Lack of offline single player content

Forza Motorsport Forza Motorsport (2023) Discussion
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I would be lying if I said I’m not having fun with the new Forza Motorsport. The physics are fantastic and I can really feel the differences in each car in a way that I never felt before in a Forza game. The gameplay is great, the game looks amazing and the car roster is very good (some important missing cars notwithstanding). However, the lack of offline single player content is a huge dealbreaker for me.

Single player modes were always the thing that I enjoyed the most in racing games like Gran Turismo 4 and FM6, to name a few. I love that feeling of progression, of starting from the lower leagues and slowly working my way up to championships with more and more powerful cars. FM7 already had a smaller career mode in comparison with previous Forza games, but, for all the flak it got back then, the career mode in FM7 was much more fleshed out that the one in FM2023. For some reason, there are several car divisions strangely missing from the career championships, including many racing car divisions. I mean, I guess the reason is so they can add more content to career mode every month? Which, just like the monthly car rewards, is just an artificial way to keep people playing the game. I could also mention that each series in the career mode is completely isolated from each other. That is, we don’t really feel like we’re progressing by going from a series to another.

If all that was not bad enough for single player people like me, most of the modes in the game are online only. In fact, only free play mode is available if you’re playing offline. I actually think that, other than some customization features I would like to see, the free play mode is very good. Unfortunately, we can’t even use the cars we bought in free play offline, which means that car upgrades and custom liveries are useless if you’re playing without an internet connection. And, as it always happens to any game with an online component, we know that FM2023’s servers will be shut down some day, and after that we’ll only be able to play free mode with rental cars.

It seems like T10’s reason for keeping player’s progress online only is to prevent hacks than can be used in multiplayer modes, which seems fair. However, I can’t help but wonder if that was really the only solution they could have used to stop cheaters. I just can’t put my head around the fact that we need to be online to access single player content. I obviously didn’t expect online multiplayer to work forever, but single player? Not a big fan of that.

As I mentioned before, I am having a ton of fun with the game, but, as much as I enjoy playing multiplayer and custom races in free mode, I just don’t feel like there’s much to do after we finish the career mode. It also doesn’t help that we will lose our progress when the servers shut down, which just makes me lose interest personally (don’t know if I’m in the minority here). In conclusion, this is truly one of the most disappointing games I’ve ever played. It’s simultaneously the best and the worst Forza Motorsport game, as weird as it sounds. I can only hope that T10 will tackle these issues as the game is updated.

What did you guys thought of the single player content?

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I think single player is mostly nonexistent. I do agree with you, that the physics feel pretty good for the most part, which just makes it that much more frustrating that there is no real game to play in single player :rofl:

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I thought it was boring to tell you the truth

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In my option its the same boring content like in FM5, 6 and 7.
The best was in FM4 with this really big event calendar. I dont know why developers today dont have any skills anymore to make really big single player content. It a real shame!

I also dont need such a crap “Live” Content where you get every month 1 or 2 new races like in GT7. Its absolutely disgusting whats going on now.

I personally give a f* on multiplayer content because in multiplayer there are just crash kids so i dont need it.

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I think single player is mostly nonexistent. I do agree with you, that the physics feel pretty good for the most part, which just makes it that much more frustrating that there is no real game to play in single player :rofl:

Exactly, ultimately it’s a disappointing experience. It will probably be a better game an year from now, but we shouldn’t have to wait that long. I’m not against monthly content drops per se, but releasing a barebones game as an excuse to keep adding stuff later is just an artificial way to extend the game’s life. If you make a good game, people will keep playing it without the need of monthly additions.

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Don’t know if they have said they plan to expand single player career but it should be a priority I think whoever thought the builders cup is acceptable career should be embarrassed they have let down all the fans who don’t like online we are an afterthought

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For me personally, it’s not like I’m against online play… It’s just that I’m not gonna give them the bonus of $10/mo for a game that can’t even do single player right… Why would i pay more to play a bad game with a group of players? :rofl:

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“The best was in FM4 with this really big event calendar.”

FM4 has been my favorite installment mainly due to this. it was a fantastic way to implement a career mode.

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They keep updating the game but neglecting single player and still most of the game is online only which is terrible. It really pisses me off how developers keep doing this online-only trend and also charging 60 and over for the game. This means I pay 60 to get a shell of a game that can be taken away whenever they choose. Why can’t players who play offline have what they want and leave online content to those who want that? Why not make everyone happy instead of catering to 1 group of players?

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Probably not a popular opinion but I think it’d be cool to have like a daily, weekly, and monthly set of goals to achieve. I’m not sure what the reward would be (maybe like some xp or credits or something), but though that would be pretty cool. At least something else that gives a reason to play single player.

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I agree with you: the career mode is quite poor in this game, while the multiplayer and the gameplay are very funny and refined.

Now the point, after almost one year, is why T10 isn’t adding more variety to the career mode.

Part of the answer is that nowadays people mostly prefer multiplayer. So it doesn’t make sense from the commercial perspective to invest much on single player modes.

However one the pillars of this game is the AI, a single player feature. T10 probably believes that racing against a good AI is all you need for s single player experience and they invested on that field. Although the result is quite good, we all know there still are some downsides in the AI.

Is this the right approach to single player? I’m sure everyone has a different answer. For me single player races are quite enjoyable, but they become boring very quickly. I largely prefer the multiplayer, while the single player is just a good addition when I don’t want to pay the application required by races against other humans.

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I couldn’t agree more. I believe that they made FM made online-only because Microsoft ties the executives’ bonuses to total players online. FORZA, FIX YOUR GAME: ADD PROPER OFFLINE MODE.

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They don’t care.
You are barking up the wrong tree.

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Did you ask them if they don’t care or are you assuming? To be honest, you don’t sound like you’re genuine concerned with the state, development, and future of the game so much as seeking attention.

Just to be clear, they do care. The developers are visiting the boards, reading the comments, and responding here and there. They’ve created a program for Forza players to participate in the game’s development by providing suggestions, input, and feedback and even playtesting features in development.

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People have been complaining about the lack of single player content since about a week after launch. There has been zero permanent content added to the builder’s cup.

I think the frustration is justified.

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Lately I realized I’m not the target demographic for this game.

This is probably my favorite Forza Motorsport (yes, more than FM4 somehow) just because I have incentive to buy and drive multiple cars, and (for me, the most important part) earn in-game currency driving on various tracks by myself. Personally I’m not a very competitive player, online or versus AI. I’d rather just drive cars on my own without worrying about others on the road. For me it’s the video game equivalent of test driving cars in real life, and these days that’s all I need for my single player content.

If they made the Test Drive segment available offline with all the cars I’ve acquired and have yet to acquire, I would be one happy driver. But that being said, I also think there needs to be more available career races outside of the featured ones per month.

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Absolutely. We need to stay diligent and we will be heard.