Bigger does not mean better!! Supposedly, the Horizon 3 map is twice as big as the map in Horizon 2. This means absolutely nothing if the map isnt fun to drive on. Yes we want to blast along at 150+ mph BUT there are loads of other activities that we are not able to enjoy on Horizon 3’s map. I have a few solutions that would make the map much better and therefore the game a lot more fun.
ELEVATION CHANGES- Horizon 3’s map is sooo flat. Something like Blizzard Mountain or Red Rock and the Dam area in Horizon 1
-Lots of switchbacks and hair pin curves
-Cliffs where we can fall down into lower parts of the map
-Mountain bridges and Tunnels
CITIES- We want a city that is more like a city and less like a gated retirement community. We want a city like in NFS or even better GTA. The city should take up at least 25% of the map.
-Gritty and Messy
-Gas stations and other businesses
-Business District
-Industrial Area
-Wharf and Shipping docks
-Sprawling Suburbs
-more than one multilevel PARKING GARAGES
-lots of ALLEYS
-large HIGHWAY SYSTEM with actual exit ramps and overpasses circling parts of the map
More types of DESTINATIONS- because the Festivals are a one stop shop it makes the game quite reqetitive and boring. There should be separate locations for the autoshow, auction house, paint shop, and mechanic
We want roads that go somewhere instead of randomly going off in different directions.
Forza Horizon 3 has an immense single player campaign with a large number of diverse races and it takes quite a while to finish. This in itself is not a problem and in most cases is a very good thing. The problem with Forza Horizon 2 and 3 is how unsatisfying the Single player campaigns are. I’m not really talking about adding a story but there are several changes that could be made that would increase player enjoyment and help us look forward to the next game release.
The game needs to be HARDER. Im not saying the Drivatars need to be better. What I’m saying is there needs to be a greater difference between coming in first and coming in last.
-First place prize needs to be 2x or more what second place wins
-second half of the field should win little or nothing
-Championships should have bonuses based on standings
-Levelling up should be more difficult
-A greater challenge brings greater satisfaction, especially when theres more to lose
BOSSES- I’m directly referring to the wristband bosses in Horizon 1. There is little greater satisfaction in a game than wiping the smile off of a smug boss’ face. We need bosses to challenge us to progress to the next level. No story necessary.
-More Characters make the game more interesting
-Warren and Dak have been good for the series, they should add more cut scenes with the mechanic
-The street racing in H3 is good but give us a face and a voice, not just some random drivatar
-Add more unicorn cars in the game through beating bosses and showcases
Lastly I do a lot of racing in Rivals and I would like to see more than just our best time for each course. We should be able to see the best time for EVERY car on EVERY course.
I absolutely agree…I am a american muscle car guy, and it drives me nuts that my Hemi Dart, or Cuda, or Charger sounds nothing like the real life car OR for that matter ANY american classic V80
Changing the exhaust upgrades should also change the exhaust sound… I want to hear a throaty deep rumbling sound not a formula 1 sound from my Classic.
This was the very first thing I noticed about the game that really annoyed me…Since I prefer driving the classic muscle cars, it really impacts my experience
A lot of people wont agree but I dont really want to see custom lobbies in the future. Variety is the key to getting rid of boredom. In Forza Horizon 1 the lobbies were great but they lacked variety most of the time. You were almost always stuck with 4 options: Infected at Beumont, red rock ascent/descent, freeway blast, or freeroam. Horizon 2 online was atrocious… Absolutely horrible, but Horizon 3 has improved a lot. The biggest improvement is the custom adventures, I love being able to choose just games or contact free racing if I want. There is still room for improvement though.
More Effective CUSTOMIZATION- One of the first major Horizon 3 updates added further customization to multiplayer by allowing players to choose a class restriction. This was a good thought but it had very bad results. Youre lucky even on weekends to find race lobbies in any class but S1 or S2.
-Get rid of custom “class” lobbies because some players want to race more than S1 and S2.
