Game's accesibility and RWD v AWD subject from a casual's perspective

Forza Horizon Forza Horizon 4 FH4 Discussion
#1

Hello, I’m Siriondel and you could say I’m a casual. Also a long time lurker on these forums.

I know very little about cars and my interest in them in the real world is close to zero. Racing games never really appealed to me except Burnout Paradise. The only real world car-related thing I do is watch Grand Tour series which I love. It’s great for a casual like me with a lot of showmanship and not a lot of mechanical talk, from which I understand very little. I also liked the first two Fast & Furious movies and that’s pretty much it.

I started with Forza Horizon 3 when I bought my first Xbox. It was a system seller for me and the thing I liked the most from it’s marketing was the showcase aspect. I was immediately sold on the idea of racing planes, trains and even more crazy things. My good friend who is a huge car enthusiast used to tell me things about Forza Horizon 2 too, it’s vast open world, lack of focus on the simulation side of driving and other crazy things you do in the game. I liked them all.

Fast forward, I got Forza Horizon 3 and fell in love with it. I enjoyed pretty much everything in the game. As I kept playing, I kept learning about cars. How they work on the inside, tried to learn various aspects of tuning. I kept playing and I got better. And then I disabled stability assists and discovered a whole new side to the game. And then I changed shifting to manual + clutch and discovered another, even deeper side of the game. But I was still the guy who downloaded DJW’s Celica tune to 3-star all drift zones as I don’t like drifting much because of it’s difficulty.

And now we got Horizon 4 which is even better and more accessible. And I’m also the guy who just wants to race, drive at high speeds and do crazy jumps. I’m the guy who turns the music all the way up and does not give two farts about engine sound, whether it’s close to real one or not. I’m the guy who never turns off ABS and does not mind the lack of class-based rivals because I still don’t understand 90% of the tuning aspect and I like rivals. It’s very expansive and difficult subject and I don’t have time for it. I always enjoy cosmetics and colors and don’t mind writing, because it adds to the atmosphere of the festival. It’s why I’m here, it’s why I love Horizon.

And here we go: I’m also the guy who hates RWD and prefers to convert almost every car into AWD. Why? Because of the launch.

When I’m in the race, I greatly enjoy driving, sliding and getting better lap times. I enjoy learing some easier technicalities, like throttle control to be able to take corners faster and faster. And you know what? It’s enough for me. RWD launch with high-powered cars is too difficult and frustrating for me. With the controller, press the throttle a mere micron too low, and the car stays at the starting line. Press it a micron too much and wheels spin for 5 seconds before the car finally catches grip. I’m a casual and I just want to floor it off the start and AWD allows for it every time. It’s easy, fun and very cool. Later in the race I will learn to operate throttle carefully, but RWD launch is just not fun for me. I like that AWD drivetrain is as good as it is and that you can swap it into everything. Make RWD launch easier, and I will like it.

I you know what, gentlemen? I think I’m in the majority. These forums do not reflect even 0.0001 of the playerbase. Most of the people that bought the game are casuals like me or even bigger ones, never turning off any assists, always using the driving line and flooring it through every activity the game offers, wanting to drive the best and the fastest ASAP. Like it or not, the game is made in a way that allows as many sales as possible. With all due respect, but I think some of you people need to understand it and embrace. I’m no game designer, but I have a feeling this is the way it’s going to be now for the series and personally I love it. Based on the number of sales this game has, other people like it too.

I have a long list of complaints in the game. Various bugs, radio cutting out most of all. The PR stunt leaderboard info defaults to friends instead of global. Livery preview in only possible upon buying the car from the autoshow. Online needs a lot of work. Dirt racing series being 65% tarmac. And many other ones. But accessibilty, cosmetics in wheelspins, new rivals mode and AWD are not one of them.

#2

Even the fast guys use AWD in this game. It’s just the horizon thing. Big power, AWD, sacrifice everything else.

#3

I am trying to use more RWD this time. Sure AWD launches good but RWD offers better control and better turning. I will use a mix pretty much. I you haven’t played Motorsport RWD is going to be more difficult. I’m just used to it.

#4

I’m not sure if you need to be a car enthusiast to enjoy a challenge. Having to press your throttle just right for takeoff is no different than say the challenge of guiding your triangle through a game of Super Hexagon.

In the end it’s still a video game and plays by a lot of video game rules and if you strip away the car theme that’s what you end up with.

#5

I’ve always preferred FWD and AWD vehicles in racing games. I like the stability, and with AWD the acceleration. That said, I tend to stick with RWD on classic muscle cars and some other older vehicles.

#6

I agree with this.
While i have no problem playing RWD cars in Motorsport serie, RWD is just complete mess in the Horizon serie for 2 big reasons :

  • Against drivatar in highest difficulty, launch is everything. Launch badly and you’ll soon have drivatars rocketing out of reach in a lot of sprint events. RWD launch is unrealistically bad and acceleration out of corner is also greatly impacted.
  • RWD in hypercars/supercar/sports car doesn’t allow you to go offroad/dirt as much as AWD. In AWD, you can go pretty much everywhere without trouble. Since a lot of freeroaming in this game is about doing skills/wreckage/jumps and other crazy stuff, RWD greatly limits you if you don’t stick to asphalt roads.
#7

OP, I think it’s very clear that you and your crowd don’t really like cars at all if you think like this. :slight_smile:

What happens if converting everything is the way to go:

  1. Engine sound is completely unimportant. All cars sound the same, so why bother nailing a realistic sound for a car in the game?
  2. Physics is almost completely unimportant. You take a Charger, add AWD and it’s not really a Charger anymore.
  3. AWD glues the car to the ground and levels the playing field considerably next to RWD or even FWD.

It’s simple, really. Why license content, then? At this point, we’re all playing with fictional cars if we do as you ask. You might want to try convincing yourself of it, but an AWD RX-7 with a twin turbo V8 is no longer an RX-7. It’s a “Forza V8TT AWD Lightweight” in an RX-7’s skin. You might as well play Burnout or GTA then.

Considering the devs added lots of OEM engine swap options for cars like VW and BMW, I’d say you might be the majority but you’re far from being as dominant as you think. :wink:

#8

Nah, I’m pretty sure it’s possible to really like cars and NOT be an effete snob about it.

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