Forza Horizon 4: General Pre-Release News & Discussion

[RandomCarGuy17]

And what about The Crew 2 ?

The map is for sure bigger, but the details of the map are worse. It seems like Turn 10 went for visuals over size in this case.

There is also another problem with that map, it is a bit lifeless in comparison as other people said.

 

[Minty]

I'd rather have a small map than a bland and boring one, thanks.

Exactly, I enjoy the Crew 2 but the map is so vast and empty that I usually end up getting bored driving from one place to the other and just fast travel to get it over with. I don't think I ever fast traveled in Horizon 2 or 3 unless I was in a hurry because the world felt believable and immersive.

I think a modern take on a TDU-scale Hawaii would be doable, though. The recent eruptions could be inspiration for some interesting showcase events

 

[breyzipp]

The Crew - massive open world map, less dense populated with stuff
Horizon - much smaller world map, a lot of stuff cranked into small areas

For some people the “lots of open word of emptiness” is boring in The Crew. But in real life it’s exactly the same, when you drive from one city to another you spend a long time on the road just having boring stuff near the road too.
Horizon on the other hand puts so much stuff in a small area it’s not really feeling realistic anymore, but it is great fun and the world looks stunning.

The Crew 2 vs Horizon 4 discussions are pointless since both games are so different. And both are great, each in their own ways. I already bought The Crew 2 and have Horizon on preorder. I’m having a blast with The Crew 2 at the moment but I expect in the end I will enjoy Horizon more. But that has nothing to do with the map but more about everything else in both games (The Crew 2 doesn’t have that much events, Horizon games feel like there is much more to do).

What I also liked a lot in the FH2 map compared to FH3 was that we have 5 cities in FH2 (albeit smaller, except for Nice) and only 2 in FH3 (but bigger). From the looks of it it doesn’t seem like the FH4 map will have that much in regards to cities. Edinsborough already looks significantly smaller compared to Surfers Paradise and I don’t even see something that is as big as Byron Bay on the composed FH4 map. Will we only have just 1 city this time? That would be sad since I really enjoyed those city-to-city road trips in FH2 and I always hoped we would have more cities in FH4 again, certainly not even less than the 2 from FH3.

But that’s just nitpicking, in the end when you look at the complete package FH4 will be much better than its predecessors in so many ways. And seeing how FH3 was already an awesome game... that raises the bar to the point this might very well become my favorite game of this console generation.

 

[ClydeYellow]

I think a modern take on a TDU-scale Hawaii would be doable, though. The recent eruptions could be inspiration for some interesting showcase events

TDU's map was a spell better than The Crew's - I have no clue why the latter is so often pointed to as an example of good game environment design.

 

[-Fred-]

In the end, there's a compromise to be made somewhere. People wanted dynamic weather, time of day, the ability to go anywhere with very little limits, more customisation for their cars and trucks, avatar customisation, more cars, etc... something's got to give.

 

[FT-1]

What I also liked a lot in the FH2 map compared to FH3 was that we have 5 cities in FH2 (albeit smaller, except for Nice) and only 2 in FH3 (but bigger). From the looks of it it doesn’t seem like the FH4 map will have that much in regards to cities. Edinsborough already looks significantly smaller compared to Surfers Paradise and I don’t even see something that is as big as Byron Bay on the composed FH4 map. Will we only have just 1 city this time? That would be sad since I really enjoyed those city-to-city road trips in FH2 and I always hoped we would have more cities in FH4 again, certainly not even less than the 2 from FH3.

Perhaps having an environment focused on more rural areas presents more opportunities for elevation changes?

Even then, I don't think Edinburgh is going to represent the only built-up area in the game. The circle highlighted in yellow is the town from the first livestream and the red circle is what I'm guessing looks like another small town.

 

[raven214]

Cherokee Trackhawk offroad kit:
View attachment 751724

*Mouth-drool* mmmmmmm

Edit: I see they call it the Trackhawk in the video, but really that's more akin to the "Trailhawk" version, isn't it?

