What is Car Mastery in Forza Horizon 5?

Forza Horizon 5 Car Mastery is a perk system that’s used on every single car in the game and allows you to unlock permanent and temporary upgrades for individual cars. These upgrades usually include improvements to their ability to generate points for Skill Chain tricks, one-off instant rewards – XP, CR, #Forzathon Points, or Wheelspins – and XP boosts for a limited number of races. Every Car Mastery perk for every car is unlocked using Skill Points. The Car Mastery menu, which shows all the available perks for a car, is accessed by pausing Forza Horizon 5, navigating to the ‘Cars’ tab, and then selecting the ‘Car Mastery’ page.

Forza Horizon 5 Drift Zones

Find a car that with improved drift tricks and take it to one of the Forza Horizon 5 Drift Zones

Each car on the Forza Horizon 5 car list has a fixed set of perks that are generally suited to the kind of tricks you’ll be performing. For example, the Warthog has perks that increase the score you gain from performing Wreckage, Wrecking Ball, or Air tricks and can temporarily gain an extra 25% XP for the next 10 Cross Country races. Meanwhile, a fast supercar like the Lamborghini Huracán has mastery perks associated with with Drafting, Passing, and Speed tricks since it’s good for fast road races in Forza Horizon 5. A few cars have Car Mastery Car perks that instantly unlock a completely different car instead of granting some other benefit. For example, you can unlock a 1999 Lamborghini Diablo GTR from the 1997 Lamborghini Diablo SV’s Car Mastery.

Each car you own has its own Car Mastery perks, but any Skill Points you earn can be spent on perks for any car, not just the one you’re currently driving. The perks on the Car Mastery page are arranged in a grid pattern but are unlocked a bit like a traditional skill tree, in that unlocking a perk causes surrounding perks that are more expensive to become available for purchase too. The perks at the bottom of the mastery grid are usually the cheapest at one Skill Point, but they increase to three, then five, and then 10 Skill Points towards the top. Every car has an ‘extra life’ perk that causes Skill Chains to break on the second collision rather than the first which costs 25 Skill Points.

How to gain and spend Forza Horizon 5 Skill Points

To gain Skill Points, you need to perform Skill Chains which are scores that build up as you perform tricks while driving, whether that’s in a race or in free roam. Your Skill Chain score is visible at the top of your screen. You can get points for destroying objects, getting air by going over a hill or ramp, overtaking, near-misses, driving at high speed, drifting, slipstreaming another car ahead of you, doing J-turns, and more. Performing any trick increases the score and multiplier, but it seems like performing strings of unique tricks gets your score and multiplier up faster. Your Skill Chain multiplier caps out at 5x your current score, but this doubles to 10x during a Skill Song.

A good strategy for getting your combo up is to drive your fastest car up and down the central highway that runs across Mexico. These are some of the Forza Horizon 5 best cars you can use for high-speed driving. As you drive, you’ll get Speed and Near-Miss tricks, but once you reach the end and the road narrows, turn as hard as you can and smash into stuff to get Drift, One-Eighty, and Wreckage Tricks. Accelerate back up to top speed as quickly as possible back the way you came to keep your Skill Chain going with more Speed tricks.

If you end your chain by not performing a trick for a few seconds, you’ll be awarded your total score and any Skill Points you earned as a result – a higher score means more Skill Points. Crashing your car will cause the chain to break and you’ll lose all your points. Listen out for Skill Songs after you’ve bought the Casa Bella house as your final scores for any Skill Chains you perform during the song will get doubled.

You should spend your Skill Points as soon as you get them so that you’re always unlocking new perks. This will improve your car’s ability to perform Skill Chains and earn Skill Points as you go and will get you lots of nice and useful rewards along the way. Performing Skill Chains and spending Skill Points will also grant you XP which contributes towards your player level. Once you’ve levelled up a fair bit, for any new cars you get, you could try saving your Skill Points up to unlock the extra life perk which will make performing Skill Chains much more forgiving, helping you to power through the rest of the perks later.

Hopefully those were some useful tips on what Car Mastery is and how you can spend your skill points, but we’ve got more Forza Horizon 5 tips here too.

The post Forza Horizon 5 Car Mastery explained and how to get Skill Points appeared first on Game News.

A photo of the ad was shared by @PushDustIn (opens in new tab) on Twitter (thanks, Nintendo Life (opens in new tab)!) and contains information about the base game as well as its DLC – with only one out of six booster passes revealed. 

The replies to the tweet point out (opens in new tab) that the poster instructs the 7-Eleven employees to take the poster down on July 17, 2022. Of course, this could mean nothing. But it could also mean that the poster will be out of date by that time, perhaps due to another booster pass being revealed around that time?  

