Road to Release – Forza Motorsport 5

The Forza Motorsport series, since its debut in May 2005 on the original Xbox, has been described as Microsoft's competitive response to Sony's exclusive Gran Turismo series, but that ignores the features and stylings of Forza Motorsport that distinguish it from other racing simulations. For starters, the series has maintained a consistent biannual release and has featured commentary by the beloved Top Gear team from the popular British show. It also allows its community of fans to design custom car skins and purchase other players' vehicles with in-game currency. The rewind feature cannot be left unmentioned either, as it balances the series between arcade and racing simulator, but any assists that are turned off—rewind feature included—translate into hard-earned reward multipliers. Forza Motorsport 5 for Xbox One leverages not only these original features from the franchise, but also brings next-gen improvements through the use of the cloud and unbelievably realistic modeling and environments.

Comparing the launch lineups of the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, the latter's is indeed stronger with the assistance of Forza Motorsport 5, particularly as Gran Turismo 6 will remain on PlayStation 3 and with no next-gen update in sight. As such, Forza Motorsport 5 will be the first racing simulation to take advantage of next-gen hardware, promising to run consistently at 1080p at 60 frames per second and to include hi-res dynamic damage modeling and mind-boggingly gorgeous textures for metal, glass, leather, rubber, and concrete. After all, the slogan is "As Real As It Gets."

At the centerpiece of Forza Motorsport 5's emphasis on realism is Microsoft's Drivatar research technology, which will lay the foundation of every player's AI driver and also transform simplistic AI opponents into ones with more human-like intelligence. As players complete races on international circuits, the game will keep track of their tendencies—when they brake, how aggressively they pass on turns, how fast they come out of a corner exit—and develop a Drivatar, a portmanteau of "Driving Avatar," that corresponds with their racing ability. In effect, it creats a probabilistic model of the player's prowess and driving style.

Some of the AI opponents players will compete against in Career and Arcade races will be based on the Drivatars produced from Turn 10 Studios and the numerous community of players for Forza Motorsport 5. Better yet, players can compete against their friends' Drivatars in Head to Head custom races, and learn from their mistakes, their tendencies, and their successes. To do so, the player will need their friend to copy their Drivatar to a memory card from the Xbox dashboard and then copy it to the player's console. This ensures that there is no Drivatar cheating involved.

If players have no interest in a particular event in Career mode or have difficulty with a particular track, they can assign their Drivatar to stand in their place. In fact, the entire Career mode can be done entirely via Drivatar, though it will demand a portion of any credits earned. That might be hard to swallow, but this is a great alternative for players who simply want to set it and forget it, letting the Drivatar do the work while they watch the "Live TV" style coverage of the race.

To remain worry-free, however, players will need to train their Drivatar vigorously to take first place through a series of five Drivatar lessons of three laps each. Over time, the Drivatar will better understand how consistent the player is with specific turns, in line, position, acceleration, and exit speeds, all while the player is seamlessly lead through the driving-shool tutorial. Once the player's Drivatar is ranked "mature" by completing the lessons, it can be further improved through additional Free Training as the player begins to become more accustomed to the optimal speeds and positions for a particular track. Since the Drivitar has specific data to each track and to each driving class, it's important for the player to revisit each nook and cranny of a track to keep the Drivitar driving straight and true.

Forza Motorsport 5 will come packaged with a host of authentic tracks and over 200 cars (some of which are featured in the Eye Candy section of this feature) from over 54 manufacturers, plus six add-on packs as downloadable content with each pack containing 10 cars. The first pack, the LeFerrari Car Pack, will be available at launch. Players can purchase every pack individually for a total of approximately $59.99, but they can also purchase the Car Pass, the de facto season pass for DLC, which only costs $49.99 for a sweet discount.

Forza Motorsport fans will be familiar with the Forza Rewards system, and for Forza Motorsport 5, they will be gifted several cars and thousands of credits for being a loyal customer and player. Once registered with the Forza Rewards website, players will receive specific, stackable rewards for reaching specific tiers:

Tier 2 – Forza Fiesta ST + 10,000 Credits
Tier 3 – Audi RS 7 + 20,000 Credits
Tier 4 – Ferrari F12berlinetta + 40,000 Credits
Tier 5 – McLaren P1 + 80,000 Credits
Tier 6 – 160,000 Credits 

This means that reaching Tier 6 will earn players 4 free vehicles and 310,000 credits as a starting bonus. That's not too shabby, especially since games rarely reward fans with in-game bonuses nowadays.

