I love Gran Turismo, but Forza 2 has won me over completely.  Gran Turismo is the impetus for my screenname at MM.  Back when the first one came out I was so into it that I started writing strategy articles under the screenname "Hellion" at one of the many GT sites that populated the web at that time.

Recently, the guys at DSM talked me into getting an Xbox360 even though I was set to buy a PS3... the next Gran Turismo game was going to be the major reason I wanted one instead of a 360.  Well, now I'm hooked on Forza 2.

How into Gran Turismo was I?  well, of the major games that have been produced so far, I've beaten each one and gotten Gold on every test.  Some of those tests took me hours to get gold on, but I loved them.  I know that as many people hated them as liked them.  It's features like those license tests that make the Gran Turismo game a bit more polarizing than Forza. 

So how do the games stack up?  What characterizes each game and sets it apart from the other? 

If I had to hit on one topic, it would be this: The way I see it, Turn 10 creates Forza for the gamer, while Polyphony Digital creates Gran Turismo for... well, itself.  Don't get me wrong, I love Gran Turismo, but their constant doting over the games to the point that they're always delayed - and to the point that Turn 10 can create two, or perhaps three, great Forza games in the interim - smacks of overindulgence.

That's why Forza has a great online mode and GT never did.  That's why Forza has great damage physics and GT never added it.  Hell, even the driving physics aspect of Forza seems superior to me.  Try turning off all the assists and then drive around.  It's actually more realistic than you would ever expect.  More realistic than anything I ever experienced with Gran Turismo. 

Your tires inflate as they get hotter, so if you start a long race with the tires inflated to spec, they'll soon be a bit too hard, whereas if you under-inflate them a couple of psi they'll be perfect during most of the race.  If you accelerate with one side of the car in grass and one on cement, the wheels on the cement side will spin faster than the wheels in the grass since they get better traction (makes sense don't it?) and you'll often times be whipped off the track as a result.

Of course, if you feel like turning on traction control and all that stuff it takes the penalizing realism down a huge notch and makes the game more playable for most people.  However, the realism persists... TCS actually takes your overall power down a notch because it controls the application of said power.  You're no longer completely in control of how much power you put down at any moment.  And if you want to make it "easier"using automatic shifting, you have to make due with the CPU's extremely lazy shifting habits (an extra 1/4 second per shift if you watch closely).

The AI is also clearly superior in Forza, although it's not perfect. 

So what's better about Gran Turismo?  At this point I'd have to say car selection is an obvious one.  It's a fair point that there were 70-something Skylines in Gran Turismo 2, thus inflating the total figure.  Still, that game had a lot of cars that aren't featured in Forza, and really should be.  Hopefully Forza 3 will have something like 1,000 cars.

The replay cameras - in my opinion - were vastly superior in Gran Turismo.  Also, the replay graphics on the PS2 rivaled that of the 360!  Pretty incredible really.  I'd even have to say that the tracks were more interesting on Gran Turismo, although my favorite - Nürburgring - is apparent in both games.

Forza is addicting enough that 8 DSMers (that still seems strange to say) lined up for an 8-lap race at Nurburgring (The King of the Ring, Hellisan's Challenge) last week.  BlyGilmore, Ralnakor, and myself represented DSM.  Unfortunately, Bly got into a near fatal accident early on, I got disconnected, and as a result Ral was the only one that represented us worth a damn. 

Still, 7 of the starting 8 were able to finish a race that lasted over an hour.  Ca$ino, who is never short on confidence, dominated the race from start to finish.  Maverick survived a T-bone accident to have a nice showing as he finished 2nd, and VaSteelah (the only car that still looked similar to when the race started) and Trojan657 coming in 3rd and 4th respectively.

If you're a 360 owner and you love Forza 2, feel free to sign up for any of the challenges which are held weekly.  Viva la Forza!