The latest release in a fairly new franchise, FM4 (like Sony’s Gran Turismo 5) is a state-of-the-art racing title that reflects years of accrued developer know-how in mastering the graphical strengths and deficiencies of “seventh-generation” consoles. It may not look like a quantum improvement over the previous version, but it’s there, from a rock-steady frame rate (60 FPS, even when rendering a swarm of cars) to the photorealism of the engineer’s chalk marks scrawled on road surfaces. (They looked so convincing on the turns of the Nürburgring’s famed Northern Loop, that we actually stopped our car and backed up to inspect more closely.) Enhancements in the audio presentation abound and will give a serious workout to even the latest 7.1 sound systems. Wisely left intact is the signature Rewind feature that lets you “roll back” segments of time – whose true value is realized when you can replay those heartbreaking spinouts that invariably occur on the last turn of a 20-lap race.
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