I had a random thought today. Considering that most people hated the microtransaction stuff in Forza 5 and that we know Forza Horizon 2 will use the same engine and likely some of the same car models (and why not, they're fantastic), what if they made it to where any cars purchased with real money in FM5 would carry over to Forza Horizon 2? That would be a nice "thank you" of sorts, and it would make it far more tempting to throw down some cash on cars that won't just be left on an old game. It would seem like a good way for MS to build some goodwill with minimal effort on their end. Granted, I doubt this will happen, as we'll probably just get another round of microtransactions in Forza Horizon 2, but it's a nice idea. What do you guys think? Would you be more willing to buy more cars if they carried over?

I'm honestly shocked that Forza hasn't implemented a plan akin to what Call of Duty does. Like a way to expand the VIP program or something like that. For, say, the price of a VIP DLC per year you get all or most of that stuff included plus some free cars, maybe early access to new tracks or something. Perhaps you could get a bonus FORZA REWARD TIER or something? I dunno, just spitballing.

I always end up buying every piece of DLC in these games anyway, It'd be alright with me if they did a full blown membership thingy. I like the Forza Hub so far, but it could be cool if they expanded it in a meaningful way.

That would suck. Then people that are spending real money are actually, on top of skipping playing the game, getting a benefit over people who play the game. Microtransactions need to be less tempting and not more. Fuck that bullshit.

Hey, my sad, lonely thread from a few months back is finally getting some love.

Now that Horizon 2 is out, I can say that they definitely handled the microtransaction stuff FAR better in this game (save some launch issues with the VIP that were quickly addressed). The Forza Rewards cars and discounted VIP if you had it previously are in the vein of what I was getting at in MS showing some appreciation for their loyal fans. Also, throwing out some free cars at launch was a nice PR move. They've gotten smart enough to toss a freebie car to the regular players when they release DLC as well.

There are still definitely some things they can do to improve this whole system, though. I don't really like how they bundle the car packs, as I would much prefer every car to be able to be purchased individually. They should have the car pack be $5 and the individual cars be the standard $1.99, IMO. That way, if you only want, say, the Jaguar F-Type out of the Mobil 1 car pack, you don't have to pay for the whole pack of four other cars you don't care about. That was the most upsetting part of Forza 5's DLC to me, as I recall several cars I actually would have bought on their own, but said "fuck that" because they were lumped in some $9.99 car pack.

And like @zzombie13 said, some early access or bonus tier stuff for VIP/Ultimate could be cool, and that's about the only thing that separates Forza from a full-on CoD DLC at this point. Then again, the more stuff that gets put in the DLC to provide value for those who spring for it, the more the people who don't pay for it get all pissy about content being put behind a paywall. It's a fine line, and thankfully this time around, they're toeing it well so far for the most part. I'm glad that they've managed to seemingly appease both the extremes of the often-entitled "I paid more money, so you have to give me everything I want" DLC crowd and the often-cheap anti-DLC crowd that whines about seeing something they want but don't want to pay for. Personally, I bought the Ultimate, mostly because Horizon 2 is a fantastic game and I've got no problem supporting it.

I don't mind it in Horizon 2. I'd probably be more interested in new areas than