Preview: Forza Motorsport 6: Apex (Win10)
Forza Motorsport 6: Apex. Crafted specifically for Windows 10, Apex represents the first step in the future of the Forza franchise as it expands into Windows 10 PCs.
Pros:
- Graphics have had a huge boost. I mean I am no expert in matters but even I can see the overall visual impact is much better.
- Full Xbox One controller and keyboard support.
- Both keyboard and controller has re bind able keys.
- Video options: Render quality-Low,medium,high and ultra. Dynamic optimization on/off. Force resolution. Resolution.
- Can change audio quality to improve performance.
- Opening race tutorial. (Same as Forza 6 XB1)
- Tours: Races taking in each discipline including night time driving, Rain driving and even the fun mini games like bowling. Each race will have a choice of cars.
- Free play: Pick any unlocked car and any track.
- Forza Hub link.
- Message centre.
- Forzvista available for 60+ cars.
- Driver record: Choose female or male avatar, Replays, Driver rank, Change home space, Change badges, Full stats screen and Drivatar info thats been collected can be viewed and even filtered to individual tracks.
- Each car has 3 types of paint to choose from. Normal, Manufacturer and special/custom paint styles each with a load of colours.
- Medals: 3 medals are awarded per race and are used to unlock more cars. Medals are earned by score. Each race has a primary objective then a few bonus objectives. Each objective you complete earns a score along with a performance score. Fill the bars to unlock medals.
- 18.8GB download size currently.
- Xbox button brings up the bar to record video, Take pics and look at the Xbox dashboard.
- 1000 Gamer score and achievements do unlock.
- Can swap between control methods on the fly if you so wish.
- Photo mode with options like shutter speed, Focus, Contrast, Exposure. Has preset profiles like light, dark or sepia. Photos can be saved and shared straight to the Forza community.
- Full online leader board support with track/friends/rivals filters.
- Badges: Just like in the XB1 version, Earn badges for accomplishments and show them on you ingame name tag.
- Can replay races at any time.
- Friends appear in game with drivatar information taking from XB1 and Apex data.
- Pre race setup allows you to change drivatar difficulty, Assists like braking and acceleration.
- Tune setup: Anti roll bars, Springs, Damping, Aero, Brakes, Differential and gearing can be tweaked. A load/save setup feature is also present.
- Controls and feed back is just as good as on the XB1 version. You get controller vibration.
Cons:
- Unskippable opening video.
- Career is replaced with a bare bones tour mode.
- Perks/cards/boosters are not in game yet.
- Performance is still a bit stuttery in places with a few lock ups experienced along with assests not loading in.
- Audio dropouts.
- No online racing yet.
- No livery editor.
- Forza hub and dashboard is not fully supported by controller so mouse is required.
- Loading times can be quite long in places.
- No ability to buy new parts like wheels, Spoilers or furry dice as of yet.
Final Thoughts:
For how early this beta is, andit is early I mean its less than 24 hours old! You get a fantastic look into how well it Forza will be on PC. The graphics are superb even on High and medium settings, The tour mode has more than enough content to get on with for now. Yes it is still missing core Forza options but then it is just a beta and you cannot have everything. Windows 10 gaming has a bad rep following the Gears Of War mess so to see Microsoft do a beta first is a good thing, But also seeing a game with such history and rep actually shine this early on has to be a huge relief to Microsoft. I enjoyed my time with it and am now sat here thinking I have just lost another reason to own a Xbox One.
