7 replies to this topic

[Skellen]

For years I've been a PC-only gamer, but now that racing games are the only ones which keep me hooked for more than 5 minutes (with very few exceptions), I have decided to buy myself a console to play either GT5, or FM4. Therefore I have to choose not only between those games, but also between PS3 and X360. Like I said I dont really care for any games other than these two, except maybe for Heavy Rain, which I'm willling to play since finishing Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy. Plus, in favour of PS3 there is a GT6 coming supposedly at end of the year. If on the other hand I'd choose X360, I could play Forza Horizon, which seems to be nice game as well. Still, those are only additions, as the most important thing for me are either GT5, or FM4. Having only watched gameplays of them, I tend to prefer FM4 with better choice of cars, which doesnt sound like a blender (GT5, yes I'm talking about you) and overally seems to be a nicer game for me.
But I'm asking you guys right now the following questions:
-which one will grant me more of playing time?
-which one has better Le Mans 24hours event?
-which one has better, more accurate driving physics?

[The Kanisteri]

I have both consoles, but first.

Do you want to do anything else with console?
PS3 has inbuild rather good bluray player.
PS3 has free online play

Xbox online play cost real money but is more user firendly with headsets and communication.
Xbox don't support many controllers (for example proper wheels are scarse)

Otherwise both are quite equal


GT5 vs. Forza

Forza has better fun factor, better sounds, damage and suspension and tyre physics. All cars has dashboard. There's no wet races and no 24h day variations. No gravel or snow surfaces to drive. Tracks are quite nice but suffers bit cartoonish graphics and has lot of wrong track designs like Indianapolis GP corners and Nürburgring corners. Setting up car is superior to GT5 and you can do some engine swaps between fitting models and have more options on external look of car too. Like I previously did mention, if you pay for online, you can buy with Forza 4 credits setups and custom paintworks for your cars. You can quite freely adjust difficulty level of game which effects on AI speed, AI driving skills and rewards from race results. If damage is on, you have to pay for repairs after the race. AI makes human errors on track but some of them are very buggy (I remember in one event car getting stuck into road and other people hitting on him every lap and forcing some of them to retire). Game maker has finished DLC packages and will not update game anymore and they will concentrate on Forza 5 for next generation console (I guess).


GT5 has slightly better graphics with quite natural colours and depth (it also had 3D option). Sounds are horrible vacuum cleaners unless you have very good and correct tuned hifi stereos with subwoofers and such. Some of tracks - including Le Mans - has - varying weather and 24h clock from dusk to dawn. Driving physics overall - compared to Forza 4 - are better and you feel comfortable driving around tens of laps in any track. There's up to 1150 cars available related on your driving level on game. Most of cars are average made "standard2 cars from PS2's GT3 and GT4 and they have only black silhuette as interior view. All used cars are standard car. Approcimately 30% of cars are variations of Nissan Skylines, Honda S2000's, Mazda Miatas and Mazda RX7. If on paper you have Nissan GT-R model which has different colour of coffee mucg holder, it's included in game as another model. Very annoying, but game's developer really loves Nissan and Skylines. GT5 has majority of 2010 and 2011 Sprint Cup Nascar cars, Ferrari's F1 from 2007 and 2010, some well modelled WRC cars, co-karting cars and notorious fantasy car of Red Bullx. Menus are quite horrible and slow to navigate, there's lot of license test, though first license as bronze is required to drive career mode. Offline games won't earn you much credits, but online seasonalevents are goldmines. Game has 20 000 000 credits roof which is same amount than few game's most expensive cars. Damage model for standard cars are ugly, Premium cars can even lose parts 8though it takes lot of effort to get door off). in offline games damage is just visual but for online games you event host can define if internal damages are timed or need to get fixed at pitstop.

With gamepad Forza 4 is quite terrible with fast and agile cars and if you are going to invest on proper wheel which work with xbox, prepare to spend 2 or 3 times money on wheel than xbox console. GT5 accepts almost every wheel and driving feeling is very good with Fanatec, Logitech and Trustmaster's wheels. Both of games supports clutch, but it works properly only in Forza 4 where you can feather pedal. in GT5 clutch is even on or off and refuse to change gear up or down if clutch is not pressed - You can get over this by disabling manual clutch.

And last shorter replies to your questions:

-Which one will grant me more of playing time?
Depends on what do you like. Short fun races and different kind of cars Forza 4 is better. Grinding your precision on tracks and laptimes GT5 is better. It's tie.

-Which one has better Le Mans 24hours event?
No competition here. GT5 is far more superior here.

-Which one has better, more accurate driving physics?
For slower or normal cars Forza 4 is better, for racing cars GT5 wins it. Depends a lot if you have wheel or not. Forza 4's powerfull racing cars are hopeless with gamepad.

