For virtually its entire lifespan, the Xbox has had to fight the inevitable comparisons between the PlayStation 2 game library and its own. While they're probably not in the majority, I have spoken with several people who based their decision to buy the PS2 over the Xbox on the availability of two games: Final Fantasy and Gran Turismo.

The lack of strong RPGs on Xbox has been an ongoing issue, and it isn't one we'll address today. The racing genre, on the other hand, has been pretty damn solid, although none of the primary racers have been able to elicit and sustain a comparison with Polyphony Digital's masterpiece franchise.

It didn't come as much of a surprise, then, to see Microsoft pushing Forza Motorsport hard at E3 '04. The more I think about it, in fact, the more I suspect that Halo 2/i>'s low profile at the show had less to do with the Halo franchise and whether or not anybody gave a damn, and more to do with Microsoft not wanting to overshadow their new darling with the 800 pound gorilla.

So here we are, just a little more than a year later, and Forza is ready for public consumption. On balance, it stacks up against Gran Turismo 4 pretty well; there are areas where Forza exceeds the bar set by Gran Turismo, and areas where it still has some catching up to do, but Microsoft Game Studios have one major bullet in their gun that Polyphony Digital so graciously left out of their own: online play.

Gran Turismo 4 has nearly 500 more cars, and nearly two dozen more tracks. Forza isn't even quite as pretty-looking as GT4, but you know what? Between some of the gameplay innovations Forza sports, as well as the sublime online play, it's almost enough to make you not care. At the very least, Xbox gearheads no longer need to eye their PS2 counterparts with the jade eyes of envy.

For example: while the car models and environments are superior in GT4, Forza has a trick of its own up its sleeve: vehicular damage. Oh, nothing terribly spectacular, mind you; the cars don't flip, and the damage you see is mostly superficial, as was the case in racers such as Project Gotham Racing 2, but you will notice an effect on the handling of your car, and the costs for repairing damage sustained will be deducted from any winnings you should accrue.

Like Gran Turismo, you can earn cars as rewards for various accomplishments: winning cups will usually get you at least one vehicle. I say "at least," because there are some additional avenues for gaining cars, as well.

Forza introduces a psuedo-RPG aspect to the world of racing; as you earn money, you gain levels based on your total winnings. Certain levels are milestone levels; gaining these levels will open up relationships with various auto part manufacturers, granting you discounts on specifically-branded parts, and occasionally, a special car from said manufacturer.

In addition, the career component of Forza isn't limited to offline play; you can hop online to face live competition, and the money and levels you earn online are applicable to the offline portion of the game. That money can be used to purchase cars from the CPU dealerships, or you can purchase (and sell) cars from your fellow Live racers.

What makes this such a novel feature is the incorporation of a 'region' setting. When you create a profile, you can choose whether to set your home base in North America, Europe, or Japan, and the choice you make affects the corresponding rarity of certain cars. A relatively common North American vehicle may be quite rare in Japan, and fetch a pretty penny more online than it would if you sold it to the CPU dealerships. This, naturally, translates into more green, and more purchasing power when it comes to new cars.

There's also an arcade mode, similar to that found in Sega GT 2002, where you can run a series of races to unlock various cars and tracks.

In terms of pure gameplay, you're going to find that the AI is simultaneously more challenging than Gran Turismo, but also more frustrating. The computer has no compunctions about driving dirty, an aspect that seems remarkably human relative to other driving games I've played. At the same time, you will find yourself running some races multiple timse in order to earn the gold medal (and unlock the corresponding car) as a result of the AI's tenacity.

The auto tweaking aspect of Forza is a little mixed. If your idea of a "custom car" deals with visual aesthetics, this probably isn't your game. On the other hand, if you enjoy swapping out new parts, tweaking the gear ratios, and otherwise tuning a vehicle to run on a specific track against various levels of competition, you'll be right at home.

In addition to displaying such necessary metrics as speed, braking, and acceleration, Forza also displays the current class of the car as you work on it. This is important because while some races restrict only the model of the participant vehicles, others will restrict based upon the drivetrain and weight of the vehicle. There are six classes - D, C, B, A, R, and S - and each class has multiple breakdowns. As you work on your vehicle, you'll be able to see instantly the effects of each change on your vehicle class. That's useful information if your tweaking is geared towards a specific race.

Even niftier are some of the features aimed at making Forza a more user-friendly experience. Veteran drivers will probably disdain the driving line that displays on the track for the easier difficulties, but it's still a useful feature for novices, and a well-trained novice can eventually become a veteran.

The ability to instantly switch cars to the proper vehicle when selecting a new cup is incredibly welcome (are you listening, Polyphony?), and the "Drivatar" - an AI construct trainable in your style of driving, so that you can skip races you don't want to run - is a neat idea, although the implementation still leaves something to be desired (translation: it's really bloody difficult to train).

So there's all those neat little gameplay innovations that help Forza push GT4, but there are still two areas where Polyphony is the unquestioned ruler: graphics, and sound. The GT4 environments and car models are noticeably superior to their Forza counterparts, which is either a testament to laziness at MGS, or a testament to their dedication to getting the gameplay absolutely right. Given how tight the rest of the package is, I'm inclined to give MGS the benefit of the doubt on this one.

The audio, on the other hand, evokes early fears of what custom soundtracks would mean for in-game audio. Microsoft evidently paid little attention to licensing music that people want to hear, figuring that those who actually give a damn are likely to make use of the custom soundtracks feature and import their own music anyway. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: when an excellent feature concept becomes a crutch, it loses some of its excellence.

It's a shame that Forza's freshman effort comes so late in the Xbox lifespan. Despite Polyphony Digital's notoriety when it comes to delays, they still managed to give PS2 owners two racing simulators. Microsoft, on the other hand, manages to come across as a cosmic tease, delivering a game that's nearly, but not quite, the superior of Sony's crown jewel, and then promising more...if you shell out for the Xbox 360.

I suppose there's some sense in that, but I can't help but think that this could have been an absolutely sublime experience if Xbox 360 had seen the light of day in 2006, giving the team at MGS time to apply one more coat of wax.