That's a bit more like it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o_ffEHUQ_0

I watched that a couple of times thinking there was a slight pause before the rear end went up, but I think it's actually because he gets nudged again (maybe by the Scirocco). Still spectacular.

I had a little go on this just a short while ago.

I dislike the in-car view because of the absurdly small amount the steering wheel moves, I also agree that the cockpits aren't exactly amazing, but they're okay.
Otherwise the graphics seem pretty good. Nice reflections, particularly on the bonnet of the Ferrari in the bonnet view. Scenery and road look okay, framerate seems stable, although I'm not sure if it holds the 60fps all the time in replay mode.

Handling wise it seems okay. The cars can fairly easily be coaxed into oversteer, but I got the impression that the Porsche has a very very noob-friendly setup, understeer understeer understeer. I got a slightly better impression of weight transfer in pitch and roll in the road cars than I did in Forza 2, but it's not a night and day difference in any way.

Presentation and menus seems nice, load times are quite long. Disappointed that there is no time-trial mode in the demo, just the single race. AI on the most difficult setting are still very slow, but, annoyingly, very slow in weird places which will cause you to hit them from behind because they're awkward to follow with their odd braking.

Sounds are okay, damage is usual stuff.

Overall I think it seems decent enough to be worth buying as a new release, which is not something I do very often, but for me the single-player career mode alone will not hold my interest for a great deal of time, unless the AI is a bit better in the full version, which I doubt.

IMO the graphics are not that great, especially when compared to Dirt 2 or even Shift (it's not the blur that I like in them though). It is detailed and crisp but just does not seem very impressive to me. OK, maybe that means it is lifelike. The cockpit view is really half-cockpit view or even quarter-cockpit view to be exact.

I expect the slight reduction in quality is down to a few things. First of all, it's a demo so there might be some file size issues there. Bear in mind the full game ships on 2 DVDs and the textures you downloaded for the demo could be more heavily compressed.
Secondly, the damage modelling - unlike previous incarnations they not only need the existing parts to look bent but they also need to model what's underneath them for when they come off.

This is a load of hyped sh*t...

All these "New" features have been done before and much better....

Its Forza 2 with a little more polish, some new cars, tracks, The cool bits from F1 that they forgot to put in F2, and roll over...

Also...

No proper control of steering....

Speed sensitive steering is still in 3yo child mode even with all aids off and dificulty on max..

i.e. Take the Evo, From a standing start away from the pack, with full lock start doing a donut... Flick the steering straight quickly then to full lock again. The roadwheels stay straight even when controller is full over..

I could understand if it was a nes controller used for steering but its an analogue stick, Why does the game decide how much to turn when thats what the analogue stick is designed for?....

This also affects cars going slightly too fast into a corner... Instead of a screaching understeer into the wall or snap lift off oversteer, the car just doesnt even try to get round the corner and drives almost straight on with the wheel almost straight......

Bad understeer or snap oversteer is realistic, This isnt possible atm with the steering crippled...

I also spoke to a friend on the phone who had the chance to try it already (still at work, damnit!). He mentioned the same issues about the steering, and that it would suck pretty bad (he loves Forza 2).

Still excited to try it out... but with an added portion of worries.

Quote from Foilpact :

This is a load of hyped sh*t...

All these "New" features have been done before and much better....

Its Forza 2 with a little more polish, some new cars, tracks, The cool bits from F1 that they forgot to put in F2, and roll over...

Also...

No proper control of steering....

Speed sensitive steering is still in 3yo child mode even with all aids off and dificulty on max..

i.e. Take the Evo, From a standing start away from the pack, with full lock start doing a donut... Flick the steering straight quickly then to full lock again. The roadwheels stay straight even when controller is full over..

I could understand if it was a nes controller used for steering but its an analogue stick, Why does the game decide how much to turn when thats what the analogue stick is designed for?....

This also affects cars going slightly too fast into a corner... Instead of a screaching understeer into the wall or snap lift off oversteer, the car just doesnt even try to get round the corner and drives almost straight on with the wheel almost straight......

Bad understeer or snap oversteer is realistic, This isnt possible atm with the steering crippled...

