STACK #228 October 2023

GAMING FEATURE

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A ROOKIE TIP

Esaki offered this top advice for those new to the art of racing: “You’ve got to go slow to be fast. Or more to the point – slow in, fast out. Use the driving line feature and pay attention to when it goes red as you approach a corner. Brake before you go into a corner, coast through it, and then accelerate as you come out of it. Go in slow, and you will come out of a corner fast.”

Car fans have waited six years for a new entry in the Forza Motorsport series, and it’s finally with us this month. We chatted with Chris Esaki, creative director at developer Turn 10, about just some of what we have to look forward to. Words Amy Flower A s well as a longer wait than usual, the series receives a naming reset to Forza Motorsport . Unsurprisingly, there’s good START YOUR ENGINES …

Motorsport is no exception, but it’s being used to enhance our racing experience. “There are two components at play with how AI controlled cars get around a track in Forza Motorsport : the AI controller, and the driving line,” muses Esaki. “The AI controller is how the game uses throttle, brake, and steering inputs to move a car around the track. The driving line is the path that the AI controller follows. To create AI opponents as fast as the fastest human drivers, we had to do it without any cheats, hacks, or rubber banding. These often cause racing incidents for players and unrealistic competition. We also needed to reduce aggressive driving behaviour to ensure cleaner, more competitive racing. Therefore, in Forza Motorsport we have evolved the Drivatar system to use machine learning. It no longer replicates the driving behaviour of your friends; however, it still pulls in their cars, drivers, and customisations." This new model of Forza Motorsport sees the arrival of an all-new career mode. “Builders Cup Career Mode is the car building focused single-player campaign in Forza Motorsport ,” Esaki enthuses. “It’s a spiritual successor to our community favourite career modes from Forza Motorsport 3 and 4 . It takes the magic of what made those games so special, modernises it and genre-blends it with RPG progression. We like to think of it as a ‘CarPG’, with three core pillars: competition, car progression, and car building. Many features in the Builders Cup are totally new to Forza Motorsport and include Open Practice, Track Mastery, Challenge the Grid and more.” The most important piece of the racing game puzzle? The cars, and tracks! “ Forza Motorsport will launch with 20 completely rebuilt tracks from around the world with multiple layouts, including five never before-seen tracks in a Forza Motorsport game,” says Esaki. “Each feature is fully dynamic within time-of-day, with weather, living crowds, and tracks that react to temperature changes. As for the cars, Forza Motorsport starts with over 500 at release. We’re proud to have partnered with General Motors on the cover cars, given Cadillac and Corvette’s rich history of racing and commitment to performance.”

• Forza Motorsport is out Oct 10

reason why Turn 10 did this. “We used an extended concept and pre production period to rethink and redevelop the core of what a Forza Motorsport game is,” Esaki tells us. “We focused tightly on our vision of falling in love with cars through competition and skill, and developed the game with the key innovations and features in mind that would support that vision. The end result is inherently different than what the new numbered Motorsport game would have been, with everything in the game laddering up to our central vision for the game.” Having a new generation of console to play with means improvements across the board, with none more noticeable than in the graphics department. A lot of effort – and tech – went into bringing more shininess, and more realism to all facets of Forza Motorsport . “We’ve made improvements to how the cars look by using a spectrophotometer, which captures multiple data points of light behaviour on a surface,” Esaki explains. “With this new sourcing technique, our paint models have a more realistic light response across colours, metal flake, and gloss levels. Cars now have context-aware damage and dirt build-up

will start with 20 environments featuring multiple track layouts. Because of the level of detail that went into the tracks through photogrammetry and laser scanned images, the team was able to depict ten times more realistic detail, including highly detailed vegetation and overgrowth. With all the

cutting-edge visuals, including tens of thousands of fully animated 3D spectators, each player will feel immersed in the spectacle of racing.” AI is everywhere, and Forza

that is authentic and unique to each vehicle, gathering more in the low pressure areas like recesses and alcoves. “In addition, Forza Motorsport

Free cars and tracks will be added to Forza Motorsport post-release. DYK?

OCTOBER 2023

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