Forza Motorsport for Kinect in 2011

By Tom Bramwell Published 14 June, 2010

Billed as "Forza 4" in press materials.

Update: Microsoft's Kinect press site lists the game as "Forza 4". Check out the screenshots too.

Original story: Turn 10 has demonstrated a new version of Forza Motorsport that works with Kinect and said it will be released in 2011.

The Kinect functionality will allow players to climb inside authentically-modelled cars and play around with their insides - and of course you will be able to drive the cars using Kinect's controller-free interface, too.

Turn 10's Dan Greenawalt promised "radical new car experiences", but added that the game would still run at 60 frames-per-second.

It wasn't entirely clear from the platform holder's E3 conference whether the demo was for an entire new game or an add-on for Forza Motorsport 3.

However, we were told to expect a release in 2011. We'll clarify the details and update this story ASAP.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (40) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • FooAtari #1 2 years ago

    I don't get it.

    Forza is supposed to be a sim. Why the hell would I want to use an imaginery this air wheel over a proper wheel with FFB? That doesn't enhance the experience, its less realistic!

  • Widge #2 2 years ago

    Be cool if you could use this with a controller or some sort of physical wheel.

  • Toothball #3 2 years ago

    I'm interested in this apart from the part where you play without a controller. There's no way I'm not using my steering wheel to play Forza, no matter how good Kinect is at reading me.

    I would however like it a lot if it would track my head a bit so I could check my mirrors in Dash view without needing to have three TVs and Xboxes.
    Edited by Toothball at 14/06/10 @ 20:30

  • INSOMANiAC #4 2 years ago

    Kintetic - 'It's like using a steering wheel, only shitter'
    Edited by INSOMANiAC at 14/06/10 @ 20:30

  • darc #5 2 years ago

    Agree with all of the above, and have to add (despite the probability of getting negged to death) that each subsequent iteration of Forza has gotten a little more boring to me, so by next year it will probably have all the personality of Test Drive Unlimited anyway. With my apologies to TDU fans... Both of you. ;)

  • milky_09 #6 2 years ago

    radical = looking like an utter twat with an imaginary wheel... dont imagine many people using this with forza.

    its either wheel or pad. konect wont give the required level of precision or feedback. i pray this isnt added for gt5. if it is perhaps to preview vehicles... but definitely not to race, a very poor gimmick im afraid.

  • kingheff1 #7 2 years ago

    Looks like it will play in a similar way to those terrible iphone racing games where you just tilt to turn, except you just turn your imaginary steering wheel this time.

  • laharl80 #8 2 years ago

    Whats wrong with you people.
    Watch this and tell me it doesn't change your minds.
    http://www.eurogamer.net/videos/first-xb...

  • secombe #9 2 years ago

    Weird, and a huge shame for anyone expecting another 'traditional' Forza this generation.

    Considering how subtle and smooth your braking/accelerating and steering inputs need to be in a racing sim, they better have something very clever up their sleeves for this to work

  • wizlon #10 2 years ago

    This would be good, but for head tracking only. Waving your arms around like a lunatic is for mad men and lunatics. How the hell would you accelerate and break... head tracking, good. waving arms like a lunatic, bad.

  • BlinxHDD #11 2 years ago

    How is steering the air an improvement over anything?

  • MaoZedong #12 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:40:08 17-12-2011

  • Cpt_McOneball #13 2 years ago

    Kinect works great when it's being used for a game where the lack of a controller is natural, like a fitness or fighting title. When it comes to a genre that actually requires a steering wheel in real life, then it simply becomes a gimmick.

    EDIT:

    I do, however, think walking around your car and checking it out is a great idea.
    Edited by Cpt_McOneball at 14/06/10 @ 20:48

  • effinjamie #14 2 years ago

    As above would love the head tracking if it can be used with a pad or wheel so you could look into the corner insted of straight ahead

  • Synthesis #15 2 years ago

    If we must have support for this joke of a thing in a racing game then it would go something like this:

    Want:

    Head tracking without needing multiple screens/consoles.
    Being able to walk around our Jay Leno sized garage of cars and interact with them.

