It’s exactly four weeks until Forza 6’s North American release date, and today Turn 10 has pulled the curtain back on some of its new features for the game. First – and least controversial – is the Prize Spin feature, as seen in Forza Horizon 2.
This system rewards players as they level up, but there are a few notable changes from the FH2 feature. Players are now able to see all available prizes for that spin, but once the A button is pressed, the grid freezes and the highlighted frame will move a few more times before settling on the gift. If a player already owns the car, they will be offered the credit equivalent. Just as in the open-world game, players have the choice of banking their spins until a later time.
One feature that’s going to cause a lot more chatter on the forums though is the mysterious new “Mods” system, which the veil has been drawn back from today.
“Mods” are game modifiers – settings that the player can choose pre-race for either one-time benefits, or permanent – and should introduce a new layer of strategy into the Career and Free Play modes. Three slots are available, as well as three types of Mods: Dare, Crew, and Boost.
Dare Mods make your race more difficult, forcing you to start at the back of a 24-car grid, or to use manual with clutch, or even decreasing engine power. Complete the objective, though, and you’ll earn additional credits.
Crew Mods are performance perks, giving your car either extra power, less weight, more grip, or more braking power (or even some combination of the four). There is no credit bonus tied to Crew Mods, and like Dare Mods, they are unlimited use.
Boost Mods are one-time affairs, focusing on in-race events. Some examples that Turn 10 highlight are Pristine Drafting (Earn 3,000 credits for Perfect Drafts up to 18,000 credits), Ghost (Your car has no collisions for the first lap of this race), and Superior Payout (Earn +60% credits for a single race).
With three Mod slots available, players can mix and match their Mods, with two exceptions: both the Dare and Crew types are limited to one active at a time. A player may therefore have one of each type, a Dare/Crew mod plus two Boost mods, or even all three of the latter.
Many sources have likened this system to Halo 4’s Skulls system, but in case readers of this Playstation-themed driving game site are unfamiliar with an XBox exclusive first-person shooter, a more familiar comparison would be Gran Turismo 4. A-Spec points in that game were handed out based on how much the player handicapped themselves in a race, and the Dare Mods certainly follow this. Dares are, in many ways, an extension of the assists already in the Forza series as players already get credit bonuses for things like removing traction control or using the clutch, so these Mods simply increase these bonuses. A mod that forces clutch use will indeed stack on the credit bonus that normally entails. Forza Horizon 2 has a similar “Perks” system as well, awarding players with things like parts (or even full car) discounts, XP boosts, and other gameplay enhancements.
Those of a more realistic mindset – especially those who would deem themselves competitive – may take issue with this new Mod system, but rest easy as they will not be available in any Online mode, nor Rivals, nor Forza’s new Leagues setup. In addition, any lap times set with any Mod activated will automatically be labelled as “dirty” on Forza 6’s global Leaderboards.
What are your thoughts on this new feature? Will it draw casuals into using fewer assists on the promise of increased payouts? Let us know in the comments, or in our dedicated Forza Motorsport 6 forum.
I’m gonna use the hell out of this mods system… reason? I almost never play online in racing games.
Elitist 1: Haha nOOb, you can’t win on your own!
Me: Idiot, I’m only playing this game for fun…
Elitist 2: LOOOL Casual nOOblet!!
Me: Call me what you want, losers. I’m not gonna lose sleep over you both.
Sorry for double posting: I just noticed there’s a “Buy Mod Packs” option. DO NOT WANT. Will get ’em on my own by leveling up.
Can someone please explain why being rewarded a small bonus for driving using manual and clutch, having assists off, or having a clean race is receiving complaints? I thought these things are deemed as “hardcore” and is the opposite of casualization? Being rewarded credits for driving hardcore itself can’t possibly be the complaint, because Forza had this in the past.
Damaged pride. Anything that threatens to undermine the self-esteem of other players is immediately a target for “criticism”.
Personally, I wish games didn’t try so hard to massage egos, because it perpetuates the insecurity and legitimises it.
Gotta be honest with yourself, and find enjoyment at your own level without begrudging any one else’s “level” being different, one way or the other.
^ +1.
I play at the difficulty I feel like when I feel like it. Elitists can say whatever they wanna, not gonna lose sleep over them fools.
I’m sorry, but this just sounds completely stupid. Like some executive with no experience making games, just had to get his idea in there.
Seriously doubt Dan and/or Alan are thinking this adds any value to the franchise…
I think otherwise. Turn 10 and Forza both have a history of some weird, quirky aspects. I think the worst one was Forza 4 incorporating that idiotic Top Gear car bowling… in the freaking career! I absolutely hated it, and jumped outside of Career Mode to do events I wanted to do in the order I wanted. If I end up buying F6, still debating, I hope I can choose zero mods.
Some of it sounds silly, you won’t hear an argument from me. The Ghost one particularly. But remembering that these are games first, and simulations second, I can’t fault T10 for trying to make them more approachable to the casuals. Half of all XBox One owners have played FM5, so I wouldn’t doubt this is a move to keep those numbers up.
A similar system has hardly dampened the fun in FH2, and they’ve wisely kept this out of any modes that you’ll be playing against human players. I’ll be using it… if only for the credit boosts. I’ve been playing Forza with manual+clutch since Day 1, why not take advantage of an additional bonus? :-D
It’s certainly no Moon Mission…
As I posted in the forums, I will hold off on making my mind up until I actually see this in action myself.
My only reservation with this “Mod” system is I do not want it forced into the game in case it is something I despise.
Same here. I think this is just strange, and as I said above, should be entirely optional.
@nocturnalgrey – It’s optional. You can run any race with zero mod slots filled.
Calling them “mods” (in the game) is initially confusing, since you surely also apply “mods” to the cars themselves. I dearly hope it’s not meant to evoke the sense of PC mods… They should have gone with the more precise and hardly verbose: “modifiers”.
At any rate, these seem more like the mutators in UT etc., so I welcome them in principle, but they’d only really be like the Skulls if you had to find / collect / unlock them first. I wouldn’t want to have to play the game in a way I don’t like just to be “allowed” to play it the way I’d prefer, so I’d rather it weren’t unlock (or DLC!) based.
I do love the layer of pretence: “braking engineer: +20% braking” – of course!
Otherwise it seems like a good idea.
Sounds like more freemium crap in a $60 game. Great.
Not sure how that’s the take-away, when not a single item in this article will cost any real-life amounts. Just in-game credits. FM6 has less microtransactions than FM5, not more.
@wallpaper42 don’t use it then. Also, they don’t cost anything; they’re random rewards for leveling up.
At times like this I wish I had an XBOX One.
Not me. I’ve been swayed by things like this and ended up being disappointed.
I bought the Xbox One back in may specifically for FM5 and 6. Just like I bought the X360 for FM3 and 4. Not disappointed AT ALL.