I have been playing FM7 and FH3 on the PC for months with no restrictions. I have both Ultimate editions with VIP status. I decided to spend $500 on an XB1X and all of sudden my play is being restricted unless I buy Xbox live. I mean, no more on-line races, no multiplayer, limited Forzathon, etc.
Am I missing something here? Seems like a ‘rip off’ to me for spending $500 just to play on the Xbox.
To play Forza 7 multiplayer on Xbox, you have to have an Xbox Live Gold subscription. On PC it is free. Everyone agrees that it is super greedy, but that is just the way it has been since the original Xbox and this will never change.
You get games with gold with an xbox live membership, they may not be the most up to date games or the best to be fair but they’re free/ included in the fee.
Compared to the outlay for a new machine, the live membership is small potatoes.
Consider yourself lucky you’ve not been paying for it up to date. According to the product details page on this website a gold membership is required for online play, so by rights you should have already been paying for it.
Why did you go out and buy an xbox X just to play games you were already playing on PC
No one forced you to do this
This is not a forza issue either
Maybe go contact xbox live support or something
Imo, deals with gold pays for your membership. At least for me this year it has. Discounts off dlc and games, current stuff too.
I wanted to play in 4K (60 frames) so after hearing all of the great stuff about XB1X, I took the plunge. Ironically, it was a bad move since I lost many of the functions of my wheel also. Now, I blame myself for not researching. Keep in mind that I have played FH3 for over a year on the PC and assume the same play. I read the definition of ‘play anywhere’ and did not see that.
Depending on where you are you can get xbox live gold quite cheap
If you sign up to xbox rewards you can get it for free using bing search etc as well
I have a 14 day trial if you want it
Its actually only $1 for the 1st month too
Play anywhere has nothing to do with having a paid XBox Live Gold account, so of course it would not mention it. Plus, XBox Live has required a paid subscription for online play for well over a decade. Microsoft chose to make an exception for PC players Because PC gamers have never needed to pay a subscription for similar online services from places like Steam, Origin, or Uplay.
I don’t know if I’d say they made ‘an exception’, that makes them sound like they are doing something, but it could be just the wording and the way I read it. To me, it’s more that they know they’d never succeed in making it work so they don’t bother. MS owns the Xbox and everything on it (or it’s licensed/commissioned by them), so they can charge what they like for online services that they provide. Same goes for Sony and the Playstation. That’s not the case with PC’s as MS don’t own PC’s. The only thing they have is the OS and even that isn’t a guarantee as the user can run other OS’es. Also, as you say, PC’s have several free alternatives which the Xbox doesn’t which puts paid alternatives on the bottom rung. If they could charge us I’m sure they would. 
Thanks for all the responses.
I am not sure how things work currently … but in the past there were different levels of XBox Live service packages with XBox Live Gold being a premium package. For years and years, a subscription to XBox Live Gold was not specifically required to play any games that had online features … including Forza games. All that was required was an XBox Live account. As I said, I do not know how this works now or if there are still different levels of XBox Live service packages … I have been a Gold subscriber for as long as I can remember and have not kept up with it.
There’s a basic account which is the silver account ( which anyone that connects to xbox live must have to do so) but you cant play multiplayer online but still should be able to use the auction house and do forzathons
You need gold for online multiplayer
Buying a console just to play one game is never a good idea. You can play in 4K 60fps on PC with the right equipment.
Return the console for a refund or sell privately, then invest in your PC. I don’t even have a PC and I’m telling you this.
Gold is more than worth it imo.
4 free games each month (hit and miss, depends on what kind of games you like), and some decent discounts weekly, and at specific times like Christmas, Summer, Halloween etc.
At this point you really have 3 options:
Try Xbox Live Gold, which is more than worth it as it comes with a lot of good incentives as others have pointed out. You can try it for a month, 3 months, a year, etc. up to you.
Use your console to play the single player aspects of the game (and see if you can still use some online features without Gold), then use PC for multiplayer.
Return/sell the One X and upgrade your PC hardware to run in 4k/60fps. You’d also need a 4k monitor.
The One X is a great console, I recently picked one up and it completely changed the game for me. Gold is worth it in my opinion and there are also other great games you can play and things to do on this console, all conveniently accessible. All up to you though!
Xbox Live Gold deals:
the X box one X should have 1 or 3 months of gold in the box.
mine only came with a 14 day trial
I’m thinking about getting fm7 but it requires Xbox live gold to play.I’m starting to get sad and also losing interest so what should I do ?
you don’t nee xbox gold to play single player only multiplayer
if you play on PC you also don’t need xbox gold to play multiplayer
but as CRracer 912 says get on Microsoft Rewards and you can get Gold for free, game pass for free and also xbox credit for free
Anything Xbox online requires gold, but fm7 campaign does not. Why don’t you people that don’t want to pony up for gold get on Microsoft rewards, get it for free…