MS should feel embarrassed that their platform-exclusive-1st-party-showcase racing sim Forza2 doesn't look half as pretty as the 3rd-party-multi-platform game Dirt (dIRT? DiRT? DIrT? whatever...) I went straight from playing Forza to Dirt and my first reaction was basically the German equivalent of "OMG that looks f*cking AWESOME!". Sure, Forza has another focus, it's a hardcore racing sim for enthusiasts, has a much more realistic driving model, online features and a multiplayer mode which can actually be called "multiplayer". While Dirt isn't an arcade racer by any means, it definitely feels a bit more "arcadey" then Forza2. Still, Forza should at least have tried to come closer to Dirt-level graphics. Compared to Dirt, Forza2 kinda looks like the boring civilian flight simulator with the ultra-realistic flight model and simplistic graphics that only hobby pilots fly.
The graphics in Dirt are truly "next gen", which in comparison can't really be said about Forza. I would go as far and say that Dirt is at the moment the second best looking 360 game after Gears, and the new "other" graphics-showcase on the 360.
PS: Don't judge Dirt's graphics by the demo on Xbox Live. The demo tracks there have hardly any vegetation in them. The European and Japanese tracks in the full version look much much better. And the immersion and sense of speed when racing a wet narrow forest track at 180 km/h in Dirt is simply unbelievable.