 

[breyzipp]

Perhaps having an environment focused on more rural areas presents more opportunities for elevation changes?

Even then, I don't think Edinburgh is going to represent the only built-up area in the game. The circle highlighted in yellow is the town from the first livestream and the red circle is what I'm guessing looks like another small town.
View attachment 752096

Yeah I see your point but if a town is only a few roads with a dozen of houses, it doesn’t really feel like a town. It’s the same in FH3 with the town in the outback, close to the gorge to the north of the map. That never felt like a town to me, more like some houses next to a road. The same goes for the T-section in the south of the map where you also had a few houses next to the road, never felt like a town to me.

I’ll have to rewatch the first livestream again to get an impression of your yellow marked area.

What is cool about the map though is that it probably also changes colour. From yesterday’s livestream the map looks very brown so I assume that’s the autumn map. In winter it will probably be white. But that will also make me wonder then, will there always be the exact same amount of snow lying around in winter? If the minimap will represent the game, I don’t think either one of them will be dynamic (apart from the 4 seasons themselves).

 

[torque99]

Perhaps having an environment focused on more rural areas presents more opportunities for elevation changes?

Even then, I don't think Edinburgh is going to represent the only built-up area in the game. The circle highlighted in yellow is the town from the first livestream and the red circle is what I'm guessing looks like another small town.
View attachment 752096

It looks like a big town around the Horizon Site, in between the yellow and red circles - It can't all be the festival?

 

[Dan Hill]

I hope the map feels bigger than FH3 at least. For me FH2's map felt larger than FH3 to me even though it wasn't.

Looking forward to the Goliath style races and the Steam Loco Showcase event though.

Any idea where the coastal location is? Don't recognise the area around it despite living in the UK.

 

[FT-1]

It looks like a big town around the Horizon Site, in between the yellow and red circles - It can't all be the festival?

Based on the gameplay shown so far I don't see anything to suggest the festival is in a city. They've probably made it massive to make up for the fact there is only one festival site for the time being (I guess we don't need more since we have houses instead.)

Any idea where the coastal location is? Don't recognise the area around it despite living in the UK.

Based on it being mentioned in the first stream, I'm guessing the area around Bamburgh Castle:

 

[raven214]

Based on the gameplay shown so far I don't see anything to suggest the festival is in a city. They've probably made it massive to make up for the fact there is only one festival site for the time being (I guess we don't need more since we have houses instead.)

I believe in the first live stream they mentioned the festival is taking place in/around the ruins of an old castle. Hard to tell if there is any kind of city or village grown up around the area or not.

 

[breyzipp]

Perhaps having an environment focused on more rural areas presents more opportunities for elevation changes?

Even then, I don't think Edinburgh is going to represent the only built-up area in the game. The circle highlighted in yellow is the town from the first livestream and the red circle is what I'm guessing looks like another small town.
View attachment 752096

The red circle is actually where the first livestream starts. It's quite fun to rewatch the livestream with the map next to it, so you know where they are driving. You also see a showcase event on the ingame minimap in your red marked area with a pretty large airplane (3:30 minutes from stream 1 on Turn 10 YT channel) so I guess that's our fifth showcase event. The others being the motocross bikes from the demo, the hovercraft from the stream and then the map icons showing a train and that Halo spaceship thing.

But to come back to my initial worry, yes there seems to be an okay-ish amount of houses in that red area, it isn't remotely close to Byron Bay, but I feel we have several of these that would be nice.

And to whoever thought this is not the full map that was shown in the live stream, it is. There is not one single section of road missing so unless you can teleport somewhere, this is the complete map.

 

[FT-1]

The red circle is actually where the first livestream starts. It's quite fun to rewatch the livestream with the map next to it, so you know where they are driving. You also see a showcase event on the ingame minimap in your red marked area with a jet fighter (3:30 minutes from stream 1 on Turn 10 YT channel) so I guess that's our fifth showcase event. The others being the motocross bikes from the demo, the hovercraft from the stream and then the map icons showing a train and that Halo spaceship thing.

