Forums

So I thought I'd post this for anyone who may be interested.

This particular project is about my "ultimate" five car garage. As a automotive enthusiast this is something I often muse about so I thought "What the heck - let's put it to the test! (in-game at least)".

Now my perfect five car garage would contain the following:

1. Daily Driver - there's no set requirements here (e.g. 4 seats or more) but it does need to be useable.
2. Roadtrip Car - for something like a Top Gear style driving adventure.
3. Date Night - combining elegance, beauty, comfort and luxury.
4 (i). Weekend Fun - something for weekend drives on favourite bits of road.
4 (ii). Track Toy - pretty self explanatory.
5. Garage Dream - a truly special and captivating vehicle.

Now I have indeed listed one too many categories for a five car garage. The reason being that I've always combined the Weekend and Track categories and assumed that one vehicle would serve both purposes. I've chosen to split things for this test to see whether this is actually the case. It may be that my results overlap (in which case the issue resolves itself) or it may be that I need to rethink my dream garage layout.

So based on the above categories, here's my predictions according to the available in-game vehicles:

1. Volkswagen Golf R
2. Lamborghini Huracan Performante
3. Bentley Continental GT
4(i). Porsche 997 GT3 RS 4.0
4(ii). MINI R56 GP
5. Bugatti Chiron

(Yes, I'm aware that the above list consists almost exclusively of VAG products. No, I didn't intend for this to be the case.)

I've compiled a list which includes (nearly) every in-game car. I've also included a few duplicates which I'm using to represent model variants not currently included in Forza Horizon 4. Examples of this would be models such as the recent M2 Competition and M2 CS, the Mugen Integra Type R, the Nissan R34 GT-R Z-Tune and the BMW E36 M3 Lightweight, amongst others. With each of these vehicles I've striven to create the most faithful and accurate in-game representation, according to the information I can find online. Some in-game cars have been categorically excluded (such as the Hot Wheels vehicles, LEGO vehicles, Hoonigan and Formula Drift vehicles) so in total my car list sits at 667 eligible vehicles to be tested.

Now it goes without saying that Forza is a game so I can't judge the cars beyond a certain level. That having been said, I'll be able to judge each vehicle based on how much I enjoy driving it within the scope of each category. Once I've narrowed down my car list I'll return to update things with my final contenders for each role before I determine the outright winners.

Feel free to comment below with your own thoughts or suggestions, or with your own dream garage arrangement.
(Or, if you simply feel I'm a complete basket-case then feel free to post that as well - at least my wife will then know that other people share her opinion of me ha ha!)

Update:

My project is now complete. Here's my winning vehicles:

1. Mercedes E63 S AMG
2. Audi R8 V10+
3. Mercedes SLS AMG
4. MINI JCW GP
5. Bugatti Chiron

For interest, here was my top five in each category:

Daily:

• Audi RS3 Sportback
  
• Jaguar I-Pace
  
• Mercedes Benz E63 S AMG
  
• MINI JCW Convertible
  
• Volkswagen Golf R (7th Gen)
  
  Roadtrip:
  
• Audi R8 V10+
  
• Ferrari 488 Pista
  
• Lamborghini Aventador SV
  
• Noble M600
  
• Porsche GT3 RS 4.0 (997)
  
  Date Night:
  
• Aston Martin DB11
  
• Audi R8 Coupe (1st Generation)
  
• Bentley Continental GT
  
• Ferrari F12
  
• Mercedes Benz SLS AMG
  
  Weekend Fun:
  
• Ford Focus RS (2017)
  
• MINI JCW GP
  
• Porsche 718 GTS
  
• Porsche 911 Carrera S (992)
  
• Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 (997)
  
  Track Toy:
  
• MINI JCW GP
  
• Nissan R35 GT-R Nismo
  
• Porsche Cayman GT4
  
• Renault Megan RS Trophy-R
  
• Subaru BRZ tS
  
  Garage Dream:
  
• Bugatti Divo
  
• Ferrari F40
  
• Honda NSX-R ('05)
  
• McLaren F1
  
• McLaren Senna
  

Edited by user Thursday, March 18, 2021 3:01:26 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Results update.

