Welcome to Forza!

This is my first review in a while, and so I present to you a look at Forza Motorsport, the recently released title from Turn Ten studios and Microsoft.
What is it?
Forza Motorsport is quite simply a racing simulator. Using state of the art graphics and audio, it strives to bring realistic cars and control to the racing sim enthusiast. In today’s review, we will be looking at Forza from a blind perspective. This means that while the review may not focus so much on graphics, a blind person will come away with an understanding of whether they should give this game a try.

Starting the game for the first time

If you have never launched forza for the first time, the idea may be in your head that I may not be able to set it up. Never fear, thanks to the amazing work of Brandon Cole and other blind consultants, this is the least of your worries. If you have the read to me setting turned on your Xbox series S or X, Forza will come up talking, leading you through the welcome experience. Here, you can set graphics, as well as other settings. And let me state, that when I say you have options, you do have options. Let us talk about some of these options, shall we?

Ask not how you can play your game, but how the game tells you how to play it.

Forza offers a variety of assists, from full steering, breaking, and throttle assists, to pit assists. All these options can be customized, to fit your style of play. If you are not ready to learn how to drive, and you want the car to drive for you, that is possible. If you only want to control the throttle, this is also possible. You are in control; it is your experience. It is my friends, your Forza. And while you are wondering what all the options mean, the screen reader or Narrator, will read incredibly detailed explanations as to what the option is, what each setting does, and what the default setting is. Turn ten did an excellent job in making everything read at launch, and for a game like this, this had to have been a massive undertaking. ## But if I am blind, how can I drive? Glad you asked, deep inside the accessibility settings, are a series of settings known as blind drive assists. They consist of turn navigation, a steering guide, and several types of audio cues. Note: The following example of the information about the steering guide is taken directly from the forza game.

“The steering guide pans the engine and tire audio towards the nearest point on the suggested line. The direction of sound tells the player the direction to steer in. By default, the car audio pans towards the recommended steering direction. This can be inverted with the invert steering guide option. Note: the suggested line is the idea line along the track taking in to account breaking time, acceleration, turn intensity and so-on. This line is often very close to the track limits, especially leading up to and during turns.”

As you can see, this was a lot of information. If you want to hear the information with a human reading it, just press in on the left stick.
Let us turn this thing around, shall we?
The biggest struggle that a blind person will face in this game is steering or turning. With a combination of turning cues, and turn navigation, a blind person can practice turning in free play. The accessibility options will give you plenty of information on turning, as well as human described instructions, and previews of what the cues sound like. Did I mention that the pitch of the audio cues can be adjusted too? They certainly can.

The tutorial

When you have finished setting up your options, you will be placed into the introductory tutorial. This consists of the first section where you are guided on how to turn, the second section where you get to experience the end of an endurance race, and the first series in the Builders Cup, more on that mode later. There are no penalties in the tutorial, so feel free to experiment with settings during it. However, if you would rather get through the tutorial first then experiment later, set your assists to full, and go through it. No shame in doing it that way. The tutorial is very well done, with many human and screen reader narrated tips about upgrading, racing, and practice read out. Pay close attention to them.

Game modes

While I have talked a lot about accessibility for blind players, I have not talked about game modes. The following is a concise list of game modes, and their descriptions.
• Career Build your career and legacy in this ever-expanding career mode. This is where you get to know cars and level them.
• Featured Multi-player: This is where you can race in series and events with race rules and other restrictions in mind. While we are welcomed to try the mode, it is not where it should be.
• Free play is good for when you just want to race or practice a track. You can set the car, track, the type of circuit, and so much more. There is no fear of getting lost, as the screen reader guides you every step of the way.
• Rivals is a fun little mode where you post a lap time, trying to beat your rival. No harm in trying it.
• Private multiplayer: Get your friends from your house to across the globe and to racing where you set the rules. Want to force everyone to use partially assisted steering, while also having tire and vehicle damage? The power my friends is yours here. And yes, private multi-player is fully accessible, with just one little minor bug to mention. If you are creator of the event, for some reason, it does not tell you when everyone is ready. I could be wrong, so more testing is required. I have played the game in career mode, private multi-player, and free play, as well as a bit of rivals.
Rivals: As mentioned above rivals allows you to evaluate your skills, to try and beat your rival’s best time. If you do, you earn bragging rights. I have not sadly managed to do it, but it is some good clean fun trying to do it. There are also featured rivals, so feel free to look at those if you dare.

Career mode

: In previous versions of Forza, your career mode was the Forza Cup. You raced tours and unlocked cars, credits or gear helping to raise your collections or credits. This year, the forza cup has been replaced by the Builders cup, where you get to know a car, upgrade it, and then go practice with it. As your complete laps in practice, your car will gain experience, and the screen reader will tell you if you level up, what your segment score is, and your lap times are. Assists are not frowned upon, and on the contrary, they are encouraged. If you want to jump right in to career mode but you do not know how to manually drive the car, set your assists to full, and go for it. As stated earlier, it is your forza, your experience, you are in control. A note about upgrading your car: Using the quick upgrade option, it tries to keep your upgrades balanced. If you have a car with 2.9 handling for example, and you want to focus on that, it is best to explore all the possible upgrades, to see which ones will increase that stat. Handling is how well your car handles turns and stays on the track.
While I do miss the forza cup, being able to upgrade my car, and play through a mode without sighted assistance is amazing! Do give it a try and have fun with it!

Private Multi-player

: In Private multi-player it is your rules and your way. Invite up to twenty-four players including yourself for some good but not so wholesome fun. This is where I have learned about driving with Partial assists, because I do want to learn how to drive. It is safe to do it with your friends, because they are starting out where you are. Also, this mode like the others, is accessible. Set the rules, restrictions, track weather, and more all with the knowledge that the screen reader is right there with you, walking you through it. I have played that mode so much, that I have unlocked achievements for it. I think I have played it more than career mode which is saying something.

Concluding thoughts

Forza motorsport is truly the most accessible racing sim to date. There is no other title in this Genre that can even come close. Thanks to Brandon Cole and turn ten studios, we have at our disposal a racing simulator that we can be proud to play, and proud to endorse. While there are a couple of spots where the screen reader does not read, they should in no way shape your playing experience. I look forward to seeing many of you out on the track. My raiding: 9.5 out of ten stars. Reason: I love the builders cup, but I would have loved to have an accessible Forza cup career mode. This in no way takes away from the accomplishments of the devs and Brandon, which is why I took off only a half a point.