Forza Motorsport 5 Review: Expert Roundup, Car List and More

The early reviews of Forza Motorsport 5 for the Xbox One have been excellent. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone with a pre-release copy who wasn't impressed with the game. As one of the console's first exclusives, this is a big deal and a great sign for the launch of Microsoft's next-generation machine.

Reviews from The Metro (7.0), IGN (8.8), Polygon (9.0), Gamespot (9.0) and Destructoid (9.0) were pulled to assess how experts have been receiving the game. 

Let's start with the positives, and believe me there are quite a few. 

Visual Excellence

The beauty of the game seems to be undisputed. Even Mr. Pinkerton from The Metro who gave the game its lowest score (7.0) said this about the visuals: "Superb graphics and attention to detail, with plenty of cars and a clear love for motorsport."

Others such as Arthur Gies of Polygon wrote, "Forza 5 is beautiful, sure, with a stunning, light-filled world of engines and tire smoke."

From the looks of the graphics in the trailers and the gameplay videos available, it is easy to see what experts are raving about.

Drivatars

Perhaps the biggest addition to the series is the new Drivatars included in single and multi-player game modes. Essentially, Drivatars are created for every player. They simulate your driving tendencies and create a virtual you.

This clone can be used to navigate through levels you're not interested in playing, or those you don't have time to complete. The Drivatar technology is also compiled from every driver in the Forza universe and used to create human-like opponents for gamers in single-player and multi-player experiences.

Basically, this is done to enhance the realism and blur the line between races against human and CPU-controlled vehicles. It is an excellent idea. Some of the reviewers really liked the feature, others found a few flaws.

Shaun McInnis of Gamespot wrote:

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The idea is that each car you compete against throughout your career is modeled after a real player's driving habits, a sort of cloud-based doppelganger meant to reflect how aggressive a person is in the pack or how well they can negotiate the trickiest of chicanes. Exactly how accurate these portraits are is up for debate, but the system does succeed in filling each 16-car grid with distinct personalities, drivers whose tendencies you can never take for granted. 

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The fact that there are 16 different personalities on the grid is a positive—even if two or three of the drivers control their vehicles like mad men. I'd much rather have that element of unpredictability than a group of mindless but precise drones to race against. 

The Car List

The cars available seemed to draw raves from nearly everyone who evaluated the game. The list is down from somewhere near 600 in Forza 4, but the 200-plus vehicles available should be enough to satisfy even the most ardent virtual car fanatic. After all, you can only drive one at a time.

Sometimes a large number of vehicles isn't worth as much as it seems. Most gamers probably won't get an opportunity to experience driving every vehicle on an elongated list. That said, there is still something to be said for variety.

Check out this impressive list of vehicles available in the game, per Virtualr.net:

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2010 Abarth 500 esseesse
2001 Acura Integra Type-R
2007 Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione
1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA Stradale
1971 AMC Javelin-AMX
2013 Ariel Atom 500 V8
2006 Aston Martin #007 Aston Martin Racing DBR9
1964 Aston Martin DB5
2008 Aston Martin DBS
2010 Aston Martin One-77
2012 Aston Martin Vanquish
2012 Audi #1 Audi Sport Team Joest R18 e-tron quattro
2010 Audi R8 5.2 Coupé FSI quattro
2010 Audi R8 Coupé 5.2 FSI quattro
2013 Audi R8 Coupé V10 plus 5.2 FSI quattro
2011 Audi RS 3 Sportback
2006 Audi RS 4
2011 Audi RS 5 Coupé
2013 Audi RS 7
2013 Audi S4
1983 Audi Sport Quattro
2010 Audi TT RS Coupé
2009 BMW #92 Rahal Letterman Racing M3 GT2
2011 BMW 1 Series M Coupe
1973 BMW 2002 Turbo
1981 BMW M1
1991 BMW M3
1997 BMW M3
2005 BMW M3
2008 BMW M3
2003 BMW M5
2012 BMW M5
2011 BMW X5 M
2011 BMW Z4 sDrive35is
2011 Bugatti Veyron Super Sport
1987 Buick Regal GNX
2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe
2013 Chevrolet #1 Andretti Autosport Dallara DW12
2013 Chevrolet #12 Team Penske Dallara DW12
2011 Chevrolet #4 Corvette Racing ZR1
2002 Chevrolet Camaro 35th Anniversary SS
1990 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z
1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS Coupe
1970 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS-454
1960 Chevrolet Corvette
1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 427
2002 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
1970 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1
1970 Chevrolet El Camino SS 454
1969 Chevrolet Nova SS 396
2012 Chrysler 300 SRT8
2011 Citroen DS3 Racing
2012 Dallara #28 Andretti Autosport DW12
2013 Dallara #9 Target Ganassi Dallara DW12
2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392
2012 Dodge Charger SRT8
2005 Dodge SRT4 ACR
1999 Dodge Viper GTS ACR
2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR
1998 Eagle Talon TSi Turbo
1976 Ferrari #1 Scuderia 312T2
1998 Ferrari #12 Risi Competizione F333 SP
2011 Ferrari #62 Risi Competizione F458 Italia
1962 Ferrari 250 GTO
1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa
2007 Ferrari 430 Scuderia
2010 Ferrari 458 Italia
1991 Ferrari 512 TR
2011 Ferrari 599 GTO
2008 Ferrari California
2003 Ferrari Challenge Stradale
2002 Ferrari Enzo Ferrari
2012 Ferrari F12berlinetta
1994 Ferrari F355 Berlinetta
1987 Ferrari F40
1995 Ferrari F50
1984 Ferrari GTO
2011 Ford #5 Ford Performance Racing FG Falcon
1992 Ford Escort RS Cosworth
2011 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor
2014 Ford Fiesta ST
2009 Ford Focus RS
2013 Ford Focus ST
2005 Ford Ford GT
1966 Ford GT40 MkII
1995 Ford Mustang Cobra R
1985 Ford RS200 Evolution
2007 Ford Shelby GT500
2013 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500
1993 Ford SVT Cobra R
2000 Ford SVT Cobra R
1991 GMC Syclone
2012 Hennessey Venom
2011 Holden #1 Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore VE
2011 Holden HSV GTS
2013 Honda #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara DW12
2013 Honda #9 Target Chip Ganassi Dallara DW12
1997 Honda Civic Type R
2004 Honda Civic Type-R
2007 Honda Civic Type-R
1992 Honda NSX-R
2005 Honda NSX-R
2009 Honda S2000 CR
2013 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8 Track
2012 Hyundai Veloster Turbo
2011 Infiniti IPL G Coupe
1961 Jaguar E-type S1
2012 Jaguar XKR-S
2009 Jeep Cherokee SRT8
2011 Kia Cee’d
2011 Koenigsegg Agera
2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4
1988 Lamborghini Countach LP5000 QV
1997 Lamborghini Diablo SV
2011 Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera
1967 Lamborghini Miura P400
2010 Lamborghini Murcielago LP 670-4 SV
1982 Lancia 037 Stradale
1986 Lancia Delta S4
2012 Land Rover Range Rover Supercharged
2009 Lexus IS F
2010 Lexus LFA
2009 Lotus 2-Eleven
1971 Lotus Elan Sprint
2012 Lotus Exige S
2013 Lotus E21
2010 Maserati Gran Turismo S
1991 Mazda #55 787B
2010 Mazda Mazdaspeed 3
1994 Mazda MX-5 Miata
2013 Mazda MX-5 Miata
1997 Mazda RX-7
2011 Mazda RX-8 R3
1976 McLaren #11 Team McLaren M23
1993 McLaren F1
2011 McLaren MP4-12C
2013 McLaren P1™
1990 Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 Evolution II
1954 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupe
2012 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Black Series
2013 Mercedes-Benz G65 AMG
2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK55 AMG
2005 Mercedes-Benz SLR
2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminator
2009 Mini Cooper John Cooper Works
1965 MINI Cooper S
1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
1999 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI GSR
2004 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII MR
1994 Nissan 240SX SE
1970 Nissan Datsun 510
2003 Nissan Fairlady Z
2012 Nissan GT-R Black Edition
2000 Nissan Silvia Spec-R
1971 Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R
1993 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec
1997 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec
2010 Nissan370Z
1968 Oldsmobile Hurst/Olds 442
2012 Pagani Huayra
2009 Pagani Zonda Cinque Roadster
2009 Peugeot #9 Peugeot Sport Total 908
2011 Peugeot 308 GTI
1971 Plymouth Cuda 426 Hemi
1969 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am
1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am
1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am SD-455
1969 Pontiac GTO Judge
2010 Renault Megane RS 250
2003 Renault Sport Clio V6
1987 RUF CTR Yellowbird
1995 RUF CTR2
2011 RUF Rt 12 S
2004 Saleen S7
2012 Scion tC
1965 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C
1965 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe
2013 Subaru BRZ
1998 Subaru Impreza 22B STi
2004 Subaru Impreza WRX STi
2005 Subaru Impreza WRX STI
2011 Subaru WRX STI
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205
2003 Toyota Celica SS-I
2013 Toyota GT86
1995 Toyota MR2 GT
1985 Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT Apex
1998 Toyota Supra RZ
2005 TVR Sagaris
2012 Vauxhall Astra VXR
2013 Viper #91 SRT Motorsport GTS-R
2013 Viper GTS
1963 Volkswagen Beetle
1995 Volkswagen Corrado VR6
1992 Volkswagen Golf Gti 16v Mk2
2010 Volkswagen Golf R
2003 Volkswagen Golf R32
1984 Volkswagen Rabbit GTI
2011 Volkswagen Scirocco R

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Luke Reilly of IGN wrote this about the car list in Forza 5: 

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Featuring just over 200 cars, Forza 5 is several hundred cars shy of Forza 4’s eventual count of well over 600. The important thing is that every car that did scrape into Forza 5 for launch deserves to be here.

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There are several genres of vehicles included in the car list, even with the volume scaled back. Another factor to consider, though some gamers won't like it very much, is that game developers have to save something for future versions.

This is the first Forza title on the Xbox One. Expect the car list to drastically increase in future versions.

How Does it Handle?

Most seem to agree the actual gameplay in Forza 5 is great. Mr. Pinkerton wrote: 

"

Come out of a turn too early and you can almost feel the real wheels strain in protest, immediately validating the whole concept of the expanded force feedback and making it seem very odd indeed that no one else is using it at the moment.

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The Xbox One's pulse triggers are one of the system's best features. A racing game is perhaps the best type of title to fully experience how cool the controller can be. Older versions of Forza always had a great balance between simulation racing and sheer speed. From the tone set by the reviews included, that quality is still present.

Dale North of Destructoid wrote, "But, at the end of the day, the racing is what matters. And with this game, the racing is fantastic, and Turn 10 is really onto something with this Drivatar stuff."

Looking Ahead to My Review

I need some time with the game to give a clear assessment. I'd also like to play it with a full server of drivers online. Keep an eye out for my review, but the evaluations I've read thus far have only heightened my anticipation for the game.

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