Driving games then, which style does it for you - realism or fantasy? Gran Turismo or Ridge Racer? Colin McRae or Mario Kart? I've always veered towards the latter, more concerned about powerslides than tweaking the engine. But I've recently spent some time with Forza Motorsport 2, essentially the 360's answer to Gran Turismo, and was pretty impressed. Not so much with the graphics - perfectly fine but nothing outstanding - but with the scope of the thing. This is hardcore. A preposterously in-depth career mode, online play that allows you complete the whole single player game in multiplayer, 300 cars, 4000 layers available to create your custom paint job - yup, this is petrolhead heaven.
But perhaps more interesting to those of us who don't know or care about compression ratios is the online auction house. Here you can sell - or give away - your cars and artwork in exchange for in-game credits. It's all about "empowering the community" apparently, and for once the marketing guff might be right - I can see the auction stuff becoming a popular game in itself. More traditional fans of the original will be pleased to know that the CRX imbalance has been fixed. The career mode goes into such bonnet-fiddling depth that it could be overwhelming but I've been assured that novices won't need to get their fingers dirty to succeed. If this is true then the quality of the driving and particularly the online modes - especially the community elements - could make Forza 2 appeal to more than just the car freaks. Sim or casual - how do you like your racing games?
