Forza Horizon Hot

I'll admit, I was skeptical. The Forza series is one of the finest driving simulators around; not quite as quirky or impenetrable as Gran Turismo, and not as self-consciously cool as Grid or Need for Speed: Shift, it's always been a series of quiet, refined excellence. So the decision to hand off development duties to British newcomers Playground Games for this spin-off did not initially fill me with confidence. A few minutes behind the wheel at the Eurogamer Expo, however, and those initial fears swiftly disappeared. Horizon might swap the strictly defined circuits of the series for the open roads of Colerado, but it does so with all of the series' hallmark dedication to realism. The demo sits you behind the wheel of a Dodge Viper GT in what seems to be an early race in the Horizon festival, a point-to-point sprint across the streets of the rugged rural landscape. The handling is straight from Forza 4. It feels like there's been a hint of tweaking to make the game a touch more accessible, but the steering feels sharp and responsive, especially after I worked out how to turn all the driving assists off. I'll make no bones about it: driving on rural roads populated with other traffic with Forza's exceptional race physics is an absolute joy. The track is pleasingly varied, and after a bit of weaving through traffic and a couple of unexpectedly sharp turns I manage to slip to the head of the pack just in time to clinch the victory. If anything, the race was a little too easy, especially given a particularly bad turn did send me careening into a field at one point, but no less enjoyable for that. It's worth noting as well that Horizon looks astonishing. Yes, the 60fps frame rate has been dropped down to 30 and the vehicle models appear to be imported from Forza 4, but the environments and lightning look absolutely stunning, as does the much improved damage modelling (er... not that I hit any of the other cars or anything like that). The landscapes looked especially good - and were pleasingly destructible; my brief sojourn into that nearby field was through a wooden fence that would have become an impassable wall in any other game. Forza Horizon proved a very pleasant surprise. It brings effortless realism to a sub-genre dominated by arcade-y handling models, but loses none of the enjoyment such arcade racers are best known for. It's slick, polished, and great-looking, and it should prove a compelling and entertaining racer when it arrives on 23rd October.