7-11 is advertising the course pack (note that it says you double the number of courses in Japanese, nothing about wave 2). I think we should see a reveal sooner than later. pic.twitter.com/qpRtTBiUdpJuly 9, 2022

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Although this does feel like a little bit of a stretch, it’s worth noting that this wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened. Also spotted by @PushDustin (opens in new tab) a few of years ago, 7-Eleven in Japan also had an advertisement for Banjo-Kazooie joining Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Just like in this instance, Banjo’s ad was instructed to be taken down by September 15, 2019, and Banjo got added into the Nintendo fighter on September 4, 2019. 

If you haven’t been keeping up with the latest on Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, here’s what you’ve missed: it was revealed back in February that – instead of Mario Kart 9 like we were all hoping for – Nintendo’s fan-favourite racer will be getting 48 new tracks in the form of DLC. We’ve already had wave 1 (as of March 2022) which gave us classic courses such a Coconut Mall, Chocco Mountain, Sky Garden, and more.

The good news is, it’s actually really easy to get a hold of these new tracks as the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC is available as part of the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership. Which, if you’re also a fan of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Splatoon 2, and classic consoles such as the N64 and Sega Megadrive, is well worth the investment. 

Wondering if the DLC is worth a go? Find out why the first wave of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass tracks has left me wanting more.

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And that’s odd given the series’ previous championing of its AI drivers. The ‘Drivatar’ system was hyped for a decade, purportedly learning gamers’ driving styles and synthesising a virtual representation of themselves to race in their stead while they were offline. The system has never been perfected, with one Drivatar often zooming off ahead of everyone else in many Forza titles, unable to be caught. 

But more than that, the disparity between car models during races made Forza Motorsport 6 a very disappointing racing experience on its release, even if everything around that core concept was dripping with high-quality Turtle Wax. The racing was way better in Forza Motorsport 7, which is the reason I gave that game a straight 5/5 at review. But even so, times have changed in the five years since then.

Drive to survive

The name of the new game is particularly telling. It’s called ‘Forza Motorsport’, eschewing nearly two decades’ worth of naming convention to deliver a concept rather than a sequel. But if Turn 10 is aiming to definitively simulate motorsport itself, it’s going to have to do a lot more than deliver dynamic time-of-day transitions, detailed scratch damage, and fuel/tyre preservation. It’s going to need to add personality to its racing. 

Why? Well, there’s a reason why Drive to Survive has been such a massive hit on Netflix. In 2022, motorsport isn’t about the cars so much as the people. Not only the drivers, but the team principals, the stewards, the medical team, and the TV presenters. Each race weekend is now a media event with cameras everywhere, social media blowouts and votes for Driver of the Day. If Forza Motorsport truly wants to one-up the sublime Gran Turismo 7, it should aim to leverage this angle too, which will be hard considering the series has always been all about the cars. 

Of course, some games have tried to do this before. GRID Legends incorporates social media feeds that change depending on race results, which is cool – as is its rivalry system, which allows in-race grudges and friendships to be carried between races. GRID Legends even goes so far as to use real actors to portray drivers that have until now only been shown as names above a computer-controlled drone. It’s imperfect, but any game that attempts to add personality to your rivals really does stick in the mind, though admittedly not always for the right reasons. 

Look back through the ages and you’ll hear soundbites from games that did this. “Get outta my way” from Destruction Derby on PS1, or Katie Justice shouting “Watch it, man!” in Dirt 2 are both ingrained into my memory. I’m not suggesting for an instant that Forza Motorsport will use soundbites and have rivals trash-talking you, but it does need something to give its races more emotional clout. Maybe an F1 2021-style engineer to talk to over your headset using voice recognition? That would be ace.

Looking ahead

In the past, Forza has been criticised by some people for being ‘simcade’, in that it presents itself as a serious simulation, yet dials down certain elements to make it more ‘arcadey’ and more appealing to the mass market who aren’t as interested in gear ratios as they are in a nice lens flare. With the new emphasis on simulation with the addition of rubbering-in, tyre management, and the new 8-point calculations for each wheel’s physics, wouldn’t it make sense to have a more serious career mode? 

That should be optional, of course – there will always be room for Forza’s traditional 5-minute races, hopping from class to class, and even between disciplines every few minutes in order to keep more casual players interested. But what about keeping everyone interested by dropping Drivatars and reintroducing named drivers? The original game had them, after all. Is it so hard to imagine a return to more defined AI for the reboot?

And if so, what about some of the drivers genuinely behaving differently on-track, with some competitors dangerously changing directions under braking, or others playing it safe in order to rack up points with the long game in mind? If the pool of names were kept small enough, you could start to learn which driver will react which way in any given situation. Will the guy ahead give you room seeing as you squeezed him out at the last race? Or will the young upstart always leave it up to you to decide whether or not you have an accident?

