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Forza Motorsport 7. A look at some tracks, Forza Horizon 3 skies, Dynamic weather

Theorry

Member
Earlier this week, the folks at ComputerBild published a feature on tracks in Forza Motorsport 7. Featuring a discussion with Turn 10 Studios creative director Dan Greenawalt, the article pointed out the many cutting-edge systems that Turn 10 uses to bring the tracks to life with new weather scenarios and alternate times of day that literally cast the tracks of Forza Motorsport 7 in a brand-new light. If you haven’t already done so, check out the article now.


Suzuka Circuit, Completely Rebuilt

It’s one thing to read about the changes coming to tracks in Forza Motorsport 7 but it’s a very different thing to see them for yourself. Suzuka is a prime example; like all of the real-world tracks in Forza Motorsport 7, Suzuka is officially licensed and completely rebuilt with High Res assets designed to look fantastic at native 4K and on the entire family of Xbox consoles. Not only is the track completely rebuilt and updated, Suzuka also features wet weather conditions for the first time in Forza history. Imagine tackling the “S Curves” at full speed, or barreling around the harrowing 130R, only this time battling the dynamic puddles that line the edges of the circuit, and the blinding spray of the cars in front of you. The same challenge that real-world drivers face at Suzuka lap-after-lap, will now be your challenge as well.

Returning Fan-Favorite, Maple Valley

I might be wrong, but I could swear I heard an audible gasp of excitement on the Interwebz back at E3 when we confirmed that Maple Valley would be returning with Forza Motorsport 7. Is there a more lauded, more beloved track in the Forza universe? Whether you’re looking to test your sideways skills on one of Forza’s best drifting tracks, or you want to push the edges of speed on its sweeping corners, Maple Valley is a masterpiece in every respect. Like Suzuka, it will also feature wet weather conditions as well – also a first in Forza history.

I want to make sure that you all understand what I mean when referring to conditions like weather and time of day. In Forza Motorsport 7, we’ve built tracks with a central goal in mind: Making every time you return to a track a unique experience. That goal manifests itself in a variety of ways.

Rapidly Changing Dynamic Weather

There’s no such thing as a simple “rain” setting in Forza Motorsport 7. Not for Sebring or the Nürburgring, or Brands Hatch, or any other track where wet conditions are available. Instead, the team has created a system that can smoothly transition through multiple weather conditions per track, and those conditions can (and often will) change throughout a race. You might start off with gray skies and fog on a track like Sebring, only to find yourself in the middle of a thunderstorm two laps later. The lights might go green at Silverstone during a light rain, only to find drivers in dry conditions by the end of Lap 2. As in the real world, conditions change and sometimes change quickly, and its up to drivers to react to those changes.


Bringing Time of Day to Life

Those dynamic conditions extend to time of day too. Turn 10 is building on the sky technology that was first seen in Forza Horizon 3, capturing real skies that bring life, motion, and color to every track in the game. Check out the screenshot of the observation tower at the Circuit of the Americas against a darkening sky – one glance is all it takes to recognize a Texas sky at dusk. Even Laguna Seca – a track that has been in Forza Motorsport since the very first game; a track that all of us have driven hundreds, if not thousands of laps on – feels completely new in Forza Motorsport 7.

Whether you’re talking time of day or the weather you’re driving in, it all comes back to thatcentral goal: every race should feel unique. When you’re playing through the Forza Driver’s Cup single player campaign, you’ll experience that first-hand. Take a race at a track like Silverstone as an example. Maybe the first time you play it, you’ll battle the elements in a typical British downpour. Go back and revisit that same race in campaign, your conditions may be completely different; in fact, you may not encounter rain at all. The developers at Turn 10 have introduced probability into the various race conditions scenarios; meaning that there is a percentage chance that the weather conditions might (or might not) change. One race, things will go from bad to worse; the next time around, conditions might stay in your favor. It’s that element of chance – and the need to prepare for whatever the race throws at you – that promises to make racing in Forza Motorsport 7 so exciting.

For me, weather and time of day are a game-changer. It will add the kind of variety and challenge that was only hinted at in previous versions of the game. The unpredictable conditions you drive in will affect your race more than ever before, and all of it runs at the rock-solid 60 fps that Forza Motorsport fans expect.

