Forza 4 (360) scheduled for Autumn 2011

[Uli]

Shortly after the release of GT5, it was no surprise to see that Microsoft took the opportunity to announce Forza 4 at the VGA yesterday. Not much to see though, except for this short trailer containing live footage only but we can assume Turn 10 will include dirt, snowy and wet tracks this time. Maybe even snakes and cows! We've also added the packshot of the game, nothing too flashy as you will see.

Trailer & Pics

[EvilBoris]

Is this different to the kinect forza that is coming out?

[JSR]

I'm pretty sure they are the same game. In the trailer you get to see the part that MS demonstrated at E3, where you walk around the car, highlighting details of it.

[nonny]

Kinect controls will be part of it but it will have conventional controls included as well. I am guessing they'll have kinect-only races within it.

Not much to go on from that trailer except if you read between the lines they're taking a leaf out of GTs book and expanding the disciplines to include rallying, variable weather and so on.

Consider me interested. I've found GT5 to be an exceptional driving experience but too sterile and in need of an overhaul in its structure. Looking back at Forza3 that is exactly what they did in that game, with streamlined menus and a more accessible game. What Forza3 didnt accomplish for me was a decent online structure... and it could also do with up to 12 or 16 players.

Anyway... competition is good, and there is a new benchmark to compare against. All good.

[Charlie]

Forza 4 already? I don't know which I like least, Polymorph's anal-perfectionist method of taking way, way too long to release GT5 or Turn 10's lazy-come-cynical habit of knocking out Forzas every couple of years. Surely there's a happy medium somewhere?

[charlesr]

Bring back the hill zones from the original and I'm in.

[nonny]

Definitely... the hill climbs from the original were sublime. I am sure they are well aware of the fanbase that formed around those.

Charlie... I dunno mate. Forza 3 has been out a fair length of time already and Forza 4 is another year away. That sounds about right to me so I dont think there is anything lazy to complain about. It's not like its an annual rehash.

I actually just picked up the ultimate edition of Forza3 for 12 quid off Amazon... I guess that will do me for the next year.

[nakamura]

Forza has a lot of potential. It already handles well, looks great and has 400 cars with cockpits. They just need to add more cars in a race and perhaps a rally mode to complete it.

[Neon Ignition]

At first my reaction to the official announcement was pretty meh. The kinect demo was blatantly this and not an update for Forza 3 so the surprise wasn't there. Also, after Forza 2, Forza 3 and GT5 I'm not sure if I'll be completely interested in it by the time it arrives... that said, with time I'm settling with the idea as other than Gears 3 I'm struggling to think of anything of note the 360 has lined up for 2011 so the more titles MS delivers the better.

[rmoxon]

I dont think they need to improve on too many areas over the 3rd game.

To be honest I didnt like the increadabley streamlined way the menus were, they were obviously better than in GT5 but they were pretty much the oposite end of the spectrum in this regard. Where as GT5 has really awkward menus where its difficult to work things out Forza 3 seemed to be designed for people who dont want to look at menus at all.

A decent balance between to two would be nice. Besides that the only other change/improvment would be to make the game harder, unless you played with the A.I. set to hard it was a very easy game (I eventualy got bored of it becuase of this) yet if you did set it to hard it was almost impossible, again, its all about getting the balance right really.

Its important that they get those two things right this time for me, otherwise I dont see much point in this as in all other respects Forza 3 is great as it is.

[Ghost]

Forza 3 is fantastic but theres still plenty of things where turn 10 are behind, for a start Forza 4 needs more cars, GT 4 had over 600 and GT 5 has over 1,000. Turn 10 need to aim to have somewhere in that region. Also more variety in the events, give us rally racing, hill climbing, touring cars, drag racing ect. Also they need to include night time racing, weather effects and also an autolog feature like Hot Pursuit.

The one thing im worried about is that Turn 10 will hold back a lot of cars and tracks and charge for them later as DLC, which is the one thing that pissed me off about Forza 3 and is something Polyphony hasnt done with GT5.

[FatGit_UK]

They should also stop having set cars as prizes for events and let you sell them for more than 100 crs! I imagine over 80% of the auction house is just prize cars that, unless it's one you would buy anyway, are worthless.

[nakamura]

I think Turn 10 needs to focus more on the tracks than the cars.

[charlesr]

Forza 4 needs more cars, GT 4 had over 600 and GT 5 has over 1,000. Turn 10 need to aim to have somewhere in that region. .

No way. Have less cars. You'll only ever use 200 or so, so a choice of 500 tops is more than enough. Use the disc space for more tracks and more variety of tracks. But stick to tarmac, both race track and road locations. Distilling it with rally would be a waste of time. Although I'd welcome a Forza: Rally Edition - a whole game designed from the ground up with the same ethos.

[Dirty Sanchez]

No way. Have less cars. You'll only ever use 200 or so, so a choice of 500 tops is more than enough. Use the disc space for more tracks and more variety of tracks. But stick to tarmac, both race track and road locations. Distilling it with rally would be a waste of time. Although I'd welcome a Forza: Rally Edition - a whole game designed from the ground up with the same ethos.

Agree with this. I don't need 20 variations of the Corolla or Skyline