Is it Time for Forza Motorsport to Overtake Gran Turismo?

Forza Motorsport 2023 Rival GT7.jpg
Two of the most popular racing game franchises in the world go head to head once again when Forza Motorsport's latest iteration is released in October. Gran Turismo 7 has been out for over a year now, and it has met its fair share of criticism since its release - is it time for Forza to strike?

Image credit: Turn 10 Studios/Microsoft

Microsoft's premier racing series is the answer to Sony's Gran Turismo, and the upcoming release could be its chance to take the throne as the king of racing games: GT7 has been criticized for its excessive in-game cost of cars, microtransactions and an always-online requirement for singleplayer modes. Initially, cars could not be sold either, which was later remedied.

No Microtransactions for In-Game Currency​

Still, it seemed that Polyphony Digital and Sony had moved away from what most players wanted out of the franchise. Meanwhile, Forza's Creative Director Chris Esaki confirmed that there would be no microtransactions to gain in-game currency in the new Motorsport, taking the opposite route compared to GT7.

Forza Motorsport has made big improvements to its tire system, AI, graphics and sound engine, as well as revamped its campaing mode - the Builders Cup career mode introduces practice sessions that help learn a car and track combination, a car XP system that bears some similarities to that of RPGs - as OverTake also explains in the video below - and the Challenge the Grid mode that lets players choose their starting position on the grid for more or less rewards.


Big Potential​

At its core, Forza will likely still be about collecting cars, just like the series always has been. However, Esaki has emphasized that players' vehicles are to be "built, not bought" - so it is not going to be about just buying cars and upgrading them afterwards, but also improving them by driving them. That is the aforementioned RPG-like element: Car XP can buy upgrades, but if racers feel like the bought the wrong setup, they can trade the XP back in instead of being stuck with upgrade parts they have no use for - like re-skilling a character in a role-playing game.

Combined with the changes that have been made under the hood, such as the vastly-increased fidelity of the tire model, the new Forza has the potential to become something big. This is also helped by its availability - while Gran Turismo 7 is a PS5 exclusive, Forza Motorsport is going to be available on Xbox Series X | S, but also on PC via the Xbox store and, for the first time, Steam, on October 10th, 2023.


It certainly looks like Forza Motorsport is trying to bring a breath of fresh air to the racing game genre with its latest instalment, but will that be enough to pull past Gran Turismo? Time will tell - but we likely will not have to wait too much longer to find out, and the next monthly deep dive is due soon as well.

Your Thoughts​

What do you think about what Forza Motorsport is looking to bring to the table? What are you most looking forward to in the title? Let us know in the comments below!
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About author
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

Heel & Toe Gang 4 life :D

Comments

Bring it On, not too fussed if its not a Full Simulator as long as its fun to drive.
Looking good to me and a nice Birthday Present to myself haha.
Oh it would be nice if they can include Bathurst my favorite track, being a Aussie of course.
 
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It seems kinda weird to have a feature that allows the players to upgrade the car by trial and error rather than understanding what it is they need, a feature that helps the player understand the principles of motor racing set-ups would be far better than spending XP's on things in this seemingly trial and error way.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, perhaps though, I'm expecting too much from guys that just wanna make a few buck from developing a game about cars.

PS: please (santa) could you include some unique Historics that can be ripped and used in other games and SIM racers, some examples below...
: Allard J2
: Ford F3L P68
: Ginetta G10 V8
: Lister-Jag Knobbly
: Lister Costin coupe
: Lola MkI
: Lotus 23b
: Maserati Tipo 151
: Ol' Yalla mkIII (cycle wing)

Thank you for your kind consideration in this matter :unsure: :D
 
Doesn't look like FM can touch GT7's overall polish - the latter's menus and overall "car culture" vibe. But that's ok. I just want something with simcade physics that feels good with wheel and pedals and has good online racing. The CarPG aspect seems like it could be interesting - especially the part about going back and reusing XP if you feel you made the wrong upgrade.
 
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As a classic Gran Turismo fan and sim racer, the best part about FM right now is that they are blurring the line between simcade and simulation right now. AI racing that can rival iRacing and penalty system more robust than iRacing and ACC. Spec racing is a sim racer's dream come true. I love the direction they want to take with FM. I'm very impressed so far, and because of that, I'll trust them this time, I trust that this will evolve racing games in general, so I'll buy it when the game comes out and stream the heck out of it!
 