Forza Motorsport 5 will release for $79.99 on November 22, 2013 at the same time as the Xbox One and will be featured in a Forza Motorsport 5 Limited Edition Day One Version that comes with commemorative Day One packaging, the five-car Limited Edition Car Pack, VIP membership with various VIP perks and access to special multiplayer events and 1,250 Car Tokens for instant access to any car in the game. Pre-ordering from GameStop will also net a three-car Day One Car Pack.

Next Page: The Legacy>>

The Forza Motorsport franchise has one of the strongest legacies in gaming history, with four main installments that have achieved an average of 90% on Metacritic since its debut in 2005. Forza Motorsport 5 is as much a product of the tireless efforts from Microsoft and Turn 10 Studios in its two-year production cycle as it is a tribute to its eight-year pedigree. From humble beginnings, Forza Motorsport has turned into a powerhouse and a name respected by the racing community.

Forza Motorsport (May 3, 2005) – Sporting a Honda NSX and a Nissan 350Z on its cover, Forza Motorsport for Xbox was Turn 10 Studios' first outing after the company was established in 2001 by Microsoft Studios. It firmly established more than several precedents for future Forza Motorsport installments, with a full-on roster of 231 cars and various car classes (and four subclasses for each: D, C, B, A, S, R-GT, R-GTS, and R-P1.

Unlike Gran Turismo, crashing into walls and other cars inflicted damage on a vehicle would effect its handling and speed. The decal customization was incredible, even springing up a community of fans with modded Xbox consoles to add their own custom decals and vinyls. But the true success was the title's real-time physics engine, which would produce racing times from professional race car drivers as players to their actual racing times in real life.

Forza Motorsport 2 (May 29, 2007) – As the first Forza Motorsport on current-gen systems, this second installment highlighted a drifting Nissan 350Z on its cover and the Xbox 360's revolutionary online capabilities. It supported split-screen as well as online multiplayer, allowing Xbox Live Silver players to purchase in-game cars through the Auction House and Xbox Live Gold players to sell and gift cars. Concentrating on circuit racing as opposed to point-to-point races from the first title and boosting its car roster to 349 entries, it ran at 60 frames per second in 720p and supported the force feedback-enabled Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel.

Forza Motorsport 3 (October 22, 2009) – Upping the ante to include more than 500 cars in the Ultimate Collection version, where many liveries and tracks could be installed from the second disc, this third installment features the Audi R8 on its cover and a bevy of improvements: the now signature rewind feature, vehicle rollover, simulation drifting, assisted driving, in-car driving view, SUVs, drag racing, and stock cars. All cars could be painted and upgraded, even beyond its class to the next level so that the player could continue racing with their favorite cars throughout career mode. It also made racing more accessible with assists on acceleration and braking, and revamped the online space with a spiffy storefront.

Forza Motorsport 4 (October 11, 2011) – Three things stand out for this most recent installment: Kinect integration, Autovista mode (Forzavista in FM5), and commentary from Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson (who can narrate anything, really). The Kinect allows for head tracking, where the tilt of the player's head can control the camera, and could be used for basic steering with the player outstretching their hands. Autovista gave players a more intimate, showroom-esque experience with 24 cars, where they could examine each minute detail. It also started the rewards program where players with Forza Motorsport 3 profiles could transfer a portion of their in-game credits over. Players could create car clubs and enjoy up to 16-player racing online, an improvement over the 8-player online from its immediate predecssor.

During Microsoft's Xbox One reveal event held on May 21, 2013, a few weeks before its public showing at E3 2013, Microsoft revealed a teaser trailer for Forza Motorsport 5. The paired teaser trailer highlighted a race between two McLarens – a metal-orange McLaren P1 against a silver McLaren F1 – driving under bridges, through city streets, and over the Czech countryside. All we knew was that it would be launch title for Xbox One, that the commentators would be British, and that we still love McLarens.

The next trailer on June 10, 2013 came at E3 and emphasized the HD graphics and power of the Xbox One with all in-game footage. While it featured the same track as the teaser trailer, this one showcased a six-player match with cloud-powered opponents and promised hundreds of liveries on international circuits. It also teased several internal shots of the car and a few quick glances at Forzavista.

That trailer came at the end of Forza Motorsport 5 presentation at E3, where Microsoft highlighted the history of Team McLaren and its extraordinary McLaren P1 by lifting it from the ground onto the stage to the crowd's oohs and aahs. Presenter Dan Greenawalt explained that while the polygon count and the material details were incredible advanced, especially on the high-def screens, the main improvement centered around the Drivatar.

