Hands On With Forza 5

I received an email from Microsoft saying that an Xbox One w/ Forza 5 is at our local Microsoft Store.  Since my wife is 41 weeks pregnant today and the little one still hasn't shown up, I suggested we go for a walk at the mall.  She was all for that idea.  While there, I went ahead and popped into the Microsoft Store to check things out.

The Bad

• It's graphically beautiful, but so is FM3 and FM4.  Even though you know better you sort of anticipate a whole new world of graphics quality but in reality there isn't a whole lot more to give you.
  
• Loading times felt long.  Although they said it was final hardware it was a demo version of the game.  Perhaps the final version will be quicker.
  
• The Xbone interface is VERY Windows 8.  I am OK with that because I'm used to it, but it was weird to see.
  
• The demo was only one lap and didn't have any autovista.  Lame!
  
• Something was weird with manual shifting.  I can't explain it but somewhere a button press wasn't responding like I'm used to.  Perhaps it's just due to being demo unit with demo software.
  

The Good

• The game DOES look great, of course.  Despite a irrational and unfair disappointment in graphics they DO deliver a lot more effects.  Laguna Seca feels populated and busy.  You see the dashboard and driver reflect on the windshield when the lightning is right.  The windows felt tinted.  Scuff and damage to the car looks great and more thorough.
  
• Speaking of damage, you receive very specific messages when something is damaged.  For example I rear ended another car and I received a message saying "front downforce has been damaged".  Neat!
  
• You could change your assists mid-race from the pause window.  You can do that in test drives in FM4 but not in an actual race (right?).  Whether or not this was a demo thing or a full-version thing I don't know, but it was good to have that.
  
• The controller feels great.  It has a matte finish to it that is comfortable and the bumpers/triggers are laid out in a slightly different way that feels good.
  

The Great

• The triggers themselves have haptic feedback!  This was amazing.  The throttle vibrates at red line or if the tires are spinning.  You feel the brake slip if the tires are locked.  You feel the brake trigger thumpthumpthump when ABS engages.  This was unexpected and very very awesome.  To a degree it lessens my disappointment in wheel support, though of course it's still not the same thing.
  
• (Note that this was vibration only, NOT FORCE feedback.  The triggers never fought me, they just vibrated differently when stuff was happening.  That said, it's totally rad to have the triggers vibrate and not the entire controller.  Very informative and very cool).
  

My wife was not impressed by any of this.

Sounds great! Do you think that the sounds of the game have improved at all, or have they pretty much stayed the same?

Unfortunately I didn't get to mess with sound much because they had it hooked up to a flat screen monitor with built in speakers and the store was kind of loud.  Y'all would be the better judge of that anyway I bet, as you know more about what the cars should sound like.