Forza Horizon Latest News & Discussion

[Eunos_Cosmo]

And, last but not least: I thought NFS: Underground 2 and Most Wanted were actually pretty good games, aside from the fact that the physics were entirely unrealistic. So, even if FH is closter to NFS than it is to TDU, I don't see that as an issue, as long as T10/PG are going by the better NFS games of years past.

To be honest, I'm in agreement here. I didn't play Most Wanted, but that was mostly because of the lack of an in-cockpit camera. I didn't play TDU because of the rank-amateur sound quality. I did play NFS UG, and NFS Shift, and every PGR. So I'm not really a physics snob. As long as it feels somewhat realistic and has good control, I think it will be fine. From what we've seen, it accomplishes this. My primary concerns then, aside from the driving mechanics themselves, are graphics and audio.

While we are taking a hit to graphics in regard to frame-rate and possibly micro-detail, we are getting a lot more in return with this title I think. Forza Motorsports has never really had any sort of artistic direction to speak of, and Horizon looks like it does. Which is nice.

I expect audio to be at least on the level of FM4. Which I find acceptable, but not really superb. PGR4 was superb.

So, really, the only thing bugging me about F-H at this point is that damn brightness at night. Maybe that's something that can be remedied before release if they see enough feedback about it.

I just hope exploration is fun and rewarding. If it is, the game should be solid.

Can't really be sure why I was so down about it before. Seems like mostly trivial things now. I suppose just the initial shock of something turning out to be not what you expected.

 

[dice1998]

My god Forza Horizon looks like it'll be an interesting departure to the Forza Motorsport series!


I can't wait until Playground releases more information about this game!


Definitely going to reserve this game and buy an xbox for this (and Forza 4) 👍

 

[Forcone]

We seem to have a few guys among us who can't stand hearing other people's opinions. Should this thread be just about praising the game and all of it's features? Why can not people share their negative views? From my point of view, I, and almost every other one who has had something to "complain about", has done it in a constructive manner. It is not a personal attack against you, if we do not like crashing into fences in a driving game. For example.

T10/PG do not owe us anything. That is not the point. Entitlement or whatever you were talking about, I don't even know what that means as I am no English-speaker. I just want to have a proper discussion about this game, which I eagerly await. If I can not share my views of it without being attacked or called some Interwebz-names, then this is not probably the right thread for me.

Maybe us "critics" should start a new thread then..? 💡

 

[Luminis]

We seem to have a few guys among us who can't stand hearing other people's opinions. Should this thread be just about praising the game and all of it's features? Why can not people share their negative views? From my point of view, I, and almost every other one who has had something to "complain about", has done it in a constructive manner. It is not a personal attack against you, if we do not like crashing into fences in a driving game. For example.

T10/PG do not owe us nothing. That is not the point. Entitlement or whatever you were talking about, I don't even know what that means as I am no English-speaker. I just want to have a proper discussion about this game, which I eagerly await. If I can not share my views of it without being attacked or called some Interwebz-names, then this is not probably the right thread for me.

Maybe us "critics" should start a new thread then..? 💡

I mean no offense, but if someone told you that yoi come across as having a false sense of entitlement, that is hardly a personal attack. It just means that you are seemingly being a bit ignorant about games having to match a wide audience, not just pure personal taste.

But, anyways, if critics want to cticisise the game, they should be okay with others criticising their criticism. I think.

 

[GT6mebe]

I mean no offense, but if someone told you that yoi come across as having a false sense of entitlement, that is hardly a personal attack. It just means that you are seemingly being a bit ignorant about games having to match a wide audience, not just pure personal taste.

But, anyways, if critics want to cticisise the game, they should be okay with others criticising their criticism. I think.

I think you have a problem accepting the fact that some people are not entirely happy with this iteration. Its also clear that many people are fine with this iteration. There is no need to call out people who are displeased, saying that they are only displeased because they are ignorant.

Tell me, what are your rebuttals to valid criticisms such as:

1. Not being an MMO (huge potential missed in my opinion)

2. Emphasis on driving with style and accumulating points by smashing into things. Come on even for an arcade racer I find this silly. I thought they would take an emphasis on the driving aspect. (not entirely sure about the physics engine yet if it is Forza 4's or has been modified). Many people were saying this was a more arcade version though.

3. Tuning simplified.

 

[Mcjoz88]

Basically, my gripes/concerns with the game based on what has been shown include(as mentioned above):

1. Points for smashing into things. It should honestly be the other way around. Sure it might be fun to crash into some fencing or picnic tables, but to get points for doing so? Ridiculous!

2. Tweaked Forza 4 physics. Based on the myriad of gameplay videos that have surfaced, it looks like it's a bit more arcade like in terms of physics. Which is disappointing, to say the least. However, having not played the game myself yet, I can only say that I am concerned as to how much they have tweaked the physics, and if the cars still feel solid and realistic, especially while driving on the various surface and pavement types. Also, one must take into consideration what assists have been turned on in each gameplay video. Perhaps Assisted steering and braking were included, and set to On for the demo shown at E3?

3. No tuning, or simplified tuning. I mean, really? I know they stated that you can upgrade the cars, but to take out the tuning aspect, is yet again, another ridiculous decision. Like someone else said, it's pretty much a slap in the face to the Forza Motorsport fans.

4. Vehicles. I have read in one of the articles posted somewhere in this topic that there will be no lower class cars in the game. There were tons of D, E, and F class cars that I loved to drive/race with in Forza 4. Slightly upgrading/tuning them to be on par with higher class cars was something I enjoyed doing. Now it looks like I can't do that in this game. Also, they haven't shown if there will be true off road vehicles in the game available to drive, such as the Ford F-150 Raptor, or that Jeep which was released in the Top Gear DLC pack for Forza 4 I believe. If they don't include at least a few true off road vehicles, that will be a big letdown, at least for me. Having dirt roads but mostly on road cars? ??? ??????????????

In my mind, if they are making an open road/world racing/driving game, and calling it Forza Horizon, it should include everything we have come to know and love about the series thus far, and it should NOT add anything that's outlandish or unrealistic, and it should NOT subtract any features, or cut back on the physics/tuning, which have been included in previous entries in the series and made the Forza name what it is. If they are going to change anything, then simply change the title of the game as well. Horizon: Open Road for instance?

 

[Patrick]

1. Points for smashing into things. It should honestly be the other way around. Sure it might be fun to crash into some fencing or picnic tables, but to get points for doing so? Ridiculous!

2. Tweaked Forza 4 physics. Based on the myriad of gameplay videos that have surfaced, it looks like it's a bit more arcade like in terms of physics. Which is disappointing, to say the least. However, having not played the game myself yet, I can only say that I am concerned as to how much they have tweaked the physics, and if the cars still feel solid and realistic, especially while driving on the various surface and pavement types. Also, one must take into consideration what assists have been turned on in each gameplay video. Perhaps Assisted steering and braking were included, and set to On for the demo shown at E3?

1. Ridiculous to you might not be ridiculous to others. We're the minority.

2. It has been said over and over that Horizon will have the same physics as Forza 4. In pretty much every video most assists are turned on. Its been said you can turn them all off.

 

[Rohrl-fan]

Also, they haven't shown if there will be true off road vehicles in the game available to drive, such as the Ford F-150 Raptor, or that Jeep which was released in the Top Gear DLC pack for Forza 4 I believe. If they don't include at least a few true off road vehicles, that will be a big letdown, at least for me. Having dirt roads but mostly on road cars? ??? ??????????????

Well, the Raptor at least has been spotted briefly in the game.

Concerning the car list, it seems to me that with the exception of the new SRT Viper 'hero car' most of what we've seen so far are cars that were in Forza 4 from launch or early DLC. Perhaps they're still working on adapting more recently introduced DLC cars?

Another thing. On the fm.net frontpage they've got an article about the Horizon E3 demo that's written as if you can play it yourself. For the moment there isn't a downloadable demo available as far as I can see, but perhaps we can have our first taste of this new game soon?

 

[Luminis]

I think you have a problem accepting the fact that some people are not entirely happy with this iteration. Its also clear that many people are fine with this iteration. There is no need to call out people who are displeased, saying that they are only displeased because they are ignorant.

Not quite. I just think that some gripes seem a bit, you know, strange to me. Big deal if someone's getting points for crashing into things if you don't have to do it yourself.

Tell me, what are your rebuttals to valid criticisms such as:

1. Not being an MMO (huge potential missed in my opinion)

Technically nigh impossible without a proper server architecture and, most likely, hardly possible with the current hardware, given that they already had to scale back to 30 FPS as is.

2. Emphasis on driving with style and accumulating points by smashing into things. Come on even for an arcade racer I find this silly. I thought they would take an emphasis on the driving aspect. (not entirely sure about the physics engine yet if it is Forza 4's or has been modified). Many people were saying this was a more arcade version though.

I find this whole issue to be blown out of proportion entirely. It's like disliking a GTA title because of the story line, because there is way more to the game than that. As long as you can progress through the game with just driving (challenging AI drivers to races, Rivals Mode and so on), I'd have a hard time to see how the game's story line is taking away from the driving aspect. Because, let's be honest: There's only so much you can do while relying purely on the driving aspect, especially given that FH is leaving pure racing as it is straying away from the circuit.

3. Tuning simplified.

Something that I quite dislike personally, but, on the other hand, I'd say that tuning is much less important for a car that's being driven solely on the road, as opposed cars used on the track. Primarily because you're not setting the car up for such specific corner combinations and speeds.

Anyways, yes, I do think those are valid concerns and I can understand why people do not like stuff like that. It just seems mind boggling that things like these, which seem a bit minor when looking at the bigger picture, are getting people to react in such a, well, drastic manner. This is largely because it still is what a lot of people have been asking for, an open world game using Forza's physics and, to a lesser degree, because FH is by no means replacing FM4.

 

[II-zOoLoGy-II]

@ 23 s in this video they are driving a Ford GT.



Does anyone have a link for a longer clip?

 

[SA]

I find this whole issue to be blown out of proportion entirely. It's like disliking a GTA title because of the story line, because there is way more to the game than that. .

I don't agree with this. I think if GTA's screen was littered with points no matter what you did, thus giving it more of a generous arcade feel, then yes, I could see the unfavorable similarities.

Anyway, according to a comment in Joystiq's article there will be a special edition.

Oh and tuning setups can be imported? That's good news! (all from a commenter, not official though:/ )

 

[imported_Jarreau]

Could we all just wait till the game releases and then critize the things that we don't like. That is allot easier then complaining about a game, that you not even have played. I'm looking forward to Forza Horizon and their fresh new take on the Forza series. We are still gonna have Forza Motorsport. Forza Horizon is just a different take on it.

 

[dice1998]

Could we all just wait till the game releases and then critize the things that we don't like. That is allot easier then complaining about a game, that you not even have played. I'm looking forward to Forza Horizon and their fresh new take on the Forza series. We are still gonna have Forza Motorsport. Forza Horizon is just a different take on it.

I want to marry you.

 

[Luminis]

I don't agree with this. I think if GTA's screen was littered with points no matter what you did, thus giving it more of a generous arcade feel, then yes, I could see the unfavorable similarities.

Because Forza has a nasty habbit of not allowing you to customize the UI at all, eh?

 

[GT6mebe]

Could we all just wait till the game releases and then critize the things that we don't like. That is allot easier then complaining about a game, that you not even have played. I'm looking forward to Forza Horizon and their fresh new take on the Forza series. We are still gonna have Forza Motorsport. Forza Horizon is just a different take on it.

You don't have to play a game to criticise its design choices. Its like in Assassins Creed where they had no jump button yet focused on platforming. Blatant design failure there.

 

[VXR]

How is choosing a festival as a central focal point a bad design choice, when a bad design choice would have been another generic, criminal nonsense of a story?

I think there must be something amiss if you don't enjoy cars and music and can't see that if the fundamental part of the game is good, and being based on FM4 it should be, then mixing the two is no bad thing at all.

I think an open world game as straight-laced as the Motorsport line of games would have got old fast. I'm pretty sure even the most elitist of car fans have done things in cars that would fit in with the Horizon tone.

 

[zr1chris]

How is choosing a festival as a central focal point a bad design choice, when a bad design choice would have been another generic, criminal nonsense of a story?

To be honest i'm still waiting for a "Gumball Rally" or "Cannonball Run" sort of theme to an action racer. Now that would have been EPIC.

What exactly is supposed to happen when we get to this festival? The music I have heard so far is terrible.

 

[ImaRobot]

To be honest i'm still waiting for a "Gumball Rally" or "Cannonball Run" sort of theme to an action racer. Now that would have been EPIC.

What exactly is supposed to happen when we get to this festival? The music I have heard so far is terrible.

Need for Speed The Run was somewhat along those lines. You raced from one end of the continent to the other. Wasnt a good game though..

 

[zr1chris]

Need for Speed The Run was somewhat along those lines. You raced from one end of the continent to the other. Wasnt a good game though..

The Run was probably the absolute worst way to implement it that they could have possibly came up with. It was more of a cinematic movie than a cross country race.

 

[VXR]

To be honest i'm still waiting for a "Gumball Rally" or "Cannonball Run" sort of theme to an action racer. Now that would have been EPIC.

What exactly is supposed to happen when we get to this festival? The music I have heard so far is terrible.

I'm guessing you hoon your car about an arena, buy new cars, buy upgrades. It would be cool if there were festival-exclusive upgrades to make it worth visiting, but that would require regular shops outside of the festival and I haven't seen that mentioned anywhere.

I think too much is being made of the festival. Just ignore it, I'm sure the game will still be a sandbox.

 

[SA]

Because Forza has a nasty habbit of not allowing you to customize the UI at all, eh?

No, but it seems to have a nasty habit of moving further away from the sim aspect in each iteration.

On a positive note, I actually like the rock, indie, electro music choices.

Knowing M$, maybe they can use kinect integration and we can dance at the festival

 

[prymet1me]

No, but it seems to have a nasty habit of moving further away from the sim aspect in each iteration.

On a positive note, I actually like the rock, indie, electro music choices.

Knowing M$, maybe they can use kinect integration and we can dance at the festival

Please elaborate on this. Do you have information about Forza Motorsport 5 that has not been shared yet to confirm it is moving further away from the sim aspect?

 

[Terronium-12]

No, but it seems to have a nasty habit of moving further away from the sim aspect in each iteration.

How can Horizon move further away from something it never was?

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I think he's trying to argue that FM4 has become more arcadey than previous games. While, to me, it does feel somewhat arcadey, it feels no different than the previous three games. I don't think the physics engine has undergone any significant changes since FM1. The handling feels largely the same across the board.

 

[SA]

Please elaborate on this. Do you have information about Forza Motorsport 5 that has not been shared yet to confirm it is moving further away from the sim aspect?

Not FM5, but what I've seen so far in the evolution of the Forza franchise.

Moving the series forward, IBL and AV was a step in the right direction. But then T10 gave us hands free steering, soccer, bowling, perma-assists, and now (popularity) points for destruction..this is not sim-like to me. Granted some are optional, but I see more casual elements implemented than sim elements.

Contrary to belief, I am looking forward to this open-world racer and I want to take it seriously. But I'm unsure if FH takes itself seriously

Maybe that's a good thing..time will tell.

 

[prymet1me]

Not FM5, but what I've seen so far in the evolution of the Forza franchise.

Moving the series forward, IBL and AV was a step in the right direction. But then T10 gave us hands free steering, soccer, bowling, perma-assists, and now (popularity) points for destruction..this is not sim-like to me. Granted some are optional, but I see more casual elements implemented than sim elements.

Contrary to belief, I am looking forward to this open-world racer and I want to take it seriously. But I'm unsure if FH takes itself seriously

Maybe that's a good thing..time will tell.

So in other words you are against options that open up games to a larger audience and still have all the hardcore elements underneath for those that want it, all your complaints are things you actually never ever have to see or use and one is a totally different game. Also to clear things up for you there is a big difference between Motorsport and Horizon.

 

[t.o.]

I think he's trying to argue that FM4 has become more arcadey than previous games. While, to me, it does feel somewhat arcadey, it feels no different than the previous three games. I don't think the physics engine has undergone any significant changes since FM1. The handling feels largely the same across the board.

Have you played these games? If one can't tell the difference between the 4 games then I don't think one would be able to tell the difference between ANY racing game. But just so you know, FM4 has changed alot over the previous games.

 

[uMadson?]

I can't get over the fact that they used mainstream dubstep as their focus ;_;

The game was epic everywhere but this let me down.

 

[Spagetti69]

Think I'm going to stick with F4 tbh.
Not hating the game or anything but F4 gives me what I need.
Purchasing this would only detract my time with F4.

Great for people who want open world etc.

 

[II-zOoLoGy-II]

I think he's trying to argue that FM4 has become more arcadey than previous games. While, to me, it does feel somewhat arcadey, it feels no different than the previous three games. I don't think the physics engine has undergone any significant changes since FM1. The handling feels largely the same across the board.

I think you're on crack lol. FM3 to FM4 was a huge jump physics wise.

In FM3 I remember going around the track with massive amounts of grip. I would have to purposely loose traction if I wanted to slip.

I'm not saying FM4 is perfect; but it is a huge step above previous titles.

I can't get over the fact that they used mainstream dubstep as their focus ;_;

The game was epic everywhere but this let me down.

Come on 'Bro,' dub-step is hot LOL.

I personally prefer classical symphony, or hardcore.

But, you can always kill the music and play your own through the dashboard. So, I couldn't care less what kind of music they use.