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Premium
Whatever the case polyphony's constant disregard for user feedback which is mostly not even difficult to implement is very frustrating so I think some competition way make them change their ways. I wont get my hopes up though, GT5 and 6 had flaws when forza was peaking, GT7 is worse then those two and worse then the peak which was GT4.

The bar for racing games just slowly gotten lower and lower, sim racers are having a great time but the more casual racing games are far from great.
 
from what i've seen in gameplay footage i am completely not impressed with either the visuals nor the rest.
it's a clear case of: i need to wait and see and play it myself.
comparing the gameplay footage that was building up towards release i can say that Gran Turismo 7 looked better in many ways. Forza has everywhere that grey-in-grey washed out look with dim lighting and weirdly pale but unrealistic color palette. GT7 had vibrant looking, contrast rich gameplay to show.
really hope the game will look way better on my screen when i play it.
 
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Yes, yes it is and I think when it comes to physics and all that jazz it will, I hope - for once I'm expectant of Forza to deliver something much better than previous iterations based on what I have read so far.
 
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OH MY FUGGIN GOD STOP
IM TIRED OF SEEING THIS ABSURD CONSOLE WARS
JUST ENJOY THE DAMN GAME FFS!!!!

GT7 is not a Good Game, and FM8 will not be a Good Game


- Just Like Diablo 4 Being a disrespect to the Blizzard Fans
- Just Like GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition Being a Bad Joke
- Just like
Halo Infinite Taking 3 years to be more DECENT than Halo 4...... HALO 4!!!!

- Just Like Pokemon AAA Company releasing a buggy plain unfinished mess
- Just like STARFIELD using a 30 YEAR OLD GRAPHIC ENGINE from morrowind
- JUST Like
Cyberpunk 2077 BEING A COMPLETE CAOS on its first YEAR AND HALF
- JUST LIKE
SONIC FRONTRIERS BEING AN EMPTY OPEN WORLD, And a crappy mixture of every other game gimmic & features That copies EVERYTHING from Shadow of the colossus, FarCry 3, Touhou.
And its levels, THE SPIRIT OF THE FRANCHISE, being nothing more than a bunch of reused assets from Generations and Forces (Brain Damage)

(But to be fair, since Unleashed, sonic didnt made ANY good main line game)
(If it looks like im angry with sonic... it bcasue I AM ANGRY WITH SONIC)

Reason? : MODERN GAMING INDUSTRY
 
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Last GT game was on PS3 wich i liked. Forza 5 Horizon is not a bad game. I like the Baha races. But no...its not GT and it never will be. Im on the verge of buying a PS5 with the VR2 purely for GT
yeah, forza motorsport has its own style, yeah sure in the start they RIPPED GT4, and tried to do a copy, but only when they decided to have their own style in FM4, THEN it started to be an actual great experience that felt fresh and diferent.

and on the VR... i mean i dont like VR, but i think that first make a good POV camera and then start making a VR one, bcause GT7 or FM7 cannot compare to NFS Shift 2, Driveclub Or Project Cars in therms on (Inversive and Feeling)
my point its like, if they dont know how to do a proper normal camera, how you think that they are capable of doing a VR camera???
you catch me?
 
No VR = no buy tbh. And I've not seen anything to suggest it will support VR.
that's like saying no Ray Tracing No buy, or No Realistic Graphics? No buy
its just nonsense, Only because a small feature is not on the game, doesn't means is going to be A Horrible experience.

Yeah Project Cars 3 doesn't has Pit stops, but that's not the point of the game
F1 2023 doesn't has a motor-home feature while MotoGP 2015 has it (Wait no, that's actually a embarrassing thing)

What i mean is, maybe the game doesn't has VR... and WHAT? still being enjoyable
GTR2 doesn't has VR and is AMAZING, Driveclub is SICK and it doesn't has Tyre degradation.
don't judge the game before release, judge it once you have it in your hands

and instead of NO BUY...... mmmm ........ YARRRRRRR you know what i mean?
 
