Forza Motorsport 2 Review (X360)

Its Better With a Wheel

It is also worth noting that Forza 2 plays surprisingly well with a racing wheel peripheral. Both the Microsoft Wireless Wheel and Mad Catz MC2 360 Wheel work very well and really add to the experience. Many racing games are a bit too touchy with a wheel and require lots of little adjustments and course corrections just to stay on track. Which, in a simulator, making all of those little adjustments typically add up to you spinning out and crashing. In Forza 2, though, everything is very smooth and easy. If you have access to a wheel, it is definitely the best way to play.

Visual Customization

Tweaking and tuning performance makes all of the difference out on the track, but visual customization of your car is what sells cars in the auction house. Plus, it is just plain fun to drive around in a car you can really be proud of. The first thing that you need to know is that you can’t upload any pictures into the game. All of the really great looking and detailed cars you have seen pictures of were created with the in-game tools. The tools allow you to create custom decals by using regular shapes that you layer on top of each other to make the final shape you want. It can be a bit tricky to use and rather intimidating, but there are a few tips to consider. First, draw out your design on a piece of paper first with simple shapes like squares, triangles, circles, and the like. You can then make that basic shape in the game, and then start filling in gaps and using the right colors and so on on top of it. Getting that basic outline shape down is the most important part, after that it is just a matter of details. When you have a design you like, you can save your custom decal separately or save a whole car design so you can apply it again and again. This way, if you have a particularly nice design, you can keep selling it over and over again at auction.

Graphics and Sound

Graphically, Forza 2 is a slight disappointment. The cars are very detailed and look pretty nice, but the tracks are fairly bland. There are some tracks that stand out more than others, New York, for example, looks great, but other tracks just aren’t all that interesting visually. The game runs at a solid 60 FPS, and the physics model actually runs much faster than that, so you can sort of understand why the graphics are a bit underwhelming, but it is hard to look at Forza 2 and not be a little disappointed. Project Gotham 3, which launched alongside the Xbox 360 in November 2005, is a better looking game overall. Forza 2 doesn’t look bad, but we just expected it to look better. Also disappointing is the lack of an in-car camera angle. This is by far the best and most realistic way to drive in a racing game and for it not to be included in the definitive racing simulator is a letdown.

The sound is fairly good overall, but there are weak points here as well. The engines sound very nice, and every part you add to your car changes the engine tone just a bit, which is cool. Other aspects of the sound, however, don’t have that same amount of variety. Screeching tires, rubbing metal, crashes, and other racing sounds are all exactly the same every time, which gets old after a while. The included soundtrack isn’t too hot, but you can listen to your own soundtracks which makes a world of difference.

Bottom Line

Overall, Forza Motorsport 2 is one of the best racing simulator games ever made. Not only will it appeal to hardcore fans of the genre, but it will also appeal to casual race fans and people that are new to the genre. Thanks to the wealth of options and aids and the freedom to play the game the way you want, it is very accessible to pretty much everyone. Whether you play it mostly online or off or whether you go in depth with the visual customization or not, this game is an absolutely enjoyable experience that is great no matter how deep down the rabbit hole you want to go. Forza Motorsport 2 is a great racing game that I highly recommend for a purchase.