Just finished doing one race
Here are raw impressions
Presentation is vastly superior to FM2, soothing menu music and navigation with a streamlined look. You only see a hiccup in the presentation when you select a different color for your car, a minor 0.1s pause nothing as big as a vehicle loading for 1/2s , you are taken to a 3D showroom of your car when you pick it.
Sound: Vehicles engines sounds superb, all the vehicles sound different and are not drowned out by others, I picked the new Ferrari! (Edited LOL, I thought it for a ZR1 Vette have not slept since last night :lol, those two cars look VERY alike) and it really growls, notably there IS music playing during the races now unlike the old FM games that didn't have any unless you turned on custom ST's
Graphics, the track detail is superb you really need to play the demo to appreciate the track, the road doesn't look like shit and the mountains are just beautiful, what Jett pointed out is true, that section has that bitmap mountain bg, it does not look out of place like the screenshot, it blends in well with the actual 3D mountain side. The framerate does NOT hiccup, it's rock solid. The replay camera angles are MUCH better than Forza 1 and 2, the cams don't suck ass anymore if this demo track is any indication.
Physics, the Ferrari California I just took for a spin feels much heavier and attached to the road, compared to FM2 it feels hefty and not floaty, the collisions are very representative of just how collisions look when I got pit maneuvered by the damn AI lol, I did try to flip the car but it didn't even lift or anything I don't know if it's because I have it set on medium or the cars low center of gravity.
What I noted and or didn't like, minor shimmering on the road in the bottom part of the screen or on the edges of the road it's very minor shimmering that is noticeable if you look for it, the aliasing doesn't look as bad as the screenshots but there is some, call it ant sized aliasing while playing the game, it's not a jagfest.
I did NOT like the way you still take look around while in cockpit mode, (right analog stick to look around) in Dirt 2 the drivers pov tilts his head smoothly to the direction you look at, atm in this demo it's a direct instant look to where you move the stick to, I have always disliked this in the Forza series and it really bothers me, it totally detracts away from the near perfect delivery of the other aspects of the game.
I don't understand why they haven't fixed this right analog stick look around view bs since FM1..
Aside from that , Great DEMO everyone needs to give the game a chance and play it.
-new detail noticed
The fans on the stands are 3D and are animated, not bad.
-another detail
The in race telemetry (brought up via D-pad) is running @ 60fps and does not slow down the game in one bit, wow this is just awesome lol.. The telemetry has everything, there's a drift score tab too in here.
Those are my early impressions from this demo. Played on my 19" ws lcd monitor via vga cables.