They say every day is a school day. Today I learned a new term; one I\u2019ve never heard in 23 years of writing about racing games, and nearly 40 years of playing them.<\/p>\n
The term? Vibe driving. The meaning? Well, for Playground it describes the actions of players who just hop in a car, plant their foot on the pedal, and cruise through the open world.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know from multiple games now that there are so many players who just vibe drive; they just go from place to place in their car experiencing the world,\u201d explains design director Torben Ellert. \u201cSo making a world that was both authentic to what Japan feels like, but was also rewarding for players to drive around in, was something we really wanted to do this time.<\/p>\n
We know from multiple games now that there are so many players who just vibe drive; they just go from place to place in their car experiencing the world.\u201c<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of that comes from the fact that telemetry tells us that we\u2019ve got this huge cohort of players who just drive but, as you know, the campaigns in the previous games were quite hooked to specific things. And the players who were just driving, they didn\u2019t have a lot of cars [and] they didn\u2019t have a lot of credits, because they weren\u2019t engaging with the game\u2019s structured campaign of progression.\u201d<\/p>\n
Playground Games has previously discussed its tweaked approach to the core campaign of Forza Horizon 6, which discards the concept of arriving at the Horizon Festival as an established superstar. In Forza Horizon 6 you will find yourself in Japan as a tourist, with no initial association with the Horizon Festival. It\u2019ll only be as you successfully complete the qualifying events that you\u2019ll earn a wristband to enter the big show as an accredited festival racer.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s set to follow will be a much more curated racing experience, graduating through the Horizon Festival\u2019s coloured wristband tiers through the car classes \u2013 which have been inspired by the very first Forza Horizon game. As a result, Forza Horizon 6\u2019s highest car classes will be off-limits within the confines of the festival\u2019s event structure until much later in the game. The idea here, it seems, is a more overt (and potentially more rewarding) sense of progression.<\/p>\n
What appears to have made these changes to the campaign flow possible \u2013 without compromising the freedom the Forza Horizon series regards as a core pillar of its identity \u2013 are the ways in which Forza Horizon 6 will go about rewarding play elsewhere. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we do have a festival campaign that is a bit more structured than we\u2019ve done in the past, we really wanted to just have things to do as you drove around in Japan,\u201d says Ellert. \u201cThat brought us to this language of \u2018Discover Japan\u2019, that really serendipitously turns out to be the Japanese tourist agency\u2019s tagline, \u2018Japan: Endless Discovery.\u2019 That was neat.\u201d<\/p>\n
While we do have a festival campaign that is a bit more structured than we\u2019ve done in the past, we really wanted to just have things to do as you drove around in Japan.\u201c<\/p>\n
Ellert recalls feedback from players in the wake of the release of Forza Horizon 4, confused about the lack of things to do on the map.<\/p>\n
\u201cHearing back from players who people knew, like, \u2018Oh, I started the game and I drove to Edinburgh, and there was nothing on the map,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cUh-oh. Well, it\u2019s because quite literally you didn\u2019t do Tarn Hows. If you don\u2019t do Tarn Hows the game doesn\u2019t click over and give you the next thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, instead of twisting arms to get players to engage with a single method of proceeding, Ellert explains it felt better to design Forza Horizon 6 in a way \u201cthat would lift people\u201d who chose to play it their way.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the one hand I think it comes down to this desire to have things that are just organically in the world as you drive around,\u201d he says. \u201cThose obviously can be vistas that you can see, or cool bits of road that you can encounter, but connecting them to gameplay systems was really important because that creates more engaging experiences.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I think one answer for it is from that point of view: make things that you discover that are playable, just in the world. You reduce the friction; you make it easier to do something together with other people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Forza Horizon 6 Trailer Screenshots<\/p>\n
The \u201csomething\u201d that I\u2019m demonstrated today is Forza Horizon 6\u2019s new time attack driving.<\/p>\n