This is how console games are if you play with a controller. Nothing new or unusual.

It feels pretty much like a hopped up Forza 2 for me, and that's all that I was expecting. Some annoyances though:

- No control setup possibility in the demo, I actually prefer to change gears with the triggers and use the second analog stick for accel/brake.

- Annoying unskippable pre-race intro (just like Shift..) that leaves you with less than a second to get your revs correct before the lights turn green.

- The 2D gauges have been moved to the right corner when using a bumper cam, compared to the middle like in FM2. I dislike using the cockpit with a gamepad so this is bugging the hell out of me!

- Where is a time attack mode along with the promised leaderboards? 2 laps only in the race? That's barely enough to get the tires warm.


Other than those issues, it's exactly how I imagined it would be. Needless to say, I'm still very very glad I've pre-ordered the LCE.

Downloading it now, will post my opinion soon

Its a big improvement all round really but its just more of the same... The main complaints that ive had from F1 to 2 and now 3 are all still there...

Also, the cheek to say its the "most realistic sim ever" on the loading screens pi$$es me off... It might be the most advanced physics engine working, but your inputs are that restricted like some arcade child racer that you cannot get a proper feel for it....

Quote from Foilpact :

It might be the most advanced physics engine working, but your inputs are that restricted like some arcade child racer that you cannot get a proper feel for it....

Exactly what i've been saying..

Quote from sinbad :

This is how console games are if you play with a controller. Nothing new or unusual.

I know, but whats the analogue stick for tho? Feels more like a pikey tactic to force you to buy that overpriced pos wheel.....

Race Pro on xbox or even lfs with a controller gives full control all the time, Its not like its going to break the game giving you full control of what is supposedly a "Sim".....

Race Pro is a terrible, terrible GAME however.

Quote from jibber :

Race Pro is a terrible, terrible GAME however.

It wasnt great, but not terrible... You could blow up ur engine if redlined for long enough and got big flashes and bangs out the exhaust.... kinda realistic, What every other driving game has done for years now, Still not in Forza3.... The audio in Race wasnt too bad either....

RROD now ffs...... Tho just found out that clingfilm works much faster than a towel heh...

Quote from Foilpact :

RROD now ffs...... Tho just found out that clingfilm works much faster than a towel heh...

:ices_rofl


Sorry.

lol, ill strip it again later, usually get another month or 2 after new thermal paste and a good few presses/whacks on the gpu while overheating the motherboard stripped bare on a table....

My full and frank impressions after an hour with the demo.....

Firstly, who the heck thought it was a good idea to let the AI rev your car on the start line?, really, really odd choice that it.

Lets start with the graphics, to be perfectly honest, they aren't quite as good as I expected, its clearly evident that the car model in the "home screen" view is completely different, compare the Mini's headlights in the home screen to race graphics, very different, still quite a lot of aliasing issues present, but I am not that bothered, its better looking than FM2, and it runs at a steady 60fps, which is fine with me.

The cockpit view is extremely good, has a great sense of immersion whilst still remaining completely useable, with the HUD off, it will be my view of choice when the main game comes out.

The demo is certainly very light on content, I am happy with the 5 cars, but the lack of a "free run" or "hotlap" mode is almost inexcusable.

Sound is very nice, AI is much improved on FM2, and they put up an admirable fight, although even on hard the AI isn't much of a challenge.

And this brings me to the physics............

Hmmm.....what is going on here, in grip conditions, they feel good, cars feel weighty, tyre grip feels good, everything seems to be performing as it should be, ok the steering is a tad twitchy, but I can live with that, but in non tyre grip conditions, it all seems to go a bit out of whack.

Oversteer almost seems like a "canned cycle", its very, very difficult to get any of the cars into an unrecoverable condition, infact almost impossible, the car can always be recovered, which is very wrong indeed, this combined with the very apparent understeer points to either...

a) the physics have been dumbed down

b) the physics have been dumbed down for the demo

c) the cars are running some sort of very safe setup.

So I come out of the demo with mixed feelings to tell the truth, the biggest issue is with the physics, and I just hope that this "canned cycle" oversteer is something that isn't present in the full game (p.s. its still better than GT5p :P).

