progress through classes. The catch is that upgrading too much can put you at the bottom of the next higher class. Several different race types are available to keep you busy: amateur races with loose restrictions, point-to-point races, professional races with tight restrictions, championship series, endurance races, and online career, which lets you progress through the career mode against human players via Xbox Live. Nice touch.

Playing Forza online is nearly seamless. You can enter a race using a quickmatch option that pits you against similarly rated drivers, or select optimatch to really customize the race you want to enter. Of course, you can also create your own race. Not only do you race online, but you can view scoreboards, download ghost cars from other players, buy and sell vehicles, and join car clubs, which are basically driving teams.

The A.I. has been touted as one of Forza's most interesting features. True, the computer cars react more realistically than other sim-racers, but the real unique feature is the Drivatar. These lessons put you on a track, and as you race, the computer grades how well you handle specific turns, from broad sweeping turns to tight hairpins. Once the computer has all of your driving information, you can load the Drivatar and have it race for you, for a fee. Basically, the Drivatar is A.I. that is based on your unique driving style. Being able to play an active role in creating your own A.I. helps add player participation in what would otherwise be a "sit-and-watch" gameplay element.

Graphically, Forza looks very nice, although the cars look a bit "plasticy," but just a tiny bit. It could be that we're used to the impressive sheen of GT4's models. On the brighter side, the car models are accurately proportioned, and the lighting can be stunning. Forza also brings to the table visible car damage, which is both cosmetic and affects the drivability of your vehicle. While it adds to the realism of racing, the damage isn't the most convincing you'll see. Damage textures such as scraped paint will appear, but in an abrupt and sometimes off-timed manner. Once you get past the awkward transitions from pristine to damaged vehicle, the post-crash product is decent-looking.

With sim-racers, sound plays an increasingly important role in the experience of the game. Perhaps the most notable way Forza uses sound is tire noise. You can immediately sense when your tires are losing grip when they start to make their low-pitched squeals. It's really helpful, especially since with today's console technology, you obviously can't actually feel actual G-forces and grip slippage. Other sound highlights are real-world engine sounds and convincingly crunching fenders. The soundtrack is customizable, and the default soundtrack includes remakes of songs like Black Sabbath's Iron Man and Edgar Winter Group's Frankenstein. It appears someone at Microsoft is a classic rock fan.

Microsoft's attempt to create a formidable sim-racer has turned out to be much more than just an attempt. There are very few negatives when considering Forza. Sure, the damage modeling isn't too convincing, the frame rate isn't 60 per second (but still is darn smooth-looking), and the career mode isn't as revolutionary as some may have hoped, with its basis still being "buy car, race, upgrade, repeat." With every minor shortcoming, Forza has a positive to counteract it: Damage doesn't look incredible? Well, at least there's actually damage, and penalties for incurring it. "Buy, race, upgrade, repeat?" Microsoft has implemented a class restriction system that minimizes this repetition greatly. Online play is innovative and extends the replay value to virtually infinity, the control is up to standard, and the physics engine is impressive to the point that Microsoft almost seems to be showing off. Forza has turned out to be a true force to be reckoned with, and hopefully the next game in the series will uphold the original's legacy of realism and online innovation.