-Replace custom “class” lobbies with custom “track surface” lobbies with 3 options; Tarmac Only, Mixed Surface, and Anything Goes.
More diverse PLAYGROUND MAPS- The maps in FH3 are mostly better than FH2 (I miss the port map from FH2) but they lack variety. WHERE ARE THE NON-OFF-ROAD PLAYGROUND MAPS?
-Only about half of the Playground maps should be offroad
-“Beaumont 2.0” We need small and tight maps that are better suited for racecars.
-More maps, less sizes. Get rid of the multi size format and add a few more unique maps.
XP Should not determine placement in Online Adventure. Use the same points system as Championships. Winners deserve to be awarded.
Like I said above the festivals should be split. The shop where cars are modified, tuned and painted should be separate from the autoshow and auction house. Aside from that there are soo many things that we should be able to do in the shop but cant.
PACKAGE CONVERSIONS- Like an engine swap but specific for each car. When we buy a car it should be the base model and right next to engine swaps should be where we can upgrade the cars package. Lamborghinis are the best example of this. When I buy a Murcielago from the Autoshow it should be the originial plain jane Murcielago. In the garage we should be able to upgrade it to either an LP640 or an SV, Diablo would convert into an SV or a GT, and so forth. Of course this wouldnt work with some cars and for cars like the focus the base model would be the ST (not too many people want to drive a base model focus).
FIX THE PI SYSTEM!!!- get rid of AWD/Power vs Grip advantage and split S1 and S2 into 2 classes each.
GARAGE-
-All non active wings and spoilers should be removable
-Engine swaps should be limited by make (no v12s in muscle cars).
-Drivetrain Swaps should show up next to your PI number Online and in Rivals
-Green and Red fonts are too hard to read
-Camera angle should be 100% player controlled
-Higher payouts on shared Tunes
PAINTSHOP-
-Professional PC app for creating designs
-Brakes should be paintable
-Roll cages should be paintable
-We need a cutting tool for decals
-NO LIMIT on number of designs
-Higher payouts for shared designs
-If the wheels in a shared design are left unpainted then they should be paintable by anyone.
AUCTION HOUSE-
-Abolish auction house manipulation by providing legendary users with higher payouts but no difference in auction house abilities
-No limit on car auction prices
-Able to control the auction from anywhere in the game just like eBay in real life.
For starters, I’d like them to keep the game as close to FM as possible in terms of physics and car sounds. They messed up many car sounds on a grand scale in FH3 and the physics seem to be getting more casual and “fun” with every release. The last thing any old-school Forza fan wants is to play an arcade racing game with the “Forza” brand. And I hope nobody gives me that “why don’t you go back to FM?” speech.
They can make the physics just as nuanced in the open world. If I really wanted to play an arcade racing game, I’d buy something other than Forza, you see.
I agree - the closer the handling model is to the FM series the better as far as I’m concerned.
As for everything else…
A proper rivals mode. I’d like overall leaderboards, class leaderboards and club leaderboards. Car leaderboards (stock) would be great too. My default rival should always be someone with a clean lap. It’s pretty pointless racing against the ghost of someone who set a dirty lap during a race. Let me see which routes I haven’t set a time on (or where I’ve only set a dirty time). This was easy in FM4 for example. Finally, if I’m running rivals I don’t want to be booted back out to my car after every run, with all the associated load times.
Public custom lobbies. Don’t need to say much else about this - it’s been done to death in the past.
A normal menu system, as an option at least. I don’t want to have to go to a festival site to buy a car, upgrade a car, and so on. I also don’t want to have to leave a festival to view my messages or do rivals. I’d like to be able to do whatever I want wherever I am, without having to drive around the map. If I want to go to Blizzard Mountain or the Hot Wheels island why to I have to drive to a certain area first? I know I can fast travel but that’s still unnecessary hassle. For me the map shouldn’t be used as a menu.
