Microsoft and Xbox pulled out all the stops this past week with their Games Showcase and accompanying Starfield Direct, flexing both their new partnership with Bethesda and a plethora of new first and third party titles coming to the platform.
The team really did leave nothing on the table in what felt like a direct response to any naysayers claiming that Team Green had a lack of good games on offer this time around. One key standout was Forza Motorsport, and an understanding that the time had finally come for us to get a much deeper look at the franchise’s next generation steps.
Source: Forza Motosport Showcase
All Covers Off on Customization
A refreshing thing to see in particular with this latest reveal was a proper look at what the game would be like to navigate, menu through and drive. While ‘Forza Aero’, a contentious topic amongst the community for being integral but ugly aerodynamic mods, is still expected to be present, the reveal focused on the upgrading and development of the player’s 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray, a hybrid variant of the ubiquitous american muscle and one of two halo cars of the latest game, alongside the also very American Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh.
The Corvette in particular showed quite a variety of customisation, including a custom widebody kit and several aesthetic wings and body options. While this is to be expected of one of the poster cars of the game, we can only hope that this level of customisation is across most, if not all vehicles, especially as a presence of a Car Level in the menus hints towards potentially investing more deeply into single cars and micro-progression than jumping to different cars every race.
Source: Forza Motosport Showcase
Safety Ratings bring a Cleaner Multiplayer
If there’s anything the Forza franchise has gained a reputation for, it’s how the multiplayer experience can get compared more to WreckFest than Assetto Corsa Competizione when left alone. While this can generate some hilarious moments that would no doubt generate quite the buzz on social media, this all too often ruins the racing experience and leaves any form of real racing reserved for higher commitment community leagues.
You can imagine the elation and surprise then, to see this single line uttered in the companion press release for the trailer:
“AI-powered Forza Race Regulations, tire and fuel strategy, and new driver and safety ratings.”
Driver and Safety Ratings are nothing new, especially if you’ve played one of this franchise’s competitors like Gran Turismo Sport or 7, it could mean the difference between a chaotic shambles of a multiplayer, to one that, while the initial experience may retain some of that chaos, for the dedicated racers you can get the clean lobbies befitting of the high quality experience.
Source: Forza Motosport Showcase
Read also: Forza Motorsport is back – Visually stunning and utterly compelling
The other core aspect is Forza Race Regulations, which were trialled in Forza Motorsport 7 to.. mixed results. While it was good at introducing a real penalty for unsportsmanlike driving, it also was ripe for exploitation and both gave excessive penalties for leaving the track outside of your control, and could rack penalties so high the game gave up on trying to apply them. Hopefully the time between FM7 and now gave the needed testing and maturity the system needed to realise its potential..
More details are on the horizon (heh), with plenty to unpack in this new trailer and a guided tour of the game’s new Career Mode set to be revealed this Tuesday, June 13th during the franchise’s Forza Monthly show, we can’t wait to see what the franchise’s next steps hold.
Forza Motorsport releases on Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Series consoles Microsoft Store and Steam on October 10th this year.
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