the consequences of driving too hard causing him to drive more slowly in the faster cars. Reception Forza Motorsport received a Gold sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom. The NPD Group reported that in its release month the game sold over 100,000 copies in North America. Forza Motorsport received universal acclaim according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. The game was also featured in the June 2004 issue of Popular Science. Reviewers praised the game's advantages over Gran Turismo 4. Che Chou of 1UP.com commented that Forza was the "most realistic console racer ever made". GameSpot's Brian Ekberg noted how well the game balanced accessibility and pleasing genre fans. Kristan Reed of Eurogamer liked the game's online integration. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of one eight, two sevens, and one nine for a total of 31 out of 40. Maxim gave the game all five stars, saying, "Microsoft Game Studios' answer to Sony's automotive masterpiece is simple–add online play and program cars that take realistic damage." The Times also gave it all five stars, saying that "the really ingenious element is the Drivatar AI, in which the computer learns your driving technique." The Sydney Morning Herald gave it four-and-a-half stars out of five, saying, "Car handling is demanding, but beginners can instantly have fun, thanks to helpful driving assists and generous early prizes." However, Jim Schaefer of Detroit Free Press gave it three stars out of four, saying, "man, is this game difficult, even on the easy setting. I prefer games with unreal speed, power boosts and shortcuts. I just couldn't seem to get a grip on Forza until I played around with different cars, perusing the six classes, from standard production cars like your basic Honda Civic to race cars like the Audi R8." References External links 2005 video games Forza Microsoft franchises Microsoft games Multiplayer online games Video games developed in the United States Video games scored by Junkie XL Video games set in Brazil Video games set in California Video games set in England Video games set in Florida Video games set in Georgia (U.S. state) Video games set in Germany Video games set in Hawaii Video games set in Japan Video games set in New York City Video games set in Tokyo Video games set in Wisconsin Xbox