‘Forza Motorsport’ wants to be a before and after in the saga. And it does it by betting everything on physics and AI

‘Forza Motorsport’ has always been synonymous with simulation in driving games and this eighth installment of the saga comes unnumbered for a good reason: a new stage is opening for the franchise. I have had the opportunity to see a demo in Los Angeles, where Xbox has held its showcase and this ‘Forza’ starts a new era because many of its foundations have been rebuilt from scratch: the physics, the AI ​​and even the sound.

The game, how could it be otherwise, looks scandalous. Even without HDR activated, since unfortunately the television where they showed me the game did not have this option. But the 4K resolution and 60 FPS alone make the races quite a visual spectacle. Especially added to the cycles of day and night and the different atmospheric conditions.

From Turn 10 they talk about the improvements in physics, focusing mainly on the tires that have passed from having a single point of contact to eight. They have also rebuilt the suspension system and aerodynamics.

But it is the improvement of the AI ​​that seems interesting to me because thanks to it our rivals on the track no longer have artificial advantages or what is known as rubber banding, a technique that made the rival cars stick to ours to maintain the excitement of the race. Now, the other vehicles drive in the same conditions as us, with the same physics and can be as fast as a human player could be.

A fairer AI

The developers have also created a reward system depending on how good we want this AI to be: the better we make it, the more rewards we will receive for winning the race. We can also gain more if we decide to start on the grid at the back. The further away from first place, the higher our prize will be. And in this way we will have several options for make the game more difficult if we wish, but have more rewards. These points will be used to level up our car. Yes, level up. In fact, laughingly, they have called this system “CaRPG”

And of course, continuing with the sick customization, it’s not just about upgrading the car in general, but you can assign upgrade points to each part of the car. This assignment is not permanent and you can play balance it one way or another depending on the career ahead of you. Before starting to compete we will be able to test our configuration on the circuit and we will be able to see curve by curve if we are improving our time or if, on the contrary, we need to make adjustments.

I’m not the biggest fan of simulation and I’m more into ‘Horizon’ than ‘Motorsport’. But to Caesar what is Caesar’s: this new installment looks very good for lovers of driving games. Especially since at launch we will have a whopping 500 vehicles and 20 circuits that will also increase over time completely free of charge.

Header: Xbox

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