It's an artificial intelligence representing you would act like a personal ghost that collects data on your driving personality, like when you draft, when you apply pressure, and when you pass. This will gradually transform the AI to play as you would, and while you're away from your console, the Driveatar will take your place in matches around the world and pass along credits that it earns straight to your purse when you next boot the game.

In an interview conducted by Xbox, Dan Greenawalt further revealed that Turn 10 Studios had been approached by Microsoft four years prior about what they would want in a next-generation console. They immediately knew they wanted a title that ran at 60fps at 1080p with photorealistic physics and cloud integration. Also, open-wheel cars… wahoo!

A few months later in late September, Turn 10 Studios finally released direct-feed footage for the first time, putting the 2012 Pagani Huayra on the newly revamped Bernese Alps circuit on the lofty pedestal it so rightfully deserves. The gorgeous snowy alps, the rev of the engine, and the lighting effects from the sun show without a shadow of the doubt the power of the Xbox One. Take a look below (notice the HUD elements!) and make sure you turn the resolution up to at least 720p. 

And just to emphasize the incredible framerate, take at this latest FilmSpeed commercial for ESPN that has received over 1.2 million hits (at the time of this writing), complete with amazing music, a McLaren, and ooo, goosebumps!

Here comes the eye candy.

To many players, the Forza series should just be called Eye Candy Motorsports, and Forza Motorsport 5 has all the sleek, sexy liveries players will ever want. If they aren't already drooling over the next-gen environments (have you seen those Alps?), they will be oogling over the extremely detailed materials while in Forzavista mode. The vast majority of us will only have the privilege to stand within five feet of supercars like the McLaren P1, so just being in a virtual rendition of these gorgeous technological marvels is enough to send us into a tizzy.

Turn 10 Studios announced the full list of on-disc cars last Wednesday on 11/6 and it has been posted in alphanumeric order at the bottom of the gallery. You can click on any of the images below to see them in full size.
 

Full List (206 Cars!!!)

