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Forza 3 the most successful Forza game?

Was playing some Forza 4 today again, after a very long while, and decided to check the number of players on the leaderboards of the Forza games:

Forza 2: 3.3 million players
Forza 3: 5.9 million players
Forza 4: 4.6 million players

So it seems that Forza 3 was the most successful game.
I think Forza 4 was a better game than 3, but the lack of innovation shows, which is why I played 4 less than 3. Forza 2,3 and 4 are basically the same game, with the same tracks, and the same boring single-player career. Very little progress in racing-series careers, racing atmosphere etc.

Will be interesting to see what direction Forza will take next-gen: Just more cars and tracks within the same, unimaginative structure, or something more interesting?
 

p3tran

Banned
Forza 2,3 and 4 are basically the same game, with the same tracks, and the same boring single-player career. Very little progress in racing-series careers, racing atmosphere etc.

Will be interesting to see what direction Forza will take next-gen: Just more cars and tracks within the same, unimaginative structure, or something more interesting?

thats way over generalizing!

tracks where always added, also cars, also features.

I dont know what you mean racing "atmosphere", but if you mean presentation like dirt or even horizon, well, then go play dirt or horizon. forza is a racer that tries to approach the sim side.


progress was made given the constraints (same old h/w) in a better way than progress was done in cod or gow or halo.

and since forza 2, the best and most solid foundation of a racing game was there, i.e. good physics/handling @60fps locked.


on top of that, they shuffled the leftover processing power (what remains after 720p@60fps vsync'd) of old 360 in the best way they could each time, so you can see the visual aspect of the game improving. but still, there where/are limits.
you can understand that better by checking out forza 4's "autovista", where you can witness high detail models they've got ready but still are unable to use them real time in game.

bottom line:
If every game that comes in a sequential number had the quality of forza, then I'd be a very happy man
 

AgentP

Thinks mods influence posters politics. Promoted to QAnon Editor.
Forza 3 was packed in early and often, I doubt 4 will ever get close. I have yet to meet anyone who purchased Forza 3 new it was part of the bundle very close to release and those people who didn't want it sold it or traded it in making it very cheap to buy used (like all bundled games).
 

Draconian

Member
Forza 4 actually lost quite a few tracks: The long Rally di Positano, the Sidewinder ("snake") tracks, the Le Mans Bugatti Circuit, and New York.

I'm glad New York was taken out. Such a boring circuit, and the layout in 3 with the chicanes was awful too. I got tired of the Sidewinder tracks after 2 where every race at the beginning of career mode is on them.
 
The problem with FM4 was that is was practically FM3 with a few new tracks (And missing some too). It even had far less cars than the FM3 GOTY edition that I had.

Both have been HEAVILY bundled here in the UK (I have several copies of each because of this)
 

szaromir

Banned
4.6M is still very big and enough to assure development of the next game, which is praobably the most important thing. I haven't heard of any layoffs at Turn 10 in any case.
 

Into

Member
I agree that 3 and 4 were very similar but the jump from 2 to 3 was HUGE.

Yeah Forza 3 was a huge leap for the series, no wonder its most likely the best selling one as Forza 4 was more of a beefy expansion than the next real leap for the series. I doubt Horizon has done as well as even Forza 4. The people who notice the changes are already hardcore sim racing fans, but your average Joe Walmart likely does not notice the differences as much as you do

Its hard for racing games in the same gen to continue the sales momentum, because not as many people care about "rosters" as they do in a FIFA, NBA or Madden game, its hard to play a FIFA from 2-3 years ago as the world of football is very different now, you just do not feel like you are playing a old game when you play Forza 3 even today, its still excellent, thus little reason to upgrade to the next version.
 

Seanspeed

Banned
Forza 2, 3 and 4 are hardly the same games. I dont think people saying this have really played a whole lot of these games or haven't explored all the features available. The've made pretty significant changes each iteration.

Wasn't Forza 2 basically Forza 1 in HD ?

Absolutely not.
 
Was playing some Forza 4 today again, after a very long while, and decided to check the number of players on the leaderboards of the Forza games:

Forza 2: 3.3 million players
Forza 3: 5.9 million players
Forza 4: 4.6 million players

So it seems that Forza 3 was the most successful game.

If Forza 4 got a budget re-release with all the DLC, the way Forza 2 and Forza 3 did, I think the numbers would be a whole lot different.
 

