Are the Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo Franchises Dead?

"Road Magazine" (roadmag)
04/30/2014 at 15:49 • Filed to: Gaming

It seems like all the hype is about Project CARS and iRacing. I still remember when these two franchises were in the spotlight but it seems that PC Simulators have taken over once again (the way it should be)!

For me, Forza Motorsport is definitely dead now. My first Forza was the 1st instalment, then from the 2nd to the 4th, I acquired collectors edition copies, but for Forza 5, I didn't even bother to even buy the game.

Does anyone else feel that the fun from gaming is gone, or is it that I've just grown out of it, I have no idea. I'd still be playing video games if there was something interesting, but even GT6 is a bit meh.

Might just get involved with Project CARS/iRacing then! But that requires a powerful PC.

DISCUSSION (21)

ncasolowork2 > Road Magazine
04/30/2014 at 15:53

Forza 2 had that under-developed tournament feature. Then Forza 3 didn't even have public lobbies with that damn hopper system. I gave up after 3 because Forza 3 is when it stopped being a racing game and started to be a car culture game. I haven't gotten 4 or 5. I got Gran Turismo 5 and ended up selling my PS3 because it was so bad. You can probably guess from my avatar what I ended up with.

ncasolowork2 > Road Magazine
04/30/2014 at 15:54

unrelated to my rant. Email me rterps@charter.net and I will get you a 1 month free trial of iRacing. You'd be surprised at just what little power it takes to run iRacing. iRacing is 6 years old and hasn't updated their hardware requirements.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > Road Magazine
04/30/2014 at 15:57

The hype machine will be back for GT7, but that'll take 5 years.

Road Magazine > ncasolowork2
04/30/2014 at 15:59

Oh how generous! Definitely will take you up on the offer.

Brian Silvestro > Road Magazine
04/30/2014 at 16:00

I only know 2 other people on here (besides you) who have Forza 5. Gran Turismo seems so much more popular for some reason.

PheeNoIVI > Road Magazine
04/30/2014 at 16:00

I'm the same was as you. Not sure if the games have gone downhill in evolution or if I'm not as interested anymore. I feel that if there was a solid racing game with an amazing career mode I'd be all over it.

Road Magazine > ncasolowork2
04/30/2014 at 16:01

FM just went downhill from FM3. FM3 was quite exciting because it was a huge jump from FM2 a bit like GTA 4 from San Andreas, but lacked features. Ahh well, have to try out iR!

JDIGGS > Road Magazine
04/30/2014 at 16:14

Anyone who says Forza went downhill after 3 is just full of it. The game has gotten a lot better in every way. The really problem is lack of tracks, although LongBeach, Yas Marina, Spa, Bathurst are nice editions. The new forza is a great game but just not serious enough will no built in series league system. I will list some things to remind people what Forza is good at.

- No other game has such a versatile amount of mods amongst different cars that can all be matched up by class.

- No other game has same level of tuning

- No other game currently available on sale now has as good of graphics, look at the cars next to you in a multiplayer online race, no other game maintains the visuals.

- Sound blows away any game currently available to buy with multiplayer

- Multiplayer system for racing physics wise is by far the best, whoops gran turismo (so boring multiplayer), pcars / assetto corsa have no multiplayer available for sale yet.

- Liveries are amazing, people make 100% perfect matches of racecars etc. it simply blows away all the other games for painters.

It has it flaws, mainly being lack of tracks IMO, but the game has gotten so much better than it's previous generations. I can't accept that type of ignorance. Also remember if you really haven't purchased and played the game a lot don't even bother speaking as you are going off an opinion based upon no experience and thats a recipe for asshattery and failure.

Frosted > Road Magazine
04/30/2014 at 16:16

They're not dead, they just cater to a crowd that wants a simulator that isn't too hardcore. 5 was lackluster in the content department since MS wanted it to be an XBONE launch game. Given some more time, I'm sure Forza 6 will be fantastic.

I can't comment on GT as I haven't played one since GT4 on the PS2.

DConsorti > Road Magazine
04/30/2014 at 16:16

I agree with you.

I never had a FM, but played the 4th for a few months.

I had every single GT released and love the series. But Polyphony made a huge mistake in gt6. It looks like they released it in a hurry, for end ps3 cycle.

Unless sony do something HUGE in GT7, it will loose the fan base.