Edited by The Kanisteri, 17 May 2013 - 21:22.

[MikeV1987]

I am a long time Forza player, but Forza 4 is more like Forza 3.5, it feels incomplete and it has a few issues.

- First and foremost for me, is the stupid freezing issue it has during multiplayer. It seems if you play in a full (16 people) or close to full lobby, eventually after 4-8 races it has an error with loading designs from other players cars, and freezes the game. Keep in mind each public lobby race is usually about 10 mins long, but when it freezes it hardly makes you want to fire the game back up, its very frustrating.

- Second, are the drivetrain swaps. I had issues with this in FM3, in that game the biggest upgrade exploit in the game was giving your car an AWD swap, you could do it to A LOT of cars and made online racing a bit ridiculous IMO. To give you an example, in S class & R3 class the 08' Viper ACR with AWD swap was hands down one of the fastest cars in the game and had many top times on multiple tracks on the leaderboards. Now fast forward to FM4, the fans biggest complaint about the old game was the AWD advantage, so instead they gave RWD more of an advantage, but it is just as bad if not worse as the last game! You can apply RWD swaps to almost any car in the game, including city cars like the Chevy Spark, etc. Normally I have no problem with this, but the swap lowers the pi drastically and gives the car a huge acceleration and grip advantage over a similar car. To me it seemed like a quick and half assed fix to on going issue, they should just remove drivetrain swaps all together IMO. A major example of this in Honda Civics in the game, the 94, 97 & 99 Civic in particular are top running cars when given a RWD swap, they receive a massive power and grip advantage over something like Silvia or RX7, which I think its pretty stupid.

- The last thing, the game lacks personality. It's nothing like GT5 and it feels just plain dull at times. The menus, your garage, everything. GT5 feels like its aimed towards the car and motor sport enthusiast, where Forza 4 with its Autovista, multiple game modes like Tag, Virus, Soccer, etc feels like its aimed toward the masses.

I consider myself pretty good at that game since I've been playing since FM2, I have put in the time to learn to play with the game pad, I can achieve top 100s in any class, so take the above poster with a grain of salt. It's a great game but right now I am just plain sick of it and its issues, which is exactly why I just ordered a PS3 & GT5 ;)

To answer your questions:
-which one will grant me more of playing time?
It depends what you're into, if you like making designs and stuff for cars then you will love Forza 4. If you want to race, theres lots of great communities for both games that have hot lap comps and race series. So either game you will be happy on that part, still take into account my issues above though lol

-which one has better Le Mans 24hours event?
GT5 hands down.

-which one has better, more accurate driving physics?
I want to say GT5 but I honestly don't know. Turn 10 (Forza developers) worked closely with Pirelli for the driving physics of FM4, who knows what that could mean though lol.

Edit: one last thing I would like to add, wheel support for FM4 is utter **** compared to GT5. Fanatecs for FM4 are just plain too expensive compared to the G27s

Edited by MikeV1987, 18 May 2013 - 18:12.

[Skellen]

Thank you guys for long and interesting answers! It's done, Xbox 360 in pack with FM4 is already on the way to my home, should arrive tomorrow or so. That yummy Porsche Pack and much better sound of cars were the cornerstones of my choice. However, after I will finish FM4 and FH, I could sell X360 and buy a PS3 to try out the GT5 and then upcomng GT6.

Edit: Does Forza 3 have got anything special in bag for someone who has already played later parts of the series? Is it worth a look? I am asking, becouse I saw one copy of FM3 in a shop nearby, with very low price.

Edited by Skellen, 20 May 2013 - 08:32.

[The Kanisteri]

Forza 3 has much longer loading times and graphics are improved in FM4.

My FM3 came as bundle with xbox.

[crooky369]

Bit off topic but the new Xbox is due to be revealed tomorrow with a a new Forza apparently. Lets hope they announce full Logitech wheel support for this one as I think that's the main thing that's holds Forza back on the 360.

[Skellen]

The Kanisteri, on May 20 2013, 11:32, said:

Forza 3 has much longer loading times and graphics are improved in FM4.

My FM3 came as bundle with xbox.

But does the FM3 would be worth playing after the FM4/FH?

crooky369, on May 20 2013, 11:52, said:

Bit off topic but the new Xbox is due to be revealed tomorrow with a a new Forza apparently. Lets hope they announce full Logitech wheel support for this one as I think that's the main thing that's holds Forza back on the 360.

Interesting thing about new Xbox are the facts that it will feature the hardware architecture close to the PC and software based on a Windows 8.

[The Kanisteri]

For short trying time, I went from Forza 3 to Forza 4 because it's lot of better.
If you seek bit more arcadish play also, get Forza Horizon too.

Edited by The Kanisteri, 21 May 2013 - 14:23.