M.D

Member
Holy shit

How heavily is Forza bundled? I remember Forza 3 selling around 175K (NPD) in its first month and not charting the next month

I know it's popular in the UK and it's probably pretty popular in the rest of the Europe as well, but it's not THAT popular

Also, not surprising to see Forza 3 is the most popular since it was the first in the series on the 360
 

EagleEyes

Member
Holy shit o_O

How heavily is Forza bundled? I remember Forza 3 selling around 175K (NPD) in its first month and not charting the next month

I know it's popular in the UK and it's probably pretty popular in the rest of the Europe as well, but it's not THAT popular
About the same as Gran Turismo, heavily :p
 
Forza 4 actually lost quite a few tracks: The long Rally di Positano, the Sidewinder ("snake") tracks, the Le Mans Bugatti Circuit, and New York.

That annoyed me quite a bit.

But overall, Forza 4 was a much improved game. And it was fucking beautiful when they put Porsche back in.

Still bitter about that GT1 Strassenversion, though, Turn 10.
 
About the same as Gran Turismo, heavily :p

Not even remotley close. FM games are bundled more than any other game I have ever seen. I've only ever seen two limited edition PS3 bundles with GT5. Which weren't around for long.

But once again, I'm speaking of just the UK, which is where I live and have insiders in game retail.
 

M.D

Member
About the same as Gran Turismo, heavily :p

Yeah, Gran Turismo is also bundled, but I think it definitely sold more on it own (not that bundles don't count, but you know..)

I'm not really into racing games, but I'd love to play Horizon some day.. too bad I don't own a 360 :/
 

p3tran

Banned
come on guys, say what you want, but dont say you really miss the freakin' sidewinder tracks LOL

for new york, positano long and bugatti, you got 3 real tracks (Hockenheimring, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Infineon Raceway) and the bernese alps.
 
Yeah, Gran Turismo is also bundled, but I think it definitely sold more on it own (not that bundles don't count, but you know..)

It did, Gran Turismo is still a more popular series, it has a far longer legacy. But yeah, it was bundled up the wazoo, just like every Forza game was.
 

FStop7

Banned
I prefer F4, but that said - the loss of Porsche really hurt it vs. F3. Even with the Porsche Pack that eventually was added to F4, there were still so many good Porsches left out.

I liked the New York track because it was practically straight out of PGR. But the Snake tracks were awful - nothing of value was lost by getting rid of them.
 

U2NUMB

Member
Holy shit

How heavily is Forza bundled? I remember Forza 3 selling around 175K (NPD) in its first month and not charting the next month

I know it's popular in the UK and it's probably pretty popular in the rest of the Europe as well, but it's not THAT popular

Also, not surprising to see Forza 3 is the most popular since it was the first in the series on the 360

Forza 2 was 360.

f2.jpg
 

FordGTGuy

Banned
The problem with FM4 was that is was practically FM3 with a few new tracks (And missing some too). It even had far less cars than the FM3 GOTY edition that I had.

Both have been HEAVILY bundled here in the UK (I have several copies of each because of this)

Farrow being Farrow, your lack of knowledge between the two games is not surprising.

Forza Motorsport 3 has 524 cars in total with every car ever released.(Apparently your GOTY version somehow included cars no one else got.)

Forza Motorsport 4 had 533 cars day one and now 678 cars.

Forza Motorsport 4 got a complete redo on car sounds and a completely overhauled physics engine.

Not to mention the graphical upgrade and bunch of new features, most of which were under the hood.
 

p3tran

Banned
It did, Gran Turismo is still a more popular series, it has a far longer legacy. But yeah, it was bundled up the wazoo, just like every Forza game was.

I dont know man... gt is like 15 years old, forza is half of that.
I would not say its less popular, but only less ..old
 
come on guys, say what you want, but dont say you really miss the freakin' sidewinder tracks LOL

Strangely enough, I do miss them. These tracks were great technical tracks for the lower classes. Most of the new tracks in Forza 4 are only fun in A class or higher.
 

saladine1

Junior Member
4.6M is still very big and enough to assure development of the next game, which is praobably the most important thing. I haven't heard of any layoffs at Turn 10 in any case.

They've actually been hiring like crazy since 2012. Seems like they've got big plans for FM5.
 

Into

Member
I dont know man... gt is like 15 years old, forza is half of that.
I would not say its less popular, but only less ..old


Forza is less popular, sales data say that much. They are not even comparable in popularity

Total franchise numbers for Gran Turismo now top 67.8 million units as of September. With sales for Gran Turismo 5 surpassing 9 million units, the single iteration is now closing in on the lifetime sales of the entire Forza franchise which is estimated to be at 12 million which includes Forza Motorsport (original Xbox), Forza 2, Forza 3 and Forza 4.

http://gamer.blorge.com/2012/11/05/...-million-encroaching-on-forza-lifetime-sales/
 

FordGTGuy

Banned
I dont know man... gt is like 15 years old, forza is half of that.
I would not say its less popular, but only less ..old

