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Driving Desire: Forza 6 marks 10 years on top
We speak to the man behind Microsoft’s premier racing series as it celebrates a decade in business.
Forza Motorsport 6
© Microsoft/Turn 10
Forza is 10 years old this year, and the series has certainly covered a lot of distance – both literally and figuratively – in that time. Microsoft's flagship motorsport franchise has become one of its most vital exclusives, and with the PlayStation 4 surging ahead in the global sales race, the Xbox One needs must-have titles like this more than ever.
As if to prove this point, the console is getting its second helping of Forza while Sony's rival Gran Turismo series is yet to take its next-gen bow. Following on from launch title Forza Motorsport 5 – which received some criticism for the fact that it offered less content than its Xbox 360 predecessor – Forza's sixth instalment has a lot to prove. Not that the pressure is getting to Turn 10 Studios creative director Dan Greenawalt, the man who has been at the helm of the franchise since day one.
"Forza Motorsport 6 is the biggest game we’ve ever made," he says when we ask if this latest offering will redress the balance after the guarded response Forza 5 received from some sectors of the gaming press and playing public. "We’ve got 460 cars, 26 tracks, 24-car multiplayer, and a 70-plus hour career – all powered by our leading graphics and simulation ForzaTech engine, which enables our team to recreate cars in precise detail and bring environments to life in 1080p/60fps. With Forza Motorsport 6, we’ve set out to give our community more options and opportunity to experience the ultimate car fantasy." The message is clear: if you were one of the few who found Forza 5 wanting, then Forza 6 is the game to bring you back into the fold.
One of the areas where Forza 5 unquestionably did get things right was the visuals. Much was made of the fact that the game supplied 60fps, 1080p graphics at a time when developers were still finding their feet on Microsoft's fledgling console. Fans will be pleased to learn that despite the obvious advances made in the sequel, the same level of performance can be expected this time around, too. "1080p resolution and 60fps has become a standard for Forza Motorsport," says Greenawalt. "Because of that, we always design with those performance numbers as the bedrock of everything else that we build in the game. You can’t 'accidentally' get to 1080p/60fps by 'adding' frames – it has to be something you decide upon early as a fundamental performance feature, and then build your content and features around that. We were able to build a huge amount of content in Forza Motorsport 6, but all of it is supported by 1080p/60 fps – performance we believe is the heart and soul of Forza 6’s on-track experience."
At the centre of everything is the proprietary ForzaTech engine, which is responsible for the game's strikingly realistic visuals. "ForzaTech is our custom graphics and simulation engine, developed by Turn 10 Studios and Playground Games in consultation with other internal Microsoft studios, as well as the world’s top automotive manufacturers," says Greenawalt. "The engine powers the state-of-the-art graphics and physics that define Forza Motorsport 6. This technology enables us to recreate all of our 460 cars in precise detail; from the lines and curves of the body to the intricate and unique performance capabilities that give each car its own unique feel. It also allows the developers at Turn 10 Studios to create the most beautiful and lifelike environments on Xbox One, and the most compelling circuits for fans to race on."
Another job that ForzaTech is having to handle this year around is realistic weather effects. The new wet-weather racing mode naturally throws up all kinds of challenges, but as one of the most requested features among fans – alongside night races – Greenawalt explains that it simply had to be introduced, irrespective of the size of the task at hand. "We’re really excited to bring wet and night racing to the franchise, which were two of the mostly highly requested features from fans," he says. "The team has done an amazing job of simulating wet-weather conditions to allow players to feel the danger and intensity at the heart of this kind of racing. We knew that if we were going to deliver wet racing, it had to be a gameplay experience that players had never felt before. To do that, it required tons of research – obsessing over the details of what it’s actually like to race in wet conditions. We asked ourselves – what does this experience sound like? How does it feel? What does it look like? For example, in cockpit view, you can see the rain droplets move across the windshield and react to the direction your car is moving. We also have physically simulated 3D puddles on our tracks, all with accurate drag. This means that even if you dip a wheel into the water, you’ll immediately feel the pull of the puddle. Get all four tires into the puddle and you’ll hydroplane. It changes the way you approach a turn and affects your driving line throughout the course of a lap."
Forza Motorsport 6
© Microsoft/Turn 10
And then there's the cars – all 460 of them, to be exact – which have been painstakingly replicated right down to the smallest detail and can be explored using the game's Forzavista mode, which allows players to soak up those gorgeous lines and lush interiors while the car's in the garage. "Each has been immaculately recreated and includes working cockpits and full damage," explains Greenawalt. "With Forzavista, you can truly feel what it’s like to own the world’s most exclusive cars in an experience that brings you closer than ever to the history, craftsmanship and potential of every car in the game. We have a number of different methods for sourcing cars, depending on what kind of access is available to us. That includes everything from laser scanning-cars to traditional photography and CAD data."
