For all of its creative genius and design prowess, Turn 10 Studios wasn’t exactly everyone’s favourite developer when the Xbox One launched in 2013. This is because its first current gen title Forza Motorsport 5 didn’t really deliver compared to its predecessors. With such a pedigree and the added power of the Xbox One, it was surprising to see the fifth game feature micro-transactions, a lower total of cars and other shenanigans. Thankfully, the developer has upped its game since then and will even look to overcome the excellent Forza Horizon 2 with Forza Motorsport 6.
Speaking to GamingBolt’s Leonid Melikhov, executive producer at Turn 10 Studios, Ryan Cooper talked about the various aspects of Forza Motorsport 6 at E3 2015 including the number of vehicles, overall improvements to the game’s mechanics, the return of Drivatar and much more.
"We have over 450 Forza Vista Cars, those cars will be available on day 1 when you put your disc in or you download the game. And just to remind you a Forza Vista Car is a car that has a cockpit, has working doors, you can enter the car and you can inspect all of the details."
Leonid Melikhov: Forza Motorsport 6 is coming at an interesting time. Forza Horizon 2 was renowned for its open world missions and visuals. How will Forza Motorsport 6 look to top that?
Ryan Cooper: Great question. Well, our game is beautiful; we feature a gorgeous track in Rio de Janeiro. Really, the experiences that we try to create are as authentic as possible and we try to capture as much as accuracy about the real world as we can and then we replicate that into our game so we can create an authentic experience that’s based around simulation. All of our gameplay is at 1080p/60 fps and with the introduction of racing in the rain and racing at night we think the game looks absolutely beautiful.
Leonid Melikhov: Will there be any micro-transactions in Forza Motorsport 6?
Ryan Cooper: Forza Motorsport 6 is built from the ground up. Our economy is tuned and it doesn’t need tokens so there will not be any at launch.
Leonid Melikhov: Forza Motorsport 5 faced quite the criticism for its relative lack of cars, locations and tracks compared to the fourth iteration. How many cars and tracks can we expect this time around?
Ryan Cooper: So we have over 450 Forza Vista Cars, those cars will be available on day 1 when you put your disc in or you download the game. And just to remind you a Forza Vista Car is a car that has a cockpit, has working doors, you can enter the car and you can inspect all of the details.
Leonid Melikhov: So a full on experience?
Ryan Cooper: Yes a full on experience. You’ll be able to experience Forza Vista on all of our cars, and we have 26 tracks.
Leonid Melikhov: What other failings of the previous game will you look into improving this time around?
Ryan Cooper: We’re always looking to push the boundaries. Take our Forza Tech engine for example; that’s an engine that’s been in development for over 10 years and with every version of the game we’re always trying to push the technology boundaries of what that engine can do. With the addition of night racing and racing in the rain and the ability to present that to players at 1080p/60 fps is a technical achievement we’re proud of.
"The power of the cloud is providing the ability to update our Drivatar system to make Drivatars feels more realistic."
Leonid Melikhov: The Drivatar system in Forza 5 was arguably the highlight of the game, offering aggressive yet realistic AI that constantly evolved. Can we expect the sixth game to build off of that further?
Ryan Cooper: Absolutely. Forza Motorsport 6 features updates to our Drivatars system we’re really excited about. So over the last couple of years, with the introduction of Forza Motorsport 5 Drivatars system and Forza Horizon 2 we learned a lot about how our Drivatars act and behave. We started to pick up little bits what we called “Race-craft” which are characteristics of how people drive. Things of like late breaking, or locking up 1 wheel or fish-tailing, we’re introducing those in Forza Motorsport 6. We think Drivatars are going to race even more realistic than ever before, they’re very human-like.
Leonid Melikhov: How are you utilizing the power of the Xbox One?
Ryan Cooper: We’re not disclosing a lot of details about how we’re utilizing the power of the Xbox One, but it’s an incredibly powerful box. We actually had the last 2 years to just learn more about its capabilities and what the box can provide. As with any game, as time goes on you just have more time to work on the game and as you work more on the game you discover new ways to present things and build things that allow for the game experience to be better.
Leonid Melikhov: What kind of new online features can we look forward to in Forza 6? Has the power of the Xbox One’s cloud aided in providing a better online experience?
Ryan Cooper: Absolutely. The power of the cloud is providing the ability to update our Drivatar system to make Drivatars feels more realistic. So, absolutely. 24 player multiplayer, we’re really excited about that and then of course Leagues. Leagues are essentially ranked competitive races strictly controlled by divisions.
"We love Kinect. It is a great product, but we don’t have anything to announce with respect to Kinect features for Forza Motorsport 6."
Leonid Melikhov: What are your thoughts on Microsoft’s Kinect currently, especially since Forza 5 was pushing some of its features at launch? Will Forza 6 implement Kinect in some way?
Ryan Cooper: We love Kinect. It is a great product, but we don’t have anything to announce with respect to Kinect features for Forza Motorsport 6.
Leonid Melikhov: Forza Motorsport 5 was one of the first Xbox One games to run at 1080p and 60fps on the Xbox One, despite the console’s eSRAM. Almost two years have passed since then, what kind of improvements have Xbox One engineers done towards eSRAM and how are you using it in Forza Motorsport 6?
Ryan Cooper: I don’t have any specifics to land with respect to eSRAM. I’ll just reiterate the earlier point quickly. As time goes on and you become more familiar with the console, you learn more and you have the ability to improve the game with optimizations and we think we’ve done that with Forza Motorsport 6
Leonid Melikhov: What is the one thing which Forza Motorsport 6 possible only on the Xbox One?
Ryan Cooper: That’s a really good question. What’s the one thing? I wouldn’t say it’s the one thing, or two things or three things. I’ll just highlight that we’re really excited about the updates to our Drivatar system and Xbox Live provides a tremendous amount of computing power that we can take advantage of. We’re going to continue to invest in our Drivatar system as well as Leagues through ranked competitive races.
"We’re really excited about DX12 and I think there is going to be a ton of potential with that. However, We’re don’t have any plans for using DX12 in Forza Motorsport 6."
Leonid Melikhov: You guys showcased Forza Motorsport 5 running on DX12 during last year’s GDC. What kind of benefits do you think the new API could bring to Xbox One’s performance?
Ryan Cooper: We’re really excited about DX12 and I think there is going to be a ton of potential with that. However, We’re don’t have any plans for using DX12 in Forza Motorsport 6.
Leonid Melikhov: No PC version at the moment?
Ryan Cooper: We don’t have anything to announce about that.
Leonid Melikhov: Before we finish, is there anything you’d like to say to the fans?
Ryan Cooper: Sure. We love our fans; we’re very passionate and committed to continuing to develop a great game for them. We’re really excited about the launch of this tile. We think it’s our biggest game we’ve created; we think it’s our most technically advanced game we’ve ever created and we look forward to seeing everyone online on 9/15.
Leonid Melikhov: Thanks for your time.
Ryan Cooper: Thank you.