What is a studio to do when their spin-off eclipses the original? That is where Turn 10 finds themselves in 2023, as it became clear that Forza Horizon – with its crystalline vistas, relentless DayGlo positivity, and resplendent open-world approach – had left more of a mark on the culture than its staid, closed-circuit mother franchise.
It has been six years since Turn 10 put out a video game under the Forza Motorsport name, and now that they’ve finally returned to the well, you may be surprised that the studio has resisted weaving in those streamlined, casual-friendly ovations they discovered on their trips to Mexico and Australia. Forza Motorsport is a driving sim at its most icy and luxuriant; a sumptuous cathedral built to sanctify raw V8 power. The game may leave some Horizon vacationers cold but breath easy, grognards – it’s clear that Turn 10 hasn’t lost its fastball.
Forza Motorsport opens with you behind the wheel of one of the game’s 500 automobiles – idling in the starting lanes – where you’re told, in no uncertain terms, that optimisation is key. This is true for the nervy right-angles sprawled out on the roads ahead; an uber-precise nudge of the steering wheel can provide just enough real estate for a white-knuckle overtake.
This is not a game about punishing collisions or improvised off-road shortcuts; no, usually a couple of shaved milliseconds are the difference between victory and defeat. (The handling – the way your wheels slip on rain-slick surfaces, the halting screech of the brake pads – is as precise as ever.) But optimisation is just as important when you return to the lab, and choose from a huge variety of parts and accessories to bolster a simple Mazda Sport into an asphalt-gobbling machine. As in previous Forza games, there is no limit to your own personal excesses. If you are the sort of person who wants to concoct the perfect density of tire pressure for a race on a humid afternoon in Miami, Turn 10 gives you the tools.
Of course, players can ignore all of those heady under-the-hood decisions if they choose. After finishing a race, and earning new level thresholds on their collection of automobiles, they can simply tap an auto-upgrade button and be served with a vehicle algorithmically upgraded by Forza’s in-house gearhead. I appreciate the simplicity, but for those who are new to the world of racing simulations, Turn 10 does a commendable job of serving up the genre scaffolding that anyone can navigate. This is essentially a loot grind, but instead of picking up keyblades and Phoenix downs, you’ll be dredging up a brand new carburetor in your inventory screen. Those who are willing to get into the weeds will find that outfitting a race car with perks and doodahs isn’t all that different from dropping talent points into a World of Warcraft character.
On the multiplayer servers, players can jump into lighthearted casual races or far more intense open events, where the global community of players bring their own cars – and their own tuning – to the track. But personally, most of my time with Forza Motorsport has been spent all by myself, taking the same left turn over and over again, until I’ve memorised every nuance of the angle. Turn 10 has brought out the obsessive in me. I mean that as a compliment.
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