Forza 4

[Thexare]

So, who else here plays this?

I'm at driver level 36, started a car club, no one yet joined (hurry up and get the game Kaz), but if anyone here plays I'll probably let you in.

I'm horrible at starting topics for games, so someone else start talking.

[Hielor]

Been playing this since the night before it came out. Currently driver level 61 and just about done with World Tour. Gamertag is same as forum name here.

I hate how long it takes to level manufacturer affinity, although there appeared to be a "hump" around level 20 where the xp to get to the next level went down, and it's been at 50k for each of the last few levels for me (at 26). Other than that complaint, enjoying the game quite a bit.

[fencore]

I've played the snot out of both Forza 2 and 3, but I don't exactly have the cash available to grab 4 yet, and I imagine by the time I do it'll be funding an addiction to The Old Republic.

By your opinion at this point, is Forza 4 worth jumping for now (or when I do have some spare cash), or since I've still got 3 to dabble with in getting the rest of the achievements, should I wait until it goes on sale a while from now? Or even until 5 hits the shelves way down the road?

I noticed in playing the demo 4's got a new race mode or two, in this case the traffic avoidance, and a couple new tracks naturally. What else new is there?

[Thexare]

4's improvements are mostly minor polishing improvements (and at least one major PI balance switch). Still noticeable, but not in an easy to describe way.

Car Clubs are new - in-game guild system, basically. They have their own internal leaderboards available, and a shared Club Garage you can put cars into.

There's a couple new tracks, not as many as I'd like though. Still, I like the Bernese Alps.

The Autocross and Bowling modes are kind of annoying, I think. Track Day (traffic avoidance) alternates between infuriating and fun, but I do like the Mountain Chase (Traffic + one opponent, Fujimi Kaido).

I haven't done anything online in either game, so I can't really comment much there.

That said, you may want to finish up in Forza 3; when you import your file from 3 to 4 you get extra cars based on your progress, as well as a few extras if you have certain cars in your Forza 3 garage.

[fencore]

Yeh, I'm only about halfway through the ungodly number of cups that you can drive in and probably have 75% of the cars available purchased. It's good to know that some of that carries over.

Any word on how the Kinect functionality integrates with the game?

[Thexare]

On Kinect: All I know is that there's a single 5 point achievement that requires it. Other than that, I neither know nor care.

[Bauer]

I think it's an awesome game. I'd been playing it a lot before BF3 came out >.>

The Kinect has a head tracking feature. This means if you turn your head, the game camera will turn with it so you can peer into corners. I don't really like using it. You can also use the Kinect with the Autovista mode, and use voice commands and whatnot.

Also, my gamertag is Infinity293 if you wanna race or something.

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[10:10:28 AM] Josh (Dejavu): Bauer is legendary to the LPI, I joined because I wanted to be that epic.

[Thexare]

The Kinect has a head tracking feature. This means if you turn your head, the game camera will turn with it so you can peer into corners.

I would imagine that turning your head while looking at the screen you're playing the game on is just a little bit awkward.

[Bauer]

I would imagine that turning your head while looking at the screen you're playing the game on is just a little bit awkward.

Yeah, pretty much. That's why I don't use it. Maybe it works best on certain sized screens or something, I'm not too sure.

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[10:10:28 AM] Josh (Dejavu): Bauer is legendary to the LPI, I joined because I wanted to be that epic.

[Hielor]

By your opinion at this point, is Forza 4 worth jumping for now (or when I do have some spare cash), or since I've still got 3 to dabble with in getting the rest of the achievements, should I wait until it goes on sale a while from now? Or even until 5 hits the shelves way down the road?

As Thexare mentioned, when you start up F4 it gives you the option to "import" a F3 profile, which gives you some cars and cash based upon what level you are. There are really only three things I can think of that are relevant:
- There's an achievement for importing the profile regardless of what's in it.
- There's a title and badge for importing a level 50 profile.
- If you have any unicorns in the F3 profile, they get imported. This is the easiest way to get the Unicorn Hunter F4 achievement--buy the HKS Time Attack Evolution from the dealer in F3 and it'll get imported.

Other than that, if you're still having having fun with F3, there's not much reason to run out and grab F4--with the below exceptions.

I noticed in playing the demo 4's got a new race mode or two, in this case the traffic avoidance, and a couple new tracks naturally. What else new is there?

I didn't get far in F3, but from what I can tell:
- Online Rivals racing. This is one of my favorite parts of the game, and was in the demo. You can make lots of money with this if you're fast, and I like the ability to race against real people without having to deal with the issues associated with live racing. There are a few dozen different Rivals races available--10 AutoX (see below), 10 "track days" (the traffic avoidance ones), and a bunch of other random ones.
- AutoX (AutoCross): If you're more into technical driving skill and maneuvering than just flat out how fast you can go, you'll enjoy this--I certainly do. It forces you to think a lot more about your driving and tuning in order to succeed, I think, and is just plain fun.
- Top Gear track: If you like Top Gear, this should be enough reason to buy it--there's even a "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" rivals event that sticks you in a Kia Cee'd.

I would imagine that turning your head while looking at the screen you're playing the game on is just a little bit awkward.

I imagine it's just like the TrackIR for the PC, although less precise. Takes some getting used to at first, but it quickly becomes very natural and easy to use.