I’ve been paying close attention to the new Forza Motorsport for years now. As someone who grew up around racing and car tuning, I’ve been a massive fan of Forza Motorsport (and Gran Turismo) over the years. With the new Forza Motorsport, the team at Turn 10 have spent a very long time building their platform for the future. And as you would imagine, that greatly excites me.
If you’re getting caught up, be sure to watch the presentation from the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase last summer before proceeding.
To further explain why the new Forza Motorsport will be such a leap forward, here are some of the key details:
- FM is being built for Xbox Series X / S and PC only.
- The physics systems for a wide-range of calculations are either vastly improved or entirely new.
- According to Creative Director Chris Esaki, the total physics calculations being completed in FM are more than Forza Motorsport 5, 6, and 7 combined.
- To be more specific Chris noted that previously a car’s tires had 1 point of contact each. In FM, each tire has 8 points of contact and the data is updated at a 6 times faster rate than Forza Motorsport 7.
- FM will feature 20 tracks at launch and every one has built from the ground up with the new technology.
- Several classics return, including the beloved Maple Valley, along with new courses like Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit.
- Every track features ray-tracing on-track (while racing) along with full 24 hour day/night cycles and dynamic weather systems.
- Track conditions will evolve in real-time depending on the temperature, weather, and more. Tracks will even feature rubber build up from worn tires.
- Tracks will feature thousands of fully-animated 3D spectators.
- FM will feature over 500 cars are launch with 100 of them being entirely new to the series.
- The materials and shader system for cars is all-new.
- Car paints are sourced using a spectrophotometer to give each paint coating a significantly more realistic light response across colors, metal flake and gloss levels.
- Cars have context-aware damage and dirt buildup that is authentic and unique for each vehicle in the game.
- FM’s audio systems have also been re-built from the ground up.
- It is being mixed natively for 3D audio formats like Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos.
- All audio effects have been brought up to the highest fidelity using modern technology.
- Modifying cars with new exhausts, turbos, etc. will feature new, distinct sounds. Tire and suspension audio has also been enhanced.
- Tracks will feature a regional announcer system. For instance you’ll hear a Japanese announcer when racing around Hakone.
- FM features hardware-accelerated convolution reverb.
- This technology accurately reproduces how sounds in the game world interact within an acoustic space, dynamically adapting to surroundings as you drive along the circuit and creating a realistic and detailed soundscape for every car camera view.
For more on Forza Motorsport I suggest reading the latest blog post from Turn 10, as well as watching the presentations from yesterday’s Xbox Developer Direct and the latest Forza Monthly!
The game doesn’t currently have a release date but was again confirmed as a 2023 title during the Developer Direct.
