Firstly, im no game designer or story teller, im just a fan who has an idea…
THE TUTORIAL
When you start the game, you play through the opening “showcase” who turns out to be a Horizon employee, after the “showcase complete” cutscene, you whitness the employees talking about the passing of the first ever champion, some information regarding the festival setup, the race classes, race types and the current rankings of “NAMED” champions, ie “RACER1” won another title challenge last night, “RACER2” looks to be climbing the rankings getting closer to “RACER3” etc… & rumors regarding the this new “kid on the block” whos running rings around some “experienced racers”… will need to keep an eye on them, could be a late contender…
Game starts & your asked to select 1 car from a selection, all cars offered are “D” class but range from Muscle, JDM, Dirt, Track or Offroad.
Once selected, your put in the world with limited funds and a fogged map, with only the immediate area unfogged & 4 race tracks highlighted…
As you drive around opening up the map you arrive at one of the race locations…
These race locations are ingame tracks but as your an “unknown”, you have the option of:
Race 1 - credit reward only - Race is route, forwards direction - can set difficulty
Race 2 - credit reward only - Race is route, backwards direction - can set difficulty
Race 3 - greyed out, none-selectable - Championship race
(championship is: 4 laps forwards & 4 laps backwards routes to complete, per difficuty)
Race 4 - greyed out, none-selectable - custom routes
Race 5 - greyed out, none-selectable - create route
The highlighted tracks when you arrive will have you build/tune your D-class car for a specific race type: 4 x Baja, 4 x Wilds, 4 x Street & 4 x Apex, this is to teach you the basics against set drivertars… (see race reports below for more info)
Once you have completed (podium finish) your 4 races in each race-type, you are allowed to race with C-class cars for a greater credit reward aganst a higher level drivertar & once completed with c-class you are then allowed to race with B-class cars and so on…
(D-class = average drivertar, C=Skilled, B=expert, A=pro)
you can drive any class of car in the game at any time if you own it, but can only race the classes you have unlocked (proven competence in through the tutorial)
Once you have completed the A-Class tutorial you are invited to the Horizon festival & it unlocks on your map, upon your arrival a cut scene plays:
You drive up, exit car and are greated by the crew, your polite but say little…
the main character introduces them self & invites you to join the Horizon roster…
your cagey about giving information about yourself (remain id unknown), but agree to race against the best Horizon has to offer…
the main character opens your map and guides you to key locations on your map, garage, paintshop, some race tracks and potential job sites…
they then introduce you to your co-ordinator who will offer tips & advice during the game…
and leave with a side comment of you remind them alot of old friend…
Your tutorial is complete and the main game & story now starts…
THE MAIN GAME
As detailed above, when you find/unlock a race track you have the option to select 1 of 5 options, option 1 & 2 are for credit rewards & rivals only, they do not count as wins in the main story, championships are the only races that advance the main story.
Encourage effort! - If you get a podium finish “celebrate it!” give players a bronze, silver or gold crest on the map, not gold or nothing, it would also be good to have the inside of the crest colour match the class so best of the best end up getting 4 little gold crests with:
1 yellow inner (C), 1 orange inner (B) 1 red inner (A) & 1 violet inner (S1)
Encourage Improvement! - Once a race is complete, your coordinator gives you a RACE-REPORT, this highlights goods and bads about your race, ie:
“ahhh… so close!, was a great race though, i might have an idea on how to use those 20k credits you just won!, Here’s your stats with some recommendations:
Your suspension, hit 100% compression 8x’s, we could stiffen your springs or raise ride height alittle…
Your Tires reached a max temp of 200’, we could add more tire-pressure or upgrade the compound…”
Encourage Challenge! - The AI should be built around the players build/tune stats with a minimum stat floor to prevent players from trying to trick the system by out-tuning a built-in flaw. The AI then receives a stat that’s built on balance and distributed out across all AI cars, this stat stays in effect for the entire race not removed when they no longer have the lead.
JOB SITES - Much like Forza Horizon 4, you can go into partnership with local businesses for a weekly credit reward based on the amount of stars you have unlocked - Taxi - Delivery - Insurance etc…
HORIZON FESTIVALS - Much like Forza Horizon 3, you can upgrade the festival sites, this unlocks more tracks and adds ingame bonuses like: additional paint colours for adding the paintbooth, additional discounts of upgrades for adding a garage etc…
SCRIPTED BONUSES - Much like all other Horizon games, barn finds unlock once completing a specific task, but this time so do Midnight-Battles… where you have to use your barn find (with mods) to race, they put up a pink-slip and you have to buy your way in… you lose, you lose those credits, you win, you get there car which is worth more… ie:
“its unfair really, i mean your rusty ol-22b against my spec’d GTR… i tell you what i will make it easy for you, you win, the GTR (worth 50k) is yours… i win… 20k pay day for me, you in?” - “Sure, sounds fun” - “hahaha, after this race, drinks are on me everyone, or should i say on them! haha, lets see what youve got!”
