Review: Forza Motorsport 5 “Meguiars Car Pack” DLC

The “Meguiars Car Pack” marks the sixth DLC instalment for Forza Motorsport 5, and with it brings along a string of familiar faces. Turn 10 describes their latest content offering as providing a “spectrum of flavours across racing genres and countries of origin”, with “all the components of a classic car show”. However before we get stuck into what’s wrong with it all, let’s take a look at each of the cars – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Beginning with the good, and also with the flagship vehicle of the pack, the 2013 BMW M Performance M3 Racing Car is a welcomed addition to the Forza Motorsport 5 roster, and also one of the two truly ‘new’ vehicles in the pack. It handles and performs great on the track, and surprisingly remains competitive against others in its class despite having a lesser PI than the rest of the field. There is one drawback with this car though, and if I’m honest, it’s a big one. When racing with this vehicle I noticed that the speakers of my television continuously crackled. I tried reducing the volume just in-case it was too loud, but this made no difference. I then swapped this car for another vehicle and the crackling disappeared. I tested this across multiple tracks and the same problem returned. Needless to say, it’s disappointing that Turn 10 have mucked up the audio so badly with this car.

Next up is the 2011 Aston Martin V12 Zagato (Villa d’Este). Similar to the BMW above, it’s an all-around performer, proving a great car on the track and one that I found extremely easy to win races with in career. An interesting observation I noticed was that the car seemed to lose control whenever I ran over ripple strips on the side of the track, which isn’t something I’ve experienced with other cars before. Despite this though it is great to drive, but as I’ll note with the rest of the cars in this pack, it isn’t amazing and is certainly forgettable.

The next two ‘good’ cars in the pack come in the form of the 1986 Romeo GTV-6, and the 1966 Ford Lotus Cortina. Despite both being D-class vehicles, with a few performance upgrades to optimise them for their class, they drove surprisingly well and felt acceptably quick. Both vehicles handled well and made for great fun on the track, with overtaking opponents being a breeze on corners.

The last of the decent vehicles, and dare I say the best in the pack, comes in the form of the 1973 Mazda RX3. From the outset I swapped the 12A rotary engine for a 13B, bridgeported it and optimised the car for B-class. On its first event on Laguna Seca it made for an amazing experience. The car felt a both airily and nimble at the same time, and made for an easy win against the Aston Martin DBS I was racing against. This then continued even when I downgraded the vehicle to a C-class, and like the Aston Martin V12 Zagato, made winning easy. I should note though, while Turn 10 needs to be applauded for including more rotary-powered vehicles in the game, the fact that a bridgeported engine only hums and doesn’t make the legendary “brap” sound is, to put it frankly, unacceptable. For a game which prides itself on realism, and for a premium car, Turn 10 need to recognise when unique motors are included and that upgrades applied result in the appropriate engine note.

Moving onto the ‘bad’ vehicles in the pack, which are unfortunately as plentiful as there are ‘good’ cars above.  Beginning with the 1958 Aston Martin DBR1, while it is no doubt beautiful, it sadly doesn’t drive nearly as well as it looks. Similar to the RX3, the DBR1 also feels airily when driving, but unfortunately suffers from understeer, wheelspin and seems to lose control on corners if you aren’t careful enough to feature the throttle. The small windshield also makes for a horrible view when behind the wheel, often leaving you hoping there was a button you could press to just peer over it. Furthermore, even when upgraded to B-class the DBR1 feels average at best.

Continuing onto the three classic muscle cars of the pack, the 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, the 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle SS-396 and the 1968 Dodge Dart HEMI Super Stock, each come across as nothing more than filler vehicles for the bundle, and do little in the way of providing a memorable (or even enjoyable) racing experience. Now readers will know that I’ve never been fond of American muscle cars (or really, American cars in general), but I’m willing to accept a car that’s fun to drive and which works in a racing title – and of these three vehicles, none fall into these categories. Of course, if you’re interested in driving heavy cars that understeer far more than you’d like to, then make no mistake, these three cars are for you, but if you’re interested in a quick-paced and exhilarating experience, then any other tuner or exotic vehicle will suffice. Turn 10 mention the inclusion of the Dart HEMI Super Stock as being the “fastest factory-produced drag car”, but I question its relevance in a game that doesn’t feature drag racing …

Having covered now both the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’, this leaves us with just the ‘ugly’, and rest assured, what is remaining isn’t just ugly, it’s hideous. The 1940 Ford De Luxe Coupe was a pre-war vehicle, and as far as I can tell, it should have remained pre-war. I mentioned that the muscle cars above had no relevance in a racing title, but compared to the De Luxe, they are supercars. It’s worth reminding everyone that this is a premium car pack being charged at $10, and Turn 10 have included a car that, while it might be unique to look at, has absolutely (and I mean, absolutely) no place in a racing game. It’s ridiculous to think that someone at Turn 10 actually wasted their time adding this car back into the game, and it’s offensive that gamers are being asked to actually pay money to have it.

At the beginning of the review I mentioned that there was something very wrong with this DLC, and this is something that I’ve mentioned in previous reviews for Forza Motorsport 5 packs, and is something that cannot be excused further. Excluding the fact that none of these cars will leave you with a smile on your face (think the Catherham from the “IGN Car Pack” review), or even the fact that six of the ten vehicles are uninspiring to drive, the biggest issue is that eight of the ten cars were already featured in Forza Motorsport 4. I’ve rated past packs a little less because of this before, but it can’t be tolerated any further if this is the direction Turn 10 plans to take their DLC. The “Meguiars Car Pack” DLC is an assortment of cars that aren’t special, and which provide a perfect example of blatant money-grabbing from developers. It seems that gone are the days where DLC packs would include new and exciting cars that you genuinely wanted to drive. Do yourself a favour, save the $10 and don’t buy this pack … or even cut up the money and throw it in the bin instead.

• Review