See below for all 32 tracks available to play in Forza Motorsport 7, and as always, stay tuned to ForzaMotorsport.net for more Forza Motorsport 7 goodness as we draw closer to launch, and don’t forget to pre-order Ultimate Edition for early access on Sept. 29.

Brands Hatch

Circuit of the Americas

Daytona International Speedway

Dubai Circuit

Homestead-Miami Speedway

Maple Valley Raceway

Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello

Nürburgring

Rio de Janeiro

Sebring International Raceway

Silverstone Racing Circuit

Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Suzuka Circuit

Virginia International Raceway

Yas Marina Circuit

Bernese Alps

Mount Panorama Circuit

Circuit de Catalunya

Hockenheim-Ring

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Sonoma Raceway

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

Le Mans Circuit de la Sarthe

Lime Rock

Long Beach

Autodromo Nazionale Monza

Test Track Airfield

Prague

Road America

Road Atlanta

Top Gear

Watkins Glen

fm7_trackreveal_circugqsas.jpg


fm7_trackreveal_dubaiw2s78.jpg


fm7_trackreveal_mapler9srt.jpg


fm7_trackreveal_mazdaensub.jpg


fm7_trackreveal_sebribpssp.jpg


fm7_trackreveal_suzukpisvl.jpg


Read more at https://news.xbox.com/2017/08/18/fm7-track-list-revealed/#Gm1BFFVd86YA7QaQ.99
 

dugdug

Banned
Probably a dumb question, but, I feel like in the wake of GT Sport, I need to ask:

Will this have a single player campaign like the last Forza Motorsport games? Sad that I feel a need to confirm it, but, I've given up on GTS and am looking for FM to scratch that itch this holiday.
 

Lashley

Why does he wear the mask!?
Probably a dumb question, but, I feel like in the wake of GT Sport, I need to ask:

Will this have a single player campaign like the last Forza Motorsport games? Sad that I feel a need to confirm it, but, I've given up on GTS and am looking for FM to scratch that itch this holiday.

Should do, the last few have
 

JlNX

Member
Probably a dumb question, but, I feel like in the wake of GT Sport, I need to ask:

Will this have a single player campaign like the last Forza Motorsport games? Sad that I feel a need to confirm it, but, I've given up on GTS and am looking for FM to scratch that itch this holiday.

Yes it does.
Okay Maple Valley looks good I'm happy
 

farisr

Member
So trying to understand if this is actually true dynamic weather or like presets.

Like is it completely random or after you've played the game a bit and start a race you go "oh this is that weather condition where it starts off raining hard and the clouds clear up on the last lap"

Edit: so it's more like you could have a race starting off with raining hard, and the ending could result in the skies clearing up, the rain remaining at the same intensity or getting even more intense or lightening up.

So dynamic in a sense for sure, but not fully dynamic weather system. They have basically worked out a whole bunch of different scenarios and put them in the game, but for instance, a race where the game determined that it will clear up near the end of it will be exactly the same as another race that ends up with that preset. As opposed to a truly dynamic system that could have an uncountable number of variances.

Still compared to static weather conditions that remain the same throughout the race, it's a massive improvement, and there should be enough there for it to be called dynamic.
Cool.
 

Caayn

Member
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

26 real tracks:
Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello
Autodromo Nazionale Monza
Brands Hatch
Circuit de Catalunya
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Circuit of the Americas
Daytona International Speedway
Hockenheim-Ring
Homestead-Miami Speedway
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Le Mans Circuit de la Sarthe
Lime Rock
Long Beach
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
Mount Panorama Circuit
Nürburgring
Road America
Road Atlanta
Sebring International Raceway
Silverstone Racing Circuit
Sonoma Raceway
Suzuka Circuit
Top Gear
Virginia International Raceway
Watkins Glen
Yas Marina Circuit

6 fantasy tracks:
Bernese Alps
Dubai Circuit
Maple Valley Raceway <3
Prague
Rio de Janeiro
Test Track Airfield
Probably a dumb question, but, I feel like in the wake of GT Sport, I need to ask:

Will this have a single player campaign like the last Forza Motorsport games? Sad that I feel a need to confirm it, but, I've given up on GTS and am looking for FM to scratch that itch this holiday.
There's currently no reason to believe that FM7 will feature a singleplayer in the same style as GTS does.
 

