Car and Driver magazine, a US-based automotive monthly with a circulation of 1.31 million, has, according to a blog on The Examiner, compared Microsoft’s Forza 3 against Sony’s Gran Turismo 5. The report, which is apparently available in the March 2011 issue of the mag, says that Turn 10’s racer offers “more realistically rendered” tracks, and more of them are based on real-world locations.
The magazine also digs into GT5’s ‘Standard’ cars, saying they don’t look much better than the ones from “GT4”, and that was last generation’s hardware, before claiming the number of Premiums, just 200, doesn’t stack up well against Forza 3’s 400 fully modeled vehicles despite the gulf in difference between the two. Car and Driver also found the selection of cars in GT5 “questionable”, and were disappointed at the lack of Porsches in the game – Forza 3 has 27.
In addition, all of Forza 3’s cars have fully realised dashboard views.
The magazine also questioned the Dual Shock’s lack of “adequate range of motion” and its ability “to precisely nail apexes and manage power,” saying that a wheel is required to get the most out of GT5. They did say the scope of Polyphony’s racer was “peerlessly comprehensive,” but that they would “happily trade the 16 different Daihatsus that GT5 offers for more detailed tracks and a few more premium cars.”
“While Forza 3 may not have GT5’s scope,” Examiner say the mag claims, “it feels the more cohesive and better executed of the pair. There are more cars that we would want to find in a video game in Forza than there are in GT5.”
“Forza is at once a competitive simulator and a fun game casual users can quickly get into and out of; it does not require players to delve into layers of levels and challenges to get to the good stuff. Its polish and flexibility make Forza Motorsport 3 the better choice. But with Forza 4 on the horizon and GT5’s frequent updates, we may be forced to repeat this tough assignment again soon.”
We can’t help feeling that the point has been missed somewhat here. Yes, Forza Motorsport 3 is a great racing game. Perhaps it’s even a better video game or more accessible racing simulation. Is it comparable to Gran Turismo 5’s simulation of the world of racing enthusiasm? We don’t really think so.
Those Daihatsus are in Gran Turismo 5 because there are really people who like to race Daihatsus and Gran Turismo is as much about celebrating their passion as it is about cramming as many horses under the hood and drifting around grandstand bends. Gran Turismo 5 recognises, as all of its predecessors have, that it can be a greater test of racing skill to tease the best out of a 22bhp minnow as it is to throw an 800bhp monster around a hairpin bend.
So, while we think that both games are exceptionally good, we don’t really think a direct comparison is entirely fair.
Our review of Gran Turismo 5 is here, and our review of Forza 3 is here.
Source: Examiner, although there’s an article on the C&D website here from December. Quotes come from the Examiner article, not the Car and Driver website. We are unable to verify the contents of the actual magazine.
dpb135
GT5 is a great game, yes it has its fault but it feels a more a detailed sim. Thing GT5 misses (as all GT games) is decent ai, too much on the rail crap & no feeling, Forza 3 beats it at that for sure.
BurnoutAddict
You gotta remember that F3 came out over a year BEFORE GT5 so patches and things have pushed it along. GT5 has only been out a little while, and they are STILL adding and improving features.
And I have NEVER had a problem with the AI. They overtake each other properly (with some under braking) just like in real-life.
It’s not QUITE perfect but at the end of the day, its a game!
cam the man
I own both games and I’ve spent more time with GT5 than Forza, and the later has been out a lot longer.
BurnoutAddict
GT5 will last longer too. There are always new events (in the form of Seasonal events), and then there is the FREE online races!
3shirts
“Forza is at once a competitive simulator and a fun game casual users can quickly get into and out of; it does not require players to delve into layers of levels and challenges to get to the good stuff” – Those layers of level and challenges are what give you a structured career mode. If you want to quickly dive in, you use arcade mode, that’s what it’s for!
BurnoutAddict
Exactly!
Who wants to start a career with/against 600BHP cars, then suddenly find out you need to drive a car with 88BHP?
Not me!
Origami Killer
this has made me laugh so much, what joke :P
3shirts
I think the problem here is that they have tried to write a game review which they are clearly not good at. What they should really have done is had someone else set up a few races in cars they know from real life and then compare the experience of playing the games against each other and real life. That’s what they know and that’s what people want from a car magazine.
Imagine Clarkson reviewing Forza’s livery editor or GT5’s B-Spec mode! It would be laughable. Watching him take an M3 round their test track in real life and in the game though, would be really interesting.
Hamzz
This is utter BULLSH^^t , their are porches in gt5 they come under the name “Ruf”, I saw like 6 of them in the used car garage! from carrera”s to old 911″s!
its obvious gt5 had to rename the cars probably for licence reasons like they call vauhall Opel!
