1320 Life: Forza Motorsport 7 Drag Mode Review
Right now, many of fans of the Forza franchise are anxiously awaiting the release of Forza Horizon 4, which will let players loose across an expansive UK-based open world.
While everyone is excited for the release of Horizon 4, that doesn’t mean that Forza Motorsport 7 has been forgotten. In fact, Turn 10 Studios recently released an update for the game that includes a revamped drag racing mode.
Forza games have long had a type of drag racing mode, but it was quite simple in its presentation and didn’t feature any of the intricacies that make drag racing a lot more than just stabbing the throttle and driving in a straight line.
Realistic Drag Racing
The new Experimental Drag Mode, which was added with the recent September Update, is a massive improvement and much closer representation of what drag racing is really like.
The drag mode takes place on the existing Dubai course, but the 1/4-mile section of pavement has been repurposed specifically for drag racing.
While in the past you simply began your run when the game told you to, one of the biggest changes to drag mode is the addition of a fully functioning Christmas Tree complete with countdown lights.
Just like real drag racing, nailing your reaction time is critical, and if you leave to soon, you’ll get a redlight, disqualifying your run. It’s a welcome change from the overly simplistic system that was there before.
More Times Means Better Runs
Further adding to the depth is the fact that the game now records your 60-foot time, which any drag racer will tell you can be just as important as the quarter mile ET itself, because it tells you a lot about traction and how quickly you are leaving the line.
At the end of the run the game will also record your trap speed, which again tells you a lot about what the car is capable of once it hooks up and goes.
Again and Again
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the drag mode allows you to quickly run again without having to waste a bunch of time staring at loading screens. This makes it much easier to find the fastest way down the track.
As with real drag racing, it’s all about managing the launch and finding the balance between spinning wheels and finding traction. Being able to quickly hop back in to try again makes it a lot more enjoyable.
Spinning Wheels
With that said, it’s still not a perfect or fully accurate simulation of drag racing. You still can’t do a burnout before the run to heat up your tires or actually roll up to the staging lights yourself, both things that would make the mode even more realistic.
Speaking of tires, while you can buy a drag tire compound for any car, they still don’t feel wide or sticky enough. No matter how wide the tire is, they always seem to spin wildly despite your best efforts, even on AWD cars.
At some point we’d love to see the ability to add giant drag slicks with big sidewalls to soak up the twist, along with the ability to run a high stall drag transmission or dial in launch control on the more modern cars.
Crazy Fun
Even so, we had a ton of fun with the expanded drag mode, which is a great place to play around with Forza’s vast and diverse lineup of cars. Even the slower stuff can be a lot of fun to take down the track as you try to squeeze every last bit of performance from their meager engines.
Then of course you can also use the drag strip to test out some of the crazy builds Forza allows you to create, like a big horsepower turbocharged Meyers Manx or a V8-swapped Chevy Vega.
You can also have some fun trying to drag race cars that were never built for the quarter mile. Just be warned that you’ll be going sideways quite often as you try to launch a 500 or 600hp Group C car from a stop.
Our Verdict
Overall, we had a ton of fun playing around with the new mode, and if it’s been a while since the last time you fired up Forza 7, the new drag racing features might be a good reason to fire it up again—or to help you pass the time until Horizon 4 arrives.
While it might not necessarily be a game-changer, the inclusion of a deeper, more realistic drag racing mode is a welcome addition to the already deep Forza 7 experience, and we hope that it will only be expanded when Forza 8 arrives—likely about one year from now.