Burrito de EJ25 > Road Magazine
04/30/2014 at 16:25

iRacing is a very niche, very serious game and Project Cars is being developed by the same developers that made NFS: Shift, which had atrocious handling physics. And this one, from the video I've seen, seems to be an iteration of that same physics modeling.

I wouldn't say attention has moved away from those two in any significant scale. They're still high selling mainstream games.

No Prius Needed > Road Magazine
04/30/2014 at 16:26

FM went downhill after FM4. Forza 4 is the best Forza game in my opinion.

Burrito de EJ25 > Brian Silvestro
04/30/2014 at 16:26

Gran Turismo doesn't cost $600 to play.

djmt1 > Road Magazine
04/30/2014 at 16:31

I strongly disagree, neither franchise is even close to being dead.

The franchises are console exclusive and thus having the backing of two of the biggest names in gaming. This means more resources can be thrown at the games. Forza 5 and GT6 were low points in their respective franchises but there are good reasons for this. Firstly Forza 5 was rushed for launch, as are all launch games. GT6 problem is that is was just largely a GT5 expansion pack. Despite these flaws those they were both brilliant games selling millions of copies. The biggest problem they faced is that their respective predecessors were considered the best in class and following up was going to be difficult. To judge if they are "dead" you have to wait until Forza 6 and GT7.

Forza 5 was made using a new method, you know the laser scanning they go on and on about. The downside of this is that it takes a long time and is expensive. The upside is that it only needs to be done once and you have the data to use at your discretion. What this means is that all the assets from Forza 5 can be ported to Forza 6 without a loss in quality. So what does this mean? Turn 10 can focus on adding features missing from the previous games such as weather and night time racing.

GT7 has the advantage of being on the PS4. From a developer standpoint the PS3 was garbage to program for and Polyphony Digital really suffered from this and as result had to resort to bullshit such as up scaling PS2 models. With the PS4 they have much access and given that GT6 just came out, they will have more time to make GT7, the Gran Turismo title we deserve.

In the end, abandoning a racing franchise is just plain stupid if you have access to it. Racing games due to their focused nature along side sports games get better as each new one is released. So will Project Cars be the best racing game ever released, possibly it has no reason not to be, but does that mean you should cast of Forza and Gran Turismo, of course not, in the same way you shouldn't ignore GRID Autosport because of GRID 2, racing devs are some of the best at learning from their mistake.

Also and most importantly if these games were "dead", there would a lot less arseholes crashing into me on the first corner.

djmt1 > Brian Silvestro
04/30/2014 at 16:33

I have Forza 5 and play it on a daily basis, I like the lottery of getting a good race in multiplayer, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't but when I do, man is it good.

Brian Silvestro > Burrito de EJ25
04/30/2014 at 16:34

This is a valid point.

djmt1 > No Prius Needed
04/30/2014 at 16:39

Premature judgement don't you think, Forza 5 may not be as great as Forza 4 (IMO, the racing game benchmark), but given the circumstances and the chaos leading up to the Xbox One launch, I think it is an amazing effort and great game none the less. Plus with the new way the games are being built, Forza 6 is going to amazing. Laser scanning may be expensive and time consuming but it means the there are solid foundations to build on for a change.

djmt1 > Burrito de EJ25
04/30/2014 at 16:43

I want to try iRacing but from what I have seen, it looks like to get the most out of it you need at least a steering wheel and for a real experience a full racing setup. I have limited space so can only use controllers so I wanted to know if it is controller friendly or will this be the one racing series, that managed to elude by grasp.

djmt1 > JDIGGS
04/30/2014 at 16:56

Do you have Forza 5? Since you are on Oppo, I'm going to assume you aren't a Twat who slams into everyone at the first corner.

JDIGGS > djmt1
04/30/2014 at 22:20

No I have been doing league racing since Forza 3. Definitely not one of those twats. Yes Own Forza 5 and on Forza 4 I was rockin a csr elite / v2 pedals. GT6 I played for 4-5 hours with a wheel, it sucks. iracing looks great but there are limited cars and shitty background graphics, other cars looks medicore. Pcar physics are probably going to suck, Assetto Corsa multi isn't out but it has a small am of tracks as well.

fireari > Road Magazine
05/04/2014 at 15:06

I was a forza die hard fanatic, I thought Horizon was great, except for some of the 'freemium' style money grab tactics (what? 60 bones isn't enough from me?) which I have read were way too prevalent in 5, I feel that Forza 4 and Horizon offer more than enough fun for now.