You can rent and race both of those in free play, until you can unlock them, at least you can use them.
2 Likes
I’m not particularly fond of the locked car system. Sure, it artificially extends the longevity of the game by making players check in regularly so they don’t miss anything, but it also results in the kinds of situations described in the OP and a lot of auction house abuse.
Many times I do feel cheated that FM7 advertises over 700 cars, but fails to disclose that many of those cars are only available through time-limited events (or are duplicates like many of the race cars) and if you weren’t able to participate in an event due to real-life, too bad for you. Now you’re at the mercy of the auction house or game developers to put the car up in another event.
Ideally, all vehicles should have a fully offline mechanism to unlock them. It’s fine to give out freebies in special events, but still provide an alternate way to unlock the vehicles for those who weren’t able to participate.
5 Likes
I really hope the “longevity” angle isn’t what they were going for, because it would be very naive and misguided.
The players who do the “flavor of the month” style gaming where they constantly switch off to whatever the new hot title is aren’t going to stick around to wait for the opportunity to earn some '80s Australian sedan or weird little mid-engine sports car from India or old '30s Ford.
On the other side of things, a lot of the more serious/hardcore/loyal players were planning to play this game right up to the release of FM8 anyway, and these locked cars nothing but an inconvenience that spoils their enjoyment of the game and limits the things they can do, whether it be just simply driving the locked cars, or painting them, making tunes for them, or using them to organize private league races.
There is no positive to having 10% of the car list arbitrarily locked away for an unknown amount of time. We are basically left sitting around waiting for some of our favorite cars or cars that are critical rivals to cars that aren’t locked, hoping that Turn 10 puts them in the specialty dealer or up as some prize for a Forzathon or Bounty Hunter event… And even then, we have to pray that Turn 10 is competent enough to make the Forzathon actually work, or that they don’t choose someone super fast for the Bounty Hunter so that only the top 2% of the playerbase get the car. Or leave it to a Twitter poll against another supercar/hypercar that pretty much default wins because they have more mainstream appeal.
I know people who are playing the game less because of the locked cars rather than more. I’ve also heard it mentioned several times as one of the reasons why people on my friends list/private leagues from previous games are not buying FM7.
If they want people to play their game more, maybe they should actually put effort into their product instead of just locking a chunk of it behind stupid mechanics and broken features.
10 Likes
This is how I feel about the situation as I stated in a earlier features wish list post. Also to add to that I bought the game after the bounty Hunter events for the lykan hypersport, Ferrari 612, and 2010 Audi TT RS, those events were a long time ago and so far I’ve seen absolutely no opportunity to obtain those 3 cars elsewhere. Again I have no problem with unlocking and earning cars through natural game progression, but I do have a major problem with the only way to unlock a base car is only when t10 sees fit. Here’s what I think:
Allow us to sell and buy bounty Hunter prize cars in the auction house.
Make many many many more opportunities available to aquire all locked base cars (not Forza edition) that should’ve been accessible since day 1. This unlocking only a few a month thing you guys are doing is absolutely terrible. Every locked car in Forza 7 has been accessible in previous forza games the moment it was introduced or through natural game progression, not when turn 10 finally decides to unlock it. Forza horizon 3 and PG had the right idea and the player friendly idea by adding free dlc cars in there forzathons with a bunch of porches, the 2017 Bentley continental GT, Ferrari 599xx, and a few others I’m sure I’m forgetting. They didn’t lock base cars that were in the game on day 1. Such a greedy and all time low move.
1 Like
Just ballpark guessing, but last I checked there is somewhere around 550-600 cars available right from the get go. I understand some people are obsessed with wanting to drive one particular car. Maybe one like their own daily driver for instance, but with that number of cars I would think any true car lover or fan of racing could find something else to drive until their favorite car becomes available.
Call me crazy, but I personally wish even more cars were locked. Put me in any car on any track and I will have fun with it. Yes I have my preferences for certain cars too like everyone else, but I can always find something to drive and have fun with. I highly doubt there is any one playing this game that has driven all the cars currently available in a tuned and stock state. I sometimes try a car I never would have tried from doing forzathon events and end up really liking them. Even if a person drove one car per day it would take nearly 2 years to drive them all.
I have never understood all the negativity about locked cars, let alone all the crying about the specialty dealer having repeats. I get the impression that some people just what to burn thru this game as fast as they can and move on to the next one. If that’s the case they may want to rethink playing a racing game in the first place. It’s not like Turn 10 can be expected to reinvent the wheel, a racing game that caters to realistic physics is always going to be the same. For the gamers that play this game from a gaming standpoint, worrying about stuff being locked pending an achievement makes even less sense. Any game worth playing, whatever the game may be should force you to either play the game more or increase your skill level.
