Forza Motorsports 3 - Feel The Power Of Racing Simulators All Over Again

It is instantly clear that the single player career mode of Forza 3 has been dramatically altered from that of Forza 2 racing games. The new career mode involves seasons. In each season, the player goes through various events which are arranged on a calender. Every two weeks on the calender the player is entered into a World Championship race, a longer, more difficult race with no restrictions besides class. Between each championship race the player is given a choice between somewhat random events aimed to give the player options which will encourage learning new cars and tracks.

The new season system is, in some ways, vastly superior to that of Forza 2. There is a better sense of progression to Forza 3, and players can move up through the classes more quickly. The world championships are very rewarding due to their length and challenge. On the other hand, the linear progression sometimes forces the player into places they may not want to be. For example, I'm not that interested the R class cars. I prefer to tear about in a vehicle I will see on the street. The world championships don't make any accommodations for this, however. It is quite annoying, and I occasionally find myself longing for the older format.

Just as in Forza 2, Forza 3 offers players a huge number of online options. Players can compete in all manner of events. Some events are realistic, such as the racing, drag, and drift modes. Forza 3 also includes just-for-fun modes as well, such as several game modes which are variations on the game of tag. The various game modes go a long way towards making Forza 3 all games to all people, and a good game cat and mouse is just as much fun as a white-knuckle race.

The community features are there, as well, and have been improved upon with a few new options. One big improvement is the vinyl editor. Forza 3 uses layers of shapes, called vinyls, to paint cars. In Forza 2, these could be only be edited on cars, so it was hard to make ones which could be applied generally to any car. Forza 3 fixes that. It also uses a more logical and easier to navigate storefront system with enhanced search features.

Even the multiplayer lobby is more logical and easier to use. The only real flaw is that Forza 3 has shipped without the ability to search for any class of race below A class. This is an odd oversight, as many people like racing the less capable cars, but there are rumors that this will be patched in the future. In any case, it is only a minor flaw in what is otherwise a multiplayer experience easily on par with what Halo 3 offers for shooter fans.