Well about the setups, you have to remember that the game is not only aimed at Sim-Racers. If they have a proper setup that makes the car hard to handle, all the arcade-ish people will slag off the game and will not even consider buying it.

I find it ok. Yes, it might be a bit too easy. Yes, it might not be a full sim. But for a console game, it is a blast. And personally, I cannot wait for the full game to be out so I can thrash around the Ring or de la Sarthe.

But the point is, at this point in time it feels more dumbed down than FM2 did.

Quote from danowat :

But the point is, at this point in time it feels more dumbed down than FM2 did.

its a demo.
lol, im still buying it anyway, i played for about 30 minutes and its really fun

AI has improved, Graphics seem a little dulled down but it is the demo.

Not sure if it was me but the assists were kind of annoying and even with them off it still seemed too easy?

Anyway another game to add to the collection.

Quote from sinbad :

This is how console games are if you play with a controller. Nothing new or unusual.

I don't believe toca 2, enthusia, or gt3 had this 'smoothified' steering going on. Its just the latest 'fad' to make more racing games accessible to sim newbies.

Have played the demo for 4-5 hours.

Graphics are great, especially the einvroments.

Incar view is great, but things feel too smooth in it. Driving from hood feels better, but I'm slowly getting used to the incar.

The physics are great, definitely improved over the f2. The tires feel grippy. In long hairpins when overspeeding at mid corner the result is understeer, which is same as real life. Drifting in ferrari feels great especially on 2nd gear in "car parking" next to the pit area. Especially when clutch kicking. But things may feel too smooth and forgivable at higher speeds, I'm not sure though as the pad steering is a big aid. But then in live for speed drifting is harder than real life, in gt5p it is way too snappy, in fm2 it's way too twitchy with pad, and in fm3 it seems too calm. It's a great fun non the less.

Also one thing I remembered about physics. In real life in corners that are "straightway to 90 degree or sharper (hairpins, long hairpins)" I've had a problem with initiating a nice early drift entry before the apex without a handbrake. I never had a problem with it in live for speed, forza 2 or other games (as in other games it's easier to break the traction and keep the drift going). But in forza 3 demo I feel the same issue. So it's a plus for the physics.

More about the steering - there is too much steering help, it makes drift control smooth, but I'd like to be able to turn faster sometimes. For example try doing a slalom or a tight chicane. I'd like to be able to do fast flicks as well for sideways, kinda hard with slowish steering (feels like stock e30 steering - 1440 degrees ftw :P). I hope they allow us to fine tune the settings ourselves.

Sounds are very good. You can even hear a pop sometimes in a ferrari (at first i thought it's car bottoming out, but I changed my mind when I heard it when standing still and reving up).

Overall, Fm3 demo is a blast, the car reacts just as I would expect it too and it's a great fun to drive. Getting full fm3 lce on pre-order. I can't wait.

edit:

AI is good, but it could be less agressive sometimes.

Quote from KurtG85 :

I don't believe toca 2, enthusia, or gt3 had this 'smoothified' steering going on. Its just the latest 'fad' to make more racing games accessible to sim newbies.

I'm not saying the steering in every console racing game is the same, but if you're using an analogue stick then you only get analogue control to the point where the tyres start to slide, so you get less actual steering at higher speeds. You only get analogue control to the point where a digital d-pad would steer if you pressed it. Think about it, full steering lock would rarely be used on track by a racing car, let alone a road car, have you ever played a console racing game where your thumbstick never gets to the outer reaches of its side to side travel over the course of a lap? I haven't.

The speed at which you can steer from one side to the other isn't how fast you can move the thumbstick from one side to the other either. Some games are quicker than others (GT4 is mega slow compared with GT3 for instance). Unless you have your thumbstick set up to mimic a steering wheel axis (like you can in LFS) then this is basically what the steering will be like.

I don't think there has ever been a console game which lets you continue to wind on the steering lock once the front tyres are slipping if you're playing with an analogue control pad. I wish they would, I played LFS like that for a while with no problems, but they just don't.

Perhaps unless there's a steering wheel visible in game you can be under the iullusion that you have more control than you do, but for me Forza 3 is no different to the norm in this regard.