| Forza Motorsport 5 | |
|---|---|
 Cover art featuring theMcLaren P1 racing throughPrague | |
| Developer(s) | Turn 10 Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft Studios |
| Director(s) | Dan Greenawalt |
| Producer(s) |
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| Designer(s) |
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| Programmer(s) |
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| Composer(s) | Lance Hayes |
| Series | Forza |
| Platform(s) | Xbox One |
| Release | November 22, 2013 |
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player,multiplayer |
Forza Motorsport 5 is a 2013racing video game developed byTurn 10 Studios and published byMicrosoft Studios forXbox One.[1] It is the fifthForza Motorsport and sixth overall installment in theForza series. The game was revealed on May 21, 2013 during the Xbox One reveal event and was released on November 22, 2013 as alaunch title.[2]Jeremy Clarkson, who was featured in the previous installment,Forza Motorsport 4, returned to narrate alongsideJames May andRichard Hammond, who co-presented alongside Clarkson inTop Gear. The narration was used for the game's commentary when choosing a new event, championship, or league.
Forza Motorsport 5 received generally positive reviews, with aggregate review websites GameRankings and Metacritic giving a score of 79.49% and 79 out of 100, respectively. Reviewers praised the game's visuals and artificial intelligence, but were critical of the lack of content in relation to its predecessor,Forza Motorsport 4.
Forza Motorsport 5 is asimulationracing video game. Players compete in events around the globe using real licensed cars on a variety of real world and fictional courses. It features an arcade mode, meant more for quickplay of races, and a career mode, which is focused on long-term play. Career mode spans several racing disciplines, spanning from racing of common commuter cars to those in racing series such asSuper GT andDeutsche Tourenwagen Masters as well as othersports car racing series. To help players acclimate to the simulation style of racing, assists such as an ideal racing line,anti-lock brakes andtraction control can be used.
Players can compete in various championships, which are divided based on vehicle manufacturer region, vehicle age, power, drivetrain, racing discipline, and other categories. Each championship consists of multiple races. Additionally exhibition races can be run, which are single events. Awards are generally better with championship races, while exhibitions require less of a time commitment from the player. The game offers bothsplit-screen multiplayer and online play throughXbox Live.
The game ships with 200 cars from over 50 manufacturers[3] and 17 circuits includingSpa,Bathurst,Yas Marina, andCircuit de la Sarthe. There are monthly car packs, including 10 cars each available to buy asdownloadable content (DLC) for the first 8 months after the game's launch. The possibility of tracks, such asNürburgring, being available to purchase as DLC after the game's launch was considered,[4][5] but instead Turn 10 Studios has released new tracks as free content for users, includingRoad America in February 2014,Long Beach in April 2014 and the Nürburgring in June 2014.[6]Silverstone Circuit and the fictionalBernese Alps racetrack, based on theSwiss Alps, were carried over fromForza Motorsport 4.[7]
The sound design team usedFMOD Studio to try new techniques for the game. The car audio model accepted inputs such as throttle position, engine load, boost pressure, gear selection, clutch position, and RPM (independent for engine, turbo, supercharger, and transmission). The team hiredSkywalker Sound to create an action moviesoundscape based on a lap of the Bernese Alps track inForza Motorsport 4, and as a result tailored the game audio for player engagement versus passive movie watching.[8]
AtE3 2013, first-hand gameplay, new features, and cars in "Forza Vista" mode were shown.[9] Also at the event, it was revealed that for the first time in the game's history there would be open-wheel cars including theDallara DW12IndyCar andFormula One cars, including theMcLaren M23 driven byJames Hunt and theFerrari 312T2 driven byNiki Lauda in the1976 Formula One season.[10] TheLotus E21 driven byKimi Räikkönen andRomain Grosjean in the2013 Formula One Season was also revealed on November 5.[3]
Lance Hayes, the award winning composer who had composed the previous two Motorsport installments, had returned to compose his final Forza soundtrack alongside English composer,John Broomhall. In contrast toits predecessors, there are no licensed songs from popular artists that play while racing, instead substituting them for the original score by Lance and John. Also, in contrast withForza Motorsport 4 andForza Motorsport 3, the score features an emphasis onorchestration andpercussion, in addition to the ambient electronica sound established in previous entries. The soundtrack was released alongside the game itself on November 22, 2013, exclusively as a digital download.[11]
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| GameRankings | 79.49%[12] |
| Metacritic | 79/100[13] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Edge | 7/10[14] |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 6.5/10[15] |
| Eurogamer | 7/10[16] |
| Game Informer | 8.75/10[17] |
| GameRevolution |    [18] |
| GamesMaster | 73%[19] |
| GameSpot | 9/10[20] |
| GamesRadar+ | [21] |
| Giant Bomb | [22] |
| IGN | 8.8/10[23] |
| Official Xbox Magazine (US) | 9/10[24] |
| Polygon | 9/10[25] |
Forza Motorsport 5 received generally positive reviews, with aggregate review websitesGameRankings andMetacritic giving a score of 79.49% and 79 out of 100, respectively. Shaun McInnis ofGameSpot said the game was "built on the romantic thrill of motorsport in all its forms, and that love for its subject matter is all but impossible to resist."[20] Luke Reilly ofIGN called it "an essential destination for the automobile obsessed" and "a very hard game for a revhead like myself not to love."[23] In his review forPolygon, Arthur Gies praised the game's "aggressive, convincing AI", saying it made "every offline race feel like a multiplayer competition".[25] Gies went on to say that "Turn 10 has charted a course for the future of the series — and created the Xbox One's first must-own game".[25]
However, a number of critics complained about the relative lack of content versus its predecessor,Forza Motorsport 4.Edge noted that the game "has lost some 300 cars, over 20 locations and countless tracks", losing "the variety of racing that made it great" and that it was "a launch game with all the spectacle and disappointment we’ve come to expect from launch games".[14] Matthew Kato ofGame Informer called the game's revised career mode "a mistake" and thatForza Motorsport 5 "takes a big step forward only to be held back by what it has removed".[17] Writing forEGM, Ray Carsillo said that while the game "maintains the tradition of providing great control along with some stunningly realistic graphics", ultimately it was "a surprising step backward for theForza franchise".[15]
On February 18, 2014 Microsoft announced thatForza Motorsport 5 is the fastest-selling racing game inXbox history. More than one third of Xbox One owners have bought the game.Eurogamer estimated the sales to be around 1.3 million copies.[26] On June 16, 2014Forza Creative Director Dan Greenawalt announced that half of all Xbox One owners have played the full version ofForza Motorsport 5.[27]
During the17th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, theAcademy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awardedForza Motorsport 5 with "Racing Game of the Year", along with receiving a nomination for "Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering".[28]
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