Tell your wife, I feel like she is correct.

You need a hobby. Damn man, find something to do with your time.

That being said, I will be working on my own 5/6-car garage now, since I have no wife to think poorly of me. I have an ex for that. lol.

Ha ha. The one defence I have is that Forza is cheaper than thrashing actual cars round actual tracks (which is my other hobby).

Let me know what you end up with in your own dream garage - always interested to hear other folks thoughts.
(I should say of course, don't feel confined to my categories. We've all got different dreams which is what makes the automotive community so exciting.)

On a separate note, here's a few garage statistics:

• There are currently 667 vehicles on my list.
  
• The current in-game garage value of these vehicles is 397,899,350 CR, however
  
• The calculated value of these vehicles (according to my spreadsheet) is 567,602,000 CR.
  (I believe the in-game garage value calculation ignores duplicate vehicles, which might explain the disparity.)
  
• The cost of upgrades incurred in recreating certain model variants is an additional 2,008,350 CR
  
• Additional Auction House (AH) expenses are estimated at a further 350,000,000 CR.
  

Where possible, vehicles were purchased brand new from the Autoshow. Any vehicles not available via the Autoshow were either purchased in the AH or won through meeting specific requirements. AH expenses are estimated as I didn't record the specific purchase price of each AH vehicle. On the whole I tried to avoid cheaper AH listings and instead went for listings that more accurately represented the current market value of each vehicle. (It goes without saying that you could get almost every vehicle, including Autoshow vehicles, for considerably less than what I paid however I was interested to see how much it would cost to purchase every vehicle at full retail value.)

So in total this challenge has set me back around 820,000,000 credits.

Interestingly:

• The average vehicle value (going by my spreadsheet calculation) is 850,977 CR, whereas
  
• The average cost of acquisition was around 1,255,539 CR.
  
• The most valuable car (according to the in-game stats) is the Ferrari 250 GTO, whereas
  
• The most expensive car to acquire was the Ferrari 812 Superfast.
  (There's a few cars with 20m buyout prices but some of these cars can fluctuate. The 812 is consistently listed at maximum buyout price.)
  
• The least valuable car on my list is a little harder to calculate. There's more than a few cars with an in-game value of 20,000 CR so I had a look at the AH to see which of them had the lowest possible Buyout Price. Unfortunately, there's still a few of them competing for bottom place with a lowest Buyout price of 13,000 CR. I may wait and see which of them sells for the least amount.
  

Now the difference between the average vehicle value and the average cost of acquisition is a little skewed given that I bought every available Autoshow car at the full Autoshow price. The inflated AH price of exclusive vehicles would likely have been offset by the reduced AH price of Autoshow vehicles.

Edited by user Thursday, February 18, 2021 12:38:18 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Added some more statistics.

So I've now surpassed my second milestone for the challenge (the first milestone being the acquisition of every vehicle for the test).

The second milestone was to test-drive each vehicle and identify it's potential place(s) in my dream garage.
(I should mention that this little project was well underway by the time I posted about it - I haven't rattled through 667 cars in 24 hours!)

The results are as follows:

• Daily Driver - 127 vehicles.
  
• Roadtrip - 98 vehicles.
  
• Date night - 42 vehicles.
  
• Weekend Fun - 277 vehicles.
  
• Track Toy - 218 vehicles.
  
• Garage Dream - 60 vehicles.
  

This means that 229 vehicles have been removed from consideration with 438 vehicles still in the running.
The next stage is to whittle down these results until I'm left with my top five for each category.

I'm not overly surprised at the number of results for the Weekend Fun and Track Toy categories. As far as Weekend Fun is concerned, I've tried to be open-minded about whether that fun will take place on tarmac or on a good dirt trail, and about whether I'll be driving something modern or something more classic. It also goes without saying that each category considers vehicles which offer automotive enjoyment within a game also centred around automotive enjoyment.

