What is it with modern “reboots” for franchises being lackluster?! Just to start off: there are only 21 championships (each with 4-6 races) sprawling only 20 track locations, utilizing 500 cars. I’ve already beaten the “career” of these 21 championships in only 3 and 1/2 days of playing.
This would be a “rental” title, if Blockbuster was still around and you wouldn’t even keep it long enough to get a late fee.
What was the time off since FM7 spent doing? What has been taken away: the Nurburgring Nordschleife 13-mile course (but the GP track is in the game), Road Atlanta, Sebring. Why would this game eliminate tracks from previous games? Is this so they can drip feed them to us down the road (like Road America was in FM6 or FM7, added as DLC even though it was in previous games) to force players to come back month after month for content that the game should have been released with?
Cars: this has always been an issue for me with Forza games. “You know that car that came on the disc in the last game, well you need to wait 6 months because we’re withholding it until season 8”. This was my exact experience with Forza Horizon 5 and the 1995 Toyota MR2 GT. The turbo MR2 has been in every Forza game; but for FH5 it wasn’t available at launch and was part of a season release like 6 months later (I only got word because of people in the MR2 groups all freaked out when it came out, so after being done with FH5 for a while, I had to log back on and complete some challenges just to get my car. Thanks for that). So many missing cars from history that could have been developed over the 6 years to make this reboot the best there ever was. Same 3d models being reused from previous games (not an issue) but why are there so many less than the last game? Why not spend time expanding the car list? Filling in multiple generations of cars (like the old games did). Just an example: the Toyota MR2 has come in 3 generations: 80’s, 90’s, and 00’s. The 80’s came in 2 different engine choices (NA/SC) and had 2 iterations (early and late, with subtle body panel changes). The 90s came with multiple motors (NA/turbo) with different horsepowers: 2.2l NA, 2.0l turbo 3SGTE, a 2.0l NA 3SGE, a high (er) performance “Beams” red top NA motor. The 90s MR2 had multiple facelifts with different tail lights, different front lips, wheels, 3 different wings (90-93, 94-95, and the 96-99 “combat rev 5 wing”). The 2000’s had the MRS convertible with the 1zz 4 cyl. But there were 2 extremely unique iterations to the 90s MR2 that could have been fun to have: the TRD wide body 2000gt and the 99 MR2 spyder (a factory conversion of the SW20 MR2 into a convertible), there was even the SARD MC12 which is basically a stretched and widened SW20. What did we get in this game? The same 1989 MR2 SC and 1995 MR2 GT from all of the previous games. I’m assuming it uses all the same 3d model/physics from the previous games too. And the 2000’s MRS is gone entirely. In fact, there is only 1 Toyota from 2000-2010: the celica with the body kit. Hey kids, do you like the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution? How many generations were there? 10. How many make it into this game? 4. How many models were built by MG, Austin Healey, Triumph, TVR, and the rest of the 60’s-80s British sports cars? A ton. There’s 2 vintage MGs this game, 0 triumphs, 1 (2018) TVR. How about Lotus, famous for Motorsport, great builder of sports cars over the decades. How many classic Lotus cars are in this game? 2 race cars, 1 sports car. How many modern Lotus cars? Evija, Emira, Evora, Esprit, and the 3-eleven. No Elise or Exige (3 generations), no Europa (modern or classic), no Elan M100 (90s, the only FWD lotus ever made), no multiple generations of the Esprit, just the last one with the V8tt. How about the Nissan Z cars? Been around for 50 years, with multiple generations. What’s in the game? 240z, 300zx to, 350z, 370z Nismo, and Z Proto. Covering just the major iterations, skipping the 260z, 280z, the 80s 300z, etc. this is what I mean about wanting them to “fill in”. All of the cars listed above as being in the game are the same ones they’ve always had in the games. Just copy and paste those same offerings then we’ll add 100 new cars which will be almost entirely just new cars that have come out since the last game.
