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" Release Date: November 22 (Worldwide) Platforms available on: Xbox One Developer: Turn-10 Studios Publisher: Microsoft Genre: Racing Whether creating open-world environments or putting together a series of real-world race tracks, the Forza Motorsport team is synonymous with stunning racing experiences that really push Microsoft&amp;#039;s hardware to its limits. It&amp;#039;s only natural, therefore, that the platform holder would put its faith in Turn 10 Studios to deliver a title that showcases the power of the Xbox One and its gaming capabilities at launch. With Forza Motorsport 5, Turn 10 has managed to achieve just that, delivering a game that not only looks beautiful, but also pushes cloud-gaming to the forefront. Lacking the same level of cars and courses as its predecessor, however, not all of the studio&amp;#039;s decisions are likely to sit well with long-term fans.  Fortunately, as you drive through the streets of Prague in the game&amp;#039;s opening race, it&amp;#039;s clear that Forza 5 is more than capable of distracting you from any of its apparent shortcomings. The Forza games have always been hugely attractive, and Turn 10&amp;#039;s latest is no exception, managing to maintain its good looks even at speeds in excess of 200mph. The frame-rate never dips, textures are silky smooth and car models have been meticulously recreated to the extent that you can almost smell the leather interior and alpine air freshener. It&amp;#039;s the Drivatar racing AI that&amp;#039;s perhaps Forza 5&amp;#039;s most intriguing addition, replacing traditional computer intelligence with drivers that behave like the person behind the wheel. It&amp;#039;s perhaps the lighting effects that are most impressive, however. Whether racing under bright sunshine or a thick blanket of grey cloud, lighting retains its consistency regardless of the position of the car against the sun. Sunshine looks so natural, in fact, that it almost seems unwise to stare directly at it, and you&amp;#039;ll most certainly struggle to see the racing lines when you&amp;#039;re driving into its glare. The visual upgrade is particularly evident when you compare it to Forza Motorsport 4, which looks a little grainy by comparison.  Images of Forza 5 offer further evidence of the game&amp;#039;s good looks, with in-game stills that look like pieces of concept art. Turn 10 has also added a number of new and aesthetically pleasing courses, the highlight of which is the aforementioned Prague city circuit, as well as Bathurst in Australia. With its wide roads and fast turns, Prague isn&amp;#039;t the most challenging course available, but it contains all of the city&amp;#039;s most famous landmarks, which are pleasing on the eye. Bathurst&amp;#039;s winding roads and inclines provide a greater challenge in the racing department, and it also packs in mountain and water views that are too tempting to ignore.  Our only complaint is that the backdrops don&amp;#039;t appear quite as alive as the cars racing past them. Crowds, for example, look like cardboard cutouts, while trees fail to sway and move with the wind. Graphical flourishes aside, it&amp;#039;s the Drivatar racing AI that&amp;#039;s perhaps Forza 5&amp;#039;s most intriguing addition, replacing traditional computer intelligence with drivers that behave like the person behind the wheel. Each race is populated by fellow Xbox users, who don&amp;#039;t always drive conventionally and put up much more of a fight than your typical AI racers. While we were unable to fully measure the evolution of your own driver and opposition pre-release, one look at your stats offers a tiny glimpse at the kind of behaviours the game measures.  Obvious statistics such as the amount of collisions no doubt impact the level of aggression, but the game even measures your shifts in weight and speed when taking certain corners. With Drivatar, Turn 10 has promised to look beyond these quantifiable stats to predict how your driver reacts to situations across multiple courses. Although it&amp;#039;s too early to judge Drivatar&amp;#039;s long-term impact on the game, early evidence suggests that Turn 10 has been true to its word. Each race is populated by fellow Forza 5 drivers and potentially even friends, making competition much more personal.   We particularly liked the ability to challenge the person directly ahead of you in the leaderboard after each race, downloading their ghosts and continuing until you&amp;#039;ve passed each challenger. Outside of the innovative Drivatar feature, Forza Motorsport 5 treads familiar ground, offering a conventional career mode that benefits from improved presentation and more flexibility, but fails to introduce many cutting-edge features. As a visual spectacle and with some interesting innovations, Forza 5 makes up for its lack of content, racing to the front of the pack in a strong Xbox One launch lineup. Players can dip in and out of different leagues, picking up the odd medal, but bowing out and returning later if the challenge is too great. Each league is introduced by the Top Gear team, who offer an insight into the history of the cars available, before making a few recommendations.  It certainly adds a little charisma to a career mode which still manages to feel a little robotic at times. Likewise, the game doesn&amp;#039;t stray too far from the conventional races and events found in similar games, such as overtaking challenges and eliminations. Turn 10 does, however, put the Top Gear license to good use from time to time, introducing humorous challenges that see players drive around a London-themed Top Gear Test Track, complete with roadworks and bags of rubbish. Unfortunately, with the game removing a dozen or so courses from Forza 4, including favourites such as Camino Viejo de Montserrat and the N\u00FCrburgring, no amount of Top Gear challenges can mask the lack of diversity.  The number of cars has also been greatly reduced, clocking in around the 200 mark. As only a casual petrolhead, this isn&amp;#039;t something that bothered me personally, but it&amp;#039;s unlikely to be well received by hardcore fans. On the plus side, every car benefits from different levels of Forzavista support, giving players the chance to closely inspect their rides, potentially with a little history lesson from the Top Gear crew. Fans will also be pleased to hear that the driving experience is once again fully customisable, allowing players to enjoy different driving experiences based on their ability, and decorate cars with a ton of paint jobs and logos. As a visual spectacle and with some interesting innovations, Forza Motorsport 5 makes up for its lack of content, racing to the front of the pack in a strong Xbox One launch lineup.   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/xbox-one/review/a532556/forza-motorsport-5-review-xbox-one-a-visual-spectacle/>