More tarmac areas with technical roads. I miss Red Rock and Beaumont from FH1. Something that feels a bit more real than driving a Zonda through fences and over sand dunes.
A complete rethink of the PI system. I’m not sure what happened in FH3. Why are power upgrades so cheap in PI terms when the focus of most of the routes is on speed?
Get rid of interior reflections on the windscreen in cockpit view. It’s not realistic. In real life my eyes aren’t focused on the windscreen so I don’t see reflections.
A more controversial one now perhaps. Get rid of the manual with clutch performance advantage. Apart from it being slightly uncomfortable, I can’t see why mashing two buttons at once demonstrates any additional skill. Get rid of the gearbox assist requirement for hardcore rivals. Unlike other assists, gear changing options fundamentally alter the way you interact with the game.
I would love proper rallycross events.
However, I wouldn’t agree with you on the clean racing skills. People dont care too much about skills, more about ranks. Making clean skills more rewarding wouldn’t change the bumper cars meta. I think they would have to change the collisions themselves during races.
Great suggestions in here. Definitely more tarmac sections - tight and winding courses that truly give you the feeling of white-knuckled street racing. I almost never see windscreen reflections in my car either no matter what time of day or weather it is.
They really ought to rework man/w clutch too as you said; it should reflect the car’s real-life shift times and attempting to shift faster than the car is actual capable of should result in a “mis-shift” or trans damage. A clutch/driveline and flywheel upgrade should let the player shift faster, just like IRL. Furthermore, why does the game even require you to use man/w clutch on flappy-paddle gearboxes? Very strange.
Season pass that covers all DLC, and an edition at launch that covers it all.
Scrap the unicorn car concept, give them to everyone.
Allow walk-aroundable garages, that can be re-arranged how you like (multiple styles) like PGR/TDU games.
Have dealerships spread around the map, like the TDU games.
I know that we still have almost a year and half till the release but I think it would be nice to see what you guys think would be good for Forza Horizon 4. I personally would like a parking garage to drive around in and take some cool photos in. Also some more customization would be good too. Maybe have a home base like a house with a garage where you could keep 2 to 5 cars that are your favorites and you could paint it to make it your own. Also it would be cool if instead of the auto show at the festival there would be car dealerships in the city ( Also would like a large city area 3 to 4 maybe even 5x that of Surfer’s Paradise. Also the dealership could have glass windows that show the trending cars at the moment. It would also be cool if you could drive your car to a mechanics shop to get upgrades for it and could go to a bodyshop for the paint jobs. I feel like this would add a more realistic aspect to the game. There are a ton of other things I would like too like a functioning convertible but I would like to see what you guys think.
My ideas for FH4 (It is very long so if you read through it good for you)
I hope FH4 is in California but I know that other people think others places it is just my opinion:
Location/Map:
First off I would like to suggest the festival take place in California for a number of great reasons. Again you could already have the location set in stone but I’d still like to let you know. Many (racing) games have taken place in California because it is so diverse and has so many environments that the community has been wanting. So first off you could try and make a huge city area like LA or San Diego or San Francisco that is almost 4x as big as Surfer’s Paradise. Surfer’s Paradise was really well made and really cool but honestly it did feel a little small so it would be cool to have a huge city. There could be a highway that goes into the city and also goes to the mountains where it turns into a steep winding mountain road. I have gone through the forums and I know this is a really big desire of the community because at this point it is has been mostly big large open roads with little to no incline or elevation gain. The roads in FH3 were beautiful but there was no narrow paved mountain roads and only a couple small hills most of them not paved. This mountain road/highway could lead into the mountains where they could drive through the forest maybe even Redwoods and could drive around a lake or something. There could also be some nice off road races in that area too. Going back to the highway it could branch into another highway which travels through the mountains to the high desert where players could also have lots of off roading. Not only that there could be long desert roads like those in FH3. This would meet both of the needs of the community that want those variety of streets to drive/drift or whatever they do on them. Also it would be nice to have a longer coastal highway such the Pacific Coastal Highway which could lead to some smaller beach towns like Laguna beach. Also the highway could have exits into the suburbs before the mountains which are more like the residential neighborhoods of Surfer’s Paradise or real life cities like Glendora or Pasadena. There would also be lots of beach to drive on and maybe there could even be a pier like Santa Monica pier which you can actually drive on in real life and a marina with boats somewhere along the coast.
