Forza Motorsport 5 Requires One-Time Internet Connection for Full Game

Since Microsoft reversed its DRM policies for the Xbox One, no longer requiring users to make periodic log-ins, there was doubt as to whether it would still retain certain features. The Family Sharing plan may be gone (for now) but Cloud features are still a part of the package.

In fact, the Day One update you’ll need to make your Xbox One playable offline seems to have caused another unknown side effect – as Turn 10 Studios head Dan Greenawalt revealed to IGN that Forza Motorsport 5 will require a one-time connection online in order to access the game.

“So when you first boot up the game, we’re going to ask you to log in. And when you log in you’re going to get the Drivatars and you’re also going to get a whole bunch of content: tracks and cars. Our production schedule is such that we are putting them in as late as possible and that means making them free as downloadable content on Day One.

“[But] that is required content to play the game. We basically have designed the game to work with all that content no matter how late is coming in, in order to make the biggest game possible.”

The experience has been likened to a fridge which “You have to fill it up with food the first time” but “from then on, you connect whenever you want when you want to update your food. The Drivatars are as fresh as they are. It’s not like they’re going to degrade, but when you’re looking for new stuff – fresh stuff…it’s going to keep evolving. That’s the nature of this Drivatar system.

“You do have to connect the game in order to get the latest Drivatars, because we need as many people training them as possible. And so rather than having just a launch-day set that was created by us, every day that people race is going to make the Drivatar set that much more accurate, that much more diverse, that much more interesting.

“All of the cloud and online features make the game far, far better. In fact I’d even say revolutionary. The things we’re doing with opponents and Drivatar are not something that anyone can envision unless you’ve played it. But we’re trying to get as much of that into the unconnected, offline mode as well.”

Forza Motorsport is scheduled to launch with the Xbox One this November.