Forza Horizon might not be developed directly by Turn 10 Studios, but Forza director Dan Greenawalt has gone on the record saying he trusts the pedigree of the staff assembled at developer Playground Games.
It seems like for every year we wait for a new entry in the Gran Turismo series, we get one in the Forza franchise, but Forza Horizon is different. This isn’t the same simulation racer we’ve fallen in love with, yet that isn’t a bad thing; far from it in fact. The one issue that I personally had with Forza 4 was somewhat of a lack of variation in the venues. I wanted to feel like I was travelling the world, instead of being whisked away to the same track with a different course. But if we’re getting a Forza title that specializes in open world racing, that won’t be a problem.
Back in March, we saw the debut trailer for Forza Horizon. Okay, it was more of a teaser than a trailer, since it was one minute of live action footage, but it showed potential for atmosphere, music, environment, lifestyle, and the open road. Combine that with, say, the fact that Microsoft is planning to reveal a Spotify-esque service at E3, and we can have a perfect marriage of racing and music that I remember back in the day with Project Gotham Racing 3.
But here’s what could make this open world racer stand above the crowd: it’s Forza. It’s about customizing your ride, tweaking and tuning, designing paint schemes and decals, taking a Scion and making it run with the big boys. Best of all, this is all in the hands of a team that has worked on Project Gotham Racing, Blur, DiRT, GRID, among other racing titles. Playground Games is no stranger to the racing genre, not to mention they’re undoubtedly in good hands with Turn 10 looking out for them.
Will it be everything Test Drive Unlimited was supposed to be? An online only Forza? Something even better? Or will it, *gulp*, flop. We’ll find out soon, but when you consider everything the game has going for it, there’s no doubt as to why we’re excited to get our hands on with Forza Horizon
