Forza Motorsport News

Forza Motorsport Update 4 introduces the prestigious Daytona International Speedway – a truly iconic racetrack renowned for its marvels in engineering. Meanwhile, a new Italian Challengers Featured Tour invites you to build four staples of Italy’s automotive heritage! Let’s dive into the details.

Update 4 will be available to download on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PCs and Steam beginning on Tuesday, January 16. New events across the Career, Featured Multiplayer and Rivals will start on Thursday, January 18. This version is focused on new content and events, and contains only minor fixes compared to our previous updates. Work on game fixes to address top community issues is ongoing – look out for additional improvements in Update 5 and beyond.

[h2]New Track – Daytona[/h2]

Daytona International Speedway is a historic, world-famous track with banked, high-speed corners and in Forza Motorsport, it features two distinct layouts. Master the high-velocity 2.5-mile Tri-oval Circuit and the technical, more challenging 3.59-mile Sports Car Circuit.


Compete on both layouts in Career Mode and Featured Multiplayer, set your fastest lap times in any car class in Time Attack, or enjoy a Daytona race day either solo or with your friends in Free Play and Private Multiplayer. We’ll also have a special Daytona Sports Car Series in Featured Multiplayer to replicate the excitement of the iconic race weekend.

Daytona International Speedway was built in 1959 by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., who wanted to create a track that was faster than any other in the world. Since then, it has hosted several races including the annual Daytona 500, as well as IndyCar and IMSA. The track was renovated in 2016 with the installation of 101,500 seats, making it one of the largest stadiums in the United States!


With the release of Update 4, select existing Builders Cup series will be updated to integrate Daytona, Hockenheim, and Yas Marina.

[h2]New Career Tour – Italian Challengers [/h2]

Discover how Italian cars became an unquestionable staple of the automotive industry in Italian Challengers, the new Featured Tour in Career Mode.


It starts with All-Wheel Driven, where Lancia stands ready to take on its historic adversaries on the track as you race iconic rally machines. Then in Roadster Renaissance, step behind the wheel of the Abarth 124 Spider and battle the iconic Mazda MX-5 to discover the shared origins of these unique siblings.

Tour the world of luxury sports sedans – a class once dominated by Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz – and experience a fierce contender in Alfa Performance. Conclude this Featured Tour with Italian beauty, craftsmanship, and speed by racing with track-focused, high-performance Ferrari cars in Prancing Power.


Italian Challengers series do not have to be completed in a particular week – you have until February 29, 2024, to finish this latest Featured Tour. Spotlight cars are available at a discount for the week during which they are featured. Complete all 4 series to unlock the 2010 Lamborghini Murciélago LP 670-4 SV!

[h2]New Career Series – Classic Open Class [/h2]

With each update to Forza Motorsport, the Open Tour gets refreshed with new events and a new reward car.


Open Tour is where you can continue the journey of your favorite cars. Cars that you’ve already built in a different Builders Cup series can be further levelled up and upgraded in the Open Tour.

In Update 4, the Open Tour is all about racing the classics. Build your favorite cars and bring them to the track to race models of automotive history.


All 4 refreshed Open Tour series (C, B, A, S) will be available on January 18. Complete all 4 series before February 15, 2024, to add the 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA Stradale to your collection.

[h2]New Featured Multiplayer Series – Spec and Open Events [/h2]

Here’s a look at your Featured Multiplayer calendar of upcoming events for Update 4:


[h3]Formula Mazda Series – January 18 – February 15 [/h3]

With their smooth power delivery and brilliant handling, open-wheel Mazda formula cars are an ideal entry-level series to develop a driver’s skills for racing’s top classes.

[h3]Forza P1 Series – January 18-24 [/h3]

Experience cutting-edge racecars with massive aerodynamic downforce, super-efficient engines and performance-boosting hybrid systems.

[h3]Daytona Sports Car Series – January 25-31 [/h3]

Experience the thrill of Daytona race weekend in Forza Motorsport! Every few hours, the car class cycles between Forza GT, Forza P2, and Forza Proto-H with natural time-of-day progression like the real 24-hour race.

[h3]VW Golf GTI Spec Series – February 1-7 [/h3]

Get behind the wheel of the car that gave birth to the Hot Hatch revolution more than four decades ago.

