How car divisions in Forza Motorsport (Xbox Series X/S) should work

[GBalao888]

Motorsport 7's car divisions mechanic seems a little weirded out with some cars not being quite fitting in each specific division. With a potentially huge car list that can be possible for the next Forza, here's my take on how the divisions should work:

There should be four main categories: Road, Racing, Rally and Unique, and then will be broken down into smaller divisions. The divisions should have balance and should be re-thought to make sure that the competition is a little closer with the car selection based on a particular division, then that's where homologation comes in, whether it should be used or not (shouldn't always be forced on).

Road - A category for mostly road-legal production and tuned cars with divisions sorted by body styles with regards to performance. Anything from hypercars, supercars, sports cars, compact cars, SUV's, pick-up trucks, just about anything road-legal, will end up here.

Racing - This category is where all of the purebred race cars will end up in, and are all sorted by their respective divisions based racing styles and/or disciplines.

Rally - Like the Race category, Rally is dedicated to rally and offroad race cars.

Unique - This is where all the oddballs, strange and otherwise unique cars come in. Some cars can be either a mix between Road, Race and Rally cars that do not belong into any other division. Divisions such as Forza Specials, Fast & Furious and a number of Hoonigan-tuned cars will end up here.

Let me know if there are any such ideas on how the car divisions should work in the next Motorsport title.

 

[ShawnPhillips]

I definitely would like to see it overhauled. Maybe allow some cars to qualify for multiple divisions, and add sub divisions.

"Forza GT" Division could apply to all modern GT/SuperTrofeo/SuperGT/DTM cars, then have sub divisions within it so players can restrict to GT3, GT4, Super Trofeo, Super GT, etc.

Allowing cars to multiclass would open up more freedom and variety, The Volvo 242 could qualify for both Retro Rally and Retro Touring for example.

 

[ctdc67]

All that can be done at this point is to add more classes/devisions and that would make a lot more leaderboards to keep track of.

 

[Northstar]

Honestly, I think they've already made a better car grouping system, but for some reason they only put it in the Horizon series. They have the divisions, but also themed groups and blueprint for when neither of the other routes have what you are looking for. Not to mention the ability for the AI to match PI, granted I do wish there was an option to disable that particular feature as it pretty much makes it so you have to at least match the PI of the highest car if you want the most variety.

 

[ShawnPhillips]

Definitely would love to see the expanded grouping from Horizon make it's way to Forza Motorsport. That is the one area where Horizon's Blueprint system is superior to FM7's advanced race settings.

 

[HBR-Roadhog]

While the system in 7 was far from perfect I did really like the fact that it allowed you to drive cars that normally could not be competitive on most tracks in a competitive manner in the D-X class system. A few could be competitive on a track or two if built right but with the new system in 7 there were lots of cars that could compete in races that never would have had a chance before and to me that is a very good thing but very difficult to kee up with the leaderboards especially the way they were buried into the freeplay menus. I still would like to see that system or a variant of it return in the next edition.

 

[Dave A]

I don't see the need to overcategorise the cars. All you really need is a decent performance rating system and then let the games events do the catergorising rather thna the vehicles themselves. For example, one event might require cars that are 2wd with a PP of 600 or less, no more than 350Bhp and cars that have a maximum downforce value of whatever with a restriction on what tyres can be used.

You can throw all differeent types of restrictions into the events, such as an even for hatchbacks only, an event for convertibles, an event for mid engined supercars, Impreza's v Lancers etc. It's the events that should do the categorising not the vehicles themselves.

Once you put vehicles in a box like "hot hatch" as was done in Forza 7 the events simply beocme the "hot hatch" event where you race your hot hatch against othewr hot hatches. There were very few opportunities in the career mode to break out of those boxes. It was very dissapointing.

 

[SportCoaster]

I would rather have Street, Sports, Rally, Race & Supercars, Megacars & Hypercars (all 3 in the same Division).

