Highlights
- Forza Motorsport lacks customization options for player avatars, which feels like a missed opportunity for a more personalized experience.
- While the lack of avatar customization doesn't detract from the game's racing credentials, it stands out compared to the highly customizable nature of Forza Horizon 5.
- The wealth of customization options in Forza Motorsport for gameplay elements makes the absence of driver personalization options perplexing and underwhelming.
In a game otherwise filled with countless customization options designed to let players enjoy a gameplay experience custom-tailored to their enjoyment, one personalization option is conspicuously absent from Forza Motorsport. Although developer Turn 10 Studios gives gamers free rein to tweak the moment-to-moment gameplay to their heart’s content, changing everything from their car’s tuning to the difficulty of Forza Motorsport’s AI opponents, players have a disappointingly small number of ways to customize their avatar. While the near-absence of avatar customization options doesn’t detract from the game’s otherwise impeccable racing credentials, it does feel like a missed opportunity.
Even though most players will spend the bulk of their time with Forza Motorsport staring at the cockpit or rear end of their favorite cars, being able to add a bit of flair to their racer would have helped give the game a more personalized feel. As it stands now, players can only choose from a relatively small set of racing suits with no other way of making their driver stand out from the crowd. The absence of such options for in-game avatars not only feels out of step with the otherwise highly customizable racing experience found in Forza Motorsport but also comes as a disappointment compared to the personalization options for avatars available in Forza Horizon 5.
Forza Motorsport’s Customizable Nature Makes Its Lack of Driver Personalization Perplexing
What makes the lack of driver customization options in Forza Motorsport particularly perplexing is the wealth of other ways in which players can personalize their racing experience. In addition to sim racing standards like being able to adjust the time of day on Forza Motorsport’s tracks or the difficulty of AI opponents, Turn 10 also lets players choose from a dizzying array of assistance options that help keep the game accessible for everyone. When it comes to the look of the character behind the wheel, though, players have decidedly fewer options.
Given Forza Motorsport’s single-minded focus on delivering the best sim racing experience possible, it’s unsurprising that little time was spent on providing players with options to personalize their driver. The lack of any customization options outside choosing from a selection of different racing suits, though, feels underwhelming. Even something as simple as giving gamers a choice of which helmet to pair with their preferred racing suit would have provided more opportunity for personalization than is available at present. Instead, the bare-bones options available leave Turn 10’s sim racer feeling like it got the short end of the stick compared to Forza Horizon 5.
Driver Customization in Forza Motorsport Feels Shallow Compared to Forza Horizon 5
Just as Playground Games’ Forza Horizon 5 has a generally more freewheeling feel than the strictly regimented racing found in the Forza Motorsport franchise, the former title also offers players plenty of ways to make their avatar look entirely unique. Not only can players customize their driver’s outfit, even sending them off to race in a chicken suit if that’s what they desire, but they can also customize what their avatar looks like when the helmet comes off. This makes every avatar a deeply personal, and occasionally hilarious, reflection of the player holding the sticks.
Letting gamers hop behind the wheel in Forza Motorsport wearing some of Forza Horizon 5’s outlandish outfits would obviously detract from the game’s otherwise serious aesthetic, but that doesn’t mean the sim racer couldn’t have taken a few cues from its sister series. Giving players the option to change the color scheme on their suit and helmet, or even create custom designs as they can for the uniforms in Forza Motorsport, would have gone a long way to making players’ avatars feel like an extension of themselves.
It's possible that future updates will introduce additional options for customizing player avatars in Forza Motorsport but, for now, the drivers speeding around the tracks are virtually indistinguishable from one another. This makes sense given the game’s serious aesthetic, but still feels like a missed opportunity to inject a bit more fun into Forza Motorsport’s sim racing formula.
Forza Motorsport is available for PC and Xbox Series X/S.