“Forza Motorsport” — the pinnacle of racing games on consoles and computers. Released six years after the last motorsport game, the expectations were extremely high for this upcoming sim game on Xbox. The hype for this game was huge, with trailers and teasers being released one to two years before the launch.

When I first saw the release trailer, I couldn’t have been more excited. It had been so long since I had played a new “Forza Motorsport” and couldn’t wait to get started. I expected a high-octane, action-packed, totally reimagined, dedicated racing simulator. I was ecstatic when I saw the tracklist and how many cars would be in the game. I had never felt more excited about a video game than I did with “Forza.”

Turn 10 studios claimed to have started from the “ground up” with the physics and handling model of each of the 500-something in-game cars. This may be true, but one thing stays lacking — realism. When the original game was released in 2005, “Forza” was the only real sim option available to Xbox consoles. Although, in recent years, there have been more dedicated sims to enter the console market, “Forza” remains the most popular. With this being said, for many sim racers on a wheel and pedals, the feeling of realism is required to make a good racing game.

For starters, this new handling model makes everything feel slippery. It doesn’t matter if you drive in wet or dry conditions or what tire compound you have on your car; the game just refuses to give you a true sense of grip. As a driver with real-world experience in karts and having used many sims before, the feeling during cornering and braking received through the wheel could not be more false.

Unlike other sim games, you cannot seem to mitigate the handling issues with some micro-adjustments to your car. It can be very hard to tell the difference between subtle changes, such as fuel load, track temperature, and tire compound, when driving. This may not seem like a huge deal to the casual player, but for many serious sim racers, myself included, having that ability to make proper adjustments and having a realistic feeling is necessary.

Next is the suboptimal selection of cars. The game has the word “motorsport” in the title for a reason. But when I want to drive cars that are built for the track, my options are limited. Almost 80% of the cars are normal street cars — not the racing-built cars we want to see. For example, look at the most popular motorsport series in the world: Formula 1. Is there any modern F1 car in “Forza?” Nope, just outdated cars from the ‘60s and ‘70s. This lack of racing series is very prominent throughout the game, making the whole “motorsport” aspect hard to achieve.

Furthermore, “Forza” took on a brand new way to make a career mode, and it couldn’t have failed more. In previous motorsport games, the career would be an immersive space where you could fall in love with the current car you had for your championship. You could upgrade your car in a matter of minutes and see how it will perform against your rivals. None of this is in the new game. Instead we got a time consuming way to upgrade the car, which makes it very hard to keep playing. Playing through the first couple races, it took me about two hours to upgrade my car until I was competitive. In the past you would progress slowly and similarly to a real racing driver, while in the new game you can race in almost any championship or cup you like, which is certainly not how the real world progress of a driver works.

Despite some large negatives, there are a few positive aspects. One of my favorite parts of the new game is the feeling of speed you receive through the screen. The general graphics of this game are crisp and sharp. The background and ambience when racing are top notch, and the cars sound exactly like they would in the real world. The audio and visuals are good enough to rival some high budget cinematic films. The 4K ray tracing graphics displayed on the next gen console and high-end computers are some of the best I’ve ever seen, especially when paired with the insanely immersive ambience and background visuals.

“Forza” is a great game for the casual gamer, but for the experienced sim racer who values that “real feeling” over fancy graphics and cool noises, it is safe to say that it’s not worth the time and money; especially with the game being at a hefty price point compared to its more realistic, better driving rivals.