 

[YoungRhombus]

It's the events that should do the categorizing not the vehicles themselves.

I think this is the key. I've mentioned it before, but Forza going back to doing something similar to FM4's "Career List" mode would go a long way in increasing the longevity of the next Motorsport game. I miss the days where I could, for example, take my Volvo C30 to a C-Class Hot Hatch event and then turn right around and use it in the 5-Cylinder events.

All the cars need to have several "soft" (so to speak) categories that allow them to qualify on an event-by-event basis. This could be categories like number of doors, body type, engine type, country of origin, engine/transmission layout, etc. Then they could also keep a singular "hard" category like the past few games have had. This will go a long way for increasing event variety (hopefully we can have more event types than just racing) as well as car variety. This would also allow players to go move out of their comfort zone and drive cars they would otherwise not drive that often.

For example, a VW Golf event would only have Golfs up to B class be eligible, Class-by-Class World Tour events, etc.

 

[RPM Bibblefish]

I think T10 need to choose between their class based system or their homologation system. Having both is pointless and just makes the entire experience overly complicated while also spreading the number of people online to thinly over way to many lobbies.

Personally, i think they should pursue the homologation system as the class based system just ends up with cars in the same race/lobby with vastly different performance figures (e.g. missile cars)

Add to that they need some kind of proper rating system so people are grouped more evenly based on skill and how clean they drive (GT sport seems to do this well from what i've seen, never played it though)

Get in a lobby with people who are at roughly the same skill level as you and FM7 produces some really good races. However, more often than not, that doesn't happen.

 

[r_outsider]

I think T10 need to choose between their class based system or their homologation system. Having both is pointless and just makes the entire experience overly complicated while also spreading the number of people online to thinly over way to many lobbies.

Personally, i think they should pursue the homologation system as the class based system just ends up with cars in the same race/lobby with vastly different performance figures (e.g. missile cars)

Add to that they need some kind of proper rating system so people are grouped more evenly based on skill and how clean they drive (GT sport seems to do this well from what i've seen, never played it though)

Get in a lobby with people who are at roughly the same skill level as you and FM7 produces some really good races. However, more often than not, that doesn't happen.

I would tend to agree, although sometimes having a little freedom to build is sort of nice, we use it fairly regularly in our club races for example. However, much as some like the class system, unless they ditch that and the resultant missile cars and Jeeps with ridiculous handling, the game will never be taken seriously. Which is a shame, as under all the bling and flash, there is a pretty decent engine that could be expanded on.

 

[Zeitoss]

They should be overhauled and simplified.

Thanks to the collaboration with FIA, GT sport nailed down the car divisions, especially the race divisions are really clear and simple.

It would be enough for example to follow a similar approach and have similar classes, maybe introducing just a duplicate for each class to divide modern /contemporary from vintage, due to the extreme differences caused by the introduction of electronics in automotive industry.

For example, a Gr.3 Category with all relevant race cars built after 90s (or whatever is the year where ABS and TC were massively introduced in racing) and Gr.3 Legends for all relevant cars prior to that date.

I don't have now in front of me the exact years, and is not my intention to start a discussion about that (just to anticipate the reply of some cherrypicking /nitpicking smart-ass), I believe Forza team has so many engineers/designers who can spend a bit of time in historical analysis and research, and come out with an acceptable way to differentiate cars belonging to same category but different timelines.

At the end, having a max of 20 car divisions should do the job, and find the sweet spot between being comprehensive and intuitive at the same time.

This brings to another consideration.
Forza has too many and too weird cars, which for the most part have nothing to do with the the word "Motorsport".
Cars belonging to Hot Wheels, for example, have their reason of existence in Forza Horizon, surely not in Forza Motorsport.

Lack of identity, this is the current problem of Forza Motorsport.

 

[BoneSawTX]

I’d like custom made divisions, list the cars and PI limits. Being able to share these like tunes and paints would be nice.