That’s just my thoughts on this matter as I am sure many will disagree, but worrying about 100 cars that were locked in a racing game containing nearly 700 cars seems silly to me. It’s a racing game all you really should need is a track and any car to have fun period.
1 Like
This is the precise issue. You look at the list of cars before you buy, you’re happy to see the one sitting in your garage is in the game, you spend your money and… my car is locked?
I’d be pretty upset if that were me.
3 Likes
It’s not necessarily that people can’t have fun, but rather they know that they could be having more fun if it wasn’t for the fact that their favorite car was chosen at random to be locked away.
Why would you want more cars locked? It would serve no purpose and you don’t explain why it would be a positive thing. You don’t seem to be in any hurry anyway, so I don’t see why it would affect you anyway as you seem comfortable playing at your own pace and don’t need the game to dictate things for you.
Do you only play single player? From that perspective I can see why one would think that. For those of us that do multiplayer private leagues and organized racing though, these locked cars are a huge inconvenience. Rivals are a key part of motorsport, and when one rival car is locked away it kinda spoils the ability to either re-live some of those rivalries or create/expand upon new ones.
Just for example, in the dying days of Forza 6 I started working on a modern 2-seater GT series to run, using the Aston V12 Vantage, Mercedes AMG GT S, and the Jaguar F-Type after seeing that all would be available in FM7. I got approximated builds that were ready to transfer over into FM7 when it came out… only to find that the AMG GT S had been locked for some reason. Now what do I do? Run it with only two cars or wait for the AMG to be chosen as a prize? With my luck if I commit to running it with two cars they will give us the AMG midway through the season or something.
Likewise with some of the '80s cars. I was working on a Group A (-ish) series with production based touring cars from the late '80s. Obviously the VL Commodore is a perfect fit for that, and I was excited to have the R31 carried over from FH3… But they are both locked.
Then there is the way they are unlocked… Even if Turn 10 do give us the chance to win/buy one of the locked cars, not everyone will be able to win them if they are a Bounty Hunter prize, and they can’t be sold on the auction house. That means that someone interested in running in an organized series might not be able to get the car they want to run and might not run at all because of that, so it lowers attendance for series that do use locked cars.
…But the game doesn’t force you to play more to get them, and that is part of the problem. They are just locked until they randomly decide to give us the opportunity to buy them through the specialty dealer, and no amount of playing, practicing, or grinding will make them show up. As for skill level, that only applies to the Bounty Hunter prizes really, as again there are no other ways to get them by getting better.
The whole “locked cars” thing isn’t a mechanic that really encourages anything other than patience.
Even if they had static objectives that required either grinding or improving your skills to earn the locked cars, that would be far better than what we have now as we could work on those goals. As it is now, we just sit around hoping Turn 10 randomly choose a car we want, or that the car we want isn’t put up in a Twitter poll against some mainstream super car. Then some people have to hope that the bounty isn’t too difficult on top of that. Even if they do choose a car that I want, it will still leave a lot of other people disappointed.
As for playing the game more, if you are one of the unlucky ones that got one of your favorite cars locked away, then I don’t see how anyone would want to play the game more when they can’t drive their favorite car for no apparent reason. I know it makes me play the game less, as sometimes I think “hm what’s a good series idea to work on? How about BR-Z vs Tamo Racemo, two small-displacement two-seater sporty compacts… Oh wait, the Tamo is locked, nevermind. What about Camaro SS vs Mustang GT vs Challenger 392? Classic pony car battle… Oh, the Camaro and Challenger are locked…” and then I just go play GTA or something instead.
When your in-game mechanic mainly leads to boredom, frustration and/or disappointment, it’s probably a sign you shouldn’t have implemented it.
You aren’t picky or particularly loyal to a certain brand or car or whatever… Not that there is anything wrong with that, but being indifferent and saying “it doesn’t bother me” isn’t really justification for something.
Look at these Forzathon issues… I already have a Stratos and I couldn’t care less about a stupid driver suit, but simply because I’m not bothered doesn’t mean I think others shouldn’t be upset about not being able to get them.
I’m not trying to come off combative, just point things out from a different angle that many people seem to overlook when supporting the locked cars thing.
Forgive the typos/likely missing minor words… It’s early.
5 Likes
And that is exactly the point.
Yes, he could find something else to drive.
But why does he have to, when he paid for the full product in the first place?
Seems like T10 is not very confident in their product if they have to prolong its longevity in such an artificial way.
2 Likes
Seeing others mentioning private leagues is spot on.