As it is there's a few more statistics which I'm interested in calculating. I'll include them in my next update.

Edited by user Friday, February 19, 2021 4:44:55 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Amendment to vehicle numbers.

So I calculated a few more statistics:

• The average model year across all 667 vehicles is 1993.
  
• The average model year of the the 229 eliminated vehicles is 1979, therefore
  
• the average model year of the 438 vehicles still being tested is 2001.
  

The oldest model year still being considered is the 1955 Porsche 550A. This vehicle is currently being considered for the Garage Dream space.
The newest model year to be eliminated is the 2019 Rimac Concept 2. This vehicle didn't quite make it onto the Garage Dream shortlist.

In terms of garage value, here's the impact:

• The combined value of the eliminated vehicles is 421,794,000 CR, with
  
• the average value being 1,841,895 CR.
  
  
• The combined value of vehicles still in the running is 145,808,000 CR, with
  
• the average value being 332,894 CR.
  

Put another way, the average value of a vehicle which I'm no longer considering is almost six times that of one which still holds significant appeal. Typically, I would attribute such an outcome to be the result of personal preference however I then noticed the average model years of both groups of vehicles. Interestingly, the average model year for vehicles of interest (to me) is 2001. This ties in with the growing real-world popularity of vehicles from the late-90's and early-2000's. As a result, I'm now questioning whether we might see a re-balance of vehicle values in future Forza games going as automotive trends continue?

Edited by user Thursday, February 18, 2021 4:30:42 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Fixed a typo.

What criteria are you testing against Alasdair? It is a “feel” test when driving them or something more scientific?

For the purposes of my dream garage it's entirely subjective.

I have taken objective measurements though for other projects across a wide-range of metrics.

Ok, it's time for the next update.

I decided to start the 'whittling-down' process with the Date Night category - partly because it was the smallest group of cars and partly because it's the group least likely to influence, or be influenced by, my choices in other categories.

For the purposes of this test, I created a blueprint route from Ambleside Village up to Fairlawn Manor (share code 236 472 050, entitled "Dinner at Fairlawn Manor") to replicate a gentle, evening drive.

So, here are my top 5 vehicles along with a few statistics of interest:

• Aston Martin DB11
  
• Audi R8 Coupe (1st Generation)
  
• Bentley Continental GT
  
• Ferrari F12 Berlinetta
  
• Mercedes Benz SLS AMG
  

Of the 42-vehicles being considered:

• 20 had 8-cylinder engines,
  
• 14 had 12-cylinder engines,
  
• 5 had 6-cylinder engines,
  
• 1 vehicle had a 10-cylinder engine,
  
• 1 vehicle had a 4-cylinder engine, and
  
• 1 vehicle was electric.

• The average in-game value of my top five vehicles is 282,400 CR, with
  
• The highest value vehicle being the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta (380,000 CR), and
  
• The lowest value vehicle being the Mercedes SLS AMG (200,000 CR)
  

I'll be interested to see how these numbers compare against the other categories.

Testing the cars led also to a few interesting discoveries (about what I like and don't like).

Given the "date night" role of the vehicle, I found myself turning down the more performance-oriented variants of certain vehicles. Four of the vehicles in my top-five (namely the Aston Martin DB11, the Audi R8, the Bentley Continental and the Ferrari F12) have newer and higher performance versions available in-game. One aspect that put me off these higher-performance versions was the detrimental impact on the vehicle's beauty - you do start to lose some of the elegant design when you throw on canards, spoilers, additional vents and chin-splitters.

So that leaves me with my first top-five of the project.

I think I'll now focus on the Roadtrip category.

Edited by user Tuesday, February 23, 2021 5:01:17 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Added Blueprint details.

So the Roadtrip category has now been whittled down.

