Turn 10 Studios gave us a private look at the new Forza Motorsport at the Xbox Showcase event in Los Angeles. This came after a long time of few hints and fleeting glimpses at how the game works. The Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray on the game’s cover was not there. The Cadillac V-Series is the co-cover car. The R race car couldn’t make it because it was in Le Mans that weekend. Physics for High School Seniors The physics model is one of the most essential parts of any good racing game. Experts with a lot of skill used hard maths to ensure that the cars in the game feel and act as much as the real ones. There are different approaches to think about, and the creator in question might use one very differently from the others. The tires caught the attention of Turn 10 Studios. Even though many other things affect how a car moves, it makes a lot of sense to focus on the tires. Only the tires actually make contact with the pavement. The tires show what a car is and what a driver does. The physics of the original Forza tire model was based on each wheel having only one point of contact. Esaki says that the model has been reworked for Forza Motorsport. Each tire now has eight points of contact, which makes the game 48 times more realistic. Also, each tire gets information six times faster. Esaki went on to say that the suspension, aerodynamics, and weight models had all been totally remade, but he kept saying how much faster it was than previous Forza games. Still, he is sure it can do what it needs to do. Esaki said the Forza game is like the most complex core simulator that can be used now. AI and machine learning make the rules different. The AI driver is the most important part of a real racing game, even more important than the actual model. Esaki says that the AI technology in Forza Motorsport has been “completely rewritten” and is now based on machine learning. He emphasised that the new AI drivers don’t need bugs, hacks, or “rubberbanding” because they are “as fast as our fastest real-world drivers.” Rubberbanding is a technique game developers use in which the code of a racing game artificially speeds up AI drivers or human players to keep the races close, depending on how hard the game is. Experienced players don’t like this because no matter how good they are, they always find themselves in situations where they should pull away from slower cars but can’t get far enough away. How does the AI in the next Forza Motorsport game drive like a master without using these tricks? Greenawalt thinks the key is changing the sources the AI learns from. In past Forza games, the AI learned the best way to drive on each track using cloud-based learning. In this new game, machine learning is used to work on the “controller” for the AI driver. The game teaches the player the driving lines and how the car and track are set up. In other words, the AI is learning about the car instead of the circuit. This means that it knows to drive at the limit within the limits of the car’s features, improvements, and so on, using the same physics that human players do. Esaki says that if the AI’s more realistic driving style pushes you into or out of a turn, it’s because you’re being out-driven, not because the difficulty curve is making the AI drivers better than they really are. If the creators of Turn 10 are as good as they say they will be, this could lead to some fantastic driving situations. Changes to the way the race is run Before, the most important part of a Forza game was getting from one race to the next. In career mode, this will change in the next Forza Motorsport, which will have a three-stage race weekend. The first step is open practice, which gives the player a chance to get used to their car and the road they will use. This is also a chance for players to “level up” their vehicles, like in “RPG” games like Final Fantasy. Players will be given both required and alternative goals for practice. For example, one goal during the open course would be to finish a certain number of laps. An alternative plan could be to complete a lap in less time than a certain target. Car experience points, or “CXP,” are based on how well these goals are met and how fast section times are. Forza’s new “car mastery system” comprises all of these parts. Esaki said this makes Forza Motorsport a “CarPG” and one of the best dad jokes we’ve ever heard. When a player gets close to a turn or enters a track sector, the car skill system compares how well they do to how well they did in that turn or sector before. It will also compare the player’s car to the potentially fastest way to get through certain turns and sectors based on how it is built. This function lets the user know how close they are to the limit based on what the AI thinks, so they can see where to improve. In a race, the next lap is called “challenge the grid.” Before the race even starts, players can change the way they play. Players of Forza will finally be able to choose where on the grid they want to create. In addition to the race settings, players can adjust the challenge by changing the AI driver’s skill level and choosing from various racing rule sets. For example, the “Club” difficulty only lets “cosmetic” damage happen, leaves the “rewind” feature on, and has “lenient” racing penalties. If you choose the more complex “Sport” difficulty level, you’ll have to keep an eye on your gas and tires and deal with tighter penalties. As in previous games, all these things that can be changed will affect the final race reward. The more jobs you do, the bigger your bonuses will be. Make up your own Popular driving games like Gran Turismo and Forza always let you make and customise your cars. Games are a great way to make the imaginary building you’ve always wanted without spending any real money. This generally means getting game money and using it to buy game parts. Some games let you sell the details, but you usually only get a small amount of what you paid for them. Everything is turned upside down by the new Forza Motorsport game. Eskai says that cars are made instead of bought in the new Forza. Instead of using game money, you’ve made the purchase of parts. Upgrades become available when your car level goes up, and you can buy parts with “car points” instead of credits. On the other hand, the value of car points always stays the same. You can remove the turbocharger and get back all 100 car points to spend on other upgrades. For example, if a bigger turbocharger costs 100 car points and you later decide to switch back to a “normally aspirated” system, you could use the points to buy a bigger turbocharger. There’s no problem. Refusing to Judge We’ve been waiting for the new Forza Motorsport game and more information about it. We are still determining what to expect because Turn 10 is taking a very different method of making games. This demo gave us some interesting new ideas, but how you do something is the most important thing. So, what we saw impressed us, but we shouldn’t get too excited until we know what the end product will be like. We hope to try out the next Forza Motorsport before it comes out on October 10, 2023, so that we can tell you about it. Keep watching!