    Don't want:

    Holding hands infront of my body like a moron to control the car.
    Loss of precision due to idiotic need to try and sell a gimmick.
    Pointless features added solely to support something which is largely pointless for a racing game.

  • milky_09 #16 2 years ago

    dan greenawalt... that baton sure has been passed onto you and the turn 10 team. good way to move the driving sim on... i can imagine them queuing round the block for that see throught wheel, seatbelt and gear stick combo.... just a question how much is konect, microsoft failed to mention that... any reason why?

  • ronuds #17 2 years ago

    Did they even say the only way to steer was with an imaginary wheel - or is everyone automatically overreacting, as seems to be par for the course on EG?

  • Miths #18 2 years ago

    I'm not against the upcoming motion controllers (I plan on buying Move), but using them for racing games is really a bit of a head scratcher to say the least.
    I can't imagine the experience can rank much higher than using a keyboard (ie. utterly horrible for this genre), lower than using a gamepad, and a hell of a lot lower than the way most racing games (some pure arcade racers aside) are meant to be played, with a decent force feedback wheels.

  • secombe #19 2 years ago

    @ronuds

    The fact that they are doing it at all is worrying enough, considering there is a 100% chance that it won't even come close to a wheel (or even a pad)

    If Forza 3 was lacking anything it was development time to balance the PI system, finish all the missing dashboards etc, so spending time on a completely innappropriate feature is in no way a positive thing.

    Traditional control head tracking, and wandering around your garage = everything they should need to do with it.

  • busboy33 #20 2 years ago

    Good God, what's with all the screeching in here?

    Did Greenwaldt say at any point that you have to play with the imaginary wheel? You CAN, but there's no indication whatsoever that you HAVE to. Or rather, your Mom can.
    Turn 10 made a big deal at the launch of F3 that they were trying to make a game that was as sim-y as you want, and as casual as you want. They wanted a game that appeals to gearheads and to non-simmers.

    If you don't buy a racing wheel for a hundred or two, you have to use the sticks of the regular controller. Non-gamers are often intimidated by manipulating a controller. Just watch a non-gamer try a driving game. They can't subtly move the stick, so all of their driving ends up being a zig-zag back and forth across the track. They know how to drivem but they can't translate that desire and experience into the game, and it turns them away from the game. This is designed to let them enjoy driving around.
    I can't see as this takes a single thing away from Forza. On the other hand, I can certainly see how this can (and hopefully will) open Forza up to alot of people that wouldn't play it otherwise.

    Gain . . . yes. Loss . . . no.

    So exactly what the hell are all the whiners in here complaining about?

  • Freek #21 2 years ago

    They have a negative opinion about something and they are expressing it. That's what the comments are for. You either like or dislike something, both are valid.

  • FooAtari #22 2 years ago

    "Turn 10 made a big deal at the launch of F3 that they were trying to make a game that was as sim-y as you want, and as casual as you want. They wanted a game that appeals to gearheads and to non-simmers."

    Games that attempt to appeal to that broad a market never work. You either make a sim or an arcade racer. The attitude of every game should be all things to all people is getting really tiring and has ruined many a game. Whats wrong with targeting a specific market with your games? You will end with a more focused and better title.

    Gaming get's less appealing to me every day... So much to dislike about modern gaming and not a whole to like. It's going the way of manufactured chart music, with added PR cheesiness that wouldn't be out of place on QVC. Rarely does some PR bod say something that doesn't make me cringe like hell.
    Edited by FooAtari at 14/06/10 @ 21:46

  • secombe #23 2 years ago

    Plus as I've mentioned, as good as FM3 is, there are a serious number of tweaks needed to make it truely great. Anything that takes time away from developing the core mechanics is a concern. They've still made no attempt to balance the AWD dominance or fix the PI system, for a start.