[h3]Modern Factory Racecar Series – February 8-15 [/h3]

Race through a field of ultimate track day specials in the Modern Factory Racecar series. These mid-engine production cars feature unique upgrades designed to achieve the highest performance metrics and ensure victory on the track.

[h2]Featured Rivals – Update 4 [/h2]

Set your fastest lap times across new Rivals events in Forza Motorsport Update 4. Look out for a special new event featuring the classic 1990 Mercury #15 Whistler Radar Cougar XR-7 at Daytona Tri-oval Circuit.


Meanwhile if you have VIP Membership, check out the Titanic Tuner VIP Rivals on Road America – East Route where you can drive the 2019 Subaru WRX STI S209 Forza Edition.

Update 3 also means the beginning of Stage 3 of the Logitech McLaren G Challenge. Sign up at Discord.gg/LogitechG to qualify for prizes, including a chance to win a VIP racing experience with McLaren!


Once registered, set your fastest laps at Grand Oak – National Circuit in the 2015 McLaren P1 GTR. The top drivers per region advance to the semifinals in February 2024.

Here’s the Forza Motorsport Rivals calendar for Update 4:

*VIP Rivals events require VIP Membership, available in the Premium Edition or Premium Add-Ons Bundle, sold separately.

[h2]See You at Daytona [/h2]


Whether you’re racing Italian Challengers using the new Spotlight cars, competing online at Daytona to celebrate race weekend in the upcoming Featured Multiplayer series, or building your favorite cars in the Open Tour, we can’t wait for you to discover everything Update 4 brings to Forza Motorsport starting on January 16. Remember you can share your feedback about future cars, tracks and features on our official Forza Suggestions Hub.

We are taking a moment at the start of this year to thank you for your support and feedback since launch, reflect on some of the things we have learned, and share what you can expect from us in the coming months.

In addition to our streams, our update blogs, and the Suggestions and Troubleshooting Hubs, we will commit to publishing quarterly updates like this one to let you know where we stand on items the community is passionate about.


While we have been heads down adding cars, tracks, patches, and other improvements, we want to acknowledge the top three areas of feedback we haven’t addressed directly first – so here’s what we’ve heard from you.

[h2]Car Progression[/h2]

We know that the progression system in Forza Motorsport is a divisive topic among our players. We’ve been gathering feedback from a variety of sources, including the Suggestions Hub, socials, forums, long-time players, and surveys to players who may not be as active on our traditional community gathering places.

It is clear from looking at feedback that while many of our players are enjoying the system as is, for many others it isn’t delivering the upgrade experience that they expect from Forza Motorsport. To address this, we are exploring changes to the system. Our goal with these changes is to retain what is working for those that enjoy it, while resolving the issues many of our most dedicated players have with the system.


Addressing this feedback is a top priority for the team going into 2024, however it will take some time to properly evaluate options, make the necessary code changes, and thoroughly test those code changes.

[h2]Forza Race Regulations[/h2]

We are aware that Forza Race Regulations are not working as intended in some situations. We have heard about inconsistent or unfair penalties in instances of intentional ramming, being pushed off the track, and spinning cars pushing drivers off the track. We have also heard that high speed collisions sometimes have no penalties while low speed collisions have mild penalties. It’s important that we capture all the data that we can about a race when FRR rulings happen in error, so over the next few months, we will be working with some long-time competitive Motorsport players to gather direct telemetry from them while they’re playing. They will be capturing these instances and feeding data to our team so that we can issue tweaks to make FRR more accurate and reliable. We appreciate your patience as we work on improving the system.

[h2]AI[/h2]

We have seen feedback about our AI’s driving behavior: abruptly braking and slowing down; not accelerating out of exits, braking too hard on mild corners, and following racing lines too strictly. We understand how important it is to have fair and competitive AI in Motorsport and are our top priorities in early 2024 are addressing overly aggressive AI, while also getting a cleaner race start into turn 1 where many of the issues above most severely manifest and impact players.


The 3 areas mentioned above are just a few examples of what we have seen most often and know you care passionately about. We care about these issues too. These and other issues are constantly being worked on, iterated, and given careful consideration. How and what we implement and when is driven by the desire to improve the experience regularly and consistently in a way that does not sacrifice stability and minimizes any downtime.

