News Forza Motorsport 5 hands-on: taming a McLaren P1 with no assists

In our first hands-on with Forza Motorsport 5, Alan trundled along in a Ford Focus ST in a brief one lap demo with a pad. For our second run, the ante was raised considerably: not only was the pad replaced with a prototype wheel setup and the legendary Laguna Seca replaced with the now familiar picturesque Prague circuit frequently seen in screenshots and official videos to show off Forza 5's graphical fidelity, but the nimble Focus was replaced with the mighty McLaren P1, the official successor to the legendary McLaren F1 that happens to be the cover car star of Forza Motorsport 5.  

Whereas most videos demonstrate the physics with the assists on, we feel this gives an artificial representation of the handling. With this in mind, Alan bravely switched off the assists – that's a 903 bhp  with no traction control or stability management. Even Alan, a veteran racer when it comes to Forza Motorsport, wasn't quite prepared for the rough ride that ensued as he struggled to tame the McLaren's potent power.  

Clearly, in real life this would be suicidal as a car with this much power such as the P1 simply isn't designed to be driven without any assists. What this test did do, however, was allow us to gain a better understanding of the physics that underpin Forza Motorsport 5, and it's safe to say they are very sophisticated indeed.

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It 's also reminder of the learning curve required for racing games, as Alan's initial attempts result in him losing control in the first lap. After memorising his mistakes, his second lap proved to be much faster and cleaner. Let that be a lesson to those who are quick to brand players as inept "noobs" when first playing a game. 

We still have more Forza Motorsport 5 coverage on the way, including an extensive interview with Creative Director Dan Greenwalt.

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