"early stages" of development?

Forza Motorsport Forza Motorsport (2023) Discussion
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Greetings humans.

So i found Forza to be the most shocking announcement in the recent games showcase, not because it was there, but because it is apparently only in the “early stages” of development. I was so looking forward to a new Forza on XSX this year at launch so to learn it’s years away leaves me feeling somewhat gutted. I’m wondering if others have a similar disappointment to me as long-time Forza fans? Also it leaves me wondering what Turn 10 has exactly been doing since 2017 if this game is just starting development now? Is the reason it’s not being released purely because they don’t want to release on Xbox One? I just wish they hadn’t promised “every first-party game on XSX will be on XBO for 1-2 years” if that is the case :confused:

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It’s weird. In a Forza Monthly stream back in January when they announced some of the features this upcoming Motorsport game will involve, I’m pretty sure they had mentioned it was being worked on since FM7.

In saying that, if that’s not the case then I really don’t know what they’ve been doing, considering the Motorsport team is completely different to the Horizon team.

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They only started working on the new game around 1.5 years ago (maximum). It’s a completely new game, graphics engine, system to develop for, etc. Everything is new, and game development is getting exponentially harder, more time consuming and costly than before. Every development team needs more time than before to fully develop a new game. Microsoft’s all other games are in the very early stages of development, too (the only exception is Halo Infinite which is basically an Xbox One game in development for 5 years). Don’t expect the new Forza Motorsport to release in 2021. I would place my bet on a fall 2022 release. It’s just too much work to create AAA games of this caliber now. This is the reality the teams are facing. We just have to be patient.

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If by ‘graphics engine’ you mean the full game engine T10 uses (ForzaTech) … that is not new and will continue to be used with future games (including the new Motorsport game).

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Just a polite way of saying it will be a while before the game gets released. So be patient.

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Actually I’ve found the news to be positive, for a couple reasons:

They want to make a more realistic game and this means scrapping everything you saw on the Xbox One (not the content, the features). A 1 year rest is simply not enough to do that. Halo Infinite for example is rumored to have been in development for 2, maybe 3 years, with the rest dedicated to developing the Slipspace engine, and we all saw that the graphics were a bit underwhelming, so if Forza Motorsport needs to rest for a little bit further, so be it.

Also, Dan said we would take part in development in some way… If they had just dropped the game on Thursday, it would have been a lie, and if there’s anything Forza Motorsport does not need after the VIP fiasco in FM7, it’s lies. Forza Motorsport needs excellence, and you can’t have that with only a 3 year dev cycle.

It’s a wild dream of mine but if Forza Motorsport ever achieved the level of excellence of Flight Simulator, I wouldn’t question T10 ever again.

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They recently announced that no more One-X units will be developed or sold - something along those lines.

I’m pretty sure that’s a deliberate move to get people to get the Series X so that they either sell their One-X consoles or just put them aside to buy the latest console. Hence the delay because they want the maximum number of people playing Forza on the Series X and not One-X.

If you ask me, the One-X is a perfectly capable console capable of showcasing a fantastic FM8 game - but you know Microsoft and their lust for profits, domination and all that.

Oh well, I’ll just enjoy whatever games I have on the One-X because I only bought it in late 2018 and have no intentions of selling it or buying the Series X.

The series X is just another console that does 8k/60fps or 4k/120fps. It’s a shame that they said “ending the One-X is a natural process” or something like that because it’s a great console and devs never really got a chance to fully exploit it - like the X360 for example.

Here - check this out:

Really interesting "opinion" - watch till the end. :)
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“Early stages or development” is absolutely fantastic news, here is why:

Forza has become stale, stagnant and stuck in the past. It is no longer the innovator it once used to be (particularly with Forza Motorsport 2 and Forza Motorsport 3). A huge part of this is quite clearly, mismanagement in some shape, way or form, whether that be at the top level of the franchise or whether there have been just core, conflicting issues with ideas, concepts and the fundamental direction the franchise has taken up until now.

However there is one thing we clearly do know and this is that annual and bi-annual released simply do not work well for a franchise like Forza Motorsport. There is simply not enough development time in two years to create enough of an improvement or update to warrant a full AAA, $69.99 base price-tag plus DLC and expansion packs. Take a look at Call of Duty, Formula 1, Forza Horizon, FIFA, Madden and so many more examples of annual and bi-annual release stagnate development, innovations, ideas and concepts and cause a franchise to become stale. We have 7 instalments of Forza motosport in 12 years. That is simply too many. When you flood the market with release after release, people eventually grow tired of your game and franchise and no longer wnat to pay the price for the game, especially when it’s full AAA prices. It was clear Forza Motorsport 7 was rushed. it released buggy, broken, glitchy, unfinished, unpolished and in general was a complete mess at launch. In fact, since 2013, no Forza release has been smooth be it Horizon or Motorsport aside from Forza Horizon 2 (not counting the Xbox 360 version). and even that game wasn’t exactly perfect at launch.

