Turn 10 are bringing more racing action back to PC in October this year with the release of Forza 7, the next entry in their motorsports series. While this one still has a fondness for on-track action, letting players drive 700 cars at launch, the drivers themselves are also getting some time in the spotlight.
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You won’t just be unlocking cars this time, there’s also over 300 pieces of driver gear that you can deck your avatar out in. There’s a big focus on player customisation, all backed up by a new levelling system.
“Levelling in Forza is exactly as you’d expect – you race, you earn XP, you level up. But there’s an entirely new layer on the entire system of car collecting,” explains creative director Bill Giese in a PCGN interview. “In general, the more cars you have, the better the rewards you’re gonna get. So, for example, I’m level 26 here and I’m racing. As I race up and I hit a milestone, I get a choice of rewards – credits, mods, car discounts, driver gear. As you have more collectable cars, that pool gets bigger and better.”
So you’re are encouraged to fill out your garage with that car collection – like mechanised Pokemon – because then you will reap bigger and better rewards. You can then show those rewards off to your friends.
“For the first time in Forza we pulled the driver out of the car, and we have 300 pieces of driver gear that span decades of race history and pop culture,” says Giese. “It was something we wanted to craft and give unique personalities to the suits, so players can express themselves in really cool ways, for both male and female drivers.”
Outside of multiplayer, you will also see your friend’s avatars in the AI drivers across your single-player championships, thanks to the magic of Drivatars. These AI opponents will be powered by data from your friends’ driving style, they will be driving their cars, and they’ll be rocking their chosen clobber too.