I'll begin by saying that this category proved to be surprisingly difficult - there were some real fire-crackers in the group and it was rather challenging deciding between which ones to keep and which ones to leave behind. Again, I created a blueprint for the purposes of testing (share code 884 873 848, entitled "Summer Roadtrip to Astmoor Inn"). The route combines some of my favourite roads on the mainland with a perfect summer's day.

As it is, here are my top 5 vehicles:

• Audi R8 V10+
  
• Ferrari 488 Pista
  
• Lamborghini Aventador SV
  
• Mercedes AMG GT-R
  
• Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 (997)
  

Along with this top-five comes the first real upset of my challenge in that my predicted winner (the Lamborghini Huracan Performance) didn't make it to one of the top five slots. (Truth be told it didn't even make it into the top ten.) The blame for this lies in equal measure, I suppose, with both the Lamborghini Aventador SV and the Audi R8 V10+. The Audi felt more composed and settled whilst still offering the same V10 experience whereas the Aventador just felt... more Lambo. Some might suggest that being able to straddle both experiences should render the Huracan the default winner but the real freedom of this category is the option to really pursue that sense of focused perfection in whichever direction one might choose. Unfortunately, that means that the Huracan loses out to each car, albeit for it totally different reasons.

I'd also like to give a few honourable mentions to the Noble M600, the Alpine A110 and the Alfa Romeo 4C. The Alpine and the Alfa both punched well above their weight in terms of supercar enjoyment. For cars with less than 1800cc engines, the driving thrill they offer is remarkable. As for the Noble? Well it was really the dark horse of the group and very narrowly missed out on making it into the top five. It's only real shortcomings were a dated interior and a relative lack of "badge allure". Some might question whether "badge allure" is a worthwhile consideration but, in my opinion, it's somewhat unavoidable. Names like Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche will inevitably generate more excitement and so the allure of driving a car from one of these marques on a dream road trip is something that must be considered. When you combine this appeal with the individual merits of the vehicles listed above, the case becomes rather compelling and, unfortunately, the Noble just lost out.

Now for some statistics:

• The average in-game value of my top five vehicles is 293,400 CR, with
  
• the most expensive being the Lamborghini Aventador SV (480,000 CR), and
  
• the least expensive being the Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 (200,000 CR).
  
  
• The average horsepower of the top five vehicles is 626 hp, with
  
• the most powerful being the Lamborghini Aventador SV (740 hp), and
  
• the least powerful being the Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 (493 hp).
  

A V8 was, by far, the most common engine layout in the group, with almost equal numbers of vehicles with 12 and 6 cylinders thereafter. Amongst the group were 8 vehicles with V10 engines, 3 vehicles with 4-cylinder engines, and 2 vehicles with 3-cylinder engines (although technically the BMW i8 and i8 Roadster are variants of the same vehicle).

Next on the list is the Track category.

Edited by user Saturday, February 27, 2021 11:23:21 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Included Blueprint event.

So I started going through my own and noticed we may have different definitions for the categories. No matter, it's all highly personal anyway.

I am doing hugely subjective sweeps in narrowing down my selection, since hey, it's not just about the drive anyway. I'm also basing these off of stock performance which knocks a lot of amazing cars out of the running. To make up for that, I might offer some as modded alternatives.

So for Daily Driver, I imagine this as my everyday car, suitable for if I only had one car, and fitting to my current lifestyle (kids...lol) So fun, but high in utility, might even end up as an SUV.
Road trip car to me is like a vacation. So it needs to be able to hold a little luggage and be comfortable to drive for long periods. So as awesome as Lambos are, I think I would lose feeling in my legs if I had to pull 6 hours in one.
Date Night also related to me being older. As sweet as it would be to pull up in a Ferrari Pista...if she can't get in the damn thing, and I'm struggling to get out of it...kinda kills the mood for the date.
Weekend Fun is where the real road burner is. No need for utility. Find back roads, switchbacks, hill climbs, etc. Return to the real world after.
Track Toys kinda stuck me a little. They are dedicated machines. But are they mind-numbingly fast near-race cars...or happy track burners like the KTM...or any of the fine off-road selections. Still not sure.
Garage Dream - still would want to drive it...but by no means flog it. This one is to be babied, pampered, shown off, and looked at more than used.