U2NUMB

Member
Maple Valley is a magic couple words for us Forza fans... so glad it is in! Can not wait, hope we get a demo again.
 

JlNX

Member
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

27 real tracks:

Dubai Circuit


5 fantasy tracks:
Bernese Alps
Maple Valley Raceway <3
Prague
Rio de Janeiro
Test Track Airfield

Isn't Dubai track fantasy, as I believe it is not a real life track but based on a real area.
 

Caayn

Member
Isn't Dubai track fantasy, as I believe it is not a real life track but based on a real area.
Mmhhh, I seem to have mistaken it for the actual circuit located in Dubai. In Forza 7 it probably refers to the fantasy track shown in the reveal trailer. Will edit my post, thanks.
 

Theorry

Member
Intresting.

Bill Giese, Creative Director at Turn 10, explained in an interview with Official Xbox Magazine (OXM) UK (September 2017, issue #154) that Forza Motorsport 7 will feature dynamic image-based lighting (like in Playground’s Forza Horizon 3) on all platforms as well as dynamic HDR skies (again, like in Forza Horizon 3) on Xbox One S and Xbox One X.

However, there is one technical feature that will be only available on Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox One X console (as well as on Windows 10 PC, in all likelihood). That’s dynamic cube mapping which, according to Giese, will help “better seat the cars in the world”.

Dynamic cube maps have six different 2-D images (textures), one for each side of a cube map texture, instead of just one like with static cube maps. What’s interesting to note is that rendering dynamic cube maps automatically means rendering the scene six times for each frame, not counting the main frame render. As a result, this technique requires a lot of power, which explains why it will not be available on less powerful Xbox One devices.

Forza Motorsport 7 also packs additional graphics enhancements across the board such as improved particle effects and ambient occlusion techniques as well as increased grass density, but Turn 10 also took great care of the game’s audio. Giese said:

We want players to see, hear and feel the explosive power of motorsport. For all 700 cars the instrumentation clusters are going to rattle, windshield wipers and mirrors vibrate – it’s that feeling of the car at its peak. We’ve overhauled the audio for our driveline flex, so you can hear the car tearing itself apart. It can be scary, but it feels more alive and grounded than before.

http://wccftech.com/turn-10-forza-motorsport-7-enhancements/
 

chadskin

Member
Very solid track list and great that dynamic weather is finally in. Hope there'll be a demo on Win10 like with FH3.
 
Turn 10 and Playground Studios. MS could definitely use more studios like these for other genres. These two studios know what the fuck is up and they know the hardware. This game is definitely going to show what One X can do.
 

Skunkers

Member
Mmhhh, I seem to have mistaken it for the actual circuit located in Dubai. In Forza 7 it probably refers to the fantasy track shown in the reveal trailer. Will edit my post, thanks.

Yep, they are both in. Yas Marina is the circuit there and Dubai is the fantasy track.
 

JlNX

Member
Turn 10 and Playground Studios. MS could definitely use more studios like these for other genres. These two studios know what the fuck is up and they know the hardware. This game is definitely going to show what One X can do.

Thats mainly due to the fact they both work on the same engine, everything one team does benefits the other and they work together. It's why frostbite is so good, it's really why MS should consider having all their studios use one engine really. ForzaTech can go from linear circuit racer at a locked 60 to massive open world at a locked 30, they really should try and merge a lot of their tech and engines together. ForzaTech appears to be very developer friendly and the tools must be great if every two years they can make a game especially a open world one. The coalition working alongside turn 10 would be great, because right now they are probably going into UE4's now recently made open source code and customising the engine, but thats not going to benefit any other studio at Xbox other than themselves.
 

farisr

Member
I'm pretty much sold on this game now. Will be the first mainline Forza game I get since 3. When GT5 released it changed things for me, and I absolutely did not want to buy a sim racer that didn't have dynamic ToD and weather conditions. With the nature of sim games featuring the same tracks over and over again, things get stale and those features add in the much needed variety, makes it feel fresh again.