But to come back to my initial worry, yes there seems to be an okay-ish amount of houses in that red area, it isn't remotely close to Byron Bay, but I feel we have several of these that would be nice.

And to whoever thought this is not the full map that was shown in the live stream, it is. There is not one single section of road missing so unless you can teleport somewhere, this is the complete map.

I had the IGN video bookmarked so I forgot the took some parts of livestream out, but it's nice to know the lower part is a built-up area. 👍 The yellow marked area can be see from 2:46 in the same video:

 

[breyzipp]

I just rewatched the first stream and indeed I don’t think there is a lack of houses, there are in fact much more of them than the minimap collage would indicate.

Below are also the two player houses attached from the first stream (the “welcome home entering cutscenes”).

“The Gables” is in the red marked area (south on the map) and the first free house you get Ralph said.
“Sunflower Meadows” is in the yellow marked zone (southwest on the map) and looks a bit more expensive.

Here is all the info I know about houses:
There will be 12 player houses in total, The Gables you get for free and the other 11 are to purchase. There is also a lonely cottage somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Edinsborough Castle is the most expensive one.

I really hope player houses are expensive enough so that players won’t have 11 houses already after a week of playing. The most expensive cars in Horizon have always costed 10 million. I think Edinsborough castle should be at least 50 million to buy, heck I would prefer even closer to 100 or even 200 million. It would be great to look forward to owning it for many months. And the cost of the other houses probably varries a lot with poor small houses being relatively cheap to buy and big luxury villas being quite expensive and requiring some saving as well.

It would be cool if after purchasing a house there is a “delivery time” as well, similar to barn finds being restored. That delayed time would represent all the paperwork etc before being handed over the keys of the house.

I also hope the driveways themselves are private (and from the looks of the cutscene, I think they are), meaning if other players on the same server are in the same house, we don’t get a bunch of cars stacked up on our shared world driveways.

For sure I hope houses will never get onto discount with Forzathon or something, and certainly don’t get given away (free or discount) for watching a stream or something silly

 

[willbsn13]

Any idea what LARacer @ Horizon is? This is the Horizon Life Progression screen from yesterdays stream.

 

[Turboteg90]

Maybe its 3 houses per season and not all 12 at once.

 

[Flashfire926]

The Crew was only mentioned because of the map size, nothing more.

In that case, I agree with you. The map could be bigger, as long the rest of the game isn't sacrificed because of it, and the map isnt barren and sparse.

 

[Flashfire926]

The Crew - massive open world map, less dense populated with stuff
Horizon - much smaller world map, a lot of stuff cranked into small areas

For some people the “lots of open word of emptiness” is boring in The Crew. But in real life it’s exactly the same, when you drive from one city to another you spend a long time on the road just having boring stuff near the road too.
Horizon on the other hand puts so much stuff in a small area it’s not really feeling realistic anymore, but it is great fun and the world looks stunning.

The Crew 2 vs Horizon 4 discussions are pointless since both games are so different. And both are great, each in their own ways. I already bought The Crew 2 and have Horizon on preorder. I’m having a blast with The Crew 2 at the moment but I expect in the end I will enjoy Horizon more. But that has nothing to do with the map but more about everything else in both games (The Crew 2 doesn’t have that much events, Horizon games feel like there is much more to do).

What I also liked a lot in the FH2 map compared to FH3 was that we have 5 cities in FH2 (albeit smaller, except for Nice) and only 2 in FH3 (but bigger). From the looks of it it doesn’t seem like the FH4 map will have that much in regards to cities. Edinsborough already looks significantly smaller compared to Surfers Paradise and I don’t even see something that is as big as Byron Bay on the composed FH4 map. Will we only have just 1 city this time? That would be sad since I really enjoyed those city-to-city road trips in FH2 and I always hoped we would have more cities in FH4 again, certainly not even less than the 2 from FH3.

