It is now known that Forza Horizon 6 makes many more props completely destructible, including fully grown trees. This has become a rather controversial topic on social media. It is clear that a lot of players are very vocally upset about this, while some are fine or indifferent.
Here’s a proposal to resolve this controversy:
“Destructible props“ difficulty setting
This could be a setting in the “Difficulty“ section. For example, with the following values:
- “No effect” - destroying props doesn’t affect the cars’ speed, all props get destroyed by slightest collisions;
- “Simple“ - same as “No effect“, but destructible props slow down the cars somewhat and require a small minimum momentum to break (default, behaves as the game does right now);
- “Relative“ - same as “No effect“, but the amount of speed lost upon impact is proportional to the mass/size of the destroyed prop;
- “Realistic“ - same as “Relative“, but there’s a much greater minimum threshold of force needed for the prop to be destroyed, according to the prop (by context): guardrail fences, trees, and other “rooted“ props only break from high-momentum impacts (e.g. a 5 ton truck at 200km/h), while signs and lamp posts break as they do now.
Optionally, some values can include a credit bonus percentage, as do many other difficulty settings. For example, “Realistic“ could give a +20% credit boost, “Relative“ - +10%, while “Simple“ and “No effect“ could have 0% bonus.
Since online and seasonal events can already override difficulty options, this setting won’t affect gameplay experience for events already balanced around the current prop behaviour. This means that no additional gameplay rebalancing needs to be done, as the setting only affects the player’s own gameplay session, be it freeroam/open-world driving or single player events (or multiplayer events as a convoy leader). Things like The Eliminator, online seasonal events, or Horizon Open won’t be affected.
In this sense, the setting mirrors the “Rewind“ and “Steering“ settings - it allows the player to skew the difficulty of their gameplay experience either towards an easier or a more realistic one, hence it being a difficulty setting.
Reasoning
The setting affects the gameplay in a similar way to the “Rewind“ setting - it boosts immersion and rewards clean driving for players who want to opt-in, while simultaneously allowing others to enjoy the game with less hassle. It makes gameplay consistent with any particular player’s expectations and allows more difficult gameplay for players that want it.
Current way of handling destructible props, on the other hand, is inconsistent and suboptimal:
- Some “heavy“ props slow down the car considerably (see fallen trees/logs in FH5), while others have almost no effect (see highway guardrails and standing trees in FH6);
- There’s usually no way to distinguish between “heavy“ or “light“ props, players have to figure this out through trial and error, as real-world intuition does not work here;
- Players are disincentivized to use roads, if the obstacles off-road don’t affect their cars’ speed, and are desensitized to prop collisions, making the gameplay experience more frustrating when an actually serious collision occurs.
All of the above points build a sort of “slippery slope“ for the game’s gameplay design: casual players encounter some indestructible or “heavy“ props get frustrated and complain, next iteration makes more props destructible, repeat ad infinitum. First, small trees and bushes in FH2, then highway guardrails in FH3, then literal stone and brick walls in FH4, then whole grown trees in FH6…
We’ve now come to the point where players wanting a more grounded/realistic experience feel as though the game doesn’t reward them for clean driving, while players who want a more casual experience get frustrated when encountering “heavy“ props anyway.
Implementing the setting would remedy these inconsistencies and allow more players to enjoy the game more:
- It helps align the gameplay with players’ own intuition, introducing consistent destructible prop behaviour;
- It accommodates casual players’ wants to drive freely with the “No effect“ setting;
- It rewards more hardcore players for clean driving and incentivizes avoiding obstacles while using appropriate cars for different situations;
Concerns Q&A
Q: Wouldn’t this affect other players that play with me?
A: No, the proposed setting is client-only and only affects how much force your car needs to ram down a prop.
Q: I’m fine with how the game is now, why do I need a setting for making props destructible?
A: Then the setting won’t affect you, as current game behavior is the default option. By voting for this, you’ll support other people who are not happy about current state of destructible props without any detriment to you. You’ll be helping to build a more healthy community.
Q: If two players with different selected options drive side-by-side, wouldn’t it be weird for one of them to see destroyed props while the other “ghosts“ through them?
A: This wouldn’t happen with this setting: if player A has “No effect“ while player B has “Realistic“ and they drive side-by-side through a forest, both player A and player B would see how Player A plows through trees, even if player B wouldn’t be able to destroy trees themselves.
Q: How would this work in online events, like The Eliminator or Horizon Open?
A: As stated earlier, online events can simply override this setting to whatever value is needed for all participants to avoid any unfair advantage.
Q: Why does this concern racing? Track races don’t usually involve colliding with trees or other rigid props.
A: On the contrary, trees and rigid obstacles (like houses or fences) are almost always close to the road on many tracks and bring direct consequences to players who fail to control their cars, which brings more stakes and thrill to racing. Other racing modes, like Dirt or Cross-Country, rely almost exclusively on trees as natural barriers around the track.