Playground Games’ Forza Horizon 3 has finally received an update that makes it compatible with Microsoft’s Xbox One X. Along with support for native 4K resolution in the base game and two expansions – Hot Wheels and Blizzard Mountain – the update includes a number of graphical improvements.
Xbox One X users can benefit from better car reflections and shadow resolutions along with “improved texture detail” for roads and other terrain surfaces. You can also expect improved environment shadows, increase motion blur quality, better anisotropic filtering and so on.
Creative director Ralph Fulton said that, “We know that our fans really value great image quality, so we’ve taken this opportunity to deliver that to them with this update on Xbox One X. On top of the obvious enhancement to native 4K, there are a number of other improvements we’ve made which really take advantage of the added definition 4K brings.
“Reflections are sharper and clearer, environment shadows are crisper and better defined, the quality of motion blur has been increased to make the driving experience significantly smoother, and better anisotropic filtering improves the detail visible in environment textures, particularly on the roads themselves.”
Fulton believes that the native 4K resolution along with HDR is the real attraction here. “For me, the biggest improvement is in the combination of 4K and HDR though, especially in Forza Horizon 3’s dynamic time-lapse skies. The sky is such a huge part of nearly every scene in the game that it affects the feel of the game a great deal, and the improvements we’ve made to reflections and shadows really complement it.”
Forza Horizon 3 has been available for the Xbox One and Windows 10 PC since September 2016. It received a large amount of praise for the quality of its racing, car selection, range of activities and open world design. You can read our official review for the game here to learn more.