BurnoutAddict
RUF’s are NOT porches. They just use their shells. RUF is actually recognised as a separate car manufacturer in Germany.
Voganlight
RUF’s are tuned Porsches.
BurnoutAddict
@Voganlight: If you do some more research, you will find that they are NOT!
3shirts
Vauxhall and Opel are just different brand names for the same thing. They are both companies owned by GM and the models are almost identical. GM left the Vauxhall name in the UK due to strong brand recognition and loyalty but everywhere else the cars are sold under the Opel brand.
djsunna
i always thought (since GT3) RUF were porche’s just using that name to get around copyright’s or whatever but (i have since learned) as stated above RUF are a seperate company that tune porche’s unlike say AMG that are mercedes’ in house tuning shop.
gernboes
when they complained about needing a steering wheel, i stopped reading…
Greek-BBQ
For me the handling of the cars in the game is one of the best parts. For some reason Forza(2) didn’t feel right when I had my xbox.
However GT5 didn’t meet my expectations. The A-Spec part of the game is too short, and I dislike b-spec, I just leave my PS3 on and get V.Wagner or O.Pope into my F1 car, wait a while, look back at the screen and the race is over.
Also as the magazine mentioned, its dissapointing to see so many standard cars – some actually look like they’ve been directly transfered from GT4, and some have rough edges. Im picky with this stuff, especially when the games been in development for over 4 years.
However GT5 has good points, like I love the special events – but now i’ve done most of them – again I think its too short. The seasonal events are great, but now theres no restrictions and I can run circles round the other cars. Also the few premium cars do look fantastic, and the tracks also look great. Its good to see they’ve kept the old GT tracks as I love some of them.
Generally I enjoy playing GT5, but its a shame that the joy had to end so soon. GT3 FTW!-(Best racing game ever – make a HD version and im sold)
BurnoutAddict
Would you want all 1000+ cars to be fully HD Premium cars? That would take forever to load, and (if installed) use up even more space on your HDD. Some people still have 20GB PS3s you know.
Greek-BBQ
I would rather remove some of the standard cars – for example there are about 10 different NASCAR cars with the same specs, loads of skylines which are basically all the same and theres loads of other pointless cars. It’s too late to remove any of these and make more premium cars, but I think the game would be nicer if Polyphony digital concentrated on fewer cars, and concentrated on making these cars premium. For instance – why is the bugatti veyron a standard car??! Why is the F1 car standard?! Surely people would prefer a premium F1 car to a hybrid toyota prius :| A lot of updating could be done to make more cars premium but that would take time.
I say less quantity, and more quality. I doubt anyone will own all the skylines – except Kaz himself.
But at least the standard cars handle well and feel right. Shame the cosmetics wern’t very good.
So I would want all, or most the cars to be premium, but the car list should be shorter. Also people with 20GB PS3’s, they’ll have to change the HDD sooner or later because that wont last long, unless they plan on deleting the loading data on games ect. I don’t think fallout 3 and GT5 could fit on a 20GB PS3.
bunimomike
This is where I step in too. It was utterly ludicrous for Kaz to go down the 1000+ cars route when they should have concentrated on maybe 500 premium models. The differences are sometimes terrible. Also, if we want a slice of memory lane, do just that, not every fucking edition of something like the Skyline. 400 or so cars could have easily been culled from the launch title and added as cheap DLC in “packs”. Eg. Skyline pack with 50 skylines for a fiver.
The game has been handled terrible from a management perspective and executed superbly from a technical one. Apples and oranges, maybe, but there’s something to learn from both camps.
BurnoutAddict
I agree with you on some level.
There really shouldn’t be loads of variations of the same model, and with the NASCARs, there’s actually only 3 different cars, and the rest are just liveries.
Most of the premium cars are new to the series, hence their HD graphics. The Veyron is actually ported from GT PSP which isn’t HD. The F1 car (Formula Gran Turismo) is from GT4.
teflon
Heh, both enjoying the slightly awry review they did, as well as the mega nerd rage at it! ;)
It’s an opinion. There’s plenty people that prefer Forza to GT, and likely for the same reasons as they gave.
What it laughable is the comparison of controllers etc. The DS3 can be just as good as a wheel, if it’s in the right hands. They completely forget that you can always use a wheel for Forza too.
BurnoutAddict
Nerd? lol
I’m just passionate! :P
Awayze
Xbox can’t use the Logitech G25/G27 wheel. Enough said.
I love GT5 and my G25 wheel. It’s amazing!