The AI and racing experience is the last side to Forza Motorsport that’s being kept under wraps, so I sincerely hope there’s something big yet to be announced. The climate has changed. The technology has improved. And if Microsoft really wants to reclaim the crown from Gran Turismo 7, then this is the area that carries the most untapped potential. 

Forza Motorsport is set to release in 2023 for PC and Xbox Series X. While you wait, why not jump into one of the best racing games you can play right now. 

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Through investment and acquisitions, Xbox Game Studios is now an enviable force in the industry. There are more upcoming Xbox Series X games in development than ever before – something that is unlikely to change anytime soon, particularly with Microsoft Gaming on the precipice of purchasing Activision Blizzard. 

While the $70 billion acquisition is yet to be finalised, there are still 23 of the industry’s leading game developers creating new Xbox exclusive games – each of which will be available in Xbox Game Pass from its day of release. 

Below you will find the full Xbox Game Studios list, a breakdown of what each developer is famous for, and some insight into what they are working on next. 

Xbox Game Studios list

Every Microsoft-owned, first-party studio and what they are working on:

• 343 Industries
• Alpha Dog Games
• Arkane Studios
• Bethesda Game Studios
• Bethesda Softworks
• Compulsion Games
• Double Fine Productions
• id Software
• Inxile Entertainment
• MachineGames
• Mojang Studios
• Ninja Theory
• Obsidian Entertainment
• Playground Games
• Rare
• Roundhouse Studios
• Tango Gameworks
• The Coalition
• The Initiative
• Turn 10 Studios
• Undead Labs
• World’s Edge
• Xbox Games Studios Publishing
• ZeniMax Online

343 Industries

• Notable releases: Halo 5: Guardians (Xbox One, 2015), Halo Infinite (Xbox Series X, 2021)
• Working on: Halo Infinite (live service)
• Founded in: 2007

343 Industries has stewardship over the Halo franchise. The studio most recently released Halo Infinite on 15 November, 2021 for Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC. The studio is set to continue working on Halo Infinite for the next decade, expanding Master Chief’s journey on Zeta Halo with campaign expansions, and continuing to maintain the Halo Infinite multiplayer live service experience with additional seasons of content. 

Alpha Dog Games

• Notable releases: Wraithborne (iOS, 2012), MonstroCity Rampage (iOS, 2017)
• Working on: TBC
• Acquired in: 2021

Alpha Dog Games is a mobile-focused developer that was actually acquired by Bethesda in late 2019 to support the publisher’s growing interest in the iOS and Android market. Given Microsoft’s investment in mobile and cloud gaming, it’s likely that Alpha Dog will continue working behind the scenes on the initiative.

Arkane Studios

• Notable releases: Dishonored (Multi, 2012), Prey (Multi, 2017)
• Working on: Redfall (Xbox Series X, 2023), Deathloop (Xbox Series X, TBC)
• Acquired in: 2021

Arkane Studios is known for building complex immersive sims, experiences that weave a reactive sense of choice and consequence right through the action. Arkane most recently released Deathloop as a timed-exclusive on PS5, and the studio is thought to be working on an Xbox Series X port now. Arkane is also developing Redfall, a co-op shooter which’ll let you and your friends hunt vampires across a sprawling open world – it’s expected to launch early 2023.

Bethesda Game Studios

• Notable releases: Fallout 3 (Multi, 2008), The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim (Multi, 2011)
• Working on: Starfield (Xbox Series X, 2023), The Elder Scrolls 6 (TBC)
• Acquired in: 2021

By acquiring Bethesda Game Studios, Microsoft has added one of the most successful and influential outfits in the industry to its arsenal. This is the studio responsible for overseeing the Fallout and The Elder Scrolls franchises, although it also has a brand new IP in the works called Starfield. Starfield is a sci-fi RPG that is expected to launch in early 2023.

Bethesda Softworks

• Notable releases: N/A
• Working on: N/A
• Acquired in: 2021

Microsoft didn’t just acquire eight development studios, it also brought ZeniMax Media’s publishing wing into the fold too. That means that ‘Bethesda’ as you traditionally know it will continue to exist, with Microsoft allowing it to work semi-autonomously where it will continue to publish the games that are born from its portfolio of partners. 

Compulsion Games

• Notable releases: Contrast (Multi, 2013), We Happy Few (Multi, 2018)
• Working on: TBC
• Acquired in: 2018

Compulsion Games has only released two games since its formation in 2009, Contrast and We Happy Few, which are polar opposites in terms or theme and genre, although they are connected by a shared value: an undeniable sense of style. Compulsion Games is yet to reveal what it is working on now.

Double Fine Productions

• Notable releases: Brutal Legend (PS3/Xbox 360, 2009), Psychonauts 2 (Multi, 2021)
• Working on: TBC
• Acquired in: 2019

Double Fine Productions creates cult-classics. Ever since its formation in 2000, Double Fine has always made games its own way, with an unwavering desire to provide windows into weird and wonderful worlds. Double Fine released Psychonauts 2 to rave reviews in 2021, and the studio is yet to announce what it is currently working on.

id Software

• Notable releases: Doom (Multi, 2016), Doom Eternal (Multi, 2020) 
• Working on: TBC
• Acquired in: 2020

They don’t come more legendary than id Software. This is the studio that essentially created the first-person shooter with Wolfenstein 3D in 1992, Doom in 1993, and Quake in 1996, and is known for having the industry’s greatest shotgun. id is yet to reveal what it is working on following the release of Doom Eternal. 

inXile Entertainment

• Notable releases: Tides of Numenera (Multi, 2017), Wasteland 3 (2020, Multi)
• Working on: TBC
• Acquired in: 2018

inXile is a studio with speciality in c-RPGs, founded by Brian Fargo – director of Wasteland and executive producer of the original Fallout. inXile hasn’t revealed its next project, although it’s rumored that the studio is is building a ‘AAA-RPG’ for Xbox Series X. Given that Wasteland 3 released two years ago, hopefully it won’t be long before the studio shows us what it has been up to.

MachineGames

• Notable releases: Wolfenstein: The New Order (Multi, 2014), Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus (Multi, 2017)
• Working on: Indiana Jones (Xbox Series X, TBC)
• Acquired in: 2021

MachineGames was founded in 2009 by former members of Starbreeze Studios, before being handed the reins to the Wolfenstein series in 2010. The studio made a name for itself with its subversive and tightly-designed first-person shooters. It was recently announced that Bethesda will be collaborating with LucasFilm Games to create a brand new Indiana Jones game, with MachineGames handling development.

Mojang Studios

• Notable releases: Minecraft (Multi, 2011), Minecraft Dungeons (Multi, 2020)
• Working on: Minecraft (Multi, 2011)
• Acquired in: 2014

Mojang is the Minecraft company. Acquired by Microsoft in 2014 for 2.5 billion dollars, Mojang has been dutifully updating and evolving Minecraft across all of its supported platforms since. While the studio rarely operates outside of the core Minecraft experience, it did release a family-friendly dungeon-crawler in 2020 called Minecraft Dungeons. 

Ninja Theory

• Notable releases: DmC: Devil May Cry (Multi, 2013), Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (Multi, 2017)
• Working on: Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 (Xbox Series X, TBC), Project: Mara (Xbox Series X, TBC)
• Acquired in: 2018

Ninja Theory built its reputation creating beautiful, detailed action-adventure games like Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and DmC: Devil May Cry. Since its 2018 acquisition, Ninja Theory has invested heavily into state-of-the-art motion capture, Unreal Engine 5, and other new technology to help drive forward Xbox Series X fidelity. The studio is working on Hellblade 2, and a new experimental horror game codenamed Project Mara. 

Obsidian Entertainment

• Notable releases: Pillars of Eternity (PC, 2015),  The Outer Worlds (Multi, 2019)
• Working on: Grounded (Xbox One, 2022), Avowed (Xbox Series X, TBC), The Outer Worlds 2 (Xbox Series X, TBC)
• Acquired in: 2018

Obsidian Entertainment is a legendary developer of RPGs. Whether it’s action-heavy, like Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds, or leaning more heavily into the strategy-side with Pillars of Eternity, the name ‘Obsidian’ is a mark of quality. The studio currently has Grounded in early-access, which is working towards a 2022 release. The studio is also developing a new RPG set in the Pillars of Eternity universe named Avowed, and has begun early work on The Outer Worlds 2.

Playground Games

• Notable releases: Forza Horizon 4 (Xbox One, 2018), Forza Horizon 5 (Xbox Series X, 2021) 
• Working on: Fable 4 (Xbox Series X, TBC)
• Acquired in: 2018

Playground Games was given the keys to the Forza franchise back in 2010, with Forza Horizon developed in collaboration with series stalwarts Turn 10. Ever since, Playground has consistently delivered open-world racing games that go above and beyond that of the competition. Following the release of Forza Horizon 5 in 2021, the studio is now full focused on its reboot of an iconic Xbox RPG – Fable. 

