Ever been the only one out the back at a glassy day, sitting on your board watching uniform corduroy wave perfection come rolling into towards you? What about... first up the top of the mountain, lifts operational but deserted due to a timely bomb scare, untracked snow beckoning? Or even out for a drink, surrounded by a string of gorgeous punters, all keen on you? Is there such a thing as being spoilt by excellence? Is it possible to grow complacent during a stream of sustained brilliance?

If the above examples elude you, allow me to direct your attention to the games industry over the last 6-7 months. Some of the best games of all time have been launched on each platform. Games that people will be talking about for years to come. And even now, in what is meant to be one of the slower times of the year, those waves are still rolling in. As Tom Cruise said in A Few Good Men... the hits just keep on coming.

So it is with Forza Motorsport. It too is an excellent piece of coding, but then again with the time and resources that have been ploughed into it, Xbox owners have a right to expect nothing else. However there's a point where games go from being "excellent" and "well worth your time and money" to "brilliant" and "buy this immediately" propositions. Where there is no doubt whatsoever that you will derive your full dollar value, no matter how stingy or cynical a gamer you are. This... is Forza.

Let's dispense with the predictable comparisons in a couple of paragraphs. Forza Motorsport is as close to Gran Turismo as you will find on Xbox. Only better. This is not a statement to make lightly, and its coming from one who has an unabashed adoration of the powers of Polyphony Digital. GT4 is the benchmark by which console games are measured, yet on virtually every metric worth counting bar a couple, this game exceeds it. This is the new high water mark for console racing.

Things that GT4 does better? Framerate (see sidebar for our thoughts on this issue), photo mode and it also supports rally driving. Beyond that, it's either advantage Forza, or being generous, a tie. We're talking about things like car handling, audio, control, vehicle range (note: type of vehicles rather than numbers, which GT4 easily has the lead), tracks, the lot. And it helps that Forza has been able to incorporate vehicular damage. The cheeky intro is a classic example. It starts off very much along the lines of a Gran Turismo opening cinematic. Slow motion pit lane pans, swooping shots of vehicles racing bumper to bumper around corners... and suddenly a spectacular crash, with cars very obviously damaged. It's about as subtle as a sledgehammer.

So is it smash 'em up derby time? No sir. While you can bash into cars and barriers, Forza succeeds because it really punishes you. For starters, any high speed screwup will cost you major time - just like in real racing. There is no rebound off metal barrier effect to keep you moving. And even worse than performance hindrances, damage to your car comes out of your winnings. And because you need every credit possible to upgrade and buy new cars, that's gonna sting. You find yourself adopting the reverse GT tactic - now you're wincing every time you brake early, only to have some goose run up your backside.

Credits make the world go around in Forza. Not only does it allow you to buy stuff, the running total of your earnings dictates what level you are within the game (which in turn affects your access and pricing of parts). In a nice touch, selling your car after you have worked it actually boosts its resale value somewhat... so you don't feel like you've thrown away a stack of progress and dollars when you upgrade vehicles. And on an individual basis, what you do to your car determines where you can race it. If you do too much, you risk shifting grades - which means suddenly instead of schooling everyone else's car, you're a tadpole in an ocean full of sharks. For more of a detailed rundown on the racing grades, head to our page 3 sidebar, "Class Warfare".

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