So my first guesses are as follows:

1. Daily Driver- 2011 Audi RS3 Switchback
2. Road Trip Car- 2018 Dodge Challenger Demon
3. Date Night - 2013 Bentley Continental GT Speed (can't deny the sheer class of a Bentley)
4. Weekend Fun - 2019 McLaren 720S Spider (topless, baby)
5. Track Toy - 2014 Porsche 918 Spyder
6. Garage Dream - 1956 Jaguar D-Type (this might not even make it to a driving test...it has been a fav of mine for a lifetime.)

I'd say your definitions are spot on and very close to my own thinking. Loved this bit in particular:



As for your selections - some great cars there!

So I've decided to amend my top five for the Roadtrip category - I keep coming back and questioning my decision to exclude the Noble. The Mercedes AMG GT-R is now out and the Noble M600 is in.

Here's my amended top five along with the amended statistics:

• Audi R8 V10+
  
• Ferrari 488 Pista
  
• Lamborghini Aventador SV
  
• Noble M600
  
• Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 (997)
  
  That brings:
  
  
• the average in-game value up to 324,400 CR, with
  
• the most expensive still being the Lamborghini Aventador SV (480,000 CR), and
  
• the least expensive still being the Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 (200,000 CR).
  
  
• The average horsepower of the top five vehicles is now 640 hp, with
  
• the most powerful still being the Lamborghini Aventador SV (740 hp), and
  
• the least powerful still being the Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 (493 hp).

Aside from that I'm still working on my Track category.

So my list of 218 eligible track vehicles has now been whittled down to just 5. Here's my results:

• MINI JCW GP
  
• Nissan R35 GTR Nismo
  
• Porsche Cayman GT4
  
• Renault Megane RS Trophy-R
  
• Subaru BRZ tS
  
  
• The average horsepower of the top five vehicles in this category works out as 333hp, with
  
• the most powerful vehicle being the Nissan R35 GTR Nismo (with 565hp), and
  
• the least powerful being the Subaru BRZ tS (with 200hp).
  
  
• The average in-game value of the top five vehicles is 121,600 CR, with
  
• the most valuable vehicle being the Renault Megane RS Trophy-R (273k), and
  
• the least valuable vehicle being the MINI JCW GP (38k).
  

To test the vehicles I created a short circuit blueprint at the Falcon Circuit Motorsport Park (share code 114 246 242, entitled "Falcon Circuit Trackday").
It may be part of the LEGO expansion but the track itself is slightly reminiscent of Tsukuba Racing Circuit and I enjoyed more than a few "Best Motoring" style battles with some of the cleaner Drivatars.

Throughout my testing there were two questions central to my thought process:

1. How comfortable would I be learning a new environment or track in the vehicle?
2. How rewarding is the vehicle when you're in the mood to push hard?

Track days (for me) aren't about setting lap records so how a car performs against the stop-watch is less important than the answers to the above two questions.
For me, it's all about having something that you can trust when you need to and enjoy when you want to.

So that wraps up my Track category. Next on the list is my Weekend selection.

Time for the next update and my top five in the Weekend category:

• Ford Focus RS (2017)
  
• MINI JCW GP
  
• Porsche 718 GTS
  
• Porsche 911 Carrera S (992)
  
• Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 (997)
  

Interestingly, it's the first time that I've ended up with more than one finalist from a single manufacturer - Porsche occupies three of my top five slots. Although this might seem wasteful, the truth is that each car made it to the top five on individual merit. To categorically reject two of the Porsche models in pursuit of a more varied line-up would be unfair and undermine the aim of my challenge.

