Also: Crumbl.com is the easiest way to read Xbox 360 news from across the world.
Forza Motorsport Review: Page 4
The Gameplay cont.
Forza Motorsport also introduces a very fun mode called Autocross. Autocross is a game mode taking place on a skid pad with a track layout where you will find yourself competing for world records against other, if you’ Live connected. There is a total of 10 layouts ranging from short and simple, to longer and complicated layouts. Driving top times on these layouts requires a good amount of effort, skill and possibly some luck as well.
Drivatar – The A.I. Technology
Drivatar is Forza Motorsport’s way of teaching you how to drive, but also you teaching the Xbox how to drive. This technology learns to drive like you by watching you and emulating your driving style.
How does this work in reality? After creating a new Drivatar profile you will need to train your drivatar by completing a set of lessons. Each lesson will tell the computer something about the way you drive in a particular type of car (FWD, RWD or 4WD) on a particular track. It assigns scores to the way you drive through a kink, hairpin or sweeper. The first time around this technology seems very simplistic and anything but intelligent, but don’t underestimate it — it requires time, patience and a lot of driving. By spending a reasonable amount of time training the Drivatar, you can end up with a profile that really drives like you, makes errors like you and almost smells like you.
The purpose of the Drivatar technology is to use your Drivatar in races. Prior to starting a race you are given the option to load your Drivatar and let your Drivatar race for you in either a singleplayer or multiplayer race. This can be a viable option when you are supposed to drive 20 lap endurance races. The Drivatar might drive like you, but it’s definitely not you. It will take a large percentage of the earnings and you will need to pay a fee to use it.
The Finishing Touch: Xbox Live
The integration of Xbox Live goes far beyond the basic features, such as Quickmatch, OptiMatch and hosting your own game. Forza Motorsport floods you with data. Every single car class for every single track has a scoreboard allowing you to view the top times, as well as download their ghost or setup. For Time Trials you can download a ghost from the current world record holder of a particular event and examine why you are so much slower.
Xbox Live has room from one to eight players and rankings are based on ELO ranking. This type of ranking is used for chess games as well. A gamer starts out with 1200 points. If you beat a player ranked higher than you, you are rewarded more points. If you lose against a player with a higher ranking than you, you lose fewer points than if you lose against a player with a lower ranking than you.