My first impression of Forza 3 was that it looks considerably better than Forza 2. I wasn't sure how much at first but seeing Forza 2 running in another booth the differences were obvious. As pretty as Forza 3 looked though, I couldn't help but feel it did look a bit sterile. The sense of speed that I really liked in Forza 2 didn't seem to be present. There is currently also a distinct drop in frame rate with the in car view. The cockpit view most definitely does NOT run at 60 frames per second.

I wasn’t sure what to make of the inclusion of the rewind during gameplay. Seems awfully similar to GRID and doesn't appear to fit the sim vein that Forza seems to aspire to be. One of the developers did confirm to me that lap times would not count for any online statistics when the rewind is used. It doesn’t appear to be something that can be turned on or off so it will be up the to the player if they want to use it or not. AI-wise, I didn't see anything that looked like an improvement over Forza 2. The AI definitely made mistakes but seemed to really want to stick to a prescribed race line.

The majority of my time playing Forza 3 was spent with the controller (shorter lineups). I was able to give it a go with the Xbox Race Wheel though. Using the controller I felt the handling was a bit floaty using the controller and the cars didn’t feel entirely connected to the ground. The game played far better with the wheel and those reading this will be happy to know that MS had a prototype, high-end race wheel there that will be shipping at the same time of the game. The new wheel has a full 6-gear H shifter and clutch pedal. It has a much thicker, leather wrapped wheel that the manufacturer confirmed would make the final product (along with Porsche branding on it too).

Don't worry, despite these criticisms the game is looking really good. My comments may sound overly critical but that's more of a factor of me being a big racing fan and having high hopes. And while I am on my soapbox, I would also like to add that I think it is just fine to use assists. I can’t turn off the ABS in my own car so why wouldn’t I use ABS in a racing game?