Last week’s UK game sales charts are in and the big winner in the racing genre is the Forza series. With two titles placing in the top 20, hype continues to follow the Xbox brand following the reason of the Xbox One X.
Although GTA V finished top of the full list, the racing genre’s biggest winner is Forza Motorsport 7. Gamers in the region boosted the title past competitors like Super Mario Odyssey and Need For Speed Payback, moving up to ninth from the previous week’s 10th position. With the latest DLC pack for the game looking nice indeed, new owners of FM7 are purchasing at the right time.
Good fortune continued across to Forza Horizon 3 too as it moved up five places into 19th. There could be a few factors towards why FH3 is seeing a bump but the best bet is probably a combination of bundling and this week’s Xbox One X patch. All in all, a good showing for Microsoft’s two major racing franchises.
Following behind Motorsport 7, Need For Speed Payback drops two places into 16th position. Since release, the game has reliably managed to sit in the top 20 and last week was no different. Alongside the recent release of the Speedcross DLC, Payback is also revving up for online freeroam later this year. Performance of the title is also worth noting as it hasn’t had many severe discounts. For example, Payback can be found right now on Amazon UK for £38. Ghost Games should be very happy with the current popularity in the UK.
GT Sport didn’t fair as well as others in the genre, sliding further down the charts into 23rd. Despite being the best performing racing game at retail in 2017, it has not been the best of starts this year for the latest entry in the series. January tends to be a quiet sales month across the board due to the festive hangover, perhaps Sport is just getting the shortest end of the stick.
Racing Games in Retail UK Top 40 for Week Ending January 13
- 9th: Forza Motorsport 7 (Turn 10 Studios)
- 16th: Need For Speed Payback (EA/Ghost Games)
- 19th: Forza Horizon 3 (Playground Games)
- 23rd: Gran Turismo Sport (Polyphony Digital)
See more articles on UK Sales Charts.