So glad this is happening in FM7.

Just need HDR confirmed for PC and it'll be perfect.

Edit: oh wait, it was running in 4k HDR on PCs at E3. Awesome!
 

gamz

Member
Thats mainly due to the fact they both work on the same engine, everything one team does benefits the other and they work together. It's why frostbite is so good, it's really why MS should consider having all their studios use one engine really. ForzaTech can go from linear circuit racer at a locked 60 to massive open world at a locked 30, they really should try and merge a lot of their tech and engines together. ForzaTech appears to be very developer friendly and the tools must be great if every two years they can make a game especially a open world one. The coalition working alongside turn 10 would be great, because right now they are probably going into UE4's now recently made open source code and customising the engine, but thats not going to benefit any other studio at Xbox other than themselves.

Does Gears and Halo use the same engine?

Edit:. Post below. That's right Gears uses unreal.
 

Theorry

Member
Thats mainly due to the fact they both work on the same engine, everything one team does benefits the other and they work together. It's why frostbite is so good, it's really why MS should consider having all their studios use one engine really. ForzaTech can go from linear circuit racer at a locked 60 to massive open world at a locked 30, they really should try and merge a lot of their tech and engines together. ForzaTech appears to be very developer friendly and the tools must be great if every two years they can make a game especially a open world one. The coalition working alongside turn 10 would be great, because right now they are probably going into UE4's now recently made open source code and customising the engine, but thats not going to benefit any other studio at Xbox other than themselves.

Dont quite alot of Xbox game use Unreal? Gears, Sea of Thieves, State of Decay, Crackdown.
 
Maple Valley? OH MY.

Time of day and variable weather all sounds wonderful as well. I was starting to doubt we'd see that in Forza this generation.

Here's hoping for a great PC version!
 

rainz

Member
They had me at FH3 skies... damn... so good.

Anyone know if you can increase the amount of laps to something longer this time around for single player stuff? I swear i saw that somewhere...
 
GAF, the X ver of FM7 will get patched on Nov. 7th or there's a separate sku special ed bundled that will see a release ? Just double checking if i should wait or grab for X1..thx.
 

JlNX

Member
Dont quite alot of Xbox game use Unreal? Gears, Sea of Thieves, State of Decay, Crackdown.

The issue is that those teams don't communicate at all, there is only so much you can do with giving other teams your plugins. One of the few examples is Playground didn't have experience with water simulation so after seeing it in SOT asked Rare to user their code, the problem is thats not a easy transfer between those two engines. A unified engine under one technical team would allow for a engine specifically customised to Xbox's hardware and to the needs of their developers (ie closer to the metal than standard UE4.) There is no ICE team equivalent at Xbox, which is why one engine under one technical team would allow for the same familiar toolset for every team at Xbox and it would allow for customisations individual to each teams needs. The issue with UE4 is each team using UE4 now that the source code is open will go about heavily stripping out the engine to each of their needs including different toolsets, this just makes it more difficult as it doesn't allow for devs within Xbox to easily switch between teams and help each other. Plus the benefits of reduced cost, added functionality and added efficiency for every team at Xbox, like 343 could help Coalition ship gears very easily. For example a massive issue with the production of Halo 5 that caused development issues that held the team back was 343 has a lot of archaic engine tools, this is going to take time out of production to overhaul these when the toolset could be getting refined by every team at Xbox allowing teams to make games with a thousand different game features made by other teams already or large content production. Its all about being able take one teams technical achievement from one team and having it be passed on to the next teams game. A graphics engine like UE4 has only so much there, there is a ton of other aspects you need to develop that will be unique to each team like lighting or Ai. Xbox notably for a couple of these tools has them on the platform level like PIX for performance profiling or Physics but thats really it.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
Dubai is the only new track though. disappointing even with some returning from previous games.

Do people really love weather? I hate the puddles in Forza 6 and they just make for a bigger shit show online. You don't have to pit for wet tires or anything either.
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
Hold up, time of day IS dynamic? On all tracks?
Nice to hear weather is dynamic and random, seemed to be speculation at e3 it would transition in exactly the same way every time
 
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