Forza: Randomly Reminscing About a Racing Series

i remember back when i had an Xbox.  My original titles were: Halo: Combat Evolved, Munch's Odyssey, NFL Fever and Shrek (maybe there was another game or two).  A week or so after launch i bought a racing game.  What does this have to do with Forza Motorsports?  Nothing really, i may have initially confused Project Gotham Racing with Forza. 

My history with racing games is somewhat checkered.  i had Gran Tourismo on the original PlayStation.  For me it was basically pick an overpowered car and careen to victory.  After that it was probably a few racing games on the Xbox: PGR, Forza, Rallisport Challenge (which usually involved me crashing over a cliff) and the more recent Forza games.  i suck at racing games (struggling mightily with control).

Anyway, Forza motorsports was released in 2005 (less than 4 years later).  i remember vaguely that they had "drivatars".  Anyway, i remember  driving through some courses badly and getting annoyed at how badly i was doing.  i probably used a lot of drivatar action. 

Next, Forza Motorsports 2 came out on the Xbox 360.  i considered this a CaRPG.  There were numerous races to do (or simulate like i did for almost all of them).  There were a bunch of cars to acquire.  Was it M. Rossi who was kind of a jerk driver?

After that, Forza 3 came out.  This was probably my favorite racing game ever.  Why did i like it?  Well, they added a very helpful rewind button (and several levels of assists).  So, it was a lot more accessible to me.  Again, this is sort of like a CaRPG (a car RPG - you can gain levels and buy "weapons").  i actually completed most of the races myself (not well, just completed).  i played on easy.  There were a ton of races to do and cars to acquire.   The very long season format did take a long time to complete (i haven't done it yet on my new primary account).  Sometimes it even felt like overkill.  Winning every race was do-able, but time consuming.   The only races i really simulated were the NY tracks (i hate that course - and had a ton of flips/roll-overs on it) and the endurance races (does anyone actually do these?)

Today, Forza 4 was released.  It sort of interests me to see exactly what Kinect integrations add to the periphery of the game.  If it is like the third game (as accessible), but better i will be interested.  Afterall, there is an achievement for getting a Delorean up to 88 MPH.  Like the third game, i will probably wait for it to drop to $39.99 or less on a Black Friday sale (maybe longer).