Gamescom officially opens tomorrow, but Microsoft had a briefing today in preparation, touching on a large swath of its upcoming 2015/2016 lineup. Being just over a month away from release, Forza Motorsport 6 naturally has a display on site, with a community-designed livery wrapped around Ford’s new Focus RS complete with its own Stig standing guard.
What should really interest sim racers though are the new details that have already been released – the video above has IndyCar driver Josef Newgarden discussing the wet-weather driving in FM6, with a mind-boggling 148 different types of surfaces, and has brief hints of new cars. The 2015 IndyCars make an appearance alongside the 2011 Audi R15 TDI Plus and the Peugeot 905, as well as GT3-class racers from McLaren, Lamborghini, and Bentley.
Even more exciting, the final four unknown tracks have been revealed. Forza Motorsport 6 will ship with Circuit of the Americas, Monza, Sonoma Raceway (the track formerly known as Infineon) and Hockenheimring. The latter two will be familiar to Forza players, having appeared in Forza Motorsport 4, while COTA and Monza are new to the series.
In addition to this, Turn 10 has announced the addition of Online Leagues in the game. Leagues will run for a week, during which all players that join will earn points based on their finishing order and the level of the competition they beat. A global leaderboard will tally points and determine a player’s Driver Division.
On first impressions, Driver Divisions sound a little bit like GTPlanet’s own WRS system. After a League ends, a player’s Driver Division will be re-evaluated, moving them into a class better suited to their skill level. All players will start at the lowest Division when the game launches, but the goal of this system is to better accommodate those looking for the best online experience.
In addition to general skill level, Driver Division also takes into account a player’s number of in-race contacts, ideally placing clean racers amongst like-minded drivers, and those more aggressive players against the same.
Lastly, Spectator Mode has mercifully made it back to the series. With today’s ever-increasing amount of live gameplay and the increased field size (24 cars) coming with FM6, this should make commentators happy.
Gamescom is just getting warmed up, so feel free to stop by our dedicated Forza Motorsport 6 forum for more in-depth discussion.
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I know I’m gonna sound like a kid but I don’t really like online leagues because I’d rather have no-collision races like in Forza Motorsport 5.
Really enjoyed those. I don’t care whether anyone thinks this is not racing, I’m only here for fun… so if they add no collision racing leagues they’ll make me a happy online player.
No honestly, I really don’t care if anyone mocks me for wanting to race without collision. I’m not gonna lose sleep or waste any patience on anyone making fun of me.
From my understanding, these newly-announced leagues will be in addition to the current roster of online racing options FM5 has. I could be wrong, since they haven’t been completely clear on it yet, but that’s how it’s sounded to me.
I can only dream of them adding No-Collision racing for each class instead of a monthly selection. After all, the devs said “Forza Motorsport 6 won’t disappoint”
Like I say, I can only dream about it for now.
Lamborghini Huracan looks to be the Trofeo version, not the GT3.
Sure I saw the Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 in there too.
Loved 4, hated 5, wasn’t really bothered about 6 (enjoying Project CARS too much) but now starting to get interested.
Looks amazing!
I hope PD is taking notes.
Watching what Forza has done makes me want PD to improve the rain in their games. In GT, you don’t see puddles. You just have the off-line section being wetter than the racing line until it gets to a certain percentage.
There is a reason for the difference. Don’t think too hard.
@ jake2013guy, have you ever seen gamplay of Gran Turismo 3 or 4? The PS3 simply does not have the correct computing power that the PS2 does in order to show this rain reflection effect. The same goes for the heatwaves.
Lol nothing on Driveclub!
Last time I’ve checked Driveclub wasn’t running on Xbox One and wasn’t running at 60 fps.
Some great innovations, too bad I don’t have an XB1.
Great news for forza fans. COTA is amazing. Meanwhile, GT 7 will be revealed in 2018.
Gamespot’s 2 month old post confirms that GT7 is coming before 2017.
Holy man, that video was so awesome! Now we just need to hope that they have the whole line-up of 2013 and 2015 IndyCars to the game.
Ok I’m sold! I’ll be buying my self the XBox ONE along with Forza 6… PS4 you still my Main tho
With every piece of news that filters down about Forza I’m more and more likely to buy an xbox and not buy a PS4 and wait listening to the crickets before anything comes from PD about GT7. I’d say there’s a lot of disillusioned fans of GT out there right now. So who wants out money more?
*our money
I saw the picture and got excited, then I realized it wasn’t Gran Turismo related…
If they work well, online leagues alone could be a reason to purchase this console and game. Tremendous news, I just hope they do it up right so that the players looking for clean racing can have a welcome place to race.
I’m expecting they’ll require a little fiddling, if I’m honest, but they do represent a great step forward for online racers. It’ll be interesting to see how well they’ve automated such a complex process, and if private lobbies are going to be able to do similar things. But still, as ever: more options are always better. This is now a new option.
On iRacing works perfectly, is exactly what the name means, Internet Racing. I don’t know how Forza physics will be, but iRacing it’s enough sim for me. Is very difficult after try it to go back, IMO iR is the obvious “next step” for every sim racer. Also, anything to this direction, are a very good news.
Awesome, COTA :D
Best forza 6 news ive heard.