Gaming

One of the biggest announcements from Xbox’s E3 showing was the unveiling of Forza Horizon 3 – the latest installment in Playground Games’ open-world racing series – with the game taking center stage at the keynote conference on June 14th. The showing included an official reveal trailer and a small discussion about the game’s features. However, Microsoft may have teased (accidentally or intentionally) an unannounced manufacturer for FH3 as willbsn13 has spotted on the GTPlanet forums.

Highly-praised racing simulator Assetto Corsa is currently under the microscope, mainly due to latest confirmation of Porsche’s imminent arrival in the game. Although the console version received its third launch delay earlier this year (moving the release for late August), it was available to try at this year’s E3 conference. The exclusive gameplay footage above was captured by Team VVV and should give you a very good feel of how the game will look when it comes out later this summer.

It certainly seems to be a big week for Porsche fans. Hot off their Le Mans win, the German purveyor of sports cars has announced a serious tie-up with Kunos Simulazioni to bring the marque’s best and brightest to Assetto Corsa this autumn. It now appears another sim title could be seeing Porsche’s inclusion soon, judging by comments from Slightly Mad Studios CEO Ian Bell.

Although modern driving simulators tend to model gear changing fairly well, without the proper accessory right in your hand, it is hardly possible to capture the true joy of manual shifting. The new shifter from Pro Sim focuses in on that exact problem, by offering an enhanced experience through a partnership with respected engineering company Quaife.

With online racing taking center stage in Gran Turismo Sport, there has rightfully been many questions about the game’s match-making capabilities. Playing with drivers outside of your own skill set – whether they are faster or slower than you – can be a frustrating experience, especially if you end up with the rude and childish players who often plague online lobbies.

Team VVV brings us the first gameplay footage of the upcoming WRC 6 from E3 2016, with developer commentary that’s sure to please fans of the series. Right off the bat, it’s confirmed that WRC 6 will be exclusive to current generation consoles, a decision that has freed up additional resources to develop the game without compromise.

It’s an age-old argument that has been at the centre of attention for quite a while, but the usefulness and validation of professional racing simulators has been called into question yet again, this time by F1 World Champion Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. Last weekend’s Grand Prix took place in Azerbaijan – a new race in the calendar – and in regards to steps taken to learn the Baku circuit, Hamilton was more critical than most about the simulation suites provided by F1 teams:

Photomode. It’s a standard feature simply expected in racing games these days; a clever addition that allows players to showcase their cars and photography skills, while also functioning as free advertising for the developers. With the current generation of consoles making video recording a priority, it looks like budding videographers and photographers alike will appreciate the latest tool Playground Games is adding to the Forza Horizon series: Drone Mode.

Team VVV brings us new E3 gameplay footage of the upcoming F1 2016, featuring the Ferrari SF16-H taking a couple of laps around Autódromo José Carlos Pace, home to the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Earlier this week at Microsoft’s E3 conference, Phil Spencer put an end to the rumors by confirming the development of Project Scorpio, the next major addition to the Xbox family that’s much more than a simple refresh.

The push toward Virtual Reality is coming hard and fast, with Sony’s Playstation VR launching this October – if you can get your hands on it – while HTC’s Vive and the Oculus Rift are already in consumer hands for the PC market. From a sim racing perspective, Project CARS leads the way for inclusion of VR with support for both Oculus and the Vive. Slightly Mad Studios will further show off their VR capabilities this Saturday as they host the ’24 minutes of Le Mans’ in conjunction with Audi.

PlayStation VR had a strong showing at Sony’s E3 conference earlier this week, with plenty of demos on display, the likes of which including Batman: Arkham VR and Star Wars Battlefront X-Wing VR Mission. With these and plenty others in the pipeline, and those that were on the show floor, the industry is fairly optimistic about the adoption of VR headsets.

Talk about being taken by surprise. While Kunos Simulazioni, the brains behind the critically-acclaimed Assetto Corsa, may not have made the buzz at this year’s E3 that many were perhaps expecting, the small Italian studio, alongside publisher 505 Games, have made their mark elsewhere, having just announced a partnership no one was expecting.

Yes, it’s been officially confirmed on the NISMO Facebook profile page: GT Academy has enrolled into another season of close online competitions that will try to track down talented drivers over the next several months. Although a significant number of countries won’t be supported on the initial run of the 2016 season, players residing in few select ones will get an exclusive chance to test-drive the upcoming GT Sport before everyone else.

One of the details that may have flown under the radar during the reveal of Forza Horizon 3 was the return of two fan-requested features to the franchise: the Auction House and Storefront. As we get our own content together from the show floor, we’ve got a breakdown of these two features for those unfamiliar with them.

It’s funny how things work out sometimes. When the first gameplay footage of F1 2016 surfaced yesterday, I made a point of acknowledging that the Baku City Circuit, home to this weekend’s European Grand Prix, wasn’t shown in said footage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGxxXkDqRS8

Open world racing title ‘The Crew’ is now available to download for Xbox One users as part of Microsoft’s ‘Games With Gold’ initiative. Joining ‘Goat Simulator’, Ubisoft’s USA-wide street racing MMO includes over 40 vehicles, extensive visual and mechanical customization with plenty of missions to rack up the mileage on your tour across the states. The Crew received a mixed reception when it launched in 2014, achieving a 64 critic score on Metacritic.

Polyphony have let loose the latest batch of Seasonal Events in Gran Turismo 6. This week’s events are a combination of super lap and drift trial challenges, featuring capable machines from all walks of life, with special attention toward Circuit de la Sarthe, home of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Forza Horizon 3 is coming this September. Set in Australia, the map is said to be twice the size of the previous game, and players will have over 350 cars to explore it with. According to Turn 10 and Playground Games, doing that will now be easier, as players will have more control over how they progress through the game.