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from what i've seen in gameplay footage i am completely not impressed with either the visuals nor the rest.
it's a clear case of: i need to wait and see and play it myself.
comparing the gameplay footage that was building up towards release i can say that Gran Turismo 7 looked better in many ways. Forza has everywhere that grey-in-grey washed out look with dim lighting and weirdly pale but unrealistic color palette. GT7 had vibrant looking, contrast rich gameplay to show.
really hope the game will look way better on my screen when i play it.
Yeah, i dont know who choosed the tracks and cars for the gameplay, but its the WORST possible combination, i love how there is people saying IT LOOKS AMAZING, when like MotorStorm Pacific Rift, DriveClub, SplitSecond, Grid Autosport, NFS Shift 2, NFS ProStreet, Asphalt9 and many more Have INSANE AMOUNTS of particles and **** HAPPENING ON SCREEN constantly and thoose are games from before 2015 or Mobile Games
but a recent example is Dirt 5.

Damn Man, why can Racing games look BEAUTIFUL and ALIVE ?
 
Premium
that's like saying no Ray Tracing No buy, or No Realistic Graphics? No buy
its just nonsense, Only because a small feature is not on the game, doesn't means is going to be A Horrible experience.

Yeah Project Cars 3 doesn't has Pit stops, but that's not the point of the game
F1 2023 doesn't has a motor-home feature while MotoGP 2015 has it (Wait no, that's actually a embarrassing thing)

What i mean is, maybe the game doesn't has VR... and WHAT? still being enjoyable
GTR2 doesn't has VR and is AMAZING, Driveclub is SICK and it doesn't has Tyre degradation.
don't judge the game before release, judge it once you have it in your hands

and instead of NO BUY...... mmmm ........ YARRRRRRR you know what i mean?
My entire system is set up for VR, as every other racing game I play has VR. VR makes a much bigger difference to the experience than ray tracing. Might be a small feature to you, but it sure isn't to those of us invested in VR.
 
Well i'm a AC die hard its my gaming life as I'm a modder, 3000 hours on it so far, i love it and love the way i can make it look, but man this forza smashes it for visuals, colour palette is spot on IMO.
Hate the cartoon look that so many sims have.
Having said that, will i buy it? Probably not, certainly not for my PC anyway.
 
I don't like the idea of having to level the cars to get parts. I don't get the idea at all, does it make the game more fun? What's wrong with collecting money and buying those parts, like it always used to be. Might not buy the game just because of that.

As a pinnacle of the series FM4 was near perfect, they could've just improved on that. Better graphics, better physics, variable weather and time of day, new cars & tracks. That would've been the perfect simcade racing game. But no, they add these stupid features, and so far every iteration has been actually worse as a game than FM4.
 
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Many of us will have concerns for sure. I sold my PS5 disc and GT7! I wasn't happy with it. When the creator cares more about the night stars, building cars which take 6 months work, and the game can't even run a locked 60fps - then it was time (overdue) for me to leave the GT wagon once and for all.

The one bonus about Forza is, they always run with 60fps frame time. So, no matter what happens (famous last words) it will run 60fps locked. I'm not blown away with all the videos. The Audi one at the new track looked poop to me. The alloys in the main looked dull, and didn't seem convincing "real world" lighting when the light hit them to me.

I just want to be able to play the game with the pad with the assists off, and have full control. Put assists in the menu for those who want them. But if I want them off - then that should be off. I do not want any Turn10 "hand-holding". I drive all my other titles with pad, so I want this from Forza too. I also only play at 1080P, as I prefer native 1:1 pixels. So I'm hopeful the game will perform smooth in all scenarios. Vital to me, is 60fps replays too. I also prefer real life camera angles, so I hope we don't get the lame rotating non-fixed cameras. Time will tell.

I don't think I'd have picked the proposed new gameplay mechanic for built-not-bought, but time will tell how that pans out. At least the cars don't cost millions. The marketing screen shots do show the GFX in-game can look stunning. But so far, marketing is lacklustre in my mind. Interesting developments in AI for single player. Some long-overdue work done for Forza'23 physics systems. The tyres, and track kerb stones and improved contact patch/physics speed should help make it much more modern/realistic in nature. So, providing they don't spoil it all with hand-holding game control mechanics whilst driving then it should be the best Forza we've seen.

I'm really worried about the tracks still. 20, even at launch isn't enough. Though Chris has committed to more post-launch. When I think about SP mode, the tracks (to me) will quickly risk becoming stale. Yes, there is night and weather, but I'd prefer 25 as a base to work up from. Especially with the game being in development for so long. I also don't want any more "fantasy" tracks released lol. Prefer RL of course.

Fingers crossed for no further delays, let's hope it's as polished as hell before release. For me, with my frustration with the GT-franchise, this can't possibly land any more broken than that game did.
 

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