Did we forgot what racing is about?

Forza Motorsport Legacy Motorsport
1

I ask this, because I did a little bit. What is car racing in the real world? It is fast and challenging. You will find dominating racer, but it is unusual a racer is winning every race. Heavy car contacts are avoided, because real damage is real, ruining the race and expensive. Sometimes big crashes happen, off course.

With Forza 6 a lot of people complained. And I did sometimes too. The drivatar’s are different. And yes, the first one or two are usually exceptional faster than the rest of the pack. Or I’m in the leading position and a very fast Drivatar does come from behind. Making a lot of pressure to me.

But former Forza games in single player (and other car games too) teaches us something different. Find you matching difficulty level for the game. The goal is to win each race. Rough driving with lots of contact is absolutely OK. … But this is not racing, this is arcade!

My attitude about this changed within the last days. Well, racing is about winning, no question. And “Who cares about the detail, podium is podium” is not what it is about.

But meanwhile I like the single player and Drivatar system in Forza 6 very much. They are not too aggressive (maybe I just have the right friends on Xbox Live). And the single player career races are a lot of fun and challenging. Finding my way through the pack with minimum (sometimes without) contact to other cars, having mostly a good race till last lap. Not always finishing first. Sometimes not even podium. But this just means, I sucked. I have to learn the track better, or the car. I even switched off breaking line (by perma adding risk mod “cockpit, no breaking line”). If I can’t do this way, I need more training. If the game says “you won a couple of races in a row, want to increase Drivatar level?”, I agree.

And I have much more fun this way! And as a side effect, I become a better online racer too. More looking on the road, better avoiding crashes, and becoming faster. And if I end up online in the front midfield, that’s ok. This is the pace I can go in the moment.

Froza 6 is a great racing game. Just had to say this …

5 Likes
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I agree with your message in spirit. For me. due to work and family, I only have at most one hour a day to ply Forza. That means I do not have time to repeat races. I have spent the last two weeks getting just the right difficulty so that I can get third and have to fight for second or the win. I have found expert gives me the best balance. For wide, flowing tracks like Alps and Prague, I can even bump up to pro. I would like to win but seeing as this is a game, I want to enjoy the process too.

Aside from a few minor issues, I agree with your sentiment… Forza 6 is a great game!!!

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Well maybe T10 forgot too… as racing the Prototypes today in career mod, all assist off, and simulation I had to restart every race no less than 5/6 times… Rio, Long Beach, even Prague are almost impossible to get through the first lap w/o being slaughtered!!! I mean no matter how hard I drove cautiouesly, I was banged from behind, slammed from the side, rammed in corners, nothing I could do but restart.

I had AI on Pro… and still wreck fest from AI’s. My friends do not drive this way, but their avatars do… what’s up T10?

2 Likes
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Are you playing with “limit drivatar aggression” ON, or OFF?

TURN THIS ON.

I play with it on, and I only get hit (generally) if I brake early with a drivatar drafting me (more like I brakechecked them).

Accidents do happen (sometimes a 'tar will try a ballzy pass, only to run out of room and hit me) but for the most part they’re quite well-behaved.

(pro/unbeatable)

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I think a lot of people in the “online races” seem to have forgotten what racing is…
It certainly isn’t having a mass pile up in the first corner of the race… no one ever won a race at the first corner…!!

Lost count how many times I’ve just been rammed off the road in online races, when you do find good racers it can be great fun
In my opinion anyone who rams into you on a straight section of track is an idiot and should be banned… lol
Some bumping is expected light bumper to bumper contact but really there are so many idiots on here…

I find the single player career a bit weird, you either win by a large margin or can’t catch the leader I’m not sure whats going on there…
Wet races are also strange, I find the AI doesn’t seem to be affected by the huge puddles in the races yet when i drive through them I get spat into the wall or way off track…

Overall, on one hand I’m enjoying it on the other hand it sucks…!!

1 Like
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Although it could be argued that Senna did win a championship there :slight_smile:

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It was only decided there. It had been won over the previous dozen or so races. Nothing can be won at the first corner.

I have to restart the odd race a few times but if I’m honest about it, it’s because more often than not I place my car in a vulnerable position. The problem is as much to do with players expecting to win every race as it is the AI preventing them. Cars make contact in almost all motorsport and this has to be recreated in a racing game somehow. It can be frustrating if you just want to rush through the events but if you watch the replays it’s generally actually quite well done.

I’m not saying there isn’t the odd crazy move by the AI (Drivatars) :slight_smile:

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Part of the problem with the piling up in the first corner is also the 24 cars on the track, it’s just too crowded for the way drivatars behave now (and turning their aggression of still makes them do aggressive things). It’s basically the same with multiplayer, I tend to have more enjoyable races when there is only about 12 racers in a lobby rather than 24, simply because everyone just has a bit more space.

I tend to like endurance races the most for singleplayer (with the back of the pack mod) since you have a lot more time to work your way towards the front and it doesn’t matter if the first 5 laps or so you aren’t even in the top 10. Yesterday I did the Catalunya endurance race where I deliberately kept cruising behind the leader for lap after lap after lap. It was actually quite relaxing and once I decided to overtake him I started making errors because I didn’t have anyone to follow anymore. :slight_smile: Won it eventually though.

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Forza has all the tools to make races more realistic they just choose not to do career that way.

I have my own “career mode” in Free Play. I choose a PI class and then I let Free Play choose tracks randomly for 3-7 races.
I have a 3-strikes-and-you’re out system.
Basically any time I collide with another car or cut a corner (2 to 4 wheels outside the track), I take a strike. 3 strikes and I consider myself DQ’ed.
If the car gets so badly damaged that I can’t reach a decent speed or I can no longer control the car safely, I consider myself DNF.
I give myself points based on my place (obviously DNF and DQ get zero points)
At the end of a series of 3 - 7 races, I count up my points and take an average. Based on that average is my placing for the entire series.

It’s not perfect by any means, but it encourages me to race properly and gives me a proper feeling of progress and accomplishment which Forza 6 's career mode fails to do at all.
I could do a lot more in depth detail, but I also don’t want to be bogged down and tons of calculations and stuff. So this system gives me a goal to aim for and a set of rules that force me to be a fast (and careful) driver.

1 Like
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I’ve given up on Multiplayer races online. If you are not starting up front - you have no chance. I do my very best to avoid contact in every race… I can’t speak for my Drivatar though…

Another caveat - since I have maxed out Affinity on numerous manufacturers, I have noticed that I can compete with the top 100 times with the extra grip mod that comes with the special Crew Mod
I use all my own tunings and the utmost importance to me is to reduce throttle lift off when accelerating out of turns. That with throttle control and a car upgraded with the max power to weight ratio I can get seems to keep my in the top 1%, which I am fine with…

Finishing 6-15 seconds behind the hot lap times without the Added Grip mods is frustrating, finishing much closer to those time with the added grip mod is very, very interesting…