Highlights
- Forza Motorsport is taking the franchise in a new direction with a rebooted career mode called Builders Cup, featuring RPG elements and a focus on building and upgrading cars.
- The game showcases impressive graphics with the use of ray tracing, allowing for sharper and more realistic visuals, including reflections and improved sunlight effects.
- The AI system has been revamped, introducing a smart Drivatar system that can be customized based on players' preferred difficulty levels, adding a deeper level of challenge and immersion to the game.
Whether behind the wheels of driving rigs or on the conventional console pad, the allure of racing is expanding, and the Forza franchise is spearheading the category's push into the limelight and taking advantage of the wave. Off the back of Forza Horizon 5's stellar performance in 2021, Turn 10 is seeking an even better reception to the upcoming Forza Motorsport, which marks the franchise's debut on next-gen Xbox consoles. Fans are expecting a host of new features in Motorsport, and the developer has begun rolling out things to expect from the title.
While Forza Motorsport is an imminent addition to the franchise's impressive catalog, many fans were shocked to learn the title wouldn't follow the series' chronological order as the eighth edition, but rather as a sort of reboot. That revelation hasn't dampened expectations, with the player base eager to relive the golden age of racing in a modern form, and the new installment's trailer at the Summer Game Fest and Forza Monthly's updates did not disappoint. Forza Motorsport's gigantic file size follows recent gaming trends of releases crossing 100 GB, and this has generated some curiosity, as gamers wonder about the new features that will grace the title. A few seem to be game changers in the racing landscape.
Forza Motorsport's new features are as follows:
- Reworked Builders Cup career mode
- Detailed car leveling and upgrading system
- Ray tracing
- Improved damage system
- Drivatar AI with multiple difficulty levels
- Flexible starting grids
Forza Motorsport's Features are a Much-Needed Reset
Forza Motorsport's most marketed feature is the new career mode, named Builders Cup, which has a few twists to what players have gotten used to in recent Motorsport titles. There's a greater leveling detail, and Forza Motorsport has been dubbed CAR-PG for its similarities to RPG elements. The developer has emphasized a progression from slow to faster cars, and there are added upgrading incentives for engaging in Practice sessions. Over 800 car parts have been advertised in Forza Motorsport's previews, and players can finetune their cars with Car Points gained from races and practice sessions, as the focus shifts from collecting cars to building.
Finding avenues to generate higher payouts is essential for car building in Forza Motorsport, and the all-new Challenge The Grid race event provides the perfect opportunity for players to maximize their efforts. Older Forza Motorsport games varied rewards based on how many assists were turned off for a race, but the reboot is changing the game by giving gamers the freedom to craft their track journeys. Players can now start wherever they want on a grid (front, back, or middle), and the disadvantage of beginning a race at the rear yields more rewards than starting at pole.
Graphics Take Center Stage in Forza Motorsport
Graphics are taking leaps in the gaming industry, and Forza Motorsport is keeping up with the times with ray tracing. Not many competitors use the mechanism due to the heavy strain on consoles, but Motorsport intends to use every bit of the next-gen juice it can muster. Vehicular bodywork looks sharper and chromic; players can see the reflections of other cars on theirs, and sunlight also benefits from the improvement. The title is also confirmed as part of the highly-rated Xbox Game Pass.
Since combative racing has been a regular staple of the Forza Motorsport franchise, an upgrade to the system in a reboot was always going to be a priority. Although there wouldn't be chaotic wipeout scenes in games like Asphalt, dents and scratches build up to give cars a battle-tested look, and dirt also sticks to the car's frame when passing through dusty and muddy tracks. Additionally, Forza Motorsport's AI has received some remodeling, and the upcoming installment will feature a smart Drivatar system that can be tweaked according to players' difficulty preferences.
Forza Motorsport launches October 10 for PC and Xbox Series X.