STORY MISSIONS - much like Forza Horizon 5, you have some story missions dotted around the map to help teach the player about other parts ie: Photos - Drift - Speed - Jumps - Stunts - Map location highlights - Car brand history/heritage movie etc…
THE MAIN STORY
Win championships for points - Points unlock Festival upgrades - which unlock more tracks
Main Story 1 - Win all chamionships in C-Class - once complete you unlock a C-Class type showcase, have enough points to unlock a festival upgrade etc…
As you win C-class championships, the radio DJ comments on how the current offroad champion is playing down your achievements… just lucky, has no skill, will soon show horizon who the real offroad champion is!
Story 1 complete - Your building a reputation for yourself and it hasnt gone unnoticed, one of the festival drivers thinks they can put a stop to it and challenges you to an offroad race for there position in the festival rankings… After the race, they congratulate you on your driving skill and go to shake your hand asking what they should call you… you reply they gave you a challenge a times, good driver, shake there hand and say “you can call me… a fan!”
Main Story 2 - Win all chamionships in B-Class - once complete you unlock a B-Class type showcase, have enough points to unlock some festival upgrades etc…
As you win B-class championships, the radio DJ comments on how the current dirt champion is playing down your achievements… offroad, pfft… dirt requires real skill, never raced a real driver, has no skill, will soon show horizon who the real dirt champion is!
Story 2 complete - Your continued wins spark some rivalry at the festival and your challenged to a Rally race, winner takes the glory of dirt champion! - After the race they praise your driving ie: “how you handled that jump was impressive, it was a tough track, but credit where credit is due… well done!” as you shake hands and show respect to there effort, they once again ask who you are… you simply reply… “Im just a fan!.. was a pleasure & thank you”
Main Story 3 - Win all chamionships in A-Class - once complete you unlock a A-Class type showcase, have enough points to unlock a few festival upgrades etc…
As you win A-class championships, the radio DJ comments on how the current street champion is playing down your achievements… only races dirt n offroad as cant compete on the streets, has no skill, will soon show horizon who the real street king is!
Story 3 complete - as above but for the title of Street-King - Still cagey about your ID replying your just a humble fan…
Main Story 4 - Win all chamionships in S1-Class - once complete you unlock a S1-Class type showcase, have enough points to unlock the last of the festival upgrades etc…
As you win S1-class championships, the radio DJ comments on how the current Apex champion is playing down your achievements… street is for the rookies… apex is where you need talent, has no skill, will soon show horizon who the real apex champion is!
Story 4 complete - as above but for the title of Apex-Champion - your again still cagey about your ID…
Main Story 5 - The Horizon Legend championship - the chamiopnship consists of all the Race-type headliners (Guantlet, Marathon etc) but the route is reversed and it each track covers a set class ranging from C, B, A & S1 (once complete, it unlocks route 2 (reversed) at those tracks for future play)
Once complete, you are celebrated and crowned the 6th horizon champion - only… who are you? - you are the Son/Daughter of the first ever Horizon Champion, here to pay respect and continue in there legacy…
THE END GAME
Once the story is complete, the game unlocks the CHAMPIONS-REWARDS, this includes Nitrous for D, C, B & A classes, to encourage continued use of those cars and to add additional challenge, you also unlock LEGENDARY-DRIVERTARS, who also have access to nitrous, so the player is encouraged to revisit old favorites, rebuild, retune and rerace…
Nitrous fueled cars are banned from normal online races to not be OP against those who have not yet completed the story, but they can be used in ONLINE LEGENDARY races which only those who have completed the whole story can race in which is like a ranked lobby…
This will mean:
EVERYONE can drive everything in freeroam or eventlabs at anytime,
online races can only be played by those who have unlocked that class, no nitrous allowed,
Legendery online which is nitrous allowed, can only be played by those who have legendary status, but its only perk to the player is ranked!
so those who cant race in legendary yet dont miss out on anything.
Thats my thoughts, im sure there are some obvious issues with some bits, but like i said, im no game designer or story teller… just a fan with an idea