Rare

• Notable releases: Viva Pinata (Xbox 360, 2006), Sea of Thieves (PC/Xbox One, 2018)
• Working on: Everwild (Xbox Series X, TBC)
• Acquired in: 2002

Rare is a legendary British studio. So much so, it’s difficult to know where to even begin. So let’s skip the history lesson and fast-forward to the present. Rare continues to support and update Sea of Thieves, one of the best multiplayer games out there right now, while it works on a brand-new co-op adventure called Everwild. 

Roundhouse Studios

• Notable releases: N/A
• Working on: TBC 
• Acquired in: 2021

Roundhouse Studios is an unknown quantity. This is a studio created by Bethesda in 2019, staffed by developers that were with Human Head Studios right to the bitter end. Given that staff has experience in everything from FPS to RPGs, it’s impossible to know what it is working on – but whatever it is, it’s bound to still be in the very early stages of pre-production. 

Tango Gameworks

• Notable releases: The Evil Within (Multi, 2014), The Evil Within 2 (Multi 2017)
• Working on: Ghostwire Tokyo (Xbox Series X, 2023)
• Acquired in: 2021

Tango Gameworks is Shinji Mikami’s studio, the famed creator of such classics as Resident Evil and Dino Crisis. Tango’s first two releases were confident, terrifying psychological horror games, although its latest is a little weirder. Ghostwire Tokyo launched as a timed-exclusive on PS5 in 2022, and the studio is expected to release an Xbox Series X port in 2023. Tango is yet to reveal what it is working on in the meantime. 

The Coalition

• Notable releases: Gears of War 4 (Xbox One, 2016), Gears 5 (Xbox One, 2019)
• Working on: TBC
• Founded in: 2010

When Microsoft acquired the rights to Gears of War from Epic Games in 2014, it was handed off to The Coalition. The studio now leads production on the franchise, pushing the scope of the series with each new installment. The Coalition’s most recent release was Gears 5 in 2019, although it has since launched an updated version of the game for Xbox Series X. The studio is yet to confirm what it’s working on now, although it is known to be investing heavily in Unreal Engine 5.   

The Initiative

• Notable releases: N/A
• Working on: Perfect Dark (Xbox Series X, 2022)
• Founded in: 2018

The Initiative is a brand new video game developer, founded by former Crystal Dynamics studio head Darrell Gallagher. The studio is packed with talent from BioWare, Naughty Dog, Respawn Entertainment, and others, and is being touted as a key player in Xbox’s future. The Initiative is currently developing a reboot of the Perfect Dark series, which was revealed in 2020. Due to the scope of the project, Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics has been brought in to co-develop Joanna Dark’s long-awaited return.

Turn 10

• Notable releases: Forza Motorsport 7 (Xbox One, 2017)
• Working on: Forza Motorsport (Xbox Series X, TBC)
• Founded in: 2001

Ever since its formation, Turn 10 has been known for its meticulous attention-to-detail, working to create the most realistic and engaging racing sims imaginable. It’s currently building a next-generation Forza experience for Xbox Series X, although Microsoft is yet to give the project an official title or release window – let alone any details. Given the five year wait, Forza Motorsport is expected to return sooner rather than later. 

Undead Labs

• Notable releases: State of Decay (PC, 2013), State of Decay 2 (Xbox One, 2018)
• Working on: State of Decay 3 (Xbox Series X, 2022)
• Acquired in: 2018

Undead Labs has had its sights on delivering the ultimate zombie survival experience ever since its formation. The studio is currently working on State of Decay 3 for Xbox Series X, which will be its first release since becoming a first-party Xbox studio in 2018. The game is thought to still be early in development, so we’ll likely be waiting a little while before we see any more of it in action. 

World’s Edge

• Notable releases: Age of Empires 4 (PC, 2021)
• Working on: TBC
• Founded in: 2019

While World’s Edge isn’t directly responsible for making new games, it has been positioned as a caretaker for one of Microsoft’s biggest franchises. The studio coordinates development for Age of Empires, working to ensure external studios such as Relic Entertainment and Forgotten Empires are properly aligned. To that end, World’s End helped to ship Age of Empires 4 in 2021 for PC, and is yet to reveal what it’s working on next.

Xbox Game Studios Publishing

• Notable releases: N/A
• Working on: N/A
• Founded in: 2000

Xbox Game Studios Publishing is an internal group within the Xbox Game Studios group that supports external developers, and those under the wider first-party group. In the past, the global publishing team has worked with partners like Insomniac and Dontnod to bring Sunset Overdrive and Tell Me Why to the platform; it’s currently helping Avalanche Studios with its co-op smuggling game Contraband. 

