Many professional race car drivers and crew chiefs will tell you, a race isn’t necessarily won on the track, it can actually be won or lost in the pits. With the Xbox One launching back in 2013 and their baby sitting in the pit being worked on, Turn 10 was under immense pressure to get Forza 5 out and back on the track in a short period of time. This didn’t give them to time to make all the adjustments needed to make the game perform its best, and while it didn’t cost them podium altogether, they really missed out on a first place finish compared to their previous standard (though it should be stated, it was far better than Gran Turismo’s DNF as far as the PS4 went). Now that they’ve had a lot more time to spend with their new chassis and engine, Forza Motorsport 6 looks primed to set new lap records.

Okay, enough of the forced racing analogies! Let’s talk about all the new stuff that Forza 6 gets right this time around. Like the re-expanded roster of cars, totalling 450 at launch (road cars from 67 different manufacturers, and race cars from several different kinds of motorsports series including Formula E, IndyCar, as well as touring and endurance series). That’s more than double what Forza 5 gave us to start with. Yes, a lot of them are just ones brought back from the 360 titles, but they’ve been lovingly updated to 2015, next-gen standards, including detailed cockpits and Forzavista support so you can get up close and personal with them. Thankfully, those microtransactions are no longer in your face like they were last time, which means acquiring all these cars is much easier because their prices and the rate at which you earn credits is a lot more reasonable. On top of that, the game borrows from Forza Horizon 2’s wheel spin mechanic. Every time you level up your driver level (based on XP you earn from races), you get a chance to win more credits or even a new car straight up. The end result is you won’t be taunted as constantly by cars out of your reach, with the option to purchase tokens dangled right under your nose.

So that’s the deal with the cars, but what about the tracks? Forza 5 definitely got boring rather quickly as you were shuttled between the same few places back and forth, regardless of what you were doing in career mode. For the sequel, there is certainly a lot more variety. Forza 6 calls its career mode “Stories of Motorsport” but the concept is basically the same as past versions for the most part. You choose from a set of car types or racing eras, buy a new car that meets the requirements or upgrade an existing one in your garage if needed, and then participate in a series of races that highlight the strengths of your car. It’s all framed quite nicely by commentary from the Top Gear crew or other racing personalities. Anyway, the total number of tracks has increased to 25 versus the 14 seen in the last game. 9 of them are completely new to the franchise, and 6 are in totally new locations: Brands Hatch, Circuit of the Americas, Daytona, Lime Rock Park, Monza and Watkins Glen. Rio de Janeiro returns from all the way back in Forza 1 (which I never played, admittedly), and Indianapolis has been completely redone, which is a treat as Forza 6 also brings over the Showcase Event concept from Horizon, which means you get to race it in an IndyCar very early in the campaign. These Showcase Events are a great way of mixing things up and shaking you out of the doldrums of the story mode.

But it’s not just the track variety that makes things interesting, but finally the track conditions can also vary and affect your experience. Unfortunately it’s not anything dynamic like say Horizon’s weather, but still, races can take place in the rain or even at night, and it really affects both the perception and the feel of the track. Turn 10 made a point of mentioning how they went to tracks like Sebring and the Nurburgring and observed where puddles built up, heightening the realism. These puddles aren’t just for show, they must be accounted for as approaching them with speed will cause you to hydroplane and fly off the track. In many cases you will have to alter your racing line to avoid these puddles as opposed to when you’re running it dry. It’s a nice touch that will give you a lot more to learn while playing the game, and it all handles brilliantly.

There’s some other neat little tweaks to the racing experience as well. One that might put off the more sim-centric folks out there is the mod system. Mods are kind of like booster packs of cards you can buy with credits. The haul is random, but the more you spend, the more likely you will get the more powerful rare cards. Mod effects can range from a one time enhancement of starting grid position to reusable mods like that improve your car’s grip, sometimes more so on a specific track, to mods that actually dare you to do something more difficult like turn off certain assists or force you to use first person perspective for extra credits. Mods are totally optional so if you find it gimmicky you don’t have to use it, but they are a fun way for more casual racers to upgrade their cars or increase the challenge. Speaking of challenge, Drivatars are back of course, but along with difficulty settings is the option to turn off the more aggressive behavior in order to curb the annoying shoving matches that can ruin a sim experience. It seems to work, but it’s hard to say before the flood of users come launch time. Finally, multiplayer is back of course and bigger than ever, with support for up to 24 racers at once. Besides the usual matchmaking lobbies though, there’s also a new feature: leagues. Leagues kind of work like mobile games where you compete with others over the course of a week and based on your standing within the league you both earn credits and either get promoted to a higher division, stay put, or get relegated down. Eventually you should get sorted out with racers on your level of skill. It’s hard to tell whether this strategy will work when it goes live for the masses, but it’s an intriguing concept to say the least.

Of course, it’s not enough just to introduce more content and bells and whistles, the visual aspects of a sim racer are arguably as important as the gameplay, and it’s important to keep pushing the bar. Fortunately Forza 6 does just that, achieving 1080p and 60 frames per second with ease, even the new challenge of rendering rain and night conditions. Water beads up on your car and on your windshield, puddles ripple and reflect the sky, and the cars themselves shine differently based on what materials are defined in their paint layers. There’s no question this is a first class citizen on Xbox One and a true next-gen game. Forzavista and the cockpits are absolutely stunning. Audio wise the engines all hit the right notes. The music is similar to Forza 5 in that it strikes a dramatic tone, almost making you feel like you’re in a car chase rather than a racetrack. It’s up to you whether you like that. I could have gone for some more licensed music like in Horizon, myself.

I have a feeling Forza Motorsport 6 is the game Turn 10 meant to make a couple years ago if only they had more time, and weren’t pressured into making microtransactions and DLC such an overbearing strategy for monetizing the franchise. This feels like a more genuine effort to build on the series and add more of the things we were expecting with the added power of this console generation. Definitely a must buy if you are an Xbox One owner and a fan of racing games.

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