I Feel The Need.
We haven’t seen a Forza Motorsport game since 2017’s Forza Motorsport 7. Turn10 has spent the last six years building the series’ latest entry: a reboot simply called Forza Motorsport. I have to say, upon hearing that it would be a platform to be built on for years to come, I was very concerned that the sim-based Forza would become a live service. Thankfully, that’s not quite what it is!
For those that haven’t played this franchise's motorsport variety before, you need to know that it’s much more simulation-focused than the arcade racing open-world in Forza Horizon. That’s right, no open world here; this is purely track-based racing with twenty available at launch with more to come. Most of these tracks are real-world locations, and they are represented phenomenally here but don’t worry, a few classic built-for-Forza tracks make a return.
You can race around these tracks in any of the over four hundred plus cars available in the base game. If you have the premium edition, you will gain extra racing machines through the car pass and VIP membership. Like the tracks, these cars all look fantastic, and more importantly, they sound amazing. Motorsport has never looked or sounded better; I would expect several best audio design nominations during end-of-the-year awards.
I’ll return to the cars in a moment, but first, I want to talk about how you might choose to play. If, like me, you’re a single-player focused gamer, you’ll likely engage most with the game's career mode, The Builders Cup. In this mode, you play through different event series, each with a different number of races requiring a different type of car. This content can feel somewhat repetitive, with the game only having twenty tracks at the moment; luckily, the cars make all the difference.
That’s because Forza Motorsport is now essentially an RPG or CarPG; this means each car has a level, and the way you improve cars is different from any previous title. When you race, you’ll earn car XP for whichever car you drive. You get more XP the better you drive, and a grading system scores you out of ten for each sector of a track as you race. This grading system is extremely helpful in teaching you where you can improve and rewarding you when you do so. So, driving well and racing cleanly will level up your car; as you level it up, you gain car points. These points are used to add different upgrades to your vehicle, from new brakes to a complete engine swap with all parts locked behind a certain car level.
At launch, the level required to gain access to all upgrades for a car was fifty, which some players found to be too much of a grind. Personally, I had no issue with this as levelling a car wasn’t exactly slow. When playing through the practice, which you can skip, and the race itself, I found that I’d level up three to four times; by the end of one event series, that car would be level ten or more. However, Turn10 has listened to the feedback, and the level required for access to all parts is now twenty-five.
Just because you have access to the parts doesn’t necessarily mean you will have enough car points to equip them. Depending on your level, you only have a certain number of points available, and different parts cost a different amount of points to equip. Luckily, you can experiment, as uninstalling a car part gives you those points back, which you can then put towards something else.
This CarPG system won’t be to everyone’s liking, but as a more casual racing sim fan and a long-time player of the series, I found that it created this constant sense of progression I had never felt in a racing sim before. The only negative is that it makes money somewhat obsolete since you only use it to buy cars. That said, this plays into the game’s philosophy of build, not bought. It is not meant to be a collectathon like previous titles in the series. Turn10 has said they expect players to find five to ten cars that they want to make their own and have a real connection with them.
In my experience this is precisely what I’m finding is happening as I play, I want to make these cars mine. One way you can do that is through a customised paint job in the livery designer, a deep tool with many options that I don’t have the skills to make the most of. You can download other people’s designs in a community tab and use those if you don’t want to make your own. The best part is players will get rewarded with credits which are this game's money for people using their designs.
So, what do you do next once you level up a car and make it your own? You can take it online in a rotating set of events with different entry requirements, such as having a particular class or type of car. Don’t worry; if you don’t have a vehicle that meets the entry requirement of an event, the game will allow you to rent one so you can still play. When you first play online, you will do three introduction races where everyone is in the same car to measure your skill and safety rating. Make sure you drive clean and aren’t purposely colliding with other players. Not only will this give you a time penalty in the race, but it will lower your safety rating, potentially meaning you won’t be able to play in certain online events. Don’t worry if it gets low; racing clean and safe will make it rise back up over time. Outside of these rotating events, you can play private games with friends. Unfortunately, I couldn’t test this during my review, as no one I know was playing the game online. Playing online is a blast and provides a unique challenge while allowing you to feel the constant progression you get in the career mode as your car still levels up in multiplayer.
That brings me to Forza Motorsport’s greatest strength… the customisable experience. You can make Motorsport play pretty much how you want, from full simulation, including fuel and full damage with strict penalties, to a much more arcade-style racer using different assist settings if that’s what you prefer. This approach does mean that Forza doesn’t lean quite as heavily into simulation as Gran Turismo 7, but it’s far more approachable. It’s also the most accessible a Motorsport game has ever been, providing lots of settings to support players with additional needs, such as a screen reader and colour blind options to audio description to help blind players get the best experience possible and much more. You can activate these options using the presets for specific needs during the initial set-up of the game, or you can dive into the settings menu to tweak things more specifically to your needs.
I guess the last thing to speak about here is the game’s performance, and honestly, there isn’t much to say; whichever graphics mode you choose; Fidelity, Performance, or Performance RT, the framerate is locked on Series X. Given that Fidelity Mode is locked to 30fps, I would personally recommend the Performance RT mode to get the best of both worlds with 60fps and ray tracing. Regardless, this game is a visual stunner that is begging to be appreciated.
Ultimately, Forza Motorsport is a great game. Nearly every car feels unique to drive, giving you a greater sense of connection with the road than ever before; the audio presentation is second to none, helping controller players such as myself have a real feel for what the car is doing and how the tires are hitting the track. When all is said and done, it may not be for everyone but for more casual players like myself, the CarPG system provides a constant feeling of progression. This helped keep me more engaged and appropriately rewards improvement while making that improvement easier to see at the same time. It gave me the need for speed that I haven’t felt in a sim racer for over a decade, so I’ll keep playing as the game continues to improve in the months and years ahead.
Developer - Turn10. Publisher - Xbox Game Studios. Released - October 9th, 2023. Available On - Xbox Series X/S, Windows. Rated - (E) No Descriptors. Platform Reviewed - Xbox Series X. Review Access - Forza Motorsport was downloaded and played via Xbox Game Pass.
I’m Jordan I have a background in game design and am deeply passionate about accessibility in gaming. My favourite games/franchises include Shenmue, Red Dead Redemption 2, Plague Tale: Requiem, Metal Gear Solid 3, Yakuza, Splinter Cell, and Assassin’s Creed.