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December 22, 2004

Forza Motorsport vs. Gran Turismo 4

Forza Motorsport is Microsoft's Xbox response to the upcoming (delayed) PS2 title Gran Turismo 4. I've heard claims of Forza being the Gran Turismo killer, which are often dismissed as ridiculous.

GT4 is without a doubt the king of the genre, and it would be a difficult feat to unseat it. I don't think Forza will outsell GT4. I do, however, think this could be an irrelevant comparison. If MS does 3 things right, I think we'll see people buying both titles instead of one vs. the other.

Here's what Microsoft needs to do:

1. Nail the realism. We know GT4 will have gobs of authenticity. Tracks, car appearances and handling are key. If the experience is realistic, and punishes those who drive like they're playing Need For Speed, it will provide a reward for improving their driving skills.

2. Implement Xbox Live just like Halo 2. If you haven't played Halo 2 on Live, you're missing out. I'm by no means an MS fan, but they have created the best online console gaming experience available. By far. If they adopt the same approach and attention to detail for Forza, you'll see flocks of people racing online. Gran Turismo will ship with no online component. This creates a huge gap, as the type of people who play games in this genre are the type that are itching to show others how good they are (See Live for Speed). Web-based statistics are another benefit of the tightly-integrated Halo 2 experience. Bungie.net lets players review their statistics in great detail, and even see how each game unfolded via overlaid map views. If they do the same for Forza (letting players review sector times, best laps, passes, etc.) they'll create a community of obsessive stats watchers.

3. Release new content regularly. Another huge advantage of the Live platform, the ability to make new cars and tracks available on a regular basis. This is something that is impossible on the mostly-offline PS2. Forza won't ship with nearly as many cars and tracks as GT4, but if they time new content releases well they can extend the life of the game indefinitely.

GT4's breadth of cars and tracks drawfs those of Forza. This is not necessarily a big disadvantage since it's all about the online experience. Being able to master a handful of cars and tracks makes the online component more competitive, as opposed to joining a race and never having seen a given track before.

If MS produces a visually appealing, solid racing experience and adds to it a the fantastic online piece, they will make irrelevant the success of Gran Turismo.

The official Forza Motorsport site

Posted by jb at December 22, 2004 09:50 AM