Thanks for saving me the time of writing a long post. Perfectly described... great minds think alike... lol.
I fully agree with your post and you pretty much described all the things i wanted to mention, good and bad. Really nothing more to add from what i've experienced from the demo.
Also from a real life point of view, i agree it feels very good in some areas (like the "straight to 90 degree" corner you mentioned). I think sometimes we have gotten wrong ideas of how cars should behave from all those computer games, and then people don't notice when something is actually good. I think what we see in the Forza 3 demo is really good compared to real life car handling (apart from the new "safe for kids aswell" steering input feeling (control is there nevertheless, that's why i say feeling)). Now don't take this too serious... it's not real life either, it's a "game" like every other piece of software, but it does certain things right.
I think all you guys who say it's hard to lose traction or to spin out, you are not pushing it hard enough. And pushing hard doesn't mean full steering lock and full throttle (see above, forza does certain things right compared to real life). Be more precise with steering inputs. Think of it, if you take a car in real life, and you are already driving a corner at rapid speed... if you turn the steering wheel way too much and push the pedal to the metal, it will most likely start understeering, and depending on power eventually start to step out it's tail (depends on type of corner and elevation). I've noticed that Forza 3 doesn't seem as forgiving in this regard like Forza 2 is. Overshoot a corner, enter a tad too fast... then steer too much and slam the throttle... say hello to understeer (happens in real life too).
Maybe it's too much overall... a little too much grip, too much understeer at certain points. But it's minor... it's a game...
The Ferrari is great, but if people are looking for an obvious example, the Porsche is the best of the cars i think. It is so easy to drift with this car, and in the 2nd lap at the latest (when tires are hot), it's easy to tell that nothing much changed about the good old Forza 2 physics. They are there, very familiar feeling, and if anything, improved.
Also, think back and remember how the Forza 2 demo was. Stock cars also felt more grippy and harder to step the tail out. What i'm trying to say is... wait for the final game. You'll be able to upgrade and tune your cars suspension and tires (pressure, compound, size). Again, with the porsche you can clearly feel it... it's Forza all over. The rest is just tuning and setups. The only gripe i have is the new controller settings for the analogue stick... but it's not a big deal, and hopefully adjustable in the final game.
I'm really starting to like this track especially that bump before the last corner.
My times are way off some of you guys, but I found the drift point's system and I'm in the top 30, Hmm may I need to be a lot smoother and stop using the ai as break markers
The one marked red is not by any means a game for casual fags its very sim like and casual unfriendly.
Its The best console simulation racing game to date as in stil the most realistic.
But i have to say this demo feels good i think its the same as it was with forza 2 the physics are slightly dulled down.
I hope this wwil not be the same physics as the full game.
Although I am off by quite some time. Got myself in the top 1% in a R8 with a 1.06.2 which lists me as 346th
I raced the ghost of the current WR and cant figure out how he gets a time faster 3secs than me. I even sometimes pass him on the corners, however, come a straight, he shoots by past me Ah well....
I didn't get to post my views of this last night but thoguht i would before I start work in a few mins lol.
Overall - I am really impressed. Yes there are a few faults with the graphics and some jaggies here and there but a big improvement in my eyes to FM2. Physics wise - I think there is an improvement. The way the cars gain grin feels alot more real to me as in FM2 under certain conditions (maybe a bug?) it seemed to take a long time to gain grip back. Though I found that even the ferrari seems unwilling to oversteer or drift, that could be down to set up though. The main improvement I have noticed over FM2 is the tracks seem alot more inolving with the bumps with the cars bottoming out, the hump that throws you off at the end of the lap. I suppose you could say it as the tracks just seem more alive which I always felt in FM2 that they were a little sterile.
Overall, there is still some things I think they could of done and maybe will be fixed in full game. Either way it is an improvement and I wont be cancelling my pre ordered copy.
@Danowat
Nice times! I tried hotlapping the Ferrari yesterday and all i could achieve was 01:10:XXX. I'll try some more tonight tho... just realised there's a hotlap mode where you can run as many laps as you want with no other cars on the track... :doh:
I did a few run and then accidentally deleted the bloody demo instead of loading it. Sometimes my trigger finger is quicker than my brain
I enjoyed it. The cockpit view might well be harder than the bonnet cam, but it's definitely a lot more fun and immersive. Obviously that's the view I'd choose. I wasn't trying to break anything, and I only did runs in the Evo and the California, but I felt that my pad controls were actually having an effect, unlike the way I felt with Grid and Dirt.
Will re-download it at some point to join in with the hotlap challenge. Although with the unrestricted rewind, time trials might get a little frustrating Didn't notice the hoptlap mode though - how do you get to that?
Yeah i've noticed that yesterday already. But i was running my hotlaps with all the other cars around me, and two laps each race (where the 1st is useless anyway because of standing start).
...weaksauce. After seeing all the awesome 720p picture/video that was said to be 'in game' and all the other visual candy...the demo doesn't really present that. At all...unless I'm blind? I'm playing on a 52" LCD via HDMI. It still looks better than Forza 2...
Instead of basing my opinion on the demo, I'm going to wait for the full game...I'm going to purchase it because I love Forza 2 but the demo did a bad job of presenting the game, in my opinion.
I think what it comes down too is the track choice was poor...I think they should of picked a real track or a track that you could compare to Forza 2 so you can see the contrast between the two versions.
Another thing that probably made it seem dull was I'm used to flying around the track in Forza 2 inside of cars that are borderline uncontrollable and have no problem getting sideways. Every car in the demo was boring...and it made the physics seem dumber than Forza 2, even with all the assists off the steering input was dull and add that to the track they picked and it made for a very boring experience. I played the demo for 15 min and then went right back to Forza 2....
Someone complained about rollovers. They aren't perfect, in no game they are yet. I saw a guy doing a rollover that was caused by.. Well I will leave it for you guys as a suprise. I tried it myself and the results are:
