Forza Horizon 4: General Pre-Release News & Discussion

[WanganDream]

One of the things that we should probably keep our eye on is Toyota. We have seen the same sort of thing we saw in the run up to Forza 7's release where we only saw the AAR Eagle. This time around we have Iron Man Stewart's Baja truck and the Arctic Trucks Hilux pretty prominent in the E3 trailers and demos.

If it is the same sort of thing like Forza 7, where only Toyota adjacent vehicles from people like TRD and Arctic Trucks, then I think it might be fair to say that we have another exclusivity deal in the vein of Porsche with Toyota/Lexus and PD.

Also Tamo Racemo will be deleted.
Tata recently announced the cancellation of the Racemo project.

 

[Northstar]

Also Tamo Racemo will be deleted.
Tata recently announced the cancellation of the Racemo project.

They announced that prior to FM7, yet it still appeared. That's not to say it's not getting cut though.

 

[jwesson1]

Liking that quick chat feature (Great thing to have for issuing tickets when roleplaying Cops vs Racers etc) & also noticed in this demo of FH4 is that you can smash walls down.

 

[bremics]

How big is the map?

Map size is the last thing it needs to beat TDU/2.

Honestly, map size will decide for me whether I will pre-order the ultimate edition or wait 3 months for the Christmas/Black Friday Sale.

 

[Ameer67]

Liking that quick chat feature (Great thing to have for issuing tickets when roleplaying Cops vs Racers etc)

I have a feeling we will only be able to select pre-made phrases, not type out our own. We'll see.

 

[breyzipp]

It all makes sense in the end, if you want to make a game with seasons then the UK is indeed a great choice. And our bunch of leaked British cars in FM7... that was the correct leak, not the concept art of Japan.

I wonder how these seasons will work, will they be tied to the real seasons (maybe be with seasonal live events, this Forzathon Live thing) or will season time be speed up and we will see seasons change in-game? But that would also mean graphical transitions between seasons. Personally I think it will be fixed and follow the real world seasons.

How big is the map?

Map size is the last thing it needs to beat TDU/2.

Honestly, map size will decide for me whether I will pre-order the ultimate edition or wait 3 months for the Christmas/Black Friday Sale.

Same size as FH3. Ralph Fulton said in an interview FH4 will be like creating a game the size of FH3 but 4 times (because of the 4 seasons).

 

[SlipZtrEm]

It all makes sense in the end, if you want to make a game with seasons then the UK is indeed a great choice. And our bunch of leaked British cars in FM7... that was the correct leak, not the concept art of Japan.

I wonder how these seasons will work, will they be tied to the real seasons (maybe be with seasonal live events, this Forzathon Live thing) or will season time be speed up and we will see seasons change in-game? But that would also mean graphical transitions between seasons. Personally I think it will be fixed and follow the real world seasons.

The IGN interview suggests weekly rotations for the seasons, but that might be for the online-community-play portion. I imagine it'll be story-based, and if we can create our own layouts, we can probably pick the season too. Otherwise, routes over the lake would be useless in anything other than winter.

Same size as FH3. Ralph Fulton said in an interview FH4 will be like creating a game the size of FH3 but 4 times (because of the 4 seasons).

That sounds fine to me. I'm guessing (hoping) it'll be slightly more dense than Australia, so that size works.

 

[DJTHEKING]

If it feels like Horizon 2 i'm perfectly fine with that. Liked south of France and Italy more than Australia.

 

[Northstar]

FH3's map was plenty big so I'm fine with that, the problem was the variety of roads. It seems there are a few more hilly areas going by what we've seen so it should be a little better. Hopefully they don't repeat the biggest problem with FH3 where a vast majority of paved roads were designed with super cars in mind.

 

[bremics]

It all makes sense in the end, if you want to make a game with seasons then the UK is indeed a great choice. And our bunch of leaked British cars in FM7... that was the correct leak, not the concept art of Japan.

I wonder how these seasons will work, will they be tied to the real seasons (maybe be with seasonal live events, this Forzathon Live thing) or will season time be speed up and we will see seasons change in-game? But that would also mean graphical transitions between seasons. Personally I think it will be fixed and follow the real world seasons.



Same size as FH3. Ralph Fulton said in an interview FH4 will be like creating a game the size of FH3 but 4 times (because of the 4 seasons).

Eh, I'll wait for the sale then. It was ridiculously quick to traverse all the roads in FH3 (an hour and a half maybe?), while it took a couple days to do it in TDU2 and never managed to complete Hawaii.

 

[Silver Arrows]

The IGN interview suggests weekly rotations for the seasons, but that might be for the online-community-play portion. I imagine it'll be story-based, and if we can create our own layouts, we can probably pick the season too. Otherwise, routes over the lake would be useless in anything other than winter.



That sounds fine to me. I'm guessing (hoping) it'll be slightly more dense than Australia, so that size works.

Hopefully we're able to choose the seasons in private lobbies. Also, have they mentioned anything about keeping co-op play from Horizon 3, or has that gone the way of the dodo with regards to the new open world system?

 

[breyzipp]

The IGN interview suggests weekly rotations for the seasons, but that might be for the online-community-play portion. I imagine it'll be story-based, and if we can create our own layouts, we can probably pick the season too. Otherwise, routes over the lake would be useless in anything other than winter.

Weekly changes sounds more fun indeed. Still I wonder if it will be in-game transitions or since the world is persistent (unless they do it in a client peer-to-peer kind of way) we get these weekly server maintenance windows where they can change the season.

Eh, I'll wait for the sale then. It was ridiculously quick to traverse all the roads in FH3 (an hour and a half maybe?), while it took a couple days to do it in TDU2 and never managed to complete Hawaii.

If the size of the map is that important I can highly recommend The Crew 2. I pre-ordered it as well, can't wait to start playing it again.

Back to FH4, on the car count of "over 450 cars", FH3 was announced in 2016 with "over 350 cars" but ended after the content and DLC updates with exactly 525 cars (including Horizon Edition cars, which I assume will return for FH4). It would be so nice to have Toyota and Lexus back and finally have all the big brands together again, that's already been since FH2/FM6.

Already really nice to see our requests for custom routes being answered.

FH3's map was plenty big so I'm fine with that, the problem was the variety of roads. It seems there are a few more hilly areas going by what we've seen so it should be a little better. Hopefully they don't repeat the biggest problem with FH3 where a vast majority of paved roads were designed with super cars in mind.

Yeah FH3's map felt smaller than it actually was IMO. On one side of the map you can blame the outback where you can just go from point A to point B in a straight line. And on the other side of the map you have a dense forest where you basically don't have much other options than following them. In the UK I assume we will see a lot more farmland, farms, hedges and the likes so it will feel different I think.

I hope we also go back to the 5+ cities from FH2 instead of the 3 cities from FH3. That was also one contributing factor to make the FH3 map feel smaller or get bored with it more quickly.

 

[bremics]

Weekly changes sounds more fun indeed. Still I wonder if it will be in-game transitions or since the world is persistent (unless they do it in a client peer-to-peer kind of way) we get these weekly server maintenance windows where they can change the season.



If the size of the map is that important I can highly recommend The Crew 2. I pre-ordered it as well, can't wait to start playing it again.

Back to FH4, on the car count of "over 450 cars", FH3 was announced in 2016 with "over 350 cars" but ended after the content and DLC updates with exactly 525 cars (including Horizon Edition cars, which I assume will return for FH4). It would be so nice to have Toyota and Lexus back and finally have all the big brands together again, that's already been since FH2/FM6.

Already really nice to see our requests for custom routes being answered.



Yeah FH3's map felt smaller than it actually was IMO. On one side of the map you can blame the outback where you can just go from point A to point B in a straight line. And on the other side of the map you have a dense forest where you basically don't have much other options than following them. In the UK I assume we will see a lot more farmland, farms, hedges and the likes so it will feel different I think.

I hope we also go back to the 5+ cities from FH2 instead of the 3 cities from FH3. That was also one contributing factor to make the FH3 map feel smaller or get bored with it more quickly.

Eh, I already played The Crew, way to grindy lol.

From the looks of it not much has changed from the first one, some better textures, some worse, they took a heaving dump on the Lincoln Memorial, improved Laguna Seca a bit, etc.

The only changes I've really noticed are the addition of planes/boats and character customization and they are not worth the effort to lose all my cars and spend hours grinding for money to buy a car and hours grinding for parts to upgrade a car.

Plus that damn rubber banding AI.

Feels a bit like The Crew 2 could have been another expansion instead of a full game. I'll wait for a open beta or demo before I even consider it again.

 

[SimTourist]

How big is the map?

Map size is the last thing it needs to beat TDU/2.

Honestly, map size will decide for me whether I will pre-order the ultimate edition or wait 3 months for the Christmas/Black Friday Sale.

I mean you can also just get game pass for 10 bucks and play it there on day one. That's what I'll do.

 

[bremics]

I mean you can also just get game pass for 10 bucks and play it there on day one. That's what I'll do.

Hmm... good idea. I haven't used my free trial yet so I can try it for 30 days.

 

[yabiggoose]

Playable motorbikes as first expansion. Calling it now.

 

[RazorSharkz]

Playable motorbikes as first expansion. Calling it now.

That would be cool, but I would hope for about 50+ bikes if that were the case.

 

[torque99]

Edit: It would be good to see parts of London in the game, or Drive through London or some big cities at night time if they did include it.

 

[Populuxe]

Playable motorbikes as first expansion. Calling it now.

That would be cool, but I would hope for about 50+ bikes if that were the case.

I'd rather just have a dedicated motorcycle game from PG.

 

[Silver Arrows]

About the only thing that is revealed that I could say is notable is the return of auction house, but probably won't be available for houses and such.

 

[torque99]

@Silver Arrows Your link seems to have froze. I also found this video (I think the same one) showing the gameplay graphics/lighting. (It does look the same as FM7 in that regard) The Off road Bikes (4.03m) ) seem to have Blue/Red trail smoke and hopefully playable.

 

[Silver Arrows]

@Silver Arrows Your link seems to have froze. I also found this video (I think the same one) showing the gameplay graphics/lighting. (It does look the same as FM7 in that regard) The Off road Bikes (4.03m) ) seem to have Blue/Red trail smoke and hopefully playable.

it's basically an interview with Ralph Fulton going over what was shown on the demo. nothing too major, but there is the little nugget at the end that the Auction House will once again return.

 

[Silver Arrows]

also, double post, but: i am seriously wondering if Playground is going to do anything in regards to customization. About the only thing I have seen is in regards to the drift suspension. It'd be nice to have the SUV's and trucks get some actual parts like brush guards, off-road spec wheels, that whole sort of stuff. and maybe some more JDM-spec parts for tuner vehicles that are real, and not simply the Forza aero garbage.

 

[Populuxe]

it's basically an interview with Ralph Fulton going over what was shown on the demo. nothing too major, but there is the little nugget at the end that the Auction House will once again return.

He also mentions that Barn Finds will be back, which makes me very happy. Also some of those barn finds will only be accessible during certain seasons. People will have places to live, but you will not be able to walk around inside them. Players will have jobs, but they will be Horizon-specific like being a presenter on a car-themed show (hint hint). You won't have to drudge your life away ringing up a cash register at the local Marks & Spencer.

 

[Dan Hill]

Would like to hope one involves a steam train, since we invented that.

I hope so given they've modelled Glenfinnan Viaduct. I quite like the idea of driving under the viaduct as a train goes over the top.

 

[Silver Arrows]

He also mentions that Barn Finds will be back, which makes me very happy. Also some of those barn finds will only be accessible during certain seasons. People will have places to live, but you will not be able to walk around inside them. Players will have jobs, but they will be Horizon-specific like being a presenter on a car-themed show (hint hint). You won't have to drudge your life away ringing up a cash register at the local Marks & Spencer.

Oh boy, when do the gun running updates start? /s

Should also mention that I really, REALLY hope that Playground has made an attempt to at least somewhat start the process of overhauling the livery system. GT Sport has pretty much clowned Forza Horizon 3 and Forza 7 with the fact that you can now upload .svg files and make the process so much easier, surely PG or T10 have no excuses in getting this pretty big feature a major overhaul.

 

[GBalao888]

One of the things that we should probably keep our eye on is Toyota. We have seen the same sort of thing we saw in the run up to Forza 7's release where we only saw the AAR Eagle. This time around we have Iron Man Stewart's Baja truck and the Arctic Trucks Hilux pretty prominent in the E3 trailers and demos.

If it is the same sort of thing like Forza 7, where only Toyota adjacent vehicles from people like TRD and Arctic Trucks, then I think it might be fair to say that we have another exclusivity deal in the vein of Porsche with Toyota/Lexus and PD.

You forgot that at the time there were no Toyotas in Forza 7, a mobile game (in particular, Assoluto Racing) had Toyota and Lexus road cars.

 

[Silver Arrows]

You forgot that at the time there were no Toyotas in Forza 7, a mobile game (in particular, Assoluto Racing) had Toyota and Lexus road cars.

The game you mentioned in question was released in 2016. And I'm sure that mobile games are a whole different beast in terms of licensing.

 

[McLaren]

also, double post, but: i am seriously wondering if Playground is going to do anything in regards to customization. About the only thing I have seen is in regards to the drift suspension. It'd be nice to have the SUV's and trucks get some actual parts like brush guards, off-road spec wheels, that whole sort of stuff. and maybe some more JDM-spec parts for tuner vehicles that are real, and not simply the Forza aero garbage.

That's an issue that has plagued the franchise as a whole and I imagine it starts with T10 as the asset creator. They've improved it just a bit with new wheels and the body kits, but it has so much more potential. I think FM2/3 really showcased more.

However, that last leak showed a bunch of off-road add-ons that I can only imagine will find their way into Horizon 4, if not, were solely created for it, and got leaked into FM7 by accident.

 

[Populuxe]

We haven't seen any VW road cars yet, jut three race cars. It's entirely possible that VW is still not back in Horizon and PG is doing the "license the race cars" end run they've done with Toyota in Motorsport. I'll breathe easier once I see a regular production VW in the game.