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.
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.
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.
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.
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