Forza Horizon 3 Preview: This looks like the definitive racing game for 2016

I got my hands on a pre-release copy of Forza Horizon 3, and it is impressive. This was the first game in a long time to reignite my interest in open-world racing games.I’ve always been a fan of all racing games, but I’ve got a soft spot for the sim-racing variety. While I don’t mind playing Need for Speed from time to time (Who can forget the " isDesktop="true" id="3724773" height="415" >" target="_blank">original Most Wanted?), I’d rather be playing Assetto Corsa, iRacing or even Project Cars.Forza Horizon 3, on the surface, seemed like a mix of Test Drive Unlimited and the newer Most Wanted. The preview dropped me into the driver’s seat of a Lamborghini Centenario and let me loose on Forza’s version of Australia.GraphicsI played the game on an Xbox One and a couple of laptops and in both cases, the graphics looked stellar. The graphics on the Xbox One version were admittedly of lower quality than on the PC version, however. This is to be expected.There was a lot of texture pop-in over long distances and frame-rates would crash every time motion blur would rear its head on the Xbox. Bear in mind that this is pre-release code. Some of these performance issues may be ironed out by launch tomorrow.That said, the game ran beautifully on PC. I tried the game on a laptop with a 960m and a 980m and the performance was buttery smooth on both at 1080p resolution and high settings.ControlsBut I’m just nit-picking. The game looked great and more importantly, felt great to play. The controls were precise and responsive and if you’re playing with driving assists enabled, managed to provide just enough assistance to be enjoyable. Turn them off and you’re in for a much more fun, albeit challenging time.I got a chance to try three vehicles, the Centenario, the Ford Mustang and a BMW M5. They all felt great and unique to drive. Response varied depending on road surface, with the Centanrio feeling planted and the Mustang happy to wiggle its tail about.The game also made great use of the Xbox One controller’s vibration feedback. I could tell clearly when either the left or the right of the car wasn’t on the road and the engine startup sounds seemed to coincide very nicely with feedback.The worldI only spent two hours with the game so I didn’t get to explore too much, but I enjoyed whatever little I explored. Environments looked rich and retailed, but weren’t very interactive. You could knock over the odd tree and maybe a few railings, but not much else.The environments do look great however, especially the beach races. Forza uses a nice, bright colour palette that lends itself well to the game. As with other open world games before it, you roam the world, challenge random players and take part in race events strewn around the map.In my time with the game I managed to get into a couple of races, one on tarmac and the other on a beach. Both were a lot of fun. You get options to fine-tune difficulty and to simulate tire wear and the like. I never got to see the impact of these features in proper gameplay, so I don’t know if enabling the feature would require tire changes and fuel stops from time to time.CustomisationI saw a great many options for customizing your car. The usual adjustments like ride-height, suspension travel, differential, brake pressure, etc. were all present and accounted for. Unfortunately, I couldn’t measure their impact on the game as I was yet to unlock those features.Once customized, you can also switch to a photo mode and take photos of your car from various different angles. There are also camera controls for exposure, shutter speed, aperture, etc. That last was a bit wonky in my testing, as seen in the image below.[caption id="attachment_337384" align="aligncenter" width="640"] I didn't know that this is what changing the aperture on a lens does[/caption]ImpressionsI can’t put my finger on exactly why I fell in love with the game, but I think it comes down to car handling. In games like Burnout Paradise and NFS, getting from place to place was a matter of routine. Arcade-physics meant that getting from A to B was more a question of time than skill.With Forza Horizon 3’s driving assists turned off, I enjoyed zipping around in my Lambo way more than I did any of the races. This game isn’t a true sim-experience by any means, but it’s sim enough for my taste and I loved it.If it wasn’t for the steep price, I think I would have already preordered the game.Forza Horizon 3 is available for $59.99 (around Rs 4,000), $79.99 (around Rs 5,300) and $99.99 (around Rs 6,700) in Standard, Deluxe, and Ultimate Edition variants respectively. If you purchase the game digitally, you will get access to a PC and Xbox One copy via Microsoft's Play Anywhere initiative.