How about the championships and the “unlockables” for playing the game? I’ve completed all 21 championships in the game plus the 1 championship available as part of what I can assume is the “season” release to make this more of a “live service” game. Each championship is 4-6 races and takes about an hour to 90 min complete. That makes for about 25-30 hours of “content” in this game. Completing that got me 5 cars and about $2M. Yes, there are only 5 “unlockable” cars as rewards for completing each of the 5 “tours” (each has 4 championships). What is the breadth of these “tours”? One championship dedicated to the 5.0 mustang, one dedicated for the NA Miata, one for the C8 corvette. Hope you like those cars specifically, because you’ll spend 3-4 hours (10% of the “game” racing 23 of them. Then there are 4 “open class” championships, where anything goes, as long as it’s either C, B, A, or S class. The other 14 championships are what you’d expect: JDM legends, German rivals, muscle cars, etc. This is a far cry from previous iterations. Just as an example, there are no “race car” specific championships. No need to buy that iconic Mazda 787B for some thrilling vintage LeMans championship, no need to buy a widened 2000s DTM car, no need to buy a clapped out rally Evo 6 or STI to duke it out like the WRC of old.
My assumption is that they are withholding tracks/cars/championship types to release over time to try to get a player base to last beyond the 25 hours that the content on the “disc” provides. They have models for Sebring and Road Atlanta. It’s not in this game because either a:they’re withholding it for future DLC or b: licensing issues. If it were option b, that causes an issue for the Nurburgring. Why is the GP track in the game, but the 13-mile course isn’t, even though it’s in previous games. And if I remember correctly, wasn’t it DLC on one of the recent FM games? In my eyes, the latest game should be all inclusive, making previous games obsolete. I don’t want to have to turn on FM7 to race an Elise on the Nurburgring, then turn on FM2023 to race on Hakone. I have to own 2 Forza games and take up 200gb of space to get the full collection of tracks and cars. This is probably the same complaint that Pokémon fans have with the latest games. If there are over 1000 Pokémon now. Why does the latest game only have 400?
How about modifications/customization of your stable of cars? It’s the same parts, modifications, body kits, wheels, engine swaps, etc as every other Forza game. Nothing new, but I suspect some stuff is missing, it’s hard to tell due to the new modification process, the only welcomed change to this game. What does that mean? You can’t just buy a car and then immediately upgrade it to S-class with a racing V12, twin turbos, and weight reduction. You get experience in each car which unlocks certain modifications as rewards for each new “level”. You get experience from driving cleanly and fast during practice and races. Then each new part costs CP points (gained from the experience), which changes the way you can upgrade your car. You start out with just 300 CP for each car and a few items unlocked, like exhaust, intake, sometimes intake manifold or brakes. Then each part costs some CP. usually each level for exhaust or intake costs 100 or 50 CP, a turbo kit costs like 750 CP, racing tires cost like 1000 CP. You also have the same PI system that limits the extent of modifications you can do, ie: a maximum PI of 500 for C class. If you buy a car at a PI of 400 and the max for a championship is 500, then during that championship, you’re slowly upgrading that car up to that maximum of 500. You can’t just go straight to 500 at time of purchase, so it adds a little fun of changing mods between races as new stuff is unlocked. These mods don’t cost money, so now money is only for buying new cars. All in all, it’s a fun system that made me continue practice laps beyond the required 3 laps so I could maximize the amount of CXP I got for each race (practice and the actual race), gaining higher levels, and unlocking new parts to change my mods to make the car better.
But my god, the new modification menu/system sucks. How many new wheels do you think they’ve implemented into this new game (after 6 years since the last one)? Zero new wheels, in fact I think it’s missing some (I assume due to licensing), all of the wheels are now separated by the first letter of the manufacturer, instead of 1 piece, multi-piece, and specialty. I can swear I remember the classic Watenabe JDM wheels being in previous Forza games. In this one, I was gonna go the classic hatchback championship with the Toyota AE86, so I figured I’d do the white/black with a set of watenabes, just like Initial D. But alas, I can’t find the wheels. As for the modification menu, it really sucks. It no longer tells you “+15hp” or “-41 lbs” when you hover over a mod. You’ll have to do that math on your own. It used to be easy to compare “should I upgrade my intake or exhaust”, since you could see “+8 hp” on the intake icon and “+13 hp” on the exhaust. You could easily calculate the cost/benefit for each item. For 3 PI points, I could gain 8hp with the intake, or for 6 PI points, I could get 13hp with the exhaust. Double the PI points but not quite double the hp, the intake is a better deal and could leave some room in PI for a fuel upgrade or valves or whatever. Now it’s harder to calculate that stuff. Oh well. Not a huge deal. With the new modification system, you won’t be modifying random cars for fun anyway because you’ll have to drive that car for an entire championship before you unlock body kits. Not even lying. I have an EVO 6 that I used for the C class championship, used in 4 races, is now a level 11. Rear wings are unlocked at level 12, front/rear bumpers and side skirts are unlocked at level 15. Who’s going to race an Eclipse for 60-90 minutes just to unlock the ability to recreate Brian Earl Spilner’s clapped out Kawasaki green “NOSSSSSSSSS” death trap? If the blitz body kit is even available, I don’t know since you can’t PREVIEW modifications that aren’t unlocked! Why!?!?!?!?!