Thanks,
Andy Beaudoin, Forza Motorsport Game Director
Chris Esaki, Forza Motorsport Creative Director
Trevor Laupmanis, Forza Motorsport Executive Producer

Welcome to the 2023 Forza Year in Review! Another 12 months have passed, which means in true Forza tradition, it’s time to look back at everything that’s happened over the last year. We released Forza Motorsport, celebrated the two-year anniversary of Forza Horizon 5, and introduced some of our biggest updates yet with EventLab 2.0 and the Rally Adventure expansion.

We also gave players a new way to report issues directly to the team with the Troubleshooting Hub and continue to add new cars and features inspired by your input on the Suggestions Hub. In Forza Horizon 5, we introduced the number one community requested car, the 2010 Nissan Tsuru, and upgraded Photo Mode with time of day and weather settings, as well as placement of the driver character outside the car – all of which were highly requested suggestions by players.

Forza Horizon 5 Photo by CCOCAS. (Share Code 553 567 882)

Forza Horizon 5 Photo by Durmell. (Share Code 157 817 253)

Before we dive into the game recaps, let’s celebrate the creative content you’ve been making over the past year. Every week, the Forza Forums hosts themed Photo and Livery contests open to all players. Thanks to everyone who continues to create and submit their content! To celebrate your creativity, we've handpicked our top 5 favorite community photos and liveries from Forza Horizon 5 over the year. You'll see examples in this blog, and we’ve put them together in our ‘Best of 2023’ collection on the Forza Forums:

• Best of 2023 in FH5 Photos
• Best of 2023 in FH5 Liveries

Forza Horizon 5 "Glitch" livery created by FormFirm. (Share Code: 260 808 658)

Forza Horizon 5 "Franken Brides Dually" livery created by Skogarmar. (Share Code: 88 107 114 199)

[h2]Community Leaders[/h2]

Community event organizers are central to Forza's community, inspiring competition, creativity, and ingenuity. With excitement around Forza Motorsport, 2023 saw organizers using all their expertise to craft events and schedules that could straddle the transition from one game to the next. Kudos to you all!

The year kicked off with the brilliant FTC Renault 5 Cup, seeing both great door to door racing and of course the amazing photography for which FTC have earned renowned across the Forza community. By late February the series was cinched by justScotty--despite close competition from Joeyst25. Look out for FTC in 2024 with Race Academy meets running each and every Sunday.

Captured by FTC Infernas81: FTC Renault 5 Cup on Forza Motorsport 7.

March saw Forza Share Your Creations (previously FH5 Livery & Designs) organize a tribute to the late Ken Block. Go Fast Risk Every Thang' attracted paints that were at once touching and astonishing. The top three liveries came from Kgree27, MrMugello, and SnakeEyes Friex but this was a contest where every entrant, from the Mercedes Tankpool24 Racing Truck to the Gymkhana 10 Ford Hoonicorn Mustang, meant the world. You're always in our hearts, Ken.

May was notable as the beginning of the marathon Envy Drift & PTG Street Masters Drift Championship which would see the community's finest skid-artists competing all the way through to August! Alongside congratulating EDM Atmospheric who took victory, and all the competitors in the drift and concourse contests, we also celebrate those working behind the scenes to put this incredible competition together for the community.

Captured by onhellno1989: Envy Drift & PTG Street Masters Drift Championship on Forza Horizon 5.

It would not be a Year in Review without mention of the TORA 24 Hours of Mulsanne, which took place in late July. As many predicted, ESV Motorsport exerted their dominance in the event, and indeed TORA's entire endurance calendar. The record ESV carries into 2024 should strike fear into the hearts of the competition as we head into the first year of Forza Motorsport. But then again, there is nothing like a new game to mix up the pecking order!

2023 was the year of Racing Haven. While by October they already had some first events under their belts on Forza Horizon 5, it was their BMW Challenge which launched concurrently with Forza Motorsport that cemented their spot in the top echelon of the community's competitive scene. Huge congratulations to ESV Green who emerged to win from one of the largest set of entrants in recent memory. (And, as an aside, the whole community waits with bated breath for the return of the Racing Haven podcast.)

