Forza Motorsport: a remake of the racing franchise

Forza Motorsport: a history of excellence

Since the early days of the first Xbox, Forza Motorsport has been a reference for racing games thanks to the crisp graphics, tight controls and satisfying gameplay, and has gained a loyal following among gamers. Over the years 7 games have been released in the main franchise, with the addition of five more Horizon games, the latest of which, Forza Horizon 5, is currently the reigning champion of racing games. This new entry should have been titled Forza Motorsport 8, but it was decided to make it a reboot of the series, so it will only be Forza Motorsport, plain and simple. It is set to release on October 10th.

Build and upgrade your car to the max!

While many of its aspects are rooted in Forza history, the new Forza Motorsport has been rebuilt from scratch, incorporating several features that will make it unique. First of all is the whole philosophy behind it. Up to a few years ago a game’s success was defined by how many copies had been sold, but nowadays Microsoft sees games more as a service, so a game like Forza Motorsport will receive a constant stream of updates, and its success will be judged by how many players it has monthly. Therefore it’s no surprise that Forza Motorsport will be part of the Xbox Game Pass library, and will be available for free on Day 1 to all subscribers. Players who do not have the service can certainly opt to buy the game, for example right here at Gamecardsdirect, the one-stop gift card shop.

The center point of Forza Motorsport will be the Builders Cup. This mode is a single-player experience where you get to practice, build and race your car, with a progression similar to a RPG. At the end of each practice round you get XP points that you can use to tune and upgrade your car, and then take it to a race to earn money and rewards. It is a highly repeatable system that will be constantly expanded and upgraded with the introduction of new cars and circuits. Still, even at launch the roster is all but meager, with over 500 real-world cars and 20 environments.

Forza Motorsport, burning rubber!

Another innovation in the new Forza Motorsport is the machine-learning AI behind CPU-controlled drivers. In previous iterations they were based on the behavior of the other players in our friendlist. Now that has been scrapped, and while the drivatars (computer-controlled opponents) keep sporting the colors and customizations of other players, their driving skills are entirely managed by the AI through a complex algorithm that takes into consideration all possible terrain, weather and car variables to calculate the perfect approach to each curve, introducing errors here and there to simulate human driving. The result is a highly realistic and competitive behavior for all opponents (based on chosen difficulty level) that makes the game free of the dreaded “rubber banding” effect.

An additional strength of Forza Motorsport is the improved physics of the tires. Previous Forza titles had only a single point of tire contact on the surface, moving at 60 cycles per second. That was not enough to guarantee proper behavior on difficult terrains, resulting in inconsistencies and unrealistic suspensions. The new Forza Motorsport has 8 points of contact, running at 360 cycles per second. This allows realistic behavior on even the most difficult terrain, granting players much better drivability. Players will also be able to pick their preferred tires from a broad range of types (Street, Race, etc) and compounds (Soft, Medium or Hard) to perfectly prepare fo the incoming race.

Plenty of cars and circuits to choose from

Many things can -and will- be said about the new Forza Motorsport, but certainly no one will be able to peg it as boring. With over 500 cars available at launch, and over 20 circuits to race on, the game promises a lot of variety. Both the car roster and the circuit selection will be further expanded with time, giving players plenty of options to race. Some of the included race tracks will be Le Mans, Indianapolis, Hakone, Maple Valley and Laguna Seca, while among the cars players could choose the “modest” 2020 Hyundai #98 Bryan Herta Autosport Veloster N, the 2014 Maserati Ghibli S Q4, the usual assortment of Ferrari and Lamborghini, and many other common and not-so-common cars.

As usual with the Forza games, optional DLCs will expand the basic roster with even more vehicles, this is an overview of the DLCs and game versions that will be available:

Game Bundles

• Forza Motorsport Standard Edition: The base game only
• Forza Motorsport Deluxe Edition: Includes the base game and the Car Pass
• Forza Motorsport Premium Edition: Includes the base game, 5 days early access, and all the extra packs: Welcome Pack, Car Pass, VIP membership, Race Day Car pack

DLC packs

• Car Pass: 30 extra cars (one per week)
• VIP Membership: 5 exclusive VIP cars, permanent 2x credits, various perks and bonuses
• Race Day Car Pack: 8 extra high-performance cars - Not available separately
• Welcome Pack: 5 car unlocks and extra credits - Not available separately
• Premium Add-on Bundle: includes all of the Premium Edition extra content (all the packs above)

Amazing graphics with Forzatech

Speaking of graphics, the new Forza Motorsport implements new shaders and paints which will grant increased realism and reflection patterns to all cars. This will all be shown in-game with true Ray-Tracing thanks to the new and improved Forzatech Engine, Microsoft’s internal game engine that will rival the popular Unreal Engine 5. Based on what we’ve seen so far, the results seem nothing less than spectacular. All we have to do now is wait until October 10th to try out the finished game and see how it fares. Can’t wait for the start of this race!

Can I buy Forza Motorsport for Xbox and Windows at Gamecardsdirect?

Yes, Gamecardsdirect is one of the best places to buy all versions of Forza Motorsport for Xbox and Windows and their add-ons. The buying process is very easy and straightforward, and most of all absolutely safe. Just select your product, be it the basic Forza Motorsport or the Premium Edition, choose one of the many payment methods available for your convenience, and you will receive the code in your email right away. Since Forza Motorsport is included in the Xbox Game Pass, you may choose to buy a Game Pass subscription instead, that’s available at Gamecardsdirect too.