ZeniMax Online Studios

• Notable releases: The Elder Scrolls Online (Multi, 2014), Fallout 76 (Multi, 2018)
• Working on: N/A
• Acquired in: 2021

ZeniMax Online Studios is responsible for creating and overseeing Bethesda’s online-focused games, such as The Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76. The studio isn’t known to have any brand new games in development, although it is continuing to support, develop, and grow Bethesda’s MMORPGs. ZeniMax Online Studios’ most recent release was the The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle expansion.

Extended Reading: What the Xbox acquisition of ZeniMax could mean for games like The Elder Scrolls 6, Starfield, and Deathloop? (opens in new tab)

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As posted earlier today on the official Gran Turismo website (opens in new tab), the latest game in Polyphony Digital’s racing sim has received a hefty update. New events have been added to the World Circuit series, including the World Touring Car 600 Tokyo Expressway East Clockwise, World Touring Car 700 24 Heures du Mans Racing Circuit, and finally the World Touring Car 800 Sardegna Road Track A.

Additionally, the rewards for all races completed in the latter half of a World Circuit event have been increased, and the rewards for Arcade and Custom Races have seen a boost. One of the biggest criticisms levelled at Gran Turismo 7 since launch last month was its in-game economy was incredibly restrictive (something that director Kazanori Yamauchi even spoke about last month), so these increased rewards should help players unlock new cars quicker.

It’s not just in the World Circuit that the rewards are increasing though, because you’ll also see bigger payouts from the Lobbies and Daily Races modes, and all Endurance Race events. Elsewhere, the maximum cap for in-game credits earned has been raised to 100 million Cr, which should be a big boost for players looking to stockpile their earnings.

Finally, the new GT 7 update actually improves car physics. You’ll now see better physics when landing from a jump, especially on off-road areas, and there’s also a fix for AI opponents incorrectly being slowed down after changing to rain tyres during a wet weather event. In all, this is a sizeable update for Polyphony Digital’s latest, and should go a long way to addressing criticisms of GT 7.

Check out our full Gran Turismo 7 review to see what we made of the PS5’s racing game.

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In a cheeky clip shared via the No Context Kirby Twitter (opens in new tab), a whole line of Carbys rolls by, a whiz of pink. And by the by, “Carbys” is the name we’ve all seemingly applied to the Mouthful Mode Kirby uses to control cars in Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Basically, Kirby stretches himself all the way across the top of a car, engulfing it. And that lets him drive it somehow. 

Modder garyjpaterson created this free Carby-centric mod for the racer Assetto Corsa, and you can download it to try out yourself via Race Department (opens in new tab).

pic.twitter.com/uBDXIIKV4hApril 4, 2022

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“I had fun making it, trying some new stuff I’d never done before,” the modder wrote of their experimental Carby rides. “Didn’t have much time to spend on the physics, so I’ve purposely left the setup quite open, so if it’s not to your liking hopefully it can be tweaked to be a bit better.”

As the commenters point out, when driving a Carby, you can still see out of the windshield. It’s probably a lot like having a soft-top convertible, only a living, breathing creature is sitting atop your car, stretched to the limit. 

Assetto Corsa is a racing sim that players love to mod, and this is just the latest in a long line of fun alterations you can add to your game. It’s easy to look at and mistake for the realistic Gran Turismo 7, but unfortunately, you can’t add the pink puffball to Gran Turismo…yet. 

Right now, just keep watching these Carbys zip by. It’s actually quite soothing, once you get over the whole element of weirdness. 

Want to hear more about Kirby driving cars? Check out our Kirby and the Forgotten Land review (opens in new tab). 

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Due out this summer, F1 Manager 2022 (opens in new tab) is a management sim where you’ll act as team principal of an F1 team. That means you’ll be top dog when it comes to directing drivers and the rest of a team competing in the FIA Formula 1 Drivers’ World Championship.

In addition to all of the day-to-day necessities that come with managing an F1 team, Frontier notes that you’ll need to hire drivers and engineers, upgrade cars and race facilities, balance budgets and driver demands, and more throughout your career. 

You’ll also need to make decisions once the races begin, though Frontier hasn’t divulged how involved you’ll be with that process. It’s possible you’ll have to make snap decisions as the cars whiz around the track, but with this being a sim rather than a racing game, it’ll likely be more granular stuff. 

In March 2020, Frontier announced it had an F1 management sim in the works. There have been no additional tidbits about what that sim might be or what it could include, however, until now. This is the first time the developer has managed an official sports license, so it should be interesting to see what it’s capable of now that it’s in the driver’s seat.

There’s no concrete release date for F1 Manager 2022 just yet, but you can pick it up for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Xbox One, PS4, and PC when it drops this summer.

If you want to spend more time on the track, be sure to check out our guide to the best racing games available now.

The post Jurassic World Evolution studio announces new F1 management sim coming this summer appeared first on Game News.

