I finally got the chance to test Forza Motorsport 3, a game that promises to be a real challenger to GT5.

I can tell you I was pretty impressed.

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Note : you won’t see me playing with FM3 on Video, I cannot play and shoot video at the same time, sorry for that !

As you may now I’m quite a petrol head and thanks to both NihonCar.com and ManualGear.com I had the chance to test drive real monsters, like the Lamborghini LP560-4, and the Aston Martin DBS (three times), the Audi R8 and other impressive machines. Unlike many at the TGS, I can tell you if the game is close to reality.

FM3 and GT5 are more than games for me, they are also an interesting approch to testing cars virtually before driving them for real. Of course FM3 is a game and can’t hammer as hard and drive flat out like in a real R8 V10… However, FM3 really impressed me, way better than FM2. I even prefer FM3 to GT5 (we’ll talk about GT5 later).

It’s important to note that my settings were pretty impressive with 3 Full HD screen, a seat that moved and Microsoft’s latest driving gear. Once seated, the game put in MT and all the safety settings except ABS removed I was ready to enjoy Audi’s latest R8 with its V10.

Together with a Microsoft steering wheel and three screens, FM3 AMAZED me… Sensations are ALMOST identical to the real thing, almost since you can’t really feel the pressure you give to a car when breaking, and can’t feel the kick in the ass each time change gear (like the Corsa Mode on the LP560-4). Besides that the car behaves almost like a real one, and I after the first 10 seconds I started concentrated as much as when test drving a real car. Turn after turn I could feel my R8 going from under steering to over steering and enjoy drifting with it, something that I would never dare to do in real life on a mountain road… Yes FM3 is magic and gave me a lot of enjoyment, however, you’ll have to at least invest in a Microsoft steering wheel to really expierence it… Both GT5 and FM3 are more than jgames and can’t fully be enjoyed with a simple pad.

Before testing the game I watched others playing it and the background, dashboard and damage are pretty impressive, dar damage is more impressive than on GT5… So if you are an XBOX owner… with FM3 you now have a real GT5 challenger!

FM3 is definitely a MUST have on my list.