When I saw Forza Motorsport at Summer of Gaming a couple of months ago, I came away a little disappointed. Forza’s pedigree of having some of the most gorgeous visuals of any racing game is well known, and while the latest iteration of Motorsport undoubtedly looked good, it lacked polish at the time. So as a long-time Forza fan I’m pleased to say that Turn 10 has done a lot of work and after a behind-closed-doors demo at gamescom showing the game on the Xbox Series X, I walked away happy. Forza is definitely on track.
Importantly, it also looks like a promising return for Forza Motorsport after a six year hiatus, with its brattish sibling Horizon hogging the limelight for the past few years. And while Forza Horizon does outrageous arcade racing better than almost anything else, Motorsport promises a proper racing simulation experience that many, myself included, are desperate for.
Although Nurburgring was the big reveal at the show, the demo showed off Italy’s Mugello circuit, which has a long straight and along the start-finish line and a series of tight turns and a hairpin in the final third. With 20 tracks on the way, each reveal has had me intrigued to see how the team plans to offer a wide variety of tracks that each offer their own unique racing challenges for seasoned sim racing fans. With Nurburging and Mugello added to the list, that leaves only three more to be revealed.
They were driving an Audi RS5 in a new game mode called the Builder’s Cup. Challenge the Grid is something that allows you, as a racer to set your starting point on the track and the further back you’re placed, the more bonus XP you will earn. We were racing against other Audis, Mercedes and BMWs. I loved that the aim is to earn XP by racing as cleanly as possible, so for every perfect overtake and apex you hit, you earn XP. But clip the side barriers or another car and you lose out. It’s an idea I’m really interested in – I really got into Gran Turismo 7 when it came out and bought a steering wheel set-up to get the best experience, so I’m looking forward to learning how to get the most out of each car, pushing it to the limits around each track without making a mistake.
The XP leans into the Turn 10’s philosophy of Level, Build, Dominate that they mentioned during the demo. The idea is that you pick a Builder’s Cup, choose a car, and then take that vehicle from factory-spec to a mean machine. It’s a strategy that I like because I imagine I’ll learn the ins and outs of a vehicle and really get a feel for each I choose to drive.
Although only three cars were on show in the demo, Motorsport will launch with over 500 cars, from supercars from Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche to classics like the Aston Martin DB5, to the V8-electric hybrid Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray. Many of the cars return from previous Forza games, but over 100 new motors are promised too.
And it should be noted that the Forza Motorsport team has committed to continue supporting the game post launch with monthly content drops of some kind. That may not be in the form of new tracks, but it is nice to hear we will have something new to look forward to after launch. The Forza Horizon team added Rally Adventure and the Hot Wheels expansion to Forza Horizon 5, the latter of which was a very fun way to learn a little bit more about the cars we all grew up playing while leaning into the whimsical tracks. I’m excited to see what they have cooking up for Motorsport.
But based on what I saw, it’s Forza Motorsport’s presentation that really impresses. Back in June the development team said it was targeting 4K, 60 frames-per-second on the Xbox Series X, and if this demo is anything to go by it’s totally hitting that number. It’s fast, smooth and very impressive, and I cannot wait to get behind the wheel this October.
Destin Legarie uses a G29 for racing because he’s new to sim setups. But his PC has a 7950X3D CPU and is a monster. Follow him on Twitter/X for plenty more nonsense about video games.