I’m in a build-your-own touring car series. Roughly 5 or 6 are locked at present, and it’s not great for grid variety to have so many bundled away seemingly at random.
Forza Editions being locked makes sense - they are special editions of the standard cars, and better yet they have various bonuses to post-race payouts.
Pretty sure I’ve said this before, but being able to buy an original Shelby Daytona (how rare are they now?) but not being able to drive an Audi S3 that you practically trip over on the morning commute makes no sense.
2 Likes
The FE edition cars I have unlocked aren’t better they just give you a credit boost. Ok so that’s basically the ones you get for completing the cups in career mode plus a ford mustang boss I managed to get cheap in the auction house. The body kits and wings on the FE cars add weight making them slower than their non FE base cars. Ford GT is a prime example of this. But yeah I kinda wonder if they fully thought the locked car thing through enough. Personally i don’t think this game offers enough to keep me playing for nearly a year until everything is unlocked. What about an option to defend the cups? Kind of like seasons…once you’ve won it all and a champion of the world that’s the end? In motorsport you get another chance to be champion next season. Just my 10 pence worth.
Just for perspectives sake. The game was advertised as having over 700 cars.
Within 4 months or so of launch we’re knocking on the door of having 700 cars fully available. This still leaves 50+ still locked, presumably for future events. There are also a couple more car packs (at least) to go.
Chances are we’ll end up with close to 800 cars in total (possibly more) with maybe 70 of them accessible through participation.
However you look at it that’s one heck of a car roster.
Where T10 may have gone wrong is listing all cars including the locked ones pre-launch. Perhaps if they’d simply said there were 600 cars at launch with more to follow via events and gifts then people would have been happy.
It’s human nature to focus more on what you don’t have than be happy with what you do have.
1 Like
I’m quite glad cars are locked, its forced me into driving cars that I normally wouldn’t (which would have been a waste of time put into all the other cars)
In FM3/4 I would use the same car over and over and never tried anything else, upgrading until it wasn’t really an actual thing (eg S class Punto)
Locking was a good thing for me, I’m appreciating so many more cars. I’m getting my monies worth for sure
2 Likes
Locking cars did not make you drive different cars Homonigesation of the game caused that forcing you to use a different car instead of just up grading the same one all the time.
There’s only 3 reasons I can see for locked cars.
- To annoy car collectors.
- Coercing people to play other game modes to get special cars when they might not normally play them.
- Unlock this reason by taking part in exclusive forum posts and events.
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I think it’s a good idea. Credits are cheap and easy to get. I enjoy that there are models that are harder to get. How many would be finished a month after release if everything could be bought at release? It also makes the auction house much more interesting.
Always leave the fans wanting more
2 Likes
I to like the fact there so much more to accomplish in the game.
The worst aspect of modern games in general is that whilst they look pretty you’re done and dusted in no time. Careers/campaigns are pathetically short.
A game should entertain and keep you interested as long as possible. In a racing game there aren’t too many things a developer can do to accomplish this without selling add-ons. Unlocking cars through ongoing participation is surely the most logical approach.
Unless of course you don’t wish to participate beyond the drivers cup.
I don’t care that much about locked cars in FM7 due to all the technical issues the game still has. Constantly unpredictable CTDs for example kills all the entertainment. A flawless working game would increase longevity much more than cars locked behind community events.
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Another uninspiring offering at the specialty dealer with repeats again.
Can we have some cars that haven’t been on the merry-go-round previously?
There are plenty more to rotate through, and why are so many early sport touring cars locked?
Also, why are there so many Australian cars locked in proportion to their total number in the game. They were available in FH3, now we can’t access them. (Australian models of Holden, Ford, Chrysler & Nissan are all locked)
I find it perplexing that a game which is centred around collecting cars, actually doesn’t let you collect the cars you want. We are only allowed to collect the cars that T10 thinks we should have.
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While I can understand the disappointment of the locked cars to some degree I’m personally happy with how it’s been implemented.
For a start I’ve earned around 350 cars of far of which I’ve probably driven less than half. Of the ones left I want to drive and tune around 90% of them. While driving those I’ll earn loads more cars and during that time I’ll get more of the locked cars also.
Secondly with out the locked cars what would the Bounty Hunter, league and Forzathon prizes be? I guess they could be credits however earning the locked cars through these events makes them feel more special. Also because of locked cars being used as prizes for these events I’ve taken part in them which is something I probably wouldn’t have done otherwise and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed them.
Finally, every FM title I’ve bought I’ve wanted to play until the release of the next one. FM7 is the first FM title I think that might actually happen, not just because of the locked cars but they are part of the incentive.
2 Likes