Also of interest to me was the overlap between these results and my results in the Track category. As I mentioned at the start of this thread I've always combined these two roles and chosen one vehicle to serve both purposes. As part of this challenge I wanted to see whether I'd made the right decision or whether they deserved to be separated. As it is, I'll reserve judgement on this matter for the time being (although the signs are certainly promising that one vehicle may indeed fulfil both roles).

And so, on to the stats:

• The average horsepower of the above vehicles works out as 372hp, with
  
• the most powerful vehicle being the Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 (with 493hp), and
  
• the least powerful being the MINI JCW GP (with 215hp).
  
  
• The average in-game value works out at 130,400 CR, with
  
• the most valuable being the Porsche 718 GTS (250k), and
  
• the least valuable being the MINI JCW GP (38k).
  

That brings me, therefore, to the end of my Weekend testing. The only two categories left for me to whittle down are my Daily Driver and Garage Dream slots. I'm planning to leave the Garage Dream selection until last (as there's potential for it to be influenced by my choices elsewhere) so next up it's the Daily Drivers!

So I've been able to whittle down my last two categories rather quickly.

Here's the top five vehicles for both the Daily Driver:

• Audi RS3 Sportback
  
• Jaguar I-Pace
  
• Mercedes Benz E63 S AMG
  
• MINI JCW Convertible
  
• Volkswagen Golf R (7th Gen)
  
  and Garage Dream categories:
  
  
• Bugatti Divo
  
• Ferrari F40
  
• Honda NSX-R ('05)
  
• McLaren F1
  
• McLaren Senna
  

For me, convenience is an underrated luxury. Being able to use a car without worry is worth more to me than diamond-stitched leather and other "luxury" features. For this reason, something like the Volkswagen Golf R strikes a perfect balance - it's comfortable enough, practical enough and fun enough without being overly fragile or irreplaceable. The exception to this rule, for me, is the Mercedes Benz E63 S, which makes the top five simply because it's dam-near perfect in every other regard.

And so, it's time for some statistics:

• The average horsepower of my top five Daily Driver vehicles is 371hp, with
  
• the most powerful being the Mercedes Benz E63 S (with 603hp), and
  
• the least powerful being the MINI JCW Convertible (with 228hp).
  
  
• The average in-game value of these vehicles is 168,400 CR, with
  
• the most expensive being the Mercedes Benz E63 S (250,000 CR + highest AH price), and
  
• the cheapest being the Audi RS3 (42,000 CR).
  
  All of the vehicles bar one have all wheel drive.
  
  
• The average horsepower of the top five Dream vehicles is 732hp, with
  
• the most powerful being the Bugatti Divo (with 1469hp), and
  
• the least powerful being the Honda NSX-R (with 290hp).
  
  
• The average in-game value of these vehicles is 920,000 CR, with
  
• the most valuable being the McLaren F1 (2,000,000 CR), and
  
• the least valuable being the Honda NSX-R (150,000 CR).
  
  All but one of these vehicles are rear wheel drive.
  

Edited by user Wednesday, March 17, 2021 7:32:03 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Price correction.

Out of interest I thought I'd compare the average horsepower and value ratings for each of my categories. Here's how they stack up:

• Daily Driver - average value 168,400 CR; average power 371hp.
  
• Roadtrip - average value 324,400 CR; average power 640hp.
  
• Date Night - average value 282,400; average power not relevant.
  
• Weekend Fun - average value 130,400 CR; average power 372hp.
  
• Track Toy - average value 121,600 CR; average power 333hp.
  
• Garage Dream - average value 920,000 CR; average power 732hp.
  

As one might expect, the Garage Dream and Roadtrip categories score the highest numbers, both in terms of average power and in terms of average in-game value. Dream cars and super cars do tend to be both expensive and powerful after all.

