Game review: Forza Horizon 3

A scene from Forza Horizon 3, which moves the car racing action to Australia.

It dawned on me while travelling in excess of 250kmh through heavy traffic in Surfers Paradise that driving really expensive cars at high speed is so much easier on the left hand side of the road.

Forza Horizon 3, the ninth instalment of the Forza series, is entirely set in Australia. Considering the famed Bathurst track was one of the greatest things about last year's brilliant Forza 6, it proves to be a great idea with the execution to match.

Unlike previous Horizon editions, this time around you're the director of the Horizon car festival so you have some big decisions to make over where events should be held - Surfers or the Outback? - and what type of races and cars will be run.

You start at Byron Bay and the main objective is to attract fans to the Horizon festival. The more events and PR stunts won by you, the more people turn up. Racing against a Jeep being lifted by a helicopter, a fleet of speedboats and a giant zeppelin are the type of races that seem to do this. Also it's up to you to find and chase down the best drivers and convince them to join the festival

Earn money, buy more cars, kit out cars you already own. Nothing new there but it's very simple to use with plenty of options. As with any Forza title you expect plenty of cars on offer and this time around there are more than 350. My pick was the Holden Tarana A9X 1977 - burnt orange of course. But if you want to go more high end there's the likes of the Bugatti Veyron, McLaren P1 or the Aston Martin V12 Vantage S if you can earn enough rewards to purchase.

Racing on sand, through backyards and over rubbish bins is probably what most Aussies went through to pass their driver's license. It's visually stunning and doesn't take long to get the hang of if you're new to the series.

There is plenty of variety from street races in supercars to racing dune buggies through Aussie forest. Once again the Forza team have stepped up their game for the rest of the driving franchises to follow. Just remember: keep left.

Forza Horizon 3

Platforms:

Xbox One

Rating:

PG

Verdict:

Stone the crows! Forza makes the move down under and it's a bonza ride