Forza Motorsport 4 review

As well as your driver level, there’s also a manufacturer level. This is an improvement over the car level in Forza 3, as it means you don’t have to stick with one car to increase your rewards. Instead, you can drive any Chevrolet in your garage, and your ranking with that manufacturer will increase after the race. Higher ranking means a bigger discount on performance parts – these quickly become free, so you can upgrade all cars from that maker to compete in any race. If you don’t have time to pore over each individual upgrade, Forza will upgrade the car automatically for you, providing a summary of its new power.

When you tire of the single-player game, multiplayer challenges abound. Developer Turn 10 has added a new ‘community’ and, in the Rivals mode, you can challenge other players to beat your lap times, even if they’re offline. There are now Car Clubs, and you can auction your cars – and buy other cars – just as in Forza 3. Another thoughtful touch is that, if Forza 3 is detected on your Xbox, you’ll be gifted a number of cars and a load of cash proportionate to the number of hours you’ve played. Your custom decals can be imported too.

There’s little to criticise, but one omission is realistic weather. Although there are day and sunset races, there’s no rain, snow or racing at night. There’s support for Kinect, but it’s really a gimmick. Despite these minor gripes, Forza 4 is a must for any racing fan.