Details on the Map:
This section goes into more detail of the map and also a little bit of customization wishes. In the large city I know everybody would love a parking garage with 3+ levels to park in and drive in. Also you could have a central boulevard with palm trees in the middle and shops down it like in Surfer’s Paradise but quite a bit longer almost like Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Also it would be cool to have lots of skyscrapers in this city and tall apartment buildings like in SF( abbreviation of Surfer’s Paradise) but almost 2 to 3x as many. There could also be a boardwalk with lots of parking lots by the beach in the large city and small coastal towns for the players to take nice photos and hang out with friends. Also in the city it would be nice to have lots of intersections with stoplights( Don’t know if this is possible but other games have done it) and alleys between buildings. With the houses there could be the large apartment complexes in the city and as you move into the suburbs smaller houses like those of the outskirts of SF. Close to the coast and in the mountains there could be larger houses( Beach and Mountain mansions). Diving into some hopes for customization and such it would be cool if these houses had 3-4 garages and you could pick a house to own and could keep 3 to 4 of your favorite cars there and have it the color that you want. In FH3 the festival’s spread throughout the map are the one stop shop for buying, upgrading, painting, and auctioning cars. It would add such a cool realistic part to the game if these were separate from the festival. Car dealerships could be spread throughout the map and could have glass windows that showed the cars trending at the time and players could go there to buy the cars they want. I wasn’t sure about the auction houses but they could also be a part of the car dealerships or be separate buildings unto themselves. To upgrade your car you could drive to little mechanic shops spread throughout the map. To paint your car you could also go to these mechanic shops or the bodyshops could be separate buildings. Maybe one mechanic shop could be specific for a character like Warren but in California where you could see the progress on the barn finds and pick them up and have him do special things for your car. The festival’s would still be there but they would be one building with a carnival around it and you could find races there and go there to expand but it wouldn’t serve as the huge one stop shop for everything anymore to make it realistic.
Customization, the Car in General, Multiplayer, and Other Random Ideas:
This list is going to be in a bullet point format as to show the general idea since I won’t go in to to much detail for most of these. Some of the important/main things the community wants Still important but not one of the most requested things
Convertibles being convertible for lack of better words.
Having control over when the headlights/tailights turn on and off*
More bodykits for cars like Porsche for example***
Turn Indicators (If the AI have them why can’t we)***
All the modifications and other things that can be done to wheels (I’m not going to go into detail on that because I’m sure you know what they want)***
More of a storyline with bosses that give better rewards (cars and good ones)**
More Garage Space( One of the most requested things***
Bigger height limit on drones for better pictures though I know that makes it easier for them to get places they aren’t supposed to be
Forzavista in free roam**
This is a personal one for me: Different lobbies in multiplayer. When you select Online Freeroam you never know what the people are doing in that lobby. It would be nice to be able to choose what kind of lobby you are joining. For example: Drift lobby, Racing lobby, Offroad lobby, Drag strip lobby, Playground games lobby, Cruising around lobby(The one I really want),etc.
Not really needed but maybe some more detailing on the shops on the inside and you should keep the brands of the stores from FH3 and use them elsewhere ( assuming we are in an English speaking country)
Character customization (making your avatar your own not one of a list of 10 though it was diverse)***
License plates on the front of certain cars
This is probably the most crazy request I had but I would love for it to happen. It would be so cool to have the ability to get out of your car and walk around. Or the ability to get into a friend’s car in multiplayer and have them drive you around to somewhere. I know that people would try and hit you if you were a person walking around in multiplayer but you could make it so it is like the cars running into a metal pole. Another idea I had was weekly car shows where it was like a lobby to itself where people met at the parking garage and could get out of there cars and see other peoples cars and paint jobs and things like that. I know this is a far-fetched idea but I think it would be really popular with the community.
