Forza Motorsport: Full car list

by Steve Parsons { Jan 20th 2005 at 12:00PM }

This is a staggering car list. Sure, it's no Gran Turismo when it comes down to sheer numbers, but it's an impressive array nonetheless. I'm a Gran Turismo nut first and foremost, but I have no ill will whatsoever toward Forza Motorsport. I hope it's huge. I don't own an Xbox, but it pleases me to know my Xbox-owning friends will have a game that ranks up there with Gran Turismo.

The very first car on the list has me drooling — 1967 Shelby Cobra. Skimming further down the list, you have some real gems. Like the Bentley Speed 8 (the car that won Le Mans in 2003.) Reading the list, I see there are two huge marques in Forza that are not in GT. Ferrari and Porsche. The closest you can get in GT is the RUF cars, which are heavily modded Porsches, but that's a serious bragging point for Forza before it's even released.

So, in the tradtion of honor and fair play, let me say this. May the best game triumph.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Ken @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM

Why don't you have an Xbox? They're like $150.
Wouldn't having one help your credibility as someone who writes about video-games?

Chris K @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM

Have you all SEEN the GT4 car list? FIFTY SEVEN Skylines. A new record, I believe! Looking at GT4 and Forza's car lists back to back, I don't think GT4 has anything on Forza, despite the larger number of cars. Most of GT4's bulk comes from basically identical variants (91 Civic SiR-II vs 1992 vs 1993) of the same car.

The cars in GT4 I'll miss driving in Forza include the Solstice, Spyker, ZZII, Spitfire, the Caterham, and fakey F1 cars.

The cars in Forza that I would miss driving in GT4 include all the Speed Challenge cars, CTS-V, C6 (HOW is that missing!?), ME412, all the Ferraris(!), all the Porsches(!)... ESPECIALLY the 959, and the Corrado.

BTW, here's a quick count of some of the big duplicates in GT4:

Civic 13
Celica 15
Skyline 57
Impreza 20
Lancer 23
NSX 25
S2000 14
RX-7 20
Supra 10
Integra 8
Camaro 6
Corvette 7
Viper 4
Miata 7
300ZX 16

Jones Kingsu @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM

What the!?! Forza doesn't have the 1989-1997 Mazda Miata!?!

Steve @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM

I don't own an Xbox because I have a PS2. I can barely afford games on that. I really don't need to be adding another black box money pit to my living room. Wish I could afford it. Trust me, if I had my way, I'd have one of each of the current generation of consoles.

AznFX @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM

@2 u obviously is biased toward forza, go play it and see if its better

but the GT4 car list is eons ahead of forza, i would miss most of those "redundant" cars ur talking about

and forza has 7 integras, 7 civics, 8 NSX, 2 s2000, only one accord (who knows which one), way too many audis, a buick (lol), corvette and camero family and friends, 3 mustangs, u get the point, GT4 owns on the car list, only car i'd miss from forza be pugeot, but except 206 their all to big to not be ugly

Steve @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM

I'm a GT fan first and foremost, but really, the number of Skyline's in GT is just ridiculous.

Chris K @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM

I have played the Forza demo, AznFX, and it IS better. I have been a GT fan since GT1, and have racked up countless hours in all three games. I bought a PS2 JUST for GT3. But I'm open-minded, and want to play the best sim, and after playing Forza, I don't know that I'll even buy GT4. The driving model in Forza, even in pre-release form, is FAR ahead of GT3. I've said all this in other posts before, but:

- The tire model is MUCH better than GT3. You can't feather the throttle between some imaginary traction/slip threshold like in GT3. If you break the tires loose, you have to chop the trottle to get grip back. The tires also scrub with excess steering inputs more realistically. GT3 makes noise when you slam the wheel left, Forza makes the car behave exactly like my actual car does on the track.

- Braking is much more realistic. You can't do like you can in GT3, slamming the brakes and turning the wheel, and expect the car to turn. I don't know if you've ever driven on a track before, but real cars don't do that, despite what GT3 tells you. Forza handles correctly.

- The dirt behaves like dirt rather than "dirty tarmac" like many places (ALL of Laguna Seca) in GT3. I off-roaded it on Laguna Seca in the Forza demo and it actually slowed the car down! In GT3, the car bounces slightly, and it adds a little drag to your car. Oftentimes in GT3 (Apricot, for example) the fastest way around the track is through the dirt. Zanardi aside, that just doesn't happen in real life.

- The engines sound like real engines. Have you ever HEARD a Camaro engine before? (It IS spelled with an "A", BTW.) They don't sound like the vaccuum cleaners in GT3, I'll gaurantee you that. The boxer in the WRX and the V8 in the Corvette sound amazing in Forza. Better than any car I have ever heard in GT3.

- There's damage in Forza. No more wall riding on Special Stage 5 or Super Speedway. This alone takes GT4 out of contention for a serious sim if you put it up against Forza.

- The AI cars aren't brain-dead in Forza. They actually adjust their racing line to get past you intelligently, unlike GT3 where the cars all drive the same pre-programmed line, and dodge in either direction if they decide they want to pass. Racing against the CPU in GT3 (which is all you'll be ABLE to do in GT4, of course) is a waste of time. Just drop a turbo in your Civic and blow the other econoboxes away, cause you are NOT gonna get any kind of realistic competitive racing done.

These are the things I have noticed from playing the demo. I have only driven a few cars on a single track, but already I can tell that Forza is MILES ahead of GT3 in realism, and from what I have heard, GT4 doesn't improve upon GT3's driving model. In fact, GT3 is WORSE than GT2 IMHO. It's WAY too forgiving.

Now, to address your comments:

- GT4 has Buicks, too. If you're ever at a stoplight with a Buick Grand National or GNX, you will NOT be laughing afterwards. Go study up.

- HOW is the GT4 car list "eons ahead of Forza"? What does it have that you will miss?

- What is the difference between a 95, 96, and 97 Skyline GT-R V-Spec? No cheating looking up on the web, now. Tell me what you will miss in Forza when you only have the 1995 model. Also, what are the differences between a Mitsubishi GTO SR from 1995 and 1996? I'm guessing the differences like this are merely color choices and possibly a few pounds curb weight?

- How can you complain that Forza doesn't have enough cars, then say it has TOO MANY Audis? GT4 has more than 90 Hondas, dude. Of those, there is exactly one car I am interested in driving: the NSX. And no, I don't care which one it is. I'm interested in racing, not in playing Pokemon With Cars.

Go ahead and write me off as a Forza fanboy. I'll write you off as a GT4 fanboy, and we can go our separate ways. Just remember when the first time you take your car to a track to leave a LOT more room for braking than you have learned to do in GT, cause it's not much better than Sega's Outrun for braking realism.

And Jones, I agree; excluding the NA Miata is pretty bad. It's only the car that brought back the sports car from the dead! I don't need every year of Miata in there, but at least one NA and one NB would be nice. They handle very differently on the track.

Monkey_BASIC @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM

I'm just pumped to finally see a realistic racing sim for the XBox. If it even half as good as Chris K is ranting about, we'll see a lot of racing fans selling their PS2 on Ebay.

David Thomas @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM

Chris K how can you compare new Forza to old GT3? If you said you had played GT4 that's another thing.

Adrian @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM

GT4 plays perfectly in 1080i -- and it's amazing. (Especially considering it's a PS2)

The Forza demo doesn't go over 480p and even then the graphics aren't perfectly smooth. Also, the current Xbox has no force-feedback support, so Forza won't have it. That's a huge disadvantage.

Chris K @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM

I'm basing my opinion on what GT4 drives like on:

1) The info I have read claims GT4 drives pretty much like GT3. No big driving model improvements.

2) GT's driving model has actually DEGRADED since GT1. GT3 took some big steps backwards in realism. Just flog an 800HP TVR around Laguna Seca to see how unrealistically forgiving the game is. I couldn't pull that kind of stuff off in MY car.

3) Even Polyphony doesn't claim the driving model is better.

Given all that, I doubt Polyphony snuck large improvements into the game. The only big improvement I have read about is to their horrible tire wear system (ie: miles=wear). I don't know if that made it in, though... I read about that when the game still had multiplayer.

I don't care much about HD... I have a 32" TV that does 480i with component video. A friend of mine has a 65" HDTV that does 1080i, and while it looks nicer than 480p, I'll be playing the game for the game, not for the graphics. PGR2 is pretty, too, but that doesn't make it realistic.

AznFX @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM

wut? did i say i dont like forza?
guess that high-end thing isnt my style, w/ the benz and audis...

i just wanted to say forza also had repetitive cars and that like that
its in all the japanese racers, they think they have to cover all gen of all models, and then add all the famous versions of those too; guess most people would care, but i like to get some car i think about once on the track in a game
and then taking an aristo or lengend against s2000s...

Adam N @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM

I agree with EVERYTHING Chris said. He obviously knows what he's talking about. I am a car enthusiast and enjoy everything from World Rally Championship to ALMS (I hate nascar).

GT3 Is not realistic at all! Most cars handle like bricks, no matter what tires you're running. I lose most of the time because my friend rides the wall and i take an actual racing line. If damage was taken, he'd lose a tire, bumper, 3rd gear, and top end power. None of which happen.

I like PGR2! Yes, it is beautiful, but I like the wide array of cars to choose from. It may not be completely realistic, but it delivers more realism than GT3.

K_O @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM

well... I've played gt4 more than enough and driven on a track, and I can say that gt4 really improves gt3's driving by far. Surfaces that are dirty or sand slow you down, make you spin and all though i can't say it's the best because like the other guy said, it's somehow forgiving in some matters. truth is that tvr speed12 is really a m********* and you can drive it without much trouble, but you still have to be very carefull. This example applies to the rest, it is very good and very real but it's somehow been softened, made easier for more people.
But... tht thing about gt1 and 2 being more realistic....pleeez, they were just to unforgiving...don't you remember cars flying or behaving like weeled potatoes...
Oh, and another thing i miss for both games is the Smart Roadster Brabus wich i own and find a very rare very intoxicating and iconic model, sportier and more entertaining than most of the cars in forza or gt4...they should have more rare cars instead of mainstream ones...
i own both gaming consoles and will burn my fingertips on both gamepads and really, i don't see why the fight...

Sir J @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM

I got forza motorsport since 2 days now and the game simply rocks. You can't compare it with the demo. The demo sucked but the game is soooo cool :D
GT4 has indeed too many of the same cars. So buy the game, you won't regret it. And there is force feedback as well.
Can't wait to trade cars on live....

Barry d @ Dec 18th 2005 9:47PM

Ok hgaving played both games, GT4 abd Forza, i have to say forza just tips it, sure it may not have the cars of gt4, or the photo thing (unless i missed it), or delorean.
But what it does offer is a better way to tinker with cars.. i mean u fully tune a supre in gt4, its almost undrivable.
U do the same in forxa and its an alround performer,
And of course theres the respray and bodykitt options, which lets face it,gt1 had the racing bodykits. So did gt2 if im not mistaken,

But yea
Gran turismo 4 .......> 99.5%
Forza motorsport......> 99.7%