It's fair to say it's less popular, the GT series spent a long time as the only Sim racer on console an that time helped it gather a bunch of support. Not to mention as far as console sim racers are concerned it has a stronghold in Europe and Japan where racing games sell a lot more than in the US.
 

p3tran

Banned
Strangely enough, I do miss them. These tracks were great technical tracks for the lower classes. Most of the new tracks in Forza 4 are only fun in A class or higher.
except that zig-zag part in sidewinder, all other curves etc can easily be enjoyed in most small-medium sized tracks. or fujimi. I also like lower class cars

:)

Into said:
Forza is less popular, sales data say that much. They are not even comparable in popularity
its still about 7 years younger. if it continues to provide this level of quality, I can see the scale tipping at some point in time.
 

FordGTGuy

Banned
If you factor in Horizon too (Which almost all FM fans would likely buy). The series is selling less and less per-release.

Farrow, would you stop with this crap?

Are you really comparing the sales of a spinoff to the main game?

What's next are we going to say Halo isn't popular because Halo Wars didn't sell like Halo did?

It's no surprise Forza 3 sold more than Forza 4 as it was literally bundled with everything in a life cycle where Xbox 360's were selling in big amounts. Not to mention Forza 3 discs had a manufacturing problem which caused them to crack, I personally went through three copies.

Why don't we just go ahead a compare GT sales on Vita compared to the main franchise while we're at it...

Not sure how you came to that conclusion, but i don't think Forza is even the most popular racer on 360. I think more people bought NFS.

Not even close, on Xbox 360 Forza 4 sold more than twice the first Shift and Shift 2 completely bombed.
 

evolution

Member
I dont know man... gt is like 15 years old, forza is half of that.
I would not say its less popular, but only less ..old

Not sure how you came to that conclusion, but i don't think Forza is even the most popular racer on 360. I think more people bought NFS.
 

Megasoum

Banned
In the end I played over 100 hours of FM3 and less than 5 FM4. The Fanatec wheels are so screwed up in that game, too bad, it was great in FM3.
 

amar212

Member
The Fanatec wheels are so screwed up in that game, too bad, it was great in FM3.

I would not agree, really. FM4 have miles better 900-degree and FF support over FM3, especially once you master the Simulation physics.

What settings did you use? What wheel do you have?
 

Megasoum

Banned
I would not agree, really. FM4 have miles better 900-degree and FF support over FM3, especially once you master the Simulation physics.

What settings did you use? What wheel do you have?

I was on the PWTS back then. Can't remember what settings I used. I would have to retry it with my CSR now if I can get my hands on a copy.
 

Brandon F

Well congratulations! You got yourself caught!
Forza 4 did upgrade the visuals in various ways(new lighting engine right?), plus the abysmal loadtimes of F3 were reduced in 4.

Still it did lack a shakeup in the content and progression for the career. I think the new community features were a step up over F3, but I mostly played solo career so I dunno how the community reacted to those.

Nonetheless I adored F4 and despite Horizon having some really cool ideas, I was really bummed that it strayed too far in the arcade direction as I would have loved the same physics and driving engine of F4 in that open world experience. (I mostly just despised the PR events that have you doing chain tricks)
 

Into

Member
Not sure how you came to that conclusion, but i don't think Forza is even the most popular racer on 360. I think more people bought NFS.

I was always under the assumption that NFS usually always did really well, despite half the games being merely mediocre (Shift for example), while the other half is really great (Hot Pursuit).

I imagine Forza 5 on 720 will get everyone to want to upgrade to the next iteration of the franchise. I know i am psyched to see what they do with the new hardware. I did not care for Horizon, just seemed like a game that was released to make a quick buck on the brand name alone, much like Gears of War Judgement and God of War Ascension, throwaway games, meh.
 
If you factor in Horizon too (Which almost all FM fans would likely buy). The series is selling less and less per-release.

What?

Horizon is a spin-off and completely different in set-up to the main series, it appeals to a different demographic.
 

FordGTGuy

Banned
I really doubt that many Forza fans would pass on it. Even if it is a "Spin off".

I've been in the community for a while and a lot of the fans definitely did pass on it. Same reason a lot of GT fans will pass on DriveClub, it's not a true sim racer.

Farrow do me a favor don't come in a thread spouting random nonsense as fact when you don't even know what you're talking about, some of us here have been following Forza from the beginning.

Personally I like many different types of racers and DriveClub is looking awesome.
 

FordGTGuy

Banned
Wow. I wouldn't even call those people fans :/

Even I purchased both FM4 and Horizon, and I'm not even that much of a fan lol.

So now in order to be a fan you have to buy every game in a franchise including spinoffs?

C'mon now. It's a gaming community not a cult.
 
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