What about painting/customization, has that EXPANDED in anyway over previous games? NO. It’s the same 3 paint categories. You know; factory, normal colors (10 shades of each about 24 standard colors), and special which uses the same metal flake, carbon fiber, wood, camo, brass, copper, gold options from the previous games. Have they expanded the special colors types? No. Have they added the ability to select factory colors from the manufacturer that might not been available on the exact model/year car you’re painting? No. Gran Turismo did this. You can select from a bunch of Ferrari or Toyota colors that were used to make the factory color options for each car in the game. You know the paint code for the Mk 4 Supra Deep Jewel Pearl Green. It’s an option for the Supra in the game. Let me paint my MR2 that color. Let me paint my Audi R8 in BMW’s ugly Phoenix Yellow. Let me paint my R32 GTR in Midnight Purple 3 or Bayside Blue from the R34 GTR. The code in is the game because it’s a factory color option for the R34. Again, this paint system hasn’t evolved since its creation a decade ago. What did you do during the 6 year hiatus?! How about interior color options? Even factory ones. If you have the cockpit view, why not be be able to select different interior colors. Again, this would be iterating on previous features. Look we did all these interior models for 700 cars in 2016 for FM7, we don’t have to do anything for interiors for the cars that are carrying over to the new game, why don’t we work on EXPANDING what we’ve already done. This could be a feature that isn’t in any of our previous 12 Forza games. Nah, just copy paste the models from FM7, except let’s get rid of the shifting animations. That’ll make it different and new.
Ok, so what about something small and stupid like “spaces”. Somewhere fun to view your car, snap some photos, something outside just racing. There’s no garage or “spaces”. There’s just the standard background for walking around your car and opening the doors/hood/etc. you can also set cars to your “car bay” but I can’t really figure out what that is or what’s the point. Only some cars can you open hoods/trunks/etc. In the case of the MR2, you can open the doors and remove the T-tops (yay, fun), but you can’t open the frunk and look at the spare tire, you can’t open the engine lid behind the cabin to look at the motor, and can’t open the trunk at the back. See what I mean about limited and not “filling in”. Yes, you weren’t able to open those things in previous games either, but again, you have already done the models/physics for these cars that were in previous games, so for this latest iteration, why didn’t you spend time expanding what you can do with these models instead of doing nothing. This is the exact same Forza Vista experience thing for these cars as the last game 6 YEARS AGO! Why should someone spend $70-$100 for this game when they could do the same in FM7. So unless you really like a car that came out in 2018 to today that hasn’t been added to FM7 via DLC, I can’t think of why you’d buy this over FM7.
Why are all modern games released buggy as hell?! Even this racing game is guilty of being released before it should have been, even after 6 years of development. My game crashed multiple times, got stuck in loading screens forcing me to quit and lose progress, having to recomplete a practice session and race that I just finished, and the lighting effects go seizure warning levels of wonky at sunset/dusk. The road textures don’t k ow what to do as the time of day advances from sunny to dark and just flash light/dark at extremely fast rates. Thankfully the transition takes maybe a lap or two, but my god why is this a thing. Also, I’ve noticed headlights not shining out even though they are on, making it hard to see the road unless you have the blue-glowing ribbons marking the track boundaries feature ON, and did anyone from the dev team look at the in-car animations? All cars are now 100% automatic, apparently. No shifting gear animations whatsoever, not even for cars with flappy paddle gear boxes. A 1995 MR2 GT only came in manual, yet the driver doesn’t shift gears. The old games showed this animation. Why not in this “latest and greatest” iteration? Did you lose the in-car animation files during that 6-year hiatus?
