Top graphics, a revamped career, better driving physics and ultimately even a dash of role-playing: the racing game series takes off again in 2023.
Where would we be today without role-playing games? How would game developers even motivate us to play their games anymore if every minute in the game didn’t add a few points to an experience point bar, at the end of which would be level-ups and unlocked goodies?
Even racing games are no longer imaginable without this game design crutch, and Forza Motorsport (without 8) goes all out as far as this is concerned: Here, every (!) car has an experience point bar and you unlock more and more new components just by driving.
But this innovation is hardly worth mentioning when we look at all the innovations in the eighth part of the racing game series for PC and Xbox. Because under the bonnet, Turn 10 Studios makes so many changes to its scrape that we would hardly recognise Forza. If it weren’t for the usual excellent graphics.
Revised career mode
Optically, of course, Turn 10 has gone one better, especially at night and in the rain, the laser-scanned courses look damn realistic. During the day, it doesn’t look quite as great due to the lack of depth in the shadows, but Forza Motorsport is still unrivalled in this respect. Also because the cars (all with ray-traced reflections) are simply stunning.
The career mode is completely overhauled in the new Forza Motorsport; in the Builder’s Cup there is now much more variety with thematically grouped cars in an event as well as new setting options. At the start of a race, you can specify exactly which difficulty and realism features (time penalties, damage model, rewind function) you want and from which starting position you start – all of which will influence how many Car Points you receive should you finish on the podium.
With this substitute for filthy lucre, you install new tuning parts in your PS monster – if you remove them again afterwards, you get the complete sum back (respec) and can put them in another car. Which parts are available depends on the respective car level – and this is where the aforementioned role-playing mechanics take effect.
Level-up for driving
Forza Motorsport is designed for you to slowly get to know each new car, feel out its strengths and weaknesses, tune it to its full potential, and then drive the competition (whether it’s other players or their AI-controlled Drivatars) into the ground.
When you drive the course for the first time in free practice at the beginning of the weekend, you gain car experience with every turn, which is now actually displayed in a bar and results in level upgrades. This is designed to motivate you to wrench and increase your attachment to the car, because as Turn 10 Studios tells us, “In Forza Motorsport, you build your cars, you don’t buy them. “