Sony unveiled Gran Turismo Sophy today, the first major announcement (opens in new tab) from Sony AI and the result of an internal collaboration with Sony Interactive Entertainment and Gran Turismo developer Polyphony Digital. The AI started off barely able to drive in a straight line, but multiple rounds of simulations, each done with tens of thousands of race instances done at once, it got the racing skill of a champion. Well, almost.

Sophy’s first debut against pro Gran Turismo Sport players in January 2021 saw it clean up in time trials, but it wasn’t ready to contend with rival racers on the same track: “I think we all underestimated how hard it would be to get the sportsmanship side of it right, and learn to do that without being overly aggressive or overly timid in the face of competitors,” Sony AI director Peter Wurman said in the announcement.

The AI racer went back to practice laps until its second coming-out in October 2021, when it took first or second place in every race and won the team score with twice as many points as its human opposition. It may sound like Sony made Sophy so it can gun, Terminator-like, for the top spots of its own games – but it’s really meant to be the first proof of how AI can make games better for both players and creators.

“We envision a future where AI agents could introduce developers and creators to new levels of innovation and unlock doors to unimagined opportunities,” SIE Future Technology Group boss Ueli Gallizzi said. “We could see unexpected levels of user engagement, better gaming experiences, and the entry of a whole new generation into the world of gaming.”

And before you ask, no, it doesn’t look like there are any plans to make mass production Sophy units your new rivals in Gran Turismo 7. On the other hand, now that the proof-of-concept is here, you never know where this kind of AI tech may start popping up.

Check out our Gran Turismo 7 preview to see how else it changes the racing game.

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Let’s start with the core game, which is a serious racing sim, as per usual. It’s ‘always online’ in that it requires an internet connection, but it isn’t focused purely on multiplayer like GT Sport was at launch. Instead, the World Map returns, offering Brand Central to buy new cars from 2001 onwards, Used Cars to buy these and older models at reduced prices (unless the car is rare in which case it’ll go up, and this is based on real-world data that’ll be updated slightly every day) and a Legends area where you can buy all-time classics.  

But this classic career is not the only single-player mode on offer – far from it. Complementing this is the all-new Gran Turismo Café. This is a virtual café complete with a knowledgeable proprietor who talks you through the cars as you browse and fill out various menus. There are 30+ menus to complete, each with challenges and cars to collect. Better still, other people will visit this café and talk about the cars you’re collecting, including some of the actual engineers and designers who built them. That’s super-cool.  

Then there’s the new Music Rally mode, which is intended to allow you to focus on the underrated joy of driving to music. While the game’s creator Kazunori Yamauchi clearly intends it to be relaxing, it currently looks pretty stressful, as the beats-per-minute ticks down, replenished by arcade-esque checkpoints, but he assured us there’s plenty of scope for drifts and donuts between tracks. We shall see. 

Music seems to have been a core area expanded for this game, with some 75 artists and 300 music tracks spanning different genres and moods. There’s also a new ‘Music Replay’ mode which dynamically changes camera angles in your replays, in time with the music. But the sonic delights don’t stop there, with 3D spatial audio known as ‘ambisonics’ that can create the world in a soundscape around you with multiple speakers, or convert it to a stereo mix for headphones. Sure enough, it does sound phenomenal as cars zoom up behind your parked vehicle before zooming by and away. Sound will be acoustically mapped and dampened according to the properties of the surfaces it bounces off, all in real-time. It sounds like a studio-mastered soundtrack. All the time.

Track-wise, there will be 34 locations and 90 layouts on Day 1 across a mix of real and fictional circuits, including classics like Trial Mountain, Deep Forest, and the High Speed Ring, which were seen in the original Gran Turismo 25 years ago. More will be added later via DLC. All tracks will have sunny and cloudy variants and morning to evening time-of-day changes, while others like Spa, Nurburgring, and the Le Mans 24 Hour circuit will feature full day/night transitions. Not every track will feature wet weather, but those that do will feature an advanced weather simulation, complete with organic dry lines emerging, puddles forming and drying realistically and even one side of the track seeing rainfall while the other is dry. Tracks also now host their own events, with the familiar Clubman Cup and Sunday Cup, plus a meeting space to chat with other players, and a Circuit Experience which will help you learn the circuit. 

Modding returns (hooray!), with comprehensive setup options all based on real-world physics. Whereas in the past your Performance Points rating would be based on a simple mathematical formula based on grip, engine power, and weight, here everything is simulated in full at the touch of a very inviting-looking button. This allows slower, entry-level cars like the classic Volkswagen Beetle to be able to match a Porsche 911 on the track as you soup it up.