1954 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupe
1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa
1960 Chevrolet Corvette
1961 Jaguar E-type S1
1962 Ferrari 250 GTO
1963 Volkswagen Beetle
1964 Aston Martin DB5
1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA Stradale
1965 MINI Cooper S
1965 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C
1965 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe
1966 Ford GT40 MkII
1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 427
1967 Lamborghini Miura P400
1968 Oldsmobile Hurst/Olds 442
1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS Coupe
1969 Chevrolet Nova SS 396
1969 Ford Mustang Boss 302
1969 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am
1969 Pontiac GTO Judge
1970 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS-454
1970 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1
1970 Chevrolet El Camino SS 454
1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminator
1970 Nissan Datsun 510
1971 AMC Javelin-AMX
1971 Lotus Elan Sprint
1971 Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R
1971 Plymouth Cuda 426 Hemi
1973 BMW 2002 Turbo
1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am SD-455
1976 Ferrari #1 Scuderia 312T2
1976 Ferrari #1 Scuderia Ferrari 312T2
1976 McLaren #11 Team McLaren M23
1976 McLaren #11 Team McLaren M23
1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am
1981 BMW M1
1982 Lancia 037 Stradale
1983 Audi Sport Quattro
1984 Ferrari GTO
1984 Volkswagen Rabbit GTI
1985 Ford RS200 Evolution
1985 Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT Apex
1986 Lancia Delta S4
1987 Buick Regal GNX
1987 Ferrari F40
1987 RUF CTR Yellowbird
1988 Lamborghini Countach LP5000 QV
1990 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z
1990 Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 Evolution II
1991 BMW M3
1991 Ferrari 512 TR
1991 GMC Syclone
1991 Mazda #55 787B
1992 Ford Escort RS Cosworth
1992 Honda NSX-R
1992 Volkswagen Golf Gti 16v Mk2
1993 Ford SVT Cobra R
1993 McLaren F1
1993 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec
1994 Ferrari F355 Berlinetta
1994 Mazda MX-5 Miata
1994 Nissan 240SX SE
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205
1995 Ferrari F50
1995 Ford Mustang Cobra R
1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
1995 RUF CTR2
1995 Toyota MR2 GT
1995 Volkswagen Corrado VR6
1997 BMW M3
1997 Honda Civic Type R
1997 Lamborghini Diablo SV
1997 Mazda RX-7
1997 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec
1998 Eagle Talon TSi Turbo
1998 Ferrari #12 Risi Competizione F333 SP
1998 Subaru Impreza 22B STi
1998 Toyota Supra RZ
1999 Dodge Viper GTS ACR
1999 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI GSR
2000 Ford SVT Cobra R
2000 Nissan Silvia Spec-R
2001 Acura Integra Type-R
2002 Chevrolet Camaro 35th Anniversary SS
2002 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
2002 Ferrari Enzo Ferrari
2003 BMW M5
2003 Ferrari Challenge Stradale
2003 Nissan Fairlady Z
2003 Renault Sport Clio V6
2003 Toyota Celica SS-I
2003 Volkswagen Golf R32
2004 Honda Civic Type-R
2004 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII MR
2004 Saleen S7
2004 Subaru Impreza WRX STi
2005 BMW M3
2005 Dodge SRT4 ACR
2005 Ford Ford GT
2005 Honda NSX-R
2005 Mercedes-Benz SLR
2005 Subaru Impreza WRX STI
2005 TVR Sagaris
2006 Aston Martin #007 Aston Martin Racing DBR9
2006 Audi RS 4
2007 Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione
2007 Ferrari 430 Scuderia
2007 Ford Shelby GT500
2007 Honda Civic Type-R
2008 Aston Martin DBS
2008 BMW M3
2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR
2008 Ferrari California
2009 BMW #92 Rahal Letterman Racing M3 GT2
2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
2009 Ford Focus RS
2009 Honda S2000 CR
2009 Jeep Cherokee SRT8
2009 Lexus IS F
2009 Lotus 2-Eleven
2009 Mini Cooper John Cooper Works
2009 Pagani Zonda Cinque Roadster
2009 Peugeot #9 Peugeot Sport Total 908
2010 Abarth 500 esseesse
2010 Aston Martin One-77
2010 Audi R8 5.2 Coupé FSI quattro
2010 Audi R8 Coupé 5.2 FSI quattro
2010 Audi TT RS Coupé
2010 Ferrari 458 Italia
2010 Lamborghini Murcielago LP 670-4 SV
2010 Lexus LFA
2010 Maserati Gran Turismo S
2010 Mazda Mazdaspeed 3
2010 Nissan370Z
2010 Renault Megane RS 250
2010 Volkswagen Golf R
2011 Audi RS 3 Sportback
2011 Audi RS 5 Coupé
2011 BMW 1 Series M Coupe
2011 BMW X5 M
2011 BMW Z4 sDrive35is
2011 Bugatti Veyron Super Sport
2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe
2011 Chevrolet #4 Corvette Racing ZR1
2011 Citroen DS3 Racing
2011 Ferrari #62 Risi Competizione F458 Italia
2011 Ferrari 599 GTO
2011 Ford #5 Ford Performance Racing FG Falcon
2011 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor
2011 Holden #1 Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore VE
2011 Holden HSV GTS
2011 Infiniti IPL G Coupe
2011 Kia Cee'd
2011 Koenigsegg Agera
2011 Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera
2011 Mazda RX-8 R3
2011 McLaren MP4-12C
2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
2011 Peugeot 308 GTI
2011 RUF Rt 12 S
2011 Subaru WRX STI
2011 Volkswagen Scirocco R
2012 Aston Martin Vanquish
2012 Audi #1 Audi Sport Team Joest R18 e-tron quattro
2012 BMW M5
2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
2012 Chrysler 300 SRT8
2012 Dallara #28 Andretti Autosport DW12
2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392
2012 Dodge Charger SRT8
2012 Ferrari F12berlinetta
2012 Hennessey Venom
2012 Hyundai Veloster Turbo
2012 Jaguar XKR-S
2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4
2012 Land Rover Range Rover Supercharged
2012 Lotus Exige S
2012 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Black Series
2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK55 AMG
2012 Nissan GT-R Black Edition
2012 Pagani Huayra
2012 Scion tC
2012 Vauxhall Astra VXR
2013 Ariel Atom 500 V8
2013 Audi R8 Coupé V10 plus 5.2 FSI quattro
2013 Audi RS 7
2013 Audi S4
2013 Chevrolet #1 Andretti Autosport Dallara DW12
2013 Chevrolet #12 Team Penske Dallara DW12
2013 Dallara #9 Target Ganassi Dallara DW12
2013 Ford Focus ST
2013 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500
2013 Honda #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara DW12
2013 Honda #9 Target Chip Ganassi Dallara DW12
2013 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8 Track
2013 KTM X-Bow R
2013 Lotus E21
2013 Mazda MX-5 Miata
2013 McLaren P1™
2013 Mercedes-Benz G65 AMG
2013 Subaru BRZ
2013 Toyota GT86
2013 Viper #91 SRT Motorsport GTS-R
2013 Viper GTS