Captured by Chilsy: Racing Haven BMW Challenge on Forza Motorsport.

As the year closes out, we catch up with events that are still ongoing! AR12 is hosting both the AR12 Community Racing Series and the AR12 Racing Championship Presented by Thrustmaster, while Late Night Racing presents a Ford v Ferrari series for lovers of vintage sports cars. There is something for everyone in the Forza community, and we can't wait to see what 2024 has in store.

[h2]Forza Motorsport[/h2]

At the start of the year, we invited our friends at Xbox to Turn 10 Studios as part of Developer_Direct to give you a technical showcase of Forza Motorsport with a behind-the-scenes look at the cars, tracks and audio in the game. We also participated in the Xbox Games Showcase in June, opening pre-orders for Forza Motorsport and showcasing the Builders Cup Career Mode. Before launch, we flew to Cologne for gamescom, demoing new gameplay to our community at an in-person theater experience. Being in Germany, it was the perfect opportunity to reveal the Nürburgring GP circuit would be available in the game, with the Nordschleife coming in spring 2024.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Since the release of Forza Motorsport, we've been listening to your feedback about the game and where you would like to see improvements or changes made. Stay tuned, as we’ll have more to share about these topics early in 2024.

So far, we’ve shipped two major content updates to Forza Motorsport, introducing both Yas Marina and Hockenheim with multiple track layouts for each, new Spotlight cars and Car Pass deliveries, and new weekly events across Career Mode, Featured Multiplayer and Rivals. You can stay up to date with the current active events in Forza Motorsport at Forza.net/Events.


Recently we celebrated two wins at The Game Awards! Thanks to you, Forza Motorsport won both categories it was nominated for: Best Sports/Racing Game and Innovation in Accessibility. We’re also honored to have won IGN’s Best Racing Game of 2023 and Accessibility Innovation in Games in 2023. We love hearing about the features in the game you are enjoying, such as the Featured Multiplayer structure and driving physics, and we’re proud to have our work on Blind Driving Assists and the wide suite of accessibility options recognized by the gaming community. We hope you enjoy building your racing skills in Forza Motorsport for many years to come.

[h2]Forza Horizon 5[/h2]

What a year this has been to adventure through the Horizon Festival in México!

Through 12 game updates you have explored Mexico in different cars, customized your vehicles to truly make them your own, completed thrilling challenges to unlock new, exciting cars, snapped breathtaking pictures for our contests, and created the most amazing events for the community to enjoy.


We are very thankful that you chose to spend 2023 in Forza Horizon 5. Here are some of our favorite moments in the Horizon Festival.

[h3]Welcome Our Newest Expansion[/h3]

March saw the release of the second expansion that came to Forza Horizon 5: Rally Adventure.


Rally Adventure gave our players a completely new area to explore called Sierra Nueva. This new zone has different biomes that include sand, asphalt, jumps, inclines, forests, and more. Players were now able to enjoy racing and exploring Pueblo Artza, the Abandoned Quarry, Sand Dunes, Desert Gorge, Green Hills, and an entirely smashable Palm Forest.

To go on the perfect off-roading trip, you need the perfect off-roading vehicle, which is why Rally Adventure featured all-new rally parts for car customization as well as the anti-lag system to get those perfect starts. This expansion also brought 10 new-to-Horizon cars made to get a blast on the dirt, mud, and other difficult terrains.


Rally monsters, new biomes, and an interactable environment; if you haven’t had the chance, this is your sign to close 2023 with Forza Horizon 5’s second expansion.

[h3]New Permanent Features[/h3]

Every update we release for Forza Horizon 5 brings features we hope our players love using. We like to focus on unique themes that enhance your gameplay experience each month.


Although most updates are intended to last only for a single month, we listen to our community very closely and have made some of your favorite additions permanent.

This year, for example, the Summer Party update made the longer night cycles (introduced in Midnights at Horizon) a permanent feature. Even though they do not last as much as their original counterpart, the longer night cycle allows players to explore Mexico’s unique landscape and biomes under a different light.


It’s round, it’s fast, and it’s permanent! First introduced on the High-Performance series in April, the Oval Track was a huge success with our players, and we were ecstatic you enjoyed it! The Oval Track is always available to host a Road Racing event at any time.