But that’s just nitpicking, in the end when you look at the complete package FH4 will be much better than its predecessors in so many ways. And seeing how FH3 was already an awesome game... that raises the bar to the point this might very well become my favorite game of this console generation.

It's a video game. IMO, realism is welcomed, but not at the expense of fun. Its the same when people say "weapon degradation is realistic", but this sort of realism just makes the game more tedious. If you want a realistic drive through the US, just actually drive through the US. Its even more realistic, cause you have to stop and rest due to fatigue.

Also FH4 does have 2-3 FH2-like towns if you look closely.

 

[-Fred-]

I don't have TC2 and don't plan to do so until there's a massive price drop on it, but judging by most of the videos I've seen on youtube, there are a lot of massive areas filled with nothingness on the map.

 

[breyzipp]

Maybe its 3 houses per season and not all 12 at once.

That wouldn’t really make sense. But, having certain houses locked initially would make a lot of sense. Suppose there are exploits early on in the game again (e.g. selling HE cars for 5 mill a piece in FH3 on PC) then the economy will be screwed again from day one.

 

[ShawnPhillips]

I don't have TC2 and don't plan to do so until there's a massive price drop on it, but judging by most of the videos I've seen on youtube, there are a lot of massive areas filled with nothingness on the map.

Having played TC2 beta and played the first Crew, the map can be fairly barren at times. TC2 made some improvements to the map, But the skill challenges that where everywhere in The Crew where pretty much gone in TC2. So you can drive for miles and miles without finding anything to do.
Even though FH3 map was fairly bland, I still find FH3 to be much more enjoyable due to the far larger car roster and vastly better handling physics. Plus the progression in TC pushing you to keep upgrading your cars to go faster and restricting to curtain car types for curtain race where FH3 lets you race any car, any where, at any time. Leads to much more creative gameplay as I can experiment with unnatural race setups.

 

[Mazyata]

FH3 map is bland. What keeps it going IMO is activities, online, livery editor, photomode, and car customizations. They got the basics down. Even with a game like Payback with a better map and better customizations can't take out FH. If only they worked on little details like CAR related instead of the you know what. In their stream they claim to have listened to what people want, I call half of it or more BS. Judging the way those guys look you can tell they got some soy in them. So whatever strange decisions were made is not surprising.

 

[willbsn13]

Judging the way those guys look you can tell they got some soy in them.

Wait what? Honestly not familiar with this expression, what are you trying to say here haha

 

[Silver Arrows]

Wait what? Honestly not familiar with this expression, what are you trying to say here haha

I'll give you a hint: he's saying literally nothing good, and it peeks into the type of person the quoted actually is.

 

[Mazyata]

Yes not really good but not bad enough to say the game is to be avoided. This game will be great and better than FH3. Calling it right now. I'm still sticking with the focus on cars rather than playing dress up. And yes, who does not have zero ounce of soy in them. I admit I do. This thread did not specify this is about FH praising and safe space for Horizon lovers. So far the complaints people have here is legit. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[breyzipp]

It looks like a big town around the Horizon Site, in between the yellow and red circles - It can't all be the festival?

Didn’t they say in the first stream that the festival would be in the ruins of an old castle or something like that?

 

[raven214]

Didn’t they say in the first stream that the festival would be in the ruins of an old castle or something like that?

Yes, and they showed some of it as well.

 

[torque99]

There looks to be plenty of customisation along with a total of 12 houses to go to.

Some strange outfits with no discrimination between the sexes, so men can wear skirts etc! Moustaches and pink watches. With more items to be won in Forzathon!

:tup:It looks like some funny (Strange) dancing Emote Characters might end up in my houses!

 

[Techlet]

You know, with all the emphasis on body kits, it'd be nice to have some more manufacturer kits, like the Weissach Pack on the 918 (and the 991.2 GT3 RS if it actually makes it into the game) or the production aero kit on the Regera.