Forza Motorsprot 7 in it’s current state is the best foundation we have ever had for the next iteration going forward. However, Forza Motorsport needs more development time. Turn 10 cannot get complacent with this game. Also, may I add everyone slated Forza Motorsprot 5 and 7 for being console launches and yet these same people are now upset Forza Motorsprot isn’t launching for the Series X. Console launches for a franchise this big are simply not a good idea whatsoever.

“Early stages of development” is not a bad thing, think positive. More time for new features and to refine existing features, more time for new tracks and to refine existing tracks, more time to improve single-player, especially career mode, more time to have a polished game at launch. The list goes on and on.

Be patient and wait. This is a very good sign.

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I think you’re being a bit too optimistic, they’re not creating a cure for cancer here they’re making another forza. Tbh there’s no reason for it to have taken this long to begin with nor for it to not be released on the current hardware especially the One X. Its the same game engine, cars are the same, the tracks will be the same, career will be yet another variation of itself, and its still gonna run in 4k@60fps.

I hate to burst your bubble i really do but their focus is going to be the graphics not gameplay or features and I believe ray tracing is the reason this game is being delayed. Halo infinite is also getting ray tracing but not at launch so obviously somethings causing a delay possibly the new directx 12 they just can’t delay both games. I really couldn’t believe they didn’t show gameplay but I realized after I watched the halo gameplay in 4k, without ray tracing these games look like they’re running on an Xbox One X. You can’t sell a new console like that, so let forza chill out for awhile, blame covid and when they can finish implementing ray tracing then release it.

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that’s an honest perspective right there - and a realistic one. i think you’re right - given T10’s track record in recent years.

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A

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Yeah, with MS saying all their games will be on both gens for 1-2 years and the Forza Motorsport logo screen only saying Series X and PC it sounds like it’ll be at least two years after launch before it hits. Forza 5 on One was what decided which console to get at launch for me last gen and I was really hoping same would be true this time. Now though, having a One X already, I’m thinking I’ll go PS5 at launch then get X when Forza finally does come out.
Here’s to hoping the added time let’s them rethink multiplayer and bring back user created custom public lobbies in multiplayer.

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They just restarted the tech stack (what I understand from the inverviews). It means few years of hard work and maybe after that better game. It’s hard to build again what already worked. But after some time technical debt is so big you can’t continue. Maybe new game will be much better but probability of completely new bugs is very high.

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Could also mean that the guts of the game are pretty much done, but the actual game that’ll satisfy the variety for hardcore Forza players is being designed. Basically they might have a working racing game and majority of the cars, sounds, graphics done but how this will be delivered to the fans is undergoing deep thought. FM5 - FM7 all had issues with this delivery.

I am only suggesting this based on the technical updates made to FM7 and the apologetic tone we got for the errors in FM7.

As long as they are trying to create a fun game, I’m ok with the wait.

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March 2019 was when the game left concept phase. Therefore, it’s safe to say they had nothing beyond ideas back then.

I second what Evan said, not gonna repeat his words since that’s my exact view as well.

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Nothing besides the forzatech engine and all the cars and tracks they still have licenses for? They also did their first company wide play test in early December 2019 so that was 8 months ago, im sure the pandemic has slowed things down but it shouldn’t still be in early development at this point. Theyre not starting from scratch, they have the game engine, they have the cars, they have the tracks, they have the 4k assets for all the cars and tracks and they should still have the recorded audio for a few hundred cars that they can finally use properly, they just gotta fix those trees. Its a racing game, theres not much conceptualizing that needs to be done, the largest concept change is likely going to be the switch to a games as a service model because microsoft is obsessed with subscriptions right now.

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I personally was super excited to hear the game won’t be rushed out to launch on Series X. FM7 was absolutely horrible at launch, the campaign is still bad to this day imho.

Hopefully they continue to take their time to make a solid base product for next gen consoles, definitely excited to see what they make.

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The funny thing is how it’s still good for a racing game career this gen. Because I look at FM6’s campaign and, I mean… Why does it get so much praise when it’s FM7 but worse?

Project CARS, for example, has a much better career than any of this gen’s Forzas, including the Horizons. Unfortunately, without the “pressure” element of the F1 series, it doesn’t work very well.

Nothing tops the My Team in F1 2020, though. Let’s hope Codies has fixed the ice physics from 2019, since F1 2019 feels like GRID but with more grip and more precise controls.

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I have mentioned it here before in the the past many times and I will do it again. GRID (the first one, GRID 2 had similar one) had one of the best career modes that I have ever played. I think this is the type of freedom and excitement new FM should aim.

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Agree 100%!