[h3]Snapping the Perfect Year[/h3]

Explore the Horizon was released in May of this year, and with it came a feature many of our players were asking for: an upgraded Photo Mode to take front cover-worthy photos of their favorite cars in the many gorgeous backdrops Mexico has to offer.

Of course, our community of talented creators put the new features implemented in this update to good use as you can see on our many Photo Contests held on our social media accounts. We are very eager to see what you guys come up with for next year and many more to come.


If you want to learn how to take advantage of the new features added to Photo Mode and upgrade your snapshooting skills, take a look at our Forza Horizon 5 Photo Mode Guide.

[h3]Fueling the Community’s Creative Spirit[/h3]

Our community members never stop creating awesome and unique events that everyone can enjoy. We have seen everything from extreme challenges, fun tours, and completely new game modes designed in EventLab. However, we wanted to step up the creation game and give you better tools to create the huge events you always dreamt of making, which is why we built an entire series around inventing: Horizon Creatives.


This new update put EventLab 2.0 in the hands of our creators to help with their creation process. The multi-selection mode allowed Props to be mass selected and then edited in a group. Players could grab several individual props and then rotate them, move them around, and duplicate them. You could now group props together into a new “mega prop” called a Prefab that could be easily saved, reused in your events, and shared so others could use them as well.

A new location made for creating events was also added in this update, EventLab Island provided creators with a massive blank canvas to put together larger and more exciting events and game modes.

[h3]Our Most Requested Car Makes Its Appearance[/h3]

The Día de Muertos update meant to recreate this iconic Mexican holiday and include as many references to Mexican folklore as possible. We had marigold stands and petals lying around the Festival, inflatable skulls decorating the streets, and alebrijes of many different forms to find.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
This celebration of Mexican culture and folklore would not be complete without Mexico’s automotive sweetheart: the 2010 Nissan Tsuru which we brought as a Festival Playlist reward car for the Día de Muertos update.

The Tsuru, as unbelievable as it sounds, was our most requested car on the Suggestions Hub, and what a more fitting time to bring it to the Horizon Festival than Día de Muertos.

[h3]Rolling Out the Red Carpet for Our Partnerships[/h3]

The Horizon Festival was starstruck this year, as we had the fortune of collaborating with two brands of huge relevance in automotive history.


The Upgrade Heroes update in July gave us the chance to be everything we wanted to be, adding memorable pieces from Barbie’s history to Forza Horizon 5 as limited-time free gifts. A blast from the past came with Barbie’s pink 1956 Chevrolet Corvette. This Barbie can also go off-roading with the 2022 GMC Hummer Barbie Edition.

This December, we planned our next heist with the Fast X Car Pack, which included five cars from Fast X including the 1970 Dodge Charger and 2022 Flip Car 2.0. You can drive these two, and three more cars from the Fast X film with the Fast X Car Pack available now for $9.99 USD.

[h2]Start the New Year with a Huge Throwback[/h2]

What better way to start the new year than with a series co-created with you! Community Choice is one of many ways we have to show how much we appreciate our fans.


We sent out a survey asking our players what rewards, challenges, and other features they would like to see in the next series, and their response was amazing!

See us in January when Community Choice goes live featuring the highly acclaimed and requested neon decorations and Neon Cube collectible from Midnights at Horizon as well as plenty of other returning stunts, challenges and rewards on the Festival Playlist and coming to the Autoshow.

[h3]Celebrating Our Community[/h3]

The Golden Tank Awards are just around the corner!


Celebrate the magnificent creations of our community and vote for your favorite EventLab creations, Prefabs, and more content made entirely by players and for the players.

Make sure to cast your vote at aka.ms/GoldenTankAwards2023 and help your favorite creators take home the coveted Golden Tank Award.


Keep creating and we might see you in next year’s shortlist!

[h2]Thanks for Racing![/h2]

The biggest highlight we have is and always will be our amazing community. Whether you are a player, a builder, creator, event runner, or anything along those lines, we celebrate all the passion and love you have for the entire Forza franchise.


We hope you have enjoyed the content we put out and that you spent wonderful hours racing in the world’s most famous tracks, going on adventures around Mexico, or customizing your favorite vehicles.

Keep adventuring and we’ll see you at the starting line!