You can even modify the wheelbase of some cars, and then go to town on stickers and decals, with more detail and placement options than ever before. Yamauchi told us: “If you look at Gran Turismo 7 from a different angle, I think you could see it as a huge collection of creative tools, like a creative suite.” While setups can’t be shared due to too many modding variables, styles, stickers, liveries, replays, and photos can all be shared.

There is, of course, also the prospect of ray tracing. The game runs at 60fps with ray tracing switched off (known as Frame Rate mode), but can also run at 30fps with ray tracing switched on. We were shown a comparison between the two modes running side-by-side, but I’ve got to say I’d never go with ray-tracing based on this evidence. The dip in motion fluidity grates and even a layman would surely point to Frame Rate mode looking better overall. However, where ray tracing will certainly come into its own is in the returning photo mode, which will feature 2,500 locations around the globe. The options for camera setup are astonishingly detailed and the pictures are absolutely beautiful, no question.  

Then there are DualSense’s advanced DualSense features like adaptive triggers and haptic feedback. Yamauchi told us that the haptic feedback is aiming for the frequencies that sound alone cannot reach, even going so far as to say it doesn’t go over 100hz because “that just becomes sounds”. You’ll feel the rumble of kerbs, bumps, and your tyres struggling for grip. The adaptive triggers will accurately simulate the play and resistance of the brake pedal of each car you use.

One question mark does still hang over damage modeling. It wasn’t mentioned at all in the presentation, and when I submitted the question for the Q&A afterwards, it was ignored, so make of that what you will.

Yamauchi describes the game as “the car life simulator”, which is a pleasing play on the original tagline of ‘The Real Driving Simulator’. Ironically, that original tagline looks to be more true than ever even with the automotive world built around it. From aerodynamic physics in slipstream modeling to the new modding system, weather, cloud formation, and even the second-hand car market, this is a comprehensive simulation of real life. Of course, it’ll have some bonkers elements – it is Gran Turismo after all – and daft Easter Eggs have been confirmed, if not detailed. But it’s also looking like being the ultimate racing game. And anyone who knows me will know I do not say such things lightly. 

Best of all, the game is out on March 4, 2022, which is next month. Be excited. Be very excited.  

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Forza Horizon 5 New Year Accolades

You can now find three special Accolades in Forza Horizon 5 themed around the Lunar New Year under the ‘Evolving World’ Accolades category. Each Accolade that you complete awards varying amounts of Accolade points and sometimes exclusive awards that we’ve listed below. You’ll notice that these Accolades are also grouped with some Christmas-themed ones, although these can’t be completed any more as Series 2 has expired – although it’s likely that they’ll be available around the Holidays later this year. Any that mention ‘the New Year’ can only be completed in Series 3, which ends on February 3, 2022.

Happy New Year! Accolade

Rewards: 50 Accolade points

For this easy Series 3 Accolade, you need to drive into Guanajuato during the Happy New Year series to find some nice, red Chinese lanterns. That’s it. You’ll find lots of these lanterns hanging around the central areas of Guanajuato, particularly near the cathedral.

Another One Lights the Dust Smash Lanterns Accolade

Rewards: 50 Accolade points, Camo Utility Epic Trousers

For the “Another Lights the Dust!” Holiday Accolade, you must destroy 25 Lanterns while driving the 2014 Toyota AT38 or the 2016 Toyota AT37. You can get the AT37 in Autumn and the AT38 in Winter during Series 3 only. Both cars are the 45-point rewards for their respective seasons, however, which means they’re not particularly easy to get and you’ll have to complete a lot of seasonal challenges to get the necessary points.

Series 3 Collector Accolade

Rewards: 1,000 Accolade points

To complete this New Year Accolade, you need to own all the exclusive reward cars from the seasons and challenges of Series 3. All the cars in this series are unlocked by earning enough points in each season or the entire series, so you’ll need to play a lot of the Forza Horizon 5 seasonal activities to unlock them all. If you miss any, you’ll have to buy one through the Auction House from a fellow player. Here are the cars you need to own and how to get them:

• 2016 Zenvo TS1 – Series 3 reward for earning 120 points
• 2015 Jaguar XKR-S – Spring reward for earning 25 points
• 1971 Ford Mustang Mach 1 – Series 3 reward for earning 120 points
• 1989 Lotus Carlton – Spring reward for earning 45 points
• 2016 Toyota Land Cruiser Arctic Trucks AT37 – Autumn reward for earning 45 points
• 2014 Toyota Hilux Arctic Trucks AT38 – Winter reward for earning 45 points
• 2003 Toyota Celica SS-I – Summer reward for earning 45 points
• 2013 D8 Donkervoort GTO – Autumn reward for earning 25 points

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