    FM3 made a large step away from the sim crowd by only offering a seriously restrictive MP lobby system, which compared to FM2 pretty much killed the public racing side of things...this would appear to be another step away from its core community.

  • busboy33 #24 2 years ago

    @Freek:
    What I'm confused about is what the negativity is based on. I have absolutely no interest in being able to access old sports shows on ESPN. It has zero appeal to me (like Twitter or Facebook integration).
    But those things don't detract at all from what I DO have interest in. The negative comments sound like Forza has somehow changed into Joyride. It's the exact same game it was yesterday, only now it will have more features.
    If Forza was "sim" enough on Sunday, then its just as "sim-y" today. Adding an "easy play" mode doesn't impact that in the slightest, as far as I can see.

    FooAtari: "Forza is supposed to be a sim" -- and it still is a sim.
    seacombe:" Weird, and a huge shame for anyone expecting another 'traditional' Forza this generation" -- why? Does this mean no Forza4? I guess if the argument goes time adding this feature detracts from time that could be spent on a sequel, then the same criticism could be leveled at any of the DLC. New cars? What a disappointment!
    BlinxHDD: "How is steering the air an improvement over anything?" -- it isn't an improvement. Its not supposed to be an improvement. Its a new controller, in addition to the current ones. It doesn't replace anything.
    Synthesis: "Don't want: Holding hands infront of my body like a moron to control the car. Loss of precision due to idiotic need to try and sell a gimmick. Pointless features added solely to support something which is largely pointless for a racing game." -- don't hold back. I'm having trouble telling how you feel about this.

    If Forza added a Model T, I wouldn't be interested. If they added the ability to play it in black-and-white, I wouldn't be interested. But how the game got somehow "worse" for the additions on top of what is already there is a mystery to me.


  • Dylbot #25 2 years ago

    Hahahaha, no thanks.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #26 2 years ago

    If I can use this with my wheel then fine - use Kinect for head tracking and we might have a winner. Although there is still the problem that when I look to the left I don't see my TV anymore so it's actually a bit pointless and will probably feel more like a gimmick.

    I also couldn't care less about walking around a car and taking a closer look. I can control the camera with my pad just fine and as much as I enjoy standing in front of a nice car in real life I doubt pretending to walk around one in my living room will enhance the virtual experience at all. This is a niche that Test Drive Unlimited has a firm grip on - if you want a car you drive to the dealer and walk around to pick your car.

  • Grayvern #27 2 years ago

    @busboy33: because if you can use motion control to control the car, and people buy it because of that and get tired arms after 5 minutes, and are unable to win an single race because of the difficulty then it will likely put people like that off of racing games if not gaming for a good long time.
    Edited by Grayvern at 14/06/10 @ 22:19

  • busboy33 #28 2 years ago

    @FooAtari:

    "Games that attempt to appeal to that broad a market never work. You either make a sim or an arcade racer."

    Hmmmm . . . I think that's debatable (but a fair opinion). I'm glad I can play F3 without being required to calculate precise camber-and-toe degree correlations, because honestly I can't. I'm glad I can race with my friends without having to pit for gas or worry about tire wear. If the game was "pure" sim, I would have to play with those options in the forefront . . . and as a result I wouldn't play it at all.
    So I play with damage set to "cosmetic". I set gas-and-tires to "irrevelant". I drive automatic rather than manual.

    And I enjoy the hell out of it.

    Does this make F3 less of a "sim"? All of those options are still there. Sim-ers can endlessly fret over the merits of setting 3rd gear to 1.07 rather than 1.05. My more casual style of play hasn't crippled any of the sim features, if you want to use them.

    I love to play with the livery editor. It's pretty damn complex. I know people that have never opened that option, or try it once for 5 minutes, get frustrated, then never use it again. Them not taking advantage of the feature doesn't impact my taking advantage of it in any way that I can see.

