Hi all. I am a huge Forza and racing sim
Fan on Xbox but I stopped playing this version over 8 months ago as it felt like there was no incentive to do well online.
Has there been any improvement in recent updates on things like transparent rankings for those in lobbies, online tournaments, better personal rankings so everyone isn’t just in the 4,800 to 5,000 range etc?
I’m not even playing a sim anymore as I only have the Xbox but I’m so gutted by this game and what it could have offered. Hoping it’s changed now and I will fire it up and try again.
Not meaning this to whinge as I loved the game and appearance - it’s just competition is key for me personally
Official tournaments, no. There’s a few Rivals events with rewards (like the McLaren Logitech G Challenge) but competitive racing is still limited to community leagues like TORA.
FM became better over 8 months, just not in the points you asked about. But to enjoy your sim on Xbox I’d recommend ACC (server browser with some servers having skill requirements, although rare IIRC) and EA WRC which has Clubs, where each club can run their own events over a period of time. So you join that club and then you compete in a tourament of sorts. You can compete in multiple clubs simultaneously.
I’m not sure I can link to it from here but worth checking out the Forzaverse discord. There’s a lot of very fast drivers on there and a lot of sharing of screenshots of MP races (usually Open class) which adds a competitive feel.
Forza’s matching totally fails. Races are almost effectively random. It’s probably not the fault of the matchin algorithm, but that it fills lobbies on the fly. Until that latter part is fixed, it will always be this way, as if they slowed the matching for better matching, you’d end up with a bunmch of tiny unfilled lobbies or staring at a matchin screen for most of practice/qualifying. They need a rework of the system so that patching is done entirely before practice opens (which would require a reduction in practice time) or it is redone at the end of practice/qualifying so people are properly matched for the race. Of course the latter means you would have no idea who you will be racing, but then you could still join the event late in practicing.
Also, how rating is determined needs a rework, as most people seem to be rated over 4900, and the amount of maxed 4999 rated players is so high, that there is a 2-4 second lap discerpancy among 4999 rated players depending on track, making the rating mostly irrelevant.
Casual online racing is NOT competitive at all since there are almost always cheaters on the first or more spots. Also many ppl ram you out in the last corner last lap to get your spot (without getting a penalty). Its so bad. But if you just want to race real people casualy and are fine with a place around the middlefield then its fine. Just dont expect races to be fair - at all. Developers dont care about the issues - even the report tool doesnt do anything IF you go the extra mile with scanning the code etc…
I face known cheaters nearly every race. There is nobody looking into reports…tragic
Do you have any replays of these? Just so I can see what a cheater looks like in this game
I haven’t run into any afaik, but today I was 4-5s off-pace on VIR west in Open A. Turned out to be two clan guys in meta cars.
You sure it’s frequent cheaters and not just aliens in OP builds?
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To the OP, I’d say the racing’s a mixed bag based on how erratic and underdeveloped the matchmaking is.
No stats, no real ranking system. A bogus scoring metric.
I think a lot of dedicated users—likely the types that would be in this forum or have at least a moderate level of sim/simcade experience—start from the back and push for podium. Makes for some hollow easy passing that usually winds down to a decent battle or two toward the end.
If I manage to get into a lobby with decent times displayed during practice, I’ll qualify (if the users putting down said times are qualifying) with the hope that there’s a good battle at the front, but that’s about all you can do to control the competition.
Try the TCR and GT series. Hell, any of the spec races. 9 times out of 10 you’ll have a good race.
I’d add to that list my own poor car choices or less than optimal tune. I don’t do meta cars, just ones I find fun (until I realise how much of a dog they are).
Most racing I’m seeing now is pretty clean. Yes there’s still a bit of bumping but that’s not done with malice.
If there 5+ seconds or more ahead and there leaving a trail of black marks the whole way around the track looking like a w or a z in the turns then what do you call it, if it’s not cheating then what? Ya know it not even like we could save a reliable replay to prove our case, to even have someone investigate it.
But I agree that it would be nice to be able to easily report suspicious activity. Turn 10 wants to stop foul play, they need to make reporting effortless.
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