Quotes from this article :
https://news.xbox.com/2017/08/18/fm7-track-list-revealed/
On "dynamic weather" in FM7 :
There’s no such thing as a simple “rain” setting in Forza Motorsport 7. Not for Sebring or the Nürburgring, or Brands Hatch, or any other track where wet conditions are available. Instead, the team has created a system that can smoothly transition through multiple weather conditions per track, and those conditions can (and often will) change throughout a race.
I think this is quite clear how it works now. Think of FM6 which had rain maps for a limited amount of tracks. In FM7 those rain maps from FM6 have been replaced by "wet conditions" maps where you get a
dynamic rain system that will make the wet conditions on the track dynamic. Most likely all that without any form of strategic tyre changing from slicks to wets or intermediates like in other games. Still, a decent step up from the static puddles and rain in FM6.
On "dynamic time of day" in FM7 :
Those dynamic conditions extend to time of day too. Turn 10 is building on the sky technology that was first seen in Forza Horizon 3, capturing real skies that bring life, motion, and color to every track in the game. Check out the screenshot of the observation tower at the Circuit of the Americas against a darkening sky – one glance is all it takes to recognize a Texas sky at dusk. Even Laguna Seca – a track that has been in Forza Motorsport since the very first game; a track that all of us have driven hundreds, if not thousands of laps on – feels completely new in Forza Motorsport 7.
Two important things here:
1) that
darkening sky - this really hints that the light/dark conditions of a track can change which for sure is a lot more already than what I was hoping for from the previous news.
2) Whatever they are doing, it's building up from the FH3 skies and it will be for
every track in the game. That is already a lot more than I expected as well.
I'm starting to believe their Forzatech engine for FM7 will be capable of showing every track in various light/dark conditions, the question still remains just how will that be implemented in the game. And it will be something simple since this game can't be too advanced because Dan wants everyone including young kids to be able to play it. With Forza races typically lasting 3 laps for a GP circuit, I think at best you will see time speed accelerated so that during your typical 3 laps you will see a modest change from day to night or night to day.
Also something to take into account is the following : (from:
https://www.forzamotorsport.net/en-US/games/fm7/features)
Master 30 racing environments with over 200 ribbons, Forza’s largest track list ever.
If you leave all the different weather condition track ribbons out of scope, then FM6 has exactly 102 ribbons. That is every circuit configuration out there with reverse tracks as well, leaving all the rain and night maps out.
Mugello will probably have 2 layouts, Suzuka 3, Maple Valley 4 and let's use Rio as a reference for Dubai and say that one has 10. That's a total of about 121 ribbons in FM7 (without any weather taken into account). So either way, there will be different copies of "conditions" of tracks again or else they never make that 200+ count.
Some tracks will have these new "wet conditions" version of the rain maps from FM6 but I honestly don't think it would be so many tracks that this will be enough to push that 119 over 200. So I think the types of maps will be this :
* daytime (all maps)
* nighttime (some maps)
* wet conditions (some maps)
(Dan already confirming on Twitter that night racing will be back in FM7 is a decent hint for night time maps as well)
That's pretty much the same as in FM6 except rain is replaced with wet conditions. If they do it that way then yes I can see them reaching over 200 ribbons. But this still does not take dynamic time of day into account and I honestly don't really have a clue how it will be handled. I think this might even be an "on/off" switch under game settings because you could apply dynamic time of day to each of those 3 map types.