More AI diversity carwise and greater density in certain areas. There should be a lot of everyday cars and then everyonce in a while an AI that isn’t a regular everyday car but maybe a supercar if it is in the city or beach town and an offroad car if it is in the high desert. Also closer to the city and on the highway there should be more cars driving around then out in the high desert and mountains. It was kind of like that in FH3 but not as much as I would like.
Also on that note more AI’s parked in parking spaces/lots/garage(s) so it seems more lifelike and realistic.
Maybe motorcycles. It isn’t a personal favorite for me but other people seem to like the idea**
More realistic expansions or vice versa more like Hotwheels( Hotwheels was pretty cool but I would personally like some more realistic expansions like Blizzard Mountain)I know that the community is divided on this subject. People love it and people don’t love it***
More everyday production cars to drive. It would make the game even more realistic.
On that note I’m only going to ask for one car because you guys always seem to have a great variety of cars in your games. The one car I would like to have is a BMW E30 3 Series 325e because that is the personal car that I drive and it would be so cool to drive it in the Horizon series.
This is not really car based but I think it would be really cool if there was a little more wildlife like some animals in the forest but mostly birds and sealife. Pigeons flying between buildings in the city. Hawks flying in the forest and high desert. Dolphins and whales in the water. Seagulls on the beach and in the ocean.
Another far stretched idea that the ships out in the ocean would actually move to make the game more realistic. Some could sit but others could move.
If FH4 were to be in California I would like to say that the ocean in Australia was beautifully made but the water in California is not as clear so you might want to make it a little murkier
Rearview mirrors and side mirrors could be a little clearer but they are okay I know that it must be hard to put good graphics in them.**
This is like the cruising around multiplayer lobby idea but I really would like the option of cruising around with other people and generally obeying the speed limit and traffic laws and parking at the beach taking photos so it would nice if there was feature that could help you find other people that want to do that(I know the forums can be used for that but it usually takes a while to get a group together)
Can turn the engine off and on (I mean it is kind of already a feature in FH3 but whatever)**
The highway in FH3 was pretty good but it would be nice if the highway would include 3 to 4 lanes with entrance and exit ramps assuming that the highway is raised( That would be really cool if it was raised over the city or suburbs)**
In the mountains there could be regular roads once you clear the steep mountain winding roads and also there could be some hilly offroad rocky areas and in the high desert or the forest there could be a rallycross area too**
Drag strip that is specifically a drag strip in the desert or somewhere not originally an airport. **
Race Track in the map some where just like a simple loop but something Nascar like but doesn’t have to be big just big enough to test out cars on straights and turns. This is one of the big requests from the community***
Another request that came up because of limited garage space is selling cars to FH3 for 10% of their original price that way you could get rid of them if you were running out of car space. Hopefully we are able to get more garage space so we don’t need this**
In the Auction House you can go back to your search results because it takes forever to go back to search for the car**
Also relist car option***
Able to roll down car windows(one of those that might not work but still hopeful)**
Can set time( At least longer day and night maybe)***
Diverse weather(pretty much had this in FH3 but it would be nice to have snow in mountains outside of DLC in the main map)**
Cosmetic damage actually does more than just dent and crumple the hoods and exterior body parts so it is more realistic**
Exhaust does not pop for every car only the ones with race exhaust or supercars and such.***
Anna appears on windshield when you go into cockpit view.**
Something to stop multiplayer wall riding(People really hate this and so do I though I am guilty of it too)*******
You are put into multiplayer lobbies with people of similar skills***
Old Forzathon cars that were exclusive to Forzathon can be bought a couple of weeks later at a price higher than what they are usually bought for***
More cutscenes in storymode assuming you add it**
Better sounding engines for some cars( Most of them sound fine but a few sound like each other when they aren’t supposed to)***
Mountain or city tunnels to drive through( We had this in FH3 but it would also be nice in FH4**
This is one I thought would be funny and cool and make the game more realistic. Car Washes spread throughout the map so you could wash your cars off for a small price of like 100 credits or something. You could make the cars stay dirtier longer so it would be more rewarding to use the car wash.