I was however somewhat surprised to find the Track Toy category at the bottom of the list. Admittedly, the lower average value is perhaps to be expected (given the hard-use of track vehicles, the inherent risk of damage and the increased need for maintenance) but, given the complete freedom of a track environment and the increased focus on performance, I certainly didn't expect it in terms of average output. Indeed the average power figure would be even lower had the mighty Nissan R35 GTR Nismo not squeezed into the top five. I was definitely surprised by this one!.

The next stage course is to focus on my top five in each category and crown the winner in each group. I'm quite looking forward to this as each and every vehicle is rather excellent. That will of course make crowing a winner somewhat challenging but that's all part of the fun!

So I've now determined the winning vehicles in each category. Here are the vehicles in my dream 5 car garage (along with a few words about each):



Daily Driver - Mercedes Benz E63 S AMG

The only downsides to the magnificent E63 S are it's price and the appetite of it’s thundering AMG heart - neither of which matter in a dream garage. In the real world the Audi RS3 would be the more sensible choice followed closely (to my surprise) by the Jaguar I-Pace.



Roadtrip - Audi R8 V10+

The R8 caused quite the upset in my test. For some reason, it always managed to have the more compelling argument on it’s side. Against the 488 the Audi is more usable. Compared to the Aventador it's more supple. It's far more exciting and dramatic than Porsche's 911 and it feels more supercar than the Noble M600. Where the Huracan felt (to me) like a compromise, the R8 feels instead like a perfect blend - as if Audi has cherry-picked the very best supercar ingredients and combined them in one R8 badged package.



Date Night - Mercedes SLS AMG

In terms of theatre it’s hard to beat the SLS - what with the elongated hood, chariot-esque driving position, the gull-wing doors, and that signature AMG bark. The Bentley may have been my predicted choice but, if I’m being honest, it simply didn’t feel that special alongside the Mercedes. Of course, I’m not considering things like ride quality and seat comfort (as those are a bit hard to judge in-game) but, given that both cars are ultimate GT models from luxury manufacturers, I assume the comfort will be there.



Weekend/ Track - MINI JCW GP

So the Weekend and Track categories are in fact able to be merged - the MINI JCW GP was my top pick in each. (That means I don't need to remodel my dream garage - phew!)

Now some may question how I can even consider a front-wheel-drive MINI alongside a Porsche GT model but enjoyment is subjective and, for me, the authenticity of the Porsche is met in equal measure by the charm of the MINI. That won’t be the same for everyone but it’s how things work out for me. Second place in each category went to the 718 GTS and Cayman GT4 respectively.



Garage Dream - Bugatti Divo

The final space in my dream garage goes to the Bugatti Divo. Whilst the Senna ran it a close second, the Senna simply did not feel distinct or unique enough from the rest of the McLaren range. The Bugatti on the other hand feels unlike anything else. There are, of course, faster cars and more powerful cars but, from behind the wheel, the Bugatti truly feels like the greatest car ever made.

I do however want to give special mention to the NSX-R which came (a very close) third ahead of both the Ferrari F40 and the McLaren F1. Madness to some people (I know) but of the three it’s the one that would leave me weak at the knees.

.....

So that's my project now complete. I've had great fun testing each and every car. Yes, Forza is just a game at the end of the day but, in my opinion, it does a great job at representing different vehicles and giving a genuine feel for them in-game. It's also a great outlet for automotive enthusiasts - especially in a world and during a time when the usual automotive opportunities are simply unavailable.

For those that have glanced at this thread - I hope it's been of interest.

This was a great read, thanks for taking us through it.

I am about halfway through a much less thorough trip myself with a few personal surprises in it as well. The trick was taking everything as stock, as I would have considerably different choices if allowed modifications. So sadly, many of my favorite older cars did not make the cut as their emotional appeal is far greater than their performance appeal. Normally, this would still keep them in my realistic world since the idea of comparing $250k + is unthinkable...but hey, this is a game, so everything is fair game. I'm interested to see how my own choices pan out.

Thanks.

Looking forward to seeing what you end up with.