I've been playing racing games since I was a kid...with Rad Racer on the NES being the first one that absorbed all of my free time.  I got really good at them over the years, but around the time that Gran Turismo came out they got too complicated for me to enjoy anymore.  In recent years, I would try out a new racing game for an hour or so and then move on to something else.

When Forza 4 was released, my buddy handed it to me on its release day and said he didn't need it until the weekend...so I decided to give it a go.  Since these games have gotten so complicated, I decided to do a test in usability with it and see just how well it would teach me if I only did what it prompted me to do.

The game did a really good job of letting me know what it's about from the beginning and then went over what the first set of races are that i'm competing in.  I then was able to choose a starter vehicle and since I only drive Chevrolet...i went with the Chevy Spark.  The only choice I could make was the color and then we were heading to my first test lap.

All I ever HAD to do was press A and the game would keep moving me through to the next race or challenge. This was really nice since I didn't want to have to deal with extra customization and wanted to see how the game plays at a basic level.  When we proceeded to challenge races, like one where you knock down bowling pins, it gave a good description but then took me right in.

After every couple of races I would get to choose a new vehicle as a reward, but with my method of pressing A to continue...I was never forced to use anything but my Spark.  When it came to a race where my Spark wasn't powerful enough, it automatically took me to the upgrade screen and said Press A to Auto Upgrade.  Nice!  So I just kept on racing easily.

After one race, I was given the option of a classic Corvette reward...now I was ready to break my mold and go change to the new vehicle.  Once I did this though, I went right back to continually pressing A and found that the game did a fantastic job of keeping me moving along easily.

I'm sure I missed out on a ton of options and upgrades by playing this way, but I wanted to see if it would allow me to play at my own pace and learn new things as I wanted to or needed them.  For the races, all I had to do was hold down RT and steer...it did all the downshifting in turns for me so I didn't even have to use the break.  I had a lot of fun playing it and may actually pick it up to continue once the holiday flood of games is over.