Things that I just don’t get why they aren’t in this game:
Why isn’t there options for music while driving? Maybe it’s just that I’ve played 2 Forza Horizon games since the last Forza Motorsport came out, but my god it’s boring driving for hours with no music playing. You don’t have to get pop hits like FH, but just something please.
Why are there no stats in this game? How many podiums have I gotten? How many races have I raced? How many perfect turns or perfect passes have I gotten (oh wait, those aren’t in this game)? How many hours have I played? How many times have I raced at Laguna Seca? There’s no stat page in this game.
Why is there no championships for actual race cars? MOTORSPORT is one of the only 2 words in the title. All championships are for street cars or pretty much S class or less. It’s like the opposite of where gran turismo has gone with the majority of their car offering is full of race cars instead of street cars.
Why are there no longer duration races like endurance races? What is the point of being able to set gas tank levels, selecting tires, and pit stops if all races are 5 laps or less (8 laps for tiny tracks) and don’t require anything more than 1 set of tires and 40% fuel level.
The offering in career mode feels rushed and not thought out. Only 21 championships (including the tutorial championship to explain championships) and just the utter lack of unlockables, rewards, or any reason to continue is surprising to me. Each championship should award a special car or something. Hell, I’d even take the loot box style from FH. At least that gave me a reason to grind wheel spins and super wheel spins. I collected every car in FH5 at release. EVERY CAR. It was like 572 or something. I have no reason to bother collecting anything in this game. How many cars do I have? I don’t know, there isn’t a stats page and it doesn’t say it in your garage. Probably like 20. The 12ish cars you get for VIP/Launch day or whatever, plus the 5 cars I unlocked, plus the 3 cars I had to buy for some of the championships that required something specific, and the 1995 MR2 GT I bought because I have a 1993 MR2 turbo in real life and wanted to replicate it in the game. Which I can’t even do because the WORK Equip 05 wheels aren’t even in this game (out of the 20 or so Work wheels that are in this game).
Speaking of wanting to replicate your real cars in this game, I’ve owned a lot of fun cars and almost all of them used to be in Forza games but only 3 are in Forza Motorsport 2023. Here’s my list: 2006 Lotus Elise, 1993 MR2 Turbo, 2005 Sentra SE-R Spec V, 2005 Infinity G35 Coupe 6MT, 2007 Mini Cooper S, 2003 350Z, mk6 Golf GTI, 1968 Triumph GT6. Forza and gran turismo is what introduced me to cars and Motorsport and modifications. They’re the reason I dreamed of owning an Elise. Now my Elise isn’t even in the latest game. The car list should be expanding for these games, but it seems to have peaked 6 years ago with FM7 and is now trending the opposite direction. Less variety within manufacturers, less expansion of generations/iterations/versions of models with long running history, less expansion of body kits/visual upgrades/customization.
But they did make the tire physics 48x better than FM7, so I give it a 10 out of 10. Game of the Year.
PS: I really hope someone does a deep dive comparison of FM7 and FM 2023 in their release forms. From tracks and cars to the physics and breadth of content. I’d really enjoy a video breaking this all down. I just really don’t understand what the 6 year hiatus was for. They should have just made FM7 something that can last a decade (or try to, like Destiny) and just keep stuffing FM7 with new content, new cars, new tracks, etc. because after only 3 and a half days with the new Forza Motorsport, I’m already done with with and won’t be turning it back on ever. I won’t need to link it to Forza.net so I can get my monthly credits, I won’t be checking in on it to see what the new season brings like I did for the Forza Horizon games. Every time I come home from a day at the track at Road America watching historic races or being at Sebring for the 12-hour race, I’ll just turn on my old faithful Forza Motorsport 7 and spend the night tooling around in my Lotus Elise. I’ll literally have no reason to ever return to FM 2023. After 3-1/2 days, Driver Level 108, $2,857,850 credits, and roughly 20 cars, is as far as I’ll ever get.
Forza Motorsport 2023 has officially become consumable “content” on a subscription service like the latest Star Wars/Marvel show. A husk of the old franchise it used to be, providing only a few hours of entertainment before everyone moves on to the next new release on Game Pass. Having sunk hundreds of hours in all of the previous 12 games in the Forza lineup, it truly is a sad day.