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Taking something beautiful and retooling it into something beastly is one of the consistent pleasures of the Forza series. When the Ferrari 288 GTO rolled out of the Maranello gates, it was a vision of sculpted perfection: in Forza, there's an illicit kick in lowering the profile of its chassis, stripping out the luxurious leather interior then strapping a supercharger onto that already heavy-hitting twin turbo V8 to create a true monster. Forza Motorsport 5's certainly got an underlying beauty. While it doesn't do as much as other next-gen launch titles in selling you on the power of the Xbox One, the switch up to 1080p works wonders, and those extra pixels are put to use in some exquisite detail. Surge over the crest of a hill in the new Prague street circuit and the city stretches out ahead of you with intoxicating clarity, the Vltava's many bridges criss-crossing the river all the way into the horizon.
There is detail in other locations - balloons bubble up across the Indianapolis sky, while pools of rubber chunks sit at the track extremities - as well as in the cars themselves. The craft on display - both from the carmakers being celebrated and from developer Turn 10's own artists - is exquisite, the models ripe for close inspection in the Vista mode that now extends to the entire collection of vehicles. It's even better when, after a couple of laps of action, that art is smeared with the grime and detritus of a racetrack; as they sit motionless to a stirring orchestral soundtrack after an event, Forza Motorsport 5's cars are a vision of hard-won heroism.
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