Learning Curves
By Danny Chihdo
I'll admit it: I've always been more partial to arcade-style racers, like the Burnout games, than the hardcore racing simulators, like Forza Motorsport™. I'd suspected that the unforgiving nature of the game's simulation aspects might prove a little too unforgiving for a road-rage fanatic like myself. But, that's why I'm so overjoyed to report that Forza is slowly but surely making a gearhead out of me.
The game's roleplaying-like level structure, the endless modifications (both cosmetic and mechanical), and the fierce challenge of sim-style driving has me hooked. But, of course, that doesn't mean a little help isn't appreciated …
While the game's difficulty settings offer a wide variety of adjustable detail—from A.I. difficulty to transmission choice—three features in particular seem custom-made to ease arcade-racing fans into the brutally realistic physics.
Forza Motorsport lets you set your own pace.
Anti-Lock Brake System (ABS)
On the family minivan, anti-lock brakes are an essential safety feature. In Forza Motorsport, they're also an effective way to keep you and your car from flying off a corner and into the nearest sparkplug billboard.
As a driving simulator, Forza requires drivers to begin braking much sooner on even a mild corner than they might in an arcade racer, which sometimes only requires you to occasionally touch the E-brake. The ABS lets you slow down quickly without sending your car into a skid at the worst possible time (especially when you're still getting a handle on cornering) by ensuring that your brakes don't lock up when you panic on a sudden curve.
When you learn to anticipate and control braking with more accuracy, you can turn this off to add 15 percent to both difficulty and your winnings. When turned on (as it is by default), you're not penalized.
Adjust the difficulty to increase your credits.
Traction Control System (TCS)
In the Project Gotham Racing® series, you earn Kudos for long drifts around the curves, but in the uber-realistic Forza Motorsport, poorly controlled drift can earn you a big, fat last place. Even if you don't over-shoot and slide sideways into the wall (or worse, onto loose dirt or grass), you'll lose valuable time and speed as you try to swing around with game's realistic physics.
The TCS also helps you keep from spinning out like a crazy person at the starting line. You can turn it off for a 10-percent difficulty and earnings increase, but only when you're ready.
If hairpin turns leave you like this, use STM.
Stability Management (STM)
Now, this one is so high-tech that I'd never even heard of it before. (/then again, my real-life car is an '88 Honda Civic that's in the shop more than it's on the road … ) If you tend to take corners too fast in Forza, you're likely to go into a spin or at least fishtail if you attempt to downshift too soon or fail to ease off on the brakes. Pretty much any time you're moving and your tires lose contact with the pavement, you have the potential for a race-ending spinout.
The STM can tell when you're about to over-steer and enter such a spin. It then adjusts the braking pressure for each individual wheel to keep you from doing so. (How cool is that?) Stability management is turned on by default, but you can add another 10 percent to your difficulty and winnings by ditching it.
Comments about this article?
