With the release of the Forza 2 demo I've been playing that and getting used to the force feedback wheel from Microsoft. The demo comes with one track and about 30 cars in C, B and A classes (C-typical car like a Ford Mustang, B-high priced sports car like a Ferrari, A-race cars ). The map is Mugello in Italy and is a basic track with a couple sharp turns but it's fairly short and easy to navigate.

The game does a great job of emulating a racing environment from the fans in the stands to the screech of the tires as you drift through turns. The other cars in the race are smart and will try to follow the preferred route around the track and will shunt you if you get in their way. Forza has some handicaps to help the less experienced get the most out of the game. Forza has an aid that reminds me a bit of DDR or Guitar Hero, they show you the preferred path around the the track and use color to let you know when you should be breaking(red and yellow) or accelerating(green). This can be turned off but it's a great game play mechanic to show you how you should traverse the course.

Like any other racing game you have multiple perspectives you can race. The game defaults to a 3rd person view that is great for showing you how good your car looks but I find very counter intuitive to play. Thankfully you can switch to a 2nd person view, 1s person/hood view, and 1st person/RPM-MPH view. I prefer the hood view because I find it a lot easier to drive and it feels a little more real to me than the RPM-MPH view where all you see are the two gages. I'm a little surprised there isn't a driver's perspective like in PGR3 since Forza uses the PGR code base. That was the most realistic perspective and a real immersing game play feature.

I am still getting used to the wheel. I played through PRG3 using just a controller and got good at handling a car using the analog sticks. Making the move to the force feedback wheel has been an adjustment. The wheel is a lot less forgiving with feedback on and can be a bit tricky to use. I had to make an adjustment to using the actual pedals and it took a while to get it in my head to use one foot for gas and break. Not sure why that adjustment had to be made since that's how I normally drive but it was something I had to adjust.

So far the game is great. I'm looking forward to buying the full game when it comes out later this month. I hope by then I'll be a pro on the wheel and ready to test my skills online.