Well as we have it one of the three best racing franchises to hit the market is coming out with their new title on Oct. 23 2012. Yes, its Forza Horizon the most anticipated racing game this year. Xbox also has a demo for those who are new to the game and want to try it out  also for the vets who want to see whats new and get a Viper as a prize car for playing.

The first time Forza came out, it quickly became a hit. It was different from the competition they were up against and exclusive to a particular console. It featured different world tracks, drag racing, touge, and their incredible options to customize your ride in order to make it your own. Forza 2 then came after, but it took out some concepts that people really enjoyed in the first game, so when Forza 3 came back some/most of those features were reapplied to the game.

The games have been very popular especially with customization, while racing online you can see racers that have sonic the hedgehog to anime characters on them, most of which have been created using decals and hours of work. I can’t speak too much of the fourth installment because I decided to go with GT5, but I played it and it didn’t seem that different from the third, it felt like an updated version of 3.

However this new installment brings back memories and also shows other companies what they did wrong. If you have ever played Grid, Need for Speed: Pro Street and Test Drive Unlimited you will know exactly what I’m talking about. Grid brought new features into motorsport racing–rewind option–as well as a focus on GT, DTM, and drift/touge tuning, however there wasn’t much of a customization option. It felt like all the cars were almost the same. Even so this game was very enjoyable to play.

Test Drive Unlimited 1&2 have awesome concepts and beautiful landscape to tour, but as far as detail towards the cars, it definitely lacks in that category. Even the engine sounds, the shifting, and handling of cars just makes you hate driving around the landscape. If the game was like grand theft auto it would be more enjoyable. The feeling I get from Forza is what Test Drive should have done; spending more time on how the cars feel to the players.

And for Need for Speed: Pro Street all I have to say is play pro street before Forza Horizon. I can’t say Horizon will be better–since I obviously haven’t played the full game–but the concept that Pro Street was supposed to be built upon is what Forza Horizon has accomplished. Pro Street had so much potential, but it just died down after the first 15 min of driving.

So check it out I like the game, and I think its a good direction for them. It reminded me of when Need for Speed was king of building racing games for ultimate fun (Highstakes, Hot Pursuit 2, Porsche Unleashed, Underground). Forza still rains king for the ultimate custom workshop game for cars and GT5 rules in it graphics and realistic driving simulation.