Used car dealerships throughout the map**
If it was to be California don’t forget the iconic IN-N-OUT drive thru (1 in the large city and one in the beach town and one in the high desert)****
So a lot of what I am writing about is sorta GTA ish I guess. Horizon is an open world game and it’s still sorta soul-less. It feels really cookie cutter to me. Don’t get me wrong, I love the game along with all the Forzas. Just feels like there’s an identity crisis happening.
Players Garage.
I think you should have a spot in the map to pick from, sort of like the barn find areas, that become your home. From there you can park some cars outside, manage your collection, etc. Have this home be your hub, or storefront that is an actual location friends can drive to on the map.
Just like festivals, just more personal.
As you progress through the game, you can unlock features or upgrades for your garage. Turn your 2 car garage into a full fledged speedshop or race teams.
Career Path
At this point in the Xbox one, what can be done with a game (Rockstar and GTAV for example) it would be cool to see an option to choose a career path. Road racer, offroader, drifter or drag racer.
At the beginning of the game you pick which you want to be the focus of the play through. Which inherently would help with repeatability, I would think. Anyway, you start off as a street racer/amateur wanna be, work your way up to pro in whichever discipline you picked. Or maybe in Horizon go from just a young, nieve wanna be racer then work your way up to Street Legend. That sounds more Horizon. Point is, your working towards something, not just a level.
It would be neat to see, for example, if you picked drag racing, you could unlock a personal drag track at your garage location. Not really a huge NHRA style thing. Unless you could work up to it, maybe. I’m seeing more a tiny little, hidden gem, private 1/8th or 1/4 mile strip with burn out box and working tree. All triggered like speed traps or drift zones.
Map
As I wrote already, I think our garages should be an actual location on the map. Someplace to drive to, to have friends drive to. These would accessible for your friends through their map as well. At least the 1st 24 or whatever lobby limit is.
This could be the new storefront system. Drive to their garage, see the popular cars parked outside. Enter the garage to access all the shared content.
along with the garages, I think there should be actual tracks, circuits, 1/8th and 1/4 mile drag strips, gymkahna and rally tracks. Places built into the map to drive to and race on. Not set up an event, get in a lobby, all that stuff. Just something to drive to, pull into and thrash on some cars with friends.
Upgrades
Career specific upgrades. Obviously keep the ability to build what you want when you want and all that. But have upgrades for circuit or road racing. Have drag specific upgrades, drift, rally and so on. For instance, for drag racing:
proper tire packages, 4 inch wide fronts with up to 16 inch wide rears. Drag Radials and full on Big Tires.
huge displacement engines, 700 plus cubic inches
giant blowers, giant turbos and centrifugal supercharger with tunable boost
NOS done properly, not Need For Speed
Trans brake
Chassis upgrades like full back half cars and tube chassis
Wheelie Bars
Body mods, more selections and customizable
These type of things for each type of racing. It’s been pretty much the same upgrades and PI system for a long time and it’s due for an overhaul. I’d much rather have programmable fuel and boost management than a new wheelspin/perk system. But that’s just me.
Car Shows/ Cars Meets
Back to the drive up/drive to theme, have car meets or shows be another interactive, real time event and not a stagnant menu to sit in and wait. Make it a parking lot or warehouse that has a cool vibe to it. Maybe a few different spots with different personalities.
For me, what I want to see, what would make the perfect game, would be to take what has already been done and only work on giving Forza it’s soul back. Make it personal again. There’s enough “stuff” in the game, to me.
(1 in the large city and one in the beach town and one in the high desert)****