    I suppose, in a purely hypothetical sense, an absolutely pure sim racer would be more "sim-y" than this arraignment. You could devote more time to expanding the sim aspects -- more spark plug options in the upgrade shop, for example, or deciding which air-gun your lug-nut stripper would use on your pit crew. Personally though, a great sim-and-arcade racer is better than a perfect sim-only racer. I'm sure sim-heads would rather the ultimate sim experience, but the developers are trying to sell games, and making the software THAT absolutely niche-specific is a solid recipie for a beautiful bomb (sales-wise).

    By your logic, Forza3 isn't good, because it has both sim and arcade options, and if that is indeed your opinion I respectfully disagree.

  • busboy33 #29 2 years ago

    @Greyvern:

    If you're buying a Kinect to play Forza, then I'm guessing you don't drive with a twin-stick or with a wheel perhipheral. If you're put off from the experience with Kinect, how quickly would you be put off with having to either learn subtle stick control, or the prohibitive cost of a good wheel?

    Besides, can't you just bend your forearms out, but leave your biceps by your sides? Far less tiring. Granted, for an hour-long endurace race even that would get painful . . . but for a 6-10 minute race (followed by a rest) it wouldn't be too bad. I still wouldn't control the cars this way, but I bet I can get my non-gaming friends to play it.

  • SavageEvil #30 2 years ago

    Gimmick at it's best, they will have to re-release FM3 to utilize Kinect. This sounds so unnecessary to me, and that video of the guy driving and simulated car crash was the proverbial icing on the cake. Utter trash, this is so stupid it goes beyond common sense, walking around my virtual garage? what's wrong with spinning the car on a fixed axis as we already do now? Head tracking can be used, but how would they calibrate it for use on one screen?

  • Grayvern #31 2 years ago

    Yes you could get your non gaming friends to play it, my point being that forza being what it is there is very little chance they will like it, whatever the control scheme and getting them to try something they almost inevitably wont like or will be unable to win at will sour how they feel about games not make them positive on the subject.
    Edited by Grayvern at 14/06/10 @ 22:47

  • Retroid #32 2 years ago

    There's no reason to believe that this couldn't be played with standard controllers and wheels.

    Thankfully.

  • busboy33 #33 2 years ago

    @Greyvern:

    I agree that if they suck balls they're probably going to quit playing pretty fast, but in my personal experience the main obstacle is the twin-stick setup. The massive overcorrections and inability to straighten the car out seem to be what frustrate my non-gaming friends moreso than not coming in first.
    Most of them have been driving cars for decades, yet behind the sticks they look like 4-year olds. Overcorrect, overcorrect, overcorrect . . . and eventual wipeout, even when there aren't any cars within a mile. Personally, I think THAT is where the frustration lies. If they could drive like they know how to, and didn't win, I don't think they'd give up on the game.

    Think of flight sim. I might not win a dogfight, but I'll have fun. However, if I can't stay in the air for more than 30 seconds without spiraling wildly out of control, then "this sucks" is going to be bubbling up in my mind. Most people don't mind losing per se, but they at least expect to have a fighting chance.
    Edited by busboy33 at 14/06/10 @ 23:38

  • funkateer #34 2 years ago

    Steering without steering wheel...

    but...but...but.... WHY?!

  • FooAtari #35 2 years ago

    @busboy

    @FooAtari:

    "Games that attempt to appeal to that broad a market never work. You either make a sim or an arcade racer."

    "Hmmmm . . . I think that's debatable (but a fair opinion). I'm glad I can play F3 without being required to calculate precise camber-and-toe degree correlations, because honestly I can't. I'm glad I can race with my friends without having to pit for gas or worry about tire wear. If the game was "pure" sim, I would have to play with those options in the forefront . . . and as a result I wouldn't play it at all."

    Well that's taking things a little to the extreme. You can have realistic physics and still make the game accessible by turning off tyre wear, adding a few driving aids etc. My issue was with "making the game as casual as you want". If it's a sim there should be a cut off point of how accessible it is in order to focus on the sim aspect of the game. If someone wants something less realistic there are games like PGR 4.

    Just as an example, I am crap at Virtua Fighter 4, far to intricate and complex for me. Do I think it should made more accessible? No, a lot of people like it that way, I'll go play another more accessible fighter. No game should try and be all things to all people.


