As a racing game enthusiast, any chance I got to play a simulated racing game made me feel giddy inside. Since getting my hands on my first console, titles like Crash Team Racing, Ridge Racer, and Need for Speed dominated my headspace. Safe to say that I got drawn to fast cars, and only wanted to finish ahead of the pack in the fastest way possible.

To be honest, organized motorsport would be the last thing that I’ll try out within the racing game space. There’s just a lot of things to consider even within your vehicle of choice, especially if you want to improve speed and handling. Also, a huge part of my racing experience revolves around the game just automatically showing me how fast my car could be. Even in supposed motorsport games like Forza Motorsport, speed would still be my priority.

As I grew older, however, I became a bit more open to these types of racing simulation games. Of course, the nostalgia coming from remastered versions of the racing games I grew up on outweighed this sudden interest. Ever since I gained access to better hardware and subscription services, I decided to try them out to see if I will appreciate them to any extent.

Learning how to operate a vehicle

I have to admit that Forza Motorsport had a bit of a learning curve when you first play it. This is especially true if you’re coming from a background of wacky racing games with gimmicks and everything is done for you. Even though I already had some prior experience playing a Forza game like Forza Horizon 5, Motorsport dives deeper into the racing than free roam driving.

Similar to most of the games within Forza’s extensive library, you can tweak your driver settings depending on your comfort. By default, you will have most of the driving-related settings on Automatic (brakes, mode of driving, assisted turns, etc.) to ease you in. I did appreciate the fact that you could do this and they give you a good explanation of what happens when certain settings are active.

When you’re using the controller, its controls are pretty easy to get around; think Mario Kart or Rocket League when it comes to acceleration and brakes. Unlike all the wacky racing games I played, I’m using simulated versions of actual sports cars and the controller will make you feel that through haptic feedback. 

Understanding the environment

Here’s a quick side story: I remember on my first day of my driving lessons, I literally bumped a sign post that was on the road. In my defense, I was aware for a brief moment that it was there but I was busy learning how to operate the car I was using. Similarly, with my first race in Forza Motorsport, I took several bumps along some of the tracks trying to get a feel of it, and I scratched my head every time.

Speaking of the tracks, Motorsport for 2023 gave us 20 unique tracks built and based on some of the world’s premier race areas. I literally had to stop the game and go into Photo Mode to get a glimpse of the accuracy at which they rendered everything. I mean, even the crowd watching the races were included into the environment – especially when I was going through practice races.

Going back to those bumps, I also found it rather funny that the level of detail extends even to scratches on decals. The developers did such a wonderful job rendering all the vehicles at your disposal, and even went the extra mile to show you the damage you’ve done. Also, just to give another shout out to Photo Mode, I’m quite happy that you could just remove decal damage there and then it gets removed upon exiting. 

Off to the races

By this point, I’ve gotten used to how the vehicles operate, how the tracks go, and how most of the other controls work. Much like driving school, here comes the first checkpoint on my road to getting into virtual motorsport: the practical driving actual racing. I decided to go around three different tracks to see how I would stack up: Suzuka, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, and the Le Mans.

In the simplest way possible, Forza Motorsport is as straightforward of a racing game as you can imagine. It’s a simulated race with no special gimmicks, no powerups, no shortcuts, and you can’t drift to go faster. There’s also a blue line that sort of guides you in terms of the best possible path to take when racing bumper to bumper with 19 other cars. Basically, it’s organized racing with fast cars.

My transition from wacky to organized went as well as I thought it would – kinda bad. It’s one thing to know how to steer the car while controlling your input on the gas and brake. However, it’s an entirely different thing when you consider that the vehicle you’re driving doesn’t handle well, or it takes a deeper press of the left trigger to apply the brakes. Although, I still managed to finish first in Suzuka so that’s a good start.

If you ain’t first, build a faster car

After three races, I wanted to understand how I could further improve the cars I chose to race with since I noticed they gained levels. It’s a feature that they introduced within the main Forza Horizon series as Car Mastery, which would allow you to utilize certain perks the more XP you gain. In Motorsport, it comes in the form of levels with car upgrades to enable it to go faster and give you more control.

The thing though is, well, I’ve never really had any experience tinkering the inside of any car. Even my little experience in Forza Horizon 5 didn’t help me out with this one. Of course, Forza Motorsport lends you a hand by showing you which parts to upgrade and how it affects your car’s overall stats. Yet, I barely understood what I was even doing or what I was upgrading throughout the whole time. I even opted to just press “Quick Upgrade” and the game just automatically showed me the upgrades needed to make the car faster.

Luckily, the Career Mode known as the Builders’ Cup kinda helped me out in that regard. In Career Mode, you basically get to race in circuits with specific types of vehicles built for each. This requires you to purchase or rent only a set amount of vehicles and limit the upgrades to fit the circuit you’re in. Also, the races are quite fun and you get to test out your upgrades properly.

A lengthy drive home

After everything I had done to learn more about this game, I felt the need to just do one more practice run before calling it a day. This time, however, I decided to just turn off all the automatic settings and go manual – with a clutch pedal, too. After all, if I couldn’t drive a car on manual transmission in real life, I might as well do it here.

During the practice run that went on for 20 laps, I started to get the groove of things. From the way the vehicle turns to the gear shifting with the clutch, it felt right. I just found myself coasting through the track, with some hiccups but no bumps this time! This was, for me, the second checkpoint to appreciating virtual motorsport: the practical test; safe to say, I passed!

Forza Motorsport was simple enough to understand and get by with little assistance. Of course, for new players, there is a learning curve to all the features, the vehicles, the tracks, and everything in between. Once you’re in, you will just enjoy what the experience has to offer — no gimmicks, nothing wacky to get in your way.

It’s strategic, organized, and resembles that of driving an actual car — and, I’ve grown to like that now. This game reinforced my love for fast driving in racing simulators, just with a bit more maturity in acknowledging that you don’t need wacky gimmicks to enjoy it.