As we read the first reviews about Forza Horizon 3 on the internet, we found out that the game wasn’t really optimized for PC at launch yet. So with that in mind we decided to wait for a few patches to be released before we delved into it. This is a much more realistic representation of what the game actually is, because games can and definitely do improve with age. So here our review finally is, showing you what to actually expect when you start it up, or decide to make the plunge on the PC. Or Xbox One, of course.
Racing in Forza Horizon 3 is an undeniable blast
Since I don’t own an Xbox One, I was really happy when Turn 10 made clear that Forza Horizon 3 would become available on PC. It’s about time that a good arcade(ish) racer such as this, and this franchise, become available on the PC. It’s a huge market that was previously untapped, and a bit frustrated at the lack of other types of racing games on the PC. I was finally able to experience what everyone was talking about, too. Forza Horizon 2 was talked about like it was actually a semi-decent time, but here I was missing out completely. After booting up the game I realized that my PC actually wasn’t powerful enough to run it at a smooth 60FPS when set to a modest 1080p. So I had to turn down the graphics to the lowest settings possible in order to get about 45-55FPS on my wee GTX 960. That doesn’t mean it looked terrible, however. It still looked more than acceptable and the Australian countryside was alluring, still.
So I was quite disappointing when I couldn’t get the maximum graphics out of the game. But hey, you sometimes have to work with what you’ve got. This is also a testament to the how demanding the game is. Our performance analysis is coming soon which will explore a wealth of different GPUs, too.
So I played for about 10 hours when the game was released for about 2 weeks. After that I played 10 more hours in the last 2 weeks. And I have to say, the game is fun. The cars handle how you would expect them to handle. And the menu’s are fast, the car customisation is easy, but can be really advanced aswell. So I think everyone who likes cars and/or racing games would get lost in this game for a while.
But still there are some flaws, for instance, the AI is sometimes really retarded. When you do a convoy with the AI they just rush into your back end, even when the GPS tells you to turn left on the coming corner. Also, the racing wheel support is weird. They animation in game only shows around 180 degrees, even when your wheel can support up to 900 degrees or even more. The force feedback on the wheels is really bad, like in a drift it doesn’t counter steer. The wheel just shakes, without any logical in real life feedback.
So my conclusion, note that this is only a conclusion for the PC version of the game, is. I really like the game, I like it to chill out when I don’t want to play anything else. Also the graphics are good, but the game runs really heavily. The gameplay itself and the customization is amazing, easy to learn, hard to master. The game is great, but it is not worth its $100 price mark for the “Ultimate Edition”. So if you are still willing to spend this much money for a racing game. Go ahead, it’s great fun!