    "So I play with damage set to "cosmetic". I set gas-and-tires to "irrevelant". I drive automatic rather than manual.

    And I enjoy the hell out of it."

    Those are fair 'aids' in a sim. Again, it's a bit different to a game having as having the options to make it as casual as you want. You are still using the realistic physics engine.

    "Does this make F3 less of a "sim"? All of those options are still there. Sim-ers can endlessly fret over the merits of setting 3rd gear to 1.07 rather than 1.05. My more casual style of play hasn't crippled any of the sim features, if you want to use them."

    In a driving sim, a car with no setup options, or stock setup in a car with a ton of setup options, is every bit as realistic as an out and out race car with a finely tuned setup. Setup doesn't add to the realism as such, it adds to the depth of the sim. If you cant be arsed with setup race your mates and all run stock setups, or run cars with few setup options. The same physics engine is still in use either way. You should and can be able to drive a sim without worrying about setup if that's not your thing, it doesn't remove any realism.

    "I suppose, in a purely hypothetical sense, an absolutely pure sim racer would be more "sim-y" than this arraignment. You could devote more time to expanding the sim aspects -- more spark plug options in the upgrade shop, for example, or deciding which air-gun your lug-nut stripper would use on your pit crew. Personally though, a great sim-and-arcade racer is better than a perfect sim-only racer. I'm sure sim-heads would rather the ultimate sim experience, but the developers are trying to sell games, and making the software THAT absolutely niche-specific is a solid recipie for a beautiful bomb (sales-wise).

    By your logic, Forza3 isn't good, because it has both sim and arcade options, and if that is indeed your opinion I respectfully disagree."

    Not to get too repetitive, but a sim with some option to make it more accessible such as auto gears, ABS, traction control, racing line etc, is not the same as making it as casual as you like. Time spent focusing on letting your granny play the game is less time spent focusing on the core game which is being a simulation. Having options of which air gun you use is being a little extreme ;) and wouldn't add much in the way of depth.

    Forza is mostly a sim, and if you buy it as an arcade racer I would suggest you are wasting your money and missing out on most of the game. Your money and time would be better spent with NFS or PGR. Im not saying that about you by the way, it's clear you do enjoy the sim aspect of Forza, you just add a few driving aids to lighten up the game for your tastes.

    All I'm saying is if you try and make a game that can be played by as much people as possible you end up with game that as little focus. And I could easily see things going that way with Forza if they implement Kinect wrongly, and I bet they do. I am 99% sure they will add options to control the game via an imaginary wheel. Time spent doing that will be less time spent on core aspects of the game resulting in a poorer game.
    Edited by FooAtari at 15/06/10 @ 07:31

  • Bealsy #36 2 years ago

    I'm pretty sure they stated you could use a physical wheel...

  • The-Bodybuilder #37 2 years ago

    >"They have a negative opinion about something and they are expressing it. That's what the comments are for. You either like or dislike something, both are valid."

    Err, not when the opinions are completely misinformed with people not even trying to get to the truth, but would much prefer to just overreact.
    It's called "ignorance".

  • holloguts #38 2 years ago

    Pretty much every post in here gives the impression that you play this game with the Kinect or you can't play it. Of course you can continue to use your steering wheels or the 360 pad. Seems to me, everyone wants to pull down Kinect for the sake of ranting. Same old Eurogamer readers, all shout, no fucking brains.

  • Malek86 #39 2 years ago

    I don't see what's the big deal. I've been playing Forza 4 for years.

    PS. ok, you won't get this unless you're italian.

  • secombe #40 2 years ago

    Less than a year ago you would have thought I was crazy to suggest that a game would require a LIVE Gold account to carry out the simple act of viewing a leaderboard or playing a customized single player game...yet look where we're at with FM3. It's presumably not an accident that this has happened, so I feel it's a valid point to wonder just how far Kinetic will be pushed upon us in first party games.