Forza Horizon 4's Seasons mechanic isn't a good addition, and definitely isn't what we need

[FlashyClamp5213]

@Novaly6933

If Forza Horizon 5 was announced with it’s classic “Summer of your life!” and complete lack of seasons, about how many people would say it’s an absolute dealbreaker and hate that it’s gone? Very, very little. Maybe even not at all!

Why compromise?.. When we can actually have all? (“Drive Anytime”)

@FlashyClamp5213

Core Experience

• [Suggestion] Proposed Solution on the Major Immersion Ruiners
  …

Feedback welcome.

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@gamer1000k

I get the feeling this poor implementation is yet another casualty of the game’s online first focus, because if players could pick a desired season in offline mode, it would make playing offline superior to online freeroam, and further reduce the number of players in online freeroam. So instead they made the game worse for everyone.

Thus making the game worse overall and sells worse thereby? Sounds implausible…

@gamer1000k

I doubt the devs will fix anything with the seasons at this point…

But that’s apparently what has to be fixed in the future series…

Rather than using the new game as the test ground (which is no doubt gonna attract lots of attention), testing things first in a game that’s approaching its end of life seems wiser.

@gamer1000k

…bolster online metrics.

Bolstering the sales metrics should be of more use.

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@Tilo38

Others than street races, we can create custom races with exactly the season and weather conditions we want, so that, even playing only offline, the impact on racing is quite low.

@Jezza14

Is this a big issue? Not really - I guess it’s a bit irritating if you really hate the snow and like cruising around or are really into danger signs and speed zones.

However, you can set any race you do to be in whatever conditions you want, so it makes zero difference to anyone who primarily likes single player racing.

3 problems of “Custom Events”:

• Drivatards (not everyone wants a race)
• Checkpoints & Wrong Way Reset (intrusive design)
• Lack of Traffic

@Tilo38

So definitely, I hope it will stay…

But what if things improved with perfect backward compatibility?..

Old players can still enjoy the game in the way they get used to, undisturbed; while new capabilities are added to enable new possibilities, for those who seek a change, and potential new players.

@Tilo38

…surprised even race feature survives to Eliminator trend.

What has been troubled me: Core of the game?..

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@gamer1000k

@Tilo38

Up to me, winter still comes with bit excessive grip, Blizzard mountain was better on this aspect.

The forced seasons are the reason winter handling is so grippy, since this season is forced on everyone they had to make it unrealistically easy to drive to avoid too many players skipping the season entirely, as opposed to Blizzard Mountain where players could CHOOSE to go to winter if they wanted it.

@TheWarmWind76

…forcing them on us is just plain wrong. The worst part though? Winter is too much of a compromise because it is forced on us. Blizzard mountain was a far, far, far superior winter.

1 major difference is the lack of icy (frozen) road surfaces, thus the overall compromised driving experience.

The same also applies to the enforced weather. (downplayed aquaplaning effect in wet conditions)

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@ChickenWorm4902

…being interesting to drive in. I would gladly trade seasons for a map twice as big as this one with more interesting locations and roads to drive.

I think a hybrid of open world and non-open world would be the perfect solution.

Somewhat related:

@TheWarmWind76

What we need are biomes. Purpose built locations that suit each condition best.

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@NightDriver7800

However, the true reason behind them is that FH4 was developed as a service, to take full advantage of Game Pass. That’s why it relies too much on timed content, and the seasons help keep the game fresh.

Hmm?.. But does this aid the game’s sales?

Probably related: Core of the game?..

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@Tilo38

Be careful about what we wish, T10 is a Djinn, always corrupts whatever people wish…

So they can make themselves out of the business in an unprecedented speed?..

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@El_Barto_inc

Ow so many people have too much time on their hands.

We enjoy the game differently. Nothing spectacular.

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@FullNietzsche

…summer only… Will help with the tedious loading times too.

Negligibly I fear… It’s not a main factor.

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@Jerakeen2826

@grolschie

Holy Wall of Text, Batman! Too long, didn’t read.

Short attention span or just poor reading skills?

…It’s merely the fact that nothing enjoys parsing a bunch of text walls.

Thus the famous saying: “Garbage in, garbage out”. (no offence intended)

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@Tilo38

@FullNietzsche

@Tilo38

Same page, their fear of too many leader boards is so unjustified.

Is it?

I bet if they had winter rivals leaderboards, they would be a ghost town.

their fear was too much data … like if having more races people would do more rivals … most of us a going there for testing cars and learning tracks without being annoyed by other cars, being on leaderboard being the little plus

This sort of data cost little storage.