Forza Motorsport A ‘Pleasing Upgrade’ Over Forza 7, Says Digital Foundry

As we’ve all come to expect, the team over at Digital Foundry has already had plenty of hands-on time with Forza Motorsport ahead of its upcoming launch – and that hands-on time has resulted in the above tech review that goes over lots of nitty gritty Forza-flavoured details.

The full video is certainly worth watching, but we want to focus on the outlet’s comparisons to 2017’s Forza Motorsport 7 here. This head-to-head takes up a big chunk of the above analysis, and it’s a fascinating look at how Turn 10 is successfully pushing forward into the current generation.

Their review dubs Forza Motorsport “a pleasing upgrade” over the Xbox One’s Forza 7, and we must admit, there are some pretty big upgrades that we didn’t even notice during our hands-on time with the Xbox Series X|S racer. Here’s a quick quote about some of the game’s standout upgrades – including reworked foliage and lighting:

“Turn 10 puts the fictional nature of the Maple Valley track to good use too, by placing lots of overhanging trees alongside the track edge, creating a more dynamic-looking track that highlights the reworked foliage. The game’s lighting in general also gets a big boost. Forza Motorsport 7 tends to have a flat appearance which looked unnatural in shaded areas. Its sequel typically has a richer lighting presentation, which is especially noticeable in complex areas like trackside stands.

A lot of this stems from the game’s ray-traced ambient occlusion (RTAO), which is present on the Series X version of Forza Motorsport in its performance RT and visuals modes. Global illumination also seems considerably enhanced, with the track and environment taking on a more natural hue through a range of lighting conditions. At times, these improvements produce a very striking image, with a dynamic lighting presentation relative to the earlier title.”

If you’re playing on Xbox Series X it looks like you’re getting a big upgrade then, which is great to hear coming from Digital Foundry themselves! If you want to see how we got on when comparing the new game across Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, check out Pure Xbox’s Forza Motorsport comparison down below.