Highlights
- Forza Motorsport, the next entry in the racing game franchise, will be missing spectator mode, AI racing, and split-screen at launch, which may disappoint fans.
- The previous Forza Motorsport games have been well-received and popular, but the franchise's quality somewhat declined after the first four titles.
- While the absence of these features is disappointing, Forza Motorsport still has stunning graphics, a variety of cars and game modes, and will be available on Xbox Game Pass.
Forza Motorsport, the next entry in the Xbox console exclusive racing game franchise, will be missing three fan favorite features at launch: spectator mode in featured multiplayer, AI racing in featured multiplayer, and split-screen. Prior to the 2023 Forza Motorsport game, the popular racing franchise had a new entry every two years, with most of its games earning quite a bit of critical acclaim and proving popular with fans.
The first Forza Motorsport launched in 2005 for the original Xbox and quickly became one of the highest-rated racing games of all time. The sequel that dropped a couple of years later earned similar acclaim, as did 2009's Forza Motorsport 3 and 2011's Forza Motorsport 4. 2013's Forza Motorsport 5 was the franchise's first miss. The Xbox One launch title was released with significantly less content than its predecessors, leading many to accuse Microsoft of rushing the game's development to meet the Xbox One's release date. Luckily, Forza Motorsport 6 and 7 got things back on track, though they still didn't reach the same heights as the first four titles.
While there was only two years between the releases of the first seven Forza Motorsport games, it's officially been six years since Forza Motorsport 7 hit the scene. This puts even more pressure on the new Forza Motorsport to deliver, and it will be interesting to see if it is able to bring the franchise back to its former glory or if it will be fall short of expectations. Unfortunately, the fact that the game will be missing spectator mode in featured multiplayer, AI racing in featured multiplayer, and split-screen doesn't bode well. Longtime fans who enjoy those features will be disappointed to see that they've all been left on the cutting room floor when the new Forza Motorsport launches on October 10.
Now, it's worth pointing out that the Forza Motorsport developer delivering this bad news repeatedly said that those fan favorite features won't be in the new racing game "at launch." This certainly leaves the door open to the possibility that the developers will patch these features in at some point after Forza Motorsport October 10 release date, but fans will have to wait and see on that front. Some may recall when Microsoft had promised to patch in split-screen for Halo Infinite after its launch, only for the feature to eventually be scrapped. It may be best for split-screen enthusiasts to keep their expectations in check.
The lack of these features is definitely disappointing, but Forza Motorsport could still be an exceptional racing game without them. Forza Motorsport's graphics are stunning and it's packed with cars, game modes, and other content to keep racing game fans busy for the long haul. Plus, anyone not wanting to pay full price for it after finding out about its missing features can still play the game in its entirety through Xbox Game Pass.
Forza Motorsport launches October 10 for PC and Xbox Series X.