In the view of Forza Motorsport, cars are serious business.
(Such is racing, I guess, in the eyes of its admirers.)
Do cars make life worth living, or does life make cars worth driving?
But think of the efforts that it makes to welcome you.
We are ushered into a string of races, as though it were no big deal.
The difficulty is dampened by default, with brakes that kick in to carry you around each bend.
The career mode is approachable - wrapped into parcels of races.
Within these you find themed events: Practical Performance, Super Sedans, Built For Sport.
The developer, Turn 10 Studios, is determined to be a courteous host.
One by one, like Jenga blocks.
The battles of Forza Motorsport are won and lost on its corners.
It’s exhaustive, but it wouldn’t dream of tiring you out.
Hospitality of a different sort.
Strangest of all to report is that Forza Motorsport happens to boast the superior cinema.
The developers at Turn 10, I suspect, are familiar with this feeling.
There are featured multiplayer events, organised around specific schedules.
There is the excellent Career mode, of course.
And there is Free Play, wherein you’re able to race however you wish.
The Career is described, in the menu, as “ongoing and ever-growing.”
The wish, presumably, is that it will also be true of your investment.
There are subtitles, including configs for text size and background opacity.
There is a screen narrator with extensive parameters, including pitch, speed, volume, etc.
There is audio description, with speech-to-text and text-to-speech configs.
It’s up to you if that investment is monetary.
These microtransactions don’t feel as obnoxious as they might.
In part, this is because your time is untrammeled if you choose to go completely without.
Whether that sounds like a weight or a welcome invitation will depend on your sensibility.