\u201cTime attack is a brand new feature for Forza Horizon 6,\u201d explains lead game designer Dave Orton. \u201cIt\u2019s a shared-world feature where it\u2019s all about getting the fastest lap time possible on these incredible grassroots circuits across our map.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re quite varied. You might have an off-road one, you might have a track-focused one. And really, at its core, you are setting a lap time and then trying to beat that every time. And we have splits that show you getting faster or slower, and every time you do a lap you get credits and XP as well. That\u2019s the solo experience, and there\u2019s kind of a loop where you can just hot lap for as long as you want.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, time attack takes on a new dimension when playing with or around others.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally it\u2019s a place where we\u2019ve seen other players gather,\u201d Orton continues. \u201cIt\u2019s a place of activity. I go back to that shared-world energy that you get from real players. This is a hotspot where you\u2019ll find other players who are also hot lapping.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also have these in-world leaderboards that track the best times across the community, and that is filtered to your PI class. These are actually grounded, in-world leaderboards. You\u2019ll see the top three times across the community at your PI, and you\u2019ll see your time \u2013 so you\u2019ll always see your name; you\u2019ll always see your car with your livery, and where you rank on that leaderboard.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can also see your rival as well, and the way that that rival system works is it will always prioritise your friends. So you might be driving past, and then you can see that one of your friends has actually topped your score. All within the world; you just see, \u2018My friend\u2019s there and they\u2019re ahead of me,\u2019 and you can go in and try and beat them. It\u2019s a system that, when we put it in the game, we\u2019ve just continually built upon it and got it to where it is now. The moment we put time attack in and had something tracking your lap time, we knew we were onto something. Then we started adding deltas of your lap time, then we started adding splits, then we started adding the combos. And we\u2019ve developed this feature to be something that we\u2019re really, really excited to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
The moment we put time attack in and had something tracking your lap time, we knew we were onto something.\u201c<\/p>\n
Engaging with time attacks in Forza Horizon 6 is a completely seamless experience. You don\u2019t need to drive to a marker in the world, activate it, and get loaded into a lobby. You just drive out to one of the map\u2019s permanent race circuits, drive into the precinct itself, and then drive onto the track. At that point, you\u2019re racing. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve also got a time attack circuit on Legend Island, and it\u2019s incredible,\u201d says Orton. \u201cSo as you work your way through the campaign and become a Horizon Legend, you have access to this brand new area, and there is a fantastic time attack circuit on there. So I\u2019m really excited to see what people do on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finding organic ways to reward players for things they were already doing was a key driver behind the addition of time attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cHorizon is a game that means a lot to many people, and it means different things to different people,\u201d says Ellert. \u201cThere are people to whom really clean, technical racing is everything. And you have people who just want to drive around. You have people who want to build, or people who want to take photos. There are many people and many different ways to play a Horizon game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn previous games we\u2019ve moved to a broader kind of campaign that says, \u2018Whatever you do will progress you.\u2019 And for this game, we wanted to be able to lean into that in a way that was very much driven by where you drove. If you could find it, it was a thing, you could do it. If you can find a street race somewhere in Tokyo City, you can do that street race immediately. There\u2019s no gating to it. And because we had that freedom \u2013 because you could just drive off and take some photos or drive off and do one of the Horizon Stories \u2013 that meant that we had a full progression system that afforded those players a way to play the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt meant that we could then say, \u2018Okay, what if Horizon Festival races actually were gated by progression? What if you had to use C-class cars and B-class cars and then A-class, before you could get a chance to use your S1s, your S2s or your Rs? You had to move up through the ranks. Because we had the ability to say, \u2018Look, if all you want to do is vibe drive, the game will absolutely let you do that, and reward you for doing that, and give you progression for doing that. It meant that we could apply more structure to the festival’s fantasy in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
If all you want to do is vibe drive, the game will absolutely let you do that, and reward you for doing that, and give you progression for doing that.\u201c<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s say you’re at the B-class wristband,\u201d says Orton. \u201cIf you\u2019ve got an S1, you can still take that round in the free-roam world. You can still take that to the shared-world experiences. You take it to your street races, time attack. But when you go into the Horizon Festival wristband campaign, that\u2019s when the restrictions come in.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the really nice thing about it is that it speaks to something that players do anyway,\u201d says Ellert. \u201cMuch like the drag meets feature, we know players love synchronised drag lights. They love to see whose car is fastest.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd by finding ways to just lightly roll in systems that can make that a more rewarding thing to do, it feels like, instead of saying to players, \u2018No, come little friend; we must go and do this now,\u2019 it\u2019s more like, hey, keep doing the things that you\u2019re already doing, and there are these systems that come into place to make that a more rewarding experience. Horizon is better together, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
We\u2019re not shown a demo of the Forza Horizon 6\u2019s open-world drag racing in action, but the team reports it will function in the same way as the time attacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike time attack, it\u2019s all in the shared world,\u201d says Orton. \u201cSo you\u2019re not loading out, you\u2019re not matchmaking. We have three drag strips in our world, and all of them have a grid at the start and it\u2019s got synchronised lights for every player across the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can rock up to a grid, you can ready up, and say, \u2018I want to drag race.\u2019 That will put you in your grid, and then you just wait for the green light. So, at that point, you can hold the e-brake and get your throttle up. And then as soon as that light goes green, if you pull off, you get thrown into a drag meeting. It tracks your time. Similar to time attack, you\u2019ll get credits and XP every time. You make your way back, and you go again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey also have the same in-world leaderboard tech as well. So you\u2019ll see the best drag racers in the community, you\u2019ll see your time, you\u2019ll see your rivals. And the great thing about those in-world leaderboards for time attack and drag meets is they reset each week. So there\u2019s a new routine that players can have where, every time the season changes, you can go and put your name up on the board again.\u201d<\/p>\n
With time attack and drag racing checked, the next logical step would be drifting, would it not?<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, we\u2019re very excited about that as well,\u201d grins Orton. \u201cThat\u2019s all I\u2019ll say.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what it\u2019s worth, now we\u2019ve got events that can occur in free roam, it\u2019s just changed the way we think about our experiences going forward in Horizon. There\u2019s a neuron in all our brains going, \u2018Right, we\u2019ve got something here.\u2019 So, yeah, watch this space.\u201d<\/p>\n
For what it\u2019s worth, now we\u2019ve got events that can occur in free roam, it\u2019s just changed the way we think about our experiences going forward in Horizon.\u201c<\/p>\n
There\u2019s another layer to the open-world experiences of Forza Horizon 6, and that\u2019s the game\u2019s new link skill system. Forza Horizon fans are no doubt very familiar with the skill point system, and how it\u2019s tied into earning and unlocking car perks, multipliers, bonuses, and even exclusive cars. This time around, however, you\u2019ll get a buff on skill points by earning the same skills as other nearby players at the same time.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo our skill system touches everything you do,\u201d explains Orton. \u201cIf you smash through a gate, you get a wreckage skill. It\u2019s a really compelling loop as you just vibe drive and drive around in our game. And we wanted to create multiplayer experiences from our skill system.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo with link skills, if you perform the same skill with someone else, you get rewarded with a link version of that. So if I\u2019m tandem drifting with Torben, we get a link drift. If we\u2019re going down the freeway as fast as we can, we get a link speed. And it\u2019s such a frictionless way to connect with other players. You\u2019re just playing the game near someone else and, just by doing that, you\u2019re getting rewarded for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you are around other players and just playing the game you\u2019ll have these soft attractors that reward you for sticking together. And our link skill system is just that, all the way up to if you do a 12-player barrel roll, you\u2019ll get a version of that. And I want to see people do that!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fully systemic,\u201d adds Ellert. \u201cSo, yes, there are places where it\u2019s more likely to happen, which is why we looked at the time attack. You\u2019re much more likely to see speed and drift there but, at a danger sign; you go off that danger sign together, you\u2019re going to get link air.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd drag meets: link burnout skills,\u201d says Orton. \u201cIt\u2019s just a really nice way of just rewarding you for being around other people without you really thinking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luke Reilly’s 10 Favourite Open-World Racing Games<\/p>\n
If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there. I’ll limit this list to being no more than one-third Forza Horizon games. For now.<\/p>\n