7 Things We Know About Forza Horizon 4 So Far

Following the E3 announcement of Horizon 4’s British location, we’ve been drip-fed information – here are all the tidbits we’ve picked up…
7 Things We Know About Forza Horizon 4 So Far

After intense speculation about where it would be set, Forza Horizon 4 has been confirmed to be based in Britain. With gamers getting to grips with an introductory race at E3 and the gaming press extracting details from Forza reps on the show floor, we’ve managed to get a pretty decent idea of what we can expect when Horizon 4 goes on sale on October 2. Here’s everything we’ve learned so far…

Location details are vague right now

7 Things We Know About Forza Horizon 4 So Far

We know the game will be based in Britain, but where exactly is largely unknown. All we’ve had confirmed for now is the Scottish capital Edinburgh and the English countryside of the Cotswolds. We’ll also get to take in the British coast, which, being an island, doesn’t really narrow things down, while the Ribblehead Viaduct in Yorkshire appears to confirm that region will feature.

Attempting to read traffic signs in gameplay videos reveals the Lake District in the north-west of England should also be appearing.

The map hasn't grown, because seasons

7 Things We Know About Forza Horizon 4 So Far

It turns out that Britain is the same size as Australia because the map is pretty much the same size as the one in Horizon 3. We’re used to maps getting bigger all the time, so you might be surprised there’s no growth here, but it’s because of the seasons.

Every week the season will change, opening up new areas of the map and creating new challenges for drivers. The team had to build four different variations of the map, so the fact they’ve even managed to keep it the same size as its predecessor is impressive.

Pre-order packs have been revealed

7 Things We Know About Forza Horizon 4 So Far

The game is released on October 2, or September 28 if you order the Ultimate Edition. It’ll also be free to Game Pass subscribers from day one.

There are incentives available for pre-orders, too. Go for the standard version and you get a Formula Drift car pack thrown in for free. Upgrade to the Deluxe Edition and you also get a Car Pass subscription on top of that. Finally, the full fat Ultimate Edition packs those freebies plus a Day One car pack, a VIP membership, and two game expansions.

Cars, cars and more cars

7 Things We Know About Forza Horizon 4 So Far

There will be more than 450 cars in the game from a wide range of manufacturers. From the trailers and gameplay we’ve seen so far, some of the cars include the Aston Martin Vulcan, Ariel Nomad, Audi S1 Quattro and Dodge Viper ACR, while the McLaren Senna and 1997 Land Rover Defender 90 will be the cover cars. You can see the full list of spied cars here.

There will also be 42 extra cars delivered to Car Pass gamers at a rate of two per week, in a bid to keep the game fresh.

Character customisation and purchasable properties

7 Things We Know About Forza Horizon 4 So Far

You’ll be able to customise your character with a variety of different outfits, accessories and ‘emotes’ to really make your driver unique. Meanwhile you can also buy properties and businesses, which will unlock new gameplay options and items. A taxi company has been confirmed as one of the businesses you can buy, but it’s unclear if these will open mini games or if they’re simply a way of earning extra money behind the scenes.

You share the world with real people

7 Things We Know About Forza Horizon 4 So Far

The game world will be totally populated by real gamers, all experiencing the game world at the same time – so when seasons, weather and time of day change, they change for everyone. One cool feature this allows is challenges designed to get as many players into the same spot at once, which promises hilarious carnage.

However, it’s not an always online game. The developers were keen to stress that it can be played offline with Drivatars replacing real-time racers. You’ll also be able to pause the game, and people you’re not friends with won’t be able to crash into you and ruin your day.

Graphics or frame rate priority

7 Things We Know About Forza Horizon 4 So Far

Xbox One X owners will be able to choose between a super smooth 60fps frame rate, or beautiful 4K graphics. The idea is to give gamers the power to choose whether they’re happy to slum it in 1080 in favour of perfectly slick racing, or if they’d like to go 30fps to unleash the full graphical power of their console.

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Comments

Anonymous

Should I preorder? Planning to go for the Ultimate version.

06/16/2018 - 10:44 |
2 | 2
Wogmidget

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I’d wait until we get more info - you’ve still got 4 months to make up your mind

06/16/2018 - 12:07 |
10 | 0
BV86_OFISHAL (AUDM Fanboy)

I think we are expecting too much from Forza Horizon 4. There are plenty of new features like houses and seasons, and people are just saying it isn’t good enough. I would rather a gradual build up of features so the developers don’t burn out on ideas. We do want a Horizon 5, don’t we?

06/16/2018 - 10:49 |
24 | 6

No, we’re expecting too little

06/29/2018 - 13:22 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

I’m just hoping those weekly new car releases aren’t just regurgetated vehicles from previous Forza entries that should’ve been in the game from launch

06/16/2018 - 10:53 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

Hopefully has wales in it

06/16/2018 - 11:17 |
0 | 0
Jakob

Xbox One X owners will be able to choose between a super smooth 60fps frame rate, or beautiful 4K graphics. The idea is to give gamers the power to choose whether they’re happy to slum it in 1080 in favour of perfectly slick racing, or if they’d like to go 30fps to unleash the full graphical power of their console.

So Xbox One X players now get the kind of choice that PC players had for thirty years?

06/16/2018 - 11:21 |
150 | 6
Tomislav Celić

In reply to by Jakob

Actually no. I just made DiRT Rally ran at 1080p 60fps ultra on my PC. While that sounds like eazy pezzy lemon schwezzy, it’s not. You have to choose the right MSAA, the right resolution, and then when your computer runs at 55 fps, you have to choose which one of the 55 different setting will you turn down one a notch. Happily for me, my new Legion Y520 has an i7, 16GB DDR4, GTX 1050 ti and a fast SSD so putting it onto ultra was pretty much it.

However setting up Assetto Corsa wasn’t, since the problem above. It was a hard choice, but I decided to turn down the mirror quality render.

Meanwhile console gamers have a switch between 4k medium 30fps or 1080p Ultra 60fps. That’s it

06/16/2018 - 11:28 |
28 | 4
Griffin Mackenzie

In reply to by Jakob

30 years? What pc had options like that 30 years ago lmao

06/16/2018 - 13:38 |
48 | 2
Anonymous

I need an Xbox One X right now

06/16/2018 - 11:55 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

I’ll preorder just before it releases

06/16/2018 - 12:13 |
0 | 0
☆★THEBOOSTEDBRIT★☆

Winter:meant to say England, sorry

06/16/2018 - 12:34 |
0 | 2

The other three seasons

06/16/2018 - 12:37 |
0 | 2
suchdoge

Told my brother this would be based in the UK, he said “ No it will be in wales”

06/16/2018 - 12:51 |
0 | 0
Pagz777

I honestly would rather a bigger map than have these seasons to deal with

06/16/2018 - 13:11 |
4 | 2