Turn 10's bond with some of the world's most prestigious automobile makers has been formed over the past decade and grants the studio intimate access to some of the most iconic cars ever made. However, this time around it's one of the planet's most famous manufacturers which has been singled out for special treatment. "The way we have worked with Ford has been truly unprecedented," explains Greenawalt. "We unveiled the Ford GT as the cover car for Forza Motorsport 6 back in January at the North American International Auto Show but the roots of that launch go back months prior. In fact, Forza was brought into the development process of the Ford GT at an incredibly early stage. We had members of the team in Detroit during the early stages of the car’s development – before many in Ford even knew the car was a reality. At E3, we had the head of the Ford GT program visiting the Forza booth, playing the demo, and giving us real-time feedback on the car’s performance and feel – feedback that we took directly back to the team at Redmond to continue improving the car. It’s that kind of passion that drives both sides here and I think the Forza players are the real beneficiaries of the Ford GT appearing on the cover of Forza Motorsport 6."
It's not just oodles of cars and new racing modes which Forza 6 is bringing to the table. This year sees the introduction of an all-new "Stories of Motorsport" component which aims to celebrate the history of racing. "We have completely revamped the career mode in Forza Motorsport 6 to focus on creating a comprehensive experience that will let players travel the world and celebrate racing’s rich past and exhilarating present," says Greenawalt. "The career in Forza 6 spans more than 70 hours of gameplay, and lets you experience the breadth and depth of our game’s massive variety of content. You’ll race everything from hot hatches to purpose-built race cars, sport trucks and ultra-rare hypercars, all while globetrotting to visit some of the most famous race circuits in the world, including ten newly added tracks. As they progress through the career, players will unlock Showcase events with unique race modes and diverse cars. These Showcase events highlight specific automotive disciplines like autocross and endurance racing, and players can jump off the career path at any time to enjoy them. All Showcase events are presented by pro drivers and automotive celebrities like Tanner Foust, Josef Newgarden, James May, Richard Hammond, and more."
While the robust single-player portion of the game will keep people busy for plenty of time, it's the online side of things that will be of particular interest for many players. As the next-generation has matured we've seen some titles – such as Sony's DriveClub and Ubisoft's The Crew – struggle to deliver a convincing online offering. Greenawalt is adamant that Forza 6 won't suffer the same teething troubles. "Forza Motorsport and Xbox Live have grown up together and online play has always been a core part of the Forza experience," he assures us. "For Forza Motorsport 6 we’re bringing fans more intense online experience than ever, with 24 cars on the track at the same time, as well as new multiplayer features like Leagues that will give you the chance to experience awesome 24-car races against real players who drive at the same skill level and temperament as you do. With Xbox Live’s dedicated servers and advanced matchmaking services, we’re able to deliver high-quality racing experiences to everyone."
Making a return in this new instalment are Drivatars, digital representations of other players which can be challenged at any time. "The Drivatar feature continues to be a fascinating subject to me," reveals Greenawalt. "Every Forza player has his or her own Drivatar. When you drive in a career or free play race in Forza 6, you’ll be racing against the Drivatars of your friends and other Forza players around the world, and those Drivatar opponents will display the same tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses as their real-life counterparts. When we brought over Drivatars from Forza Motorsport 5 and Forza Horizon 2, it was fascinating to see them react to new circuits – racing tracks they’d never been on before – and how they approached certain turns and race conditions, even exhibiting new behaviours that we hadn’t seen before in the older games. It’s been fascinating to watch the system evolve over the years and I expect it will continue to surprise us in the future."
Something that won't be making the jump from Forza 5 – at least not at launch – is the in-game microtransaction system. Player feedback to this element of the past game was mixed to say the least, but Greenawalt explains that Turn 10 has listened to the criticism and factored it into this new entry. "We’ve fundamentally changed our in-game economy and progression based on feedback from our community," he says. "We are dedicated to creating open-ended, evolving experiences that are built with and for our fans, and Forza Motorsport 6 will not feature microtransactions at launch."
After a decade on the track, Forza is arguably at the pinnacle of video game racing. Despite the incredible technical achievements, the commercial success and the widespread critical acclaim, Greenawalt says that he and the team at Turn 10 are a long way from being finished with the racing genre.
"We want to turn car lovers into gamers and gamers into car lovers," he explains. "That’s at the heart of everything we do with Forza. When we first started creating Forza titles, gaming was in a very different place. A decade ago with the original Forza Motorsport, we didn’t have the tools to listen and react to customer feedback the way we can today. We didn’t have the tools to rapidly deploy improvements to our game experiences. We didn’t have a bulk of the cutting-edge Forza technology that now defines our high-quality racing experiences. In short, we’ve learned a lot about the diversity of our player-base, what they want and how we can best deliver that to them. That touches all aspects of the Forza experience – from the car and track lists, to the feature sets, to the online capabilities, and much more."
