Back in January, I wrote an article detailing the worst cars I had driven in Forza Motorsport 7. I didn’t have the game for very long so I only had three cars I could truly call terrible. One of those cars was a BMW M4 GTS. Out of an Ariel Atom and an Alfa Romeo 8C, I called the BMW the worst car out of the three. Puzzling, I know. It’s easy to think that the Atom would be the best and the BMW would come home in an easy second, but I didn’t believe as such. I’m not going to recount my thoughts on the other two here, so just click the link if you want to know my thoughts on the Ariel and the Alfa were. Instead, I’m double-checking myself to see if I was right about the BMW, or if I had it wrong this whole time.
Let’s begin.
THE BRAKES:
Back when I first drove the BMW, I said that my biggest gripe with the car was the brakes. Stating that they had great initial bite but terrible fade. Since then I have driven the car again and I can tell you that is still the case. The M4 GTS continues to suffer from fade unacceptable for this type of car. Worse still, the fade isn’t consistent. 90 percent of the time you will experience fade, but there are small instances where it’s not so bad. This matters because getting the most out of a car is already a difficult task, and not knowing when you can brake that little bit later just sucks.
THE HANDLING:
I’ve said that the M4 GTS has great turn-in and lackluster rear grip. Specifically, I said that the M4 GTS couldn’t put its power down (especially in slow corners). Upon revisiting the car, I don’t think this is necessarily the case. I said this back then and I’ll say it now: FM7 makes cars far too prone to lift-off oversteer. As such, the M4 GTS is a mere victim of FM7’s physics system, not the perpetrator. Not completely anyway.
The best way to mitigate the car’s tail-happiness – and the game’s weirdness – is by keeping the car under load at all times. It might sound counterproductive to stay on the throttle whilst going through a corner, but doing so keeps the weight over the rear tires and, as long as you’re not using too much throttle, the rear-end will be more planted than if you were coasting.
With that said, using this technique does not absolve the BMW of all its oversteer-y sins. It just makes them more tolerable.
One thing to note when using this technique is that the BMW becomes more susceptible to understeer. “Naturally” you might be saying to yourself, “You’re on the throttle whilst cornering, some front-end push should be expected”. I’m not going to say you’re wrong for thinking that, because you’re not, but I am going to say that the BMW pushes a little bit too much for my liking when cornering without coasting. Sometimes it was my fault, other times the car simply ran out of grip (sooner than I believe a track car like this should).
Now that we’ve finished discussing old talking points, let’s tackle one last thing I learned about the Bavarian track car.
IT’S A TERRIBLE S-CLASS CAR:
Like most cars in Forza, upgrading the M4 GTS into a formidable multiplayer track weapon isn’t a problem. Some handling upgrades, tire upgrades, and some power-adders later and you’ll have yourself something to be feared on most circuits. The reason it’s a terrible S-Class car is simple: In its stock form, the M4 GTS isn’t competitive. It starts at S-704 PI! that’s low enough to reduce the BMW to A-Class (where I think it would be more useful). Obviously, you’ll need to upgrade any car if you want to win in a Forza lobby, but Viper ACRs are a much better choice if you want to at least crack the top 10 if you aren’t a tuning whiz. Upgrades or not!
This isn’t to say that competing in an online lobby with a stock car is a good idea. Most of the time you will get your butt handed to you if you do that. However, the BMW simply feels too slow for the class.
At this point, you might be assuming that I’m going to suggest it should be an A-Class car, and you’d be completely correct. A good portion of me does believe that Turn10 should’ve made the M4 GTS an A-Class car. However, I’m not convinced the M4 GTS wouldn’t be an OP car if they did that. Perhaps it should be what it is: a low S-Class car.
My overall thoughts? I’m pretty so-so about this car. It’s pretty good when you’re under the limit, not pushing too hard or driving 10/10ths, but it’s much worse once you decide to turn things up a notch. In short: The car is a harsh, sometimes unfair mistress.
Thanks for reading! Have you driven the M4 GTS before? If so, what did you think of it? As always I hope you enjoyed this article. See you soon.