All five versions of "Forza Motorsport" are compared in this awesome mashup

[Shawn Knight]

Gaming graphics have come a long way over the past decade. These changes, however, are often difficult to appreciate as they happen slowly over the span of several years. Sometimes it's good to take a look back and see where we were not all that long ago.

Over the weekend, I stumbled across a really cool video showcasing the progression of graphics over the years - a mashup that compares all five Forza Motorsport games across three generations of the Xbox in real-time.

The clip's author, Jorge Martinez, uses one of the most iconic tracks in the world - Nurburgring Nordschleife - as the backdrop. He starts will a full lap around the track, morphing between each Forza release every 15 seconds. Next, we are treated with a cockpit comparison of the three latest games and finally, Forza 1 is compared against Forza 5 side-by-side.

In addition to the graphical improvements, we get to see just how far the game has come in terms of accurately recreating sound effects given off by cars as well as the environment. Impressive stuff!

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https://www.techspot.com/news/57394-all-five-versions-of-forza-motorsport-are-compared-in-this-awesome-mashup.html

 

[davislane1]

A few things...

1. The graphical progress isn't as dramatic as I had anticipated. I remember the title-to-title transition being more grand.
2. The improvement on the exhaust note with each new game has been fantastic. Sadly, the same cannot be said of Gran Turismo.
3. He needs to work on his driving line and braking.
4. Cool vid.

 

[Seventh Reign]

I'm surprised ... Even Forza 1-3 looked fantastic.

 

[davislane1]

I'm surprised ... Even Forza 1-3 looked fantastic.

The Forza and Gran Turismo franchises have always been works of art in the graphics department. Few titles have held up as well graphically over time.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

A few things...

1. The graphical progress isn't as dramatic as I had anticipated. I remember the title-to-title transition being more grand.
2. The improvement on the exhaust note with each new game has been fantastic. Sadly, the same cannot be said of Gran Turismo.
3. He needs to work on his driving line and braking.
4. Cool vid.

You took the words outta my mouth with point 1 but with point 3, I don't think the game is as easy to play as some arcade racers. That said the cars handling looks more akin to a boat than a car.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

I'd like to play both Forza and Gran Turismo series but no game is worth coughing up greenbacks for a console as I'm concerned.

 

[davislane1]

You took the words outta my mouth with point 1 but with point 3, I don't think the game is that easy to play as some arcade racers. That said the cars handling looks more akin to a boat than a car.

It's not. I've dumped several hundred hours into each GT release since I first discovered the franchise as a kid. If you can manage decent times in Forza or GT, you'll obliterate people in arcade titles.

As for the handling... The video doesn't properly capture the physics engines they've put into these games. Although I haven't driven an Enzo, my real-world driving experience and kart racing experience matches up pretty closely with what's in the games. They don't get everything right, but they have by far the best approximations you'll find on a console.

 

[Ranger12]

Honestly, console racers and most pc racers have always felt dead to me. You have one shiny car zipping through an overtly fake environment. The producers always seem to go on and on about how amazinnnngggg the cars are gonna look in the next release but I think we've had nice cars for a while. It's high time they work on the paper trees, cardboard grandstands and some actual weather. Something that will make the game immersive.

 

[davislane1]

@Ranger12 Exactly. They've mastered the physics and vehicle models* but everything else has been sacrificed in the process. I don't think the biggest issue is the weather and track detail, though. The big issue is they haven't improved the A.I. since the mid-90s.

*Not a single "sim" game has properly done vehicle damage models.

 

[St1ckM4n]

That said the cars handling looks more akin to a boat than a car.

This is because of the joystick on the controller. When you push sideways on the joystick, you're emulating 'force' on the steering wheel. So, going from full left turn to full right turn means that the steering wheel in-game turns (relatively) slowly to the right.

If you play the game with a steering wheel and configure the game for 1:1 steering wheel movement, you'll see some more real-life type handling!

 

[davislane1]

If you play the game with a steering wheel and configure the game for 1:1 steering wheel movement, you'll see some more real-life type handling!

Good advice. Alternatively, pushing the steering sensitivity into the upper ranges can achieve the same effect with a controller. I don't know what the situation is on Forza, but this is the only way to compete with steering wheels in GT. ....But you must know stick-fu.

 

[Steve]

It’s an interesting comparison of console graphics but it doesn’t really tell the story of the evolution of PC graphics. While the video does show a dramatic improvement in environment detail, lighting and textures for me the biggest improvement in clarity seemed to come from the increase in resolution.

Take the CoD series on PC, they all look pretty much the same, even TitanFall is very CoDish. However if you compared Modern Warfare 2 (2009) at 1280x800 to say Black Ops II at 1920x1200 (2012) you would say Black Ops II has much better graphics, when in reality they are much the same.

Anyway it was just my observation that the resolution seemed to have the greatest impact. I would like to see the original Forza at 1080p without any upscaling.

 

[St1ckM4n]

Good advice. Alternatively, pushing the steering sensitivity into the upper ranges can achieve the same effect with a controller. I don't know what the situation is on Forza, but this is the only way to compete with steering wheels in GT. ....But you must know stick-fu.

I've found steering sensitivity just increases the 'speed the in-game wheel turns at'. Because if you're going flat out on a stretch and you jam the stick sideways, you never spin out and lose control (remember, it uses 'force'). But if you suddenly jerked the steering wheel in real life ......

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

This is because of the joystick on the controller. When you push sideways on the joystick, you're emulating 'force' on the steering wheel. So, going from full left turn to full right turn means that the steering wheel in-game turns (relatively) slowly to the right.

If you play the game with a steering wheel and configure the game for 1:1 steering wheel movement, you'll see some more real-life type handling!

Your'e quite likely right. I'm busy playing Grid Autosport on my PC at the moment using a Logitech G25 steering wheel and I find the cars are just as floaty as we see in the video no matter how I tweak the wheel in the settings. I guess it's just the way the physics are coded.

 

[St1ckM4n]

I've played some games that supported wheel input, and I used an Xbox 360 Wireless Speedwheel. Basically a cheap 'virtual' wheel, but it still sends the exact axis coordinates that a real wheel would. Even using the wheel in the game settings, I'd still get the 'floatyness' since it wasn't 1:1 mapping.

 

[davislane1]

I've found steering sensitivity just increases the 'speed the in-game wheel turns at'. Because if you're going flat out on a stretch and you jam the stick sideways, you never spin out and lose control (remember, it uses 'force'). But if you suddenly jerked the steering wheel in real life ......

Depends on the car. I can almost guarantee that suddenly jerking the wheel in a Buick is the act of a suicidal maniac. However, do the same thing in an Impala and you will be amazed at how much understeer can be engineered into a vehicle.

This is where the video games are hit and miss in the physics department. If you turn off the driving aids (primary culprit for the unresponsiveness) you'll improve the realism dramatically. However, across vehicle ranges and suspension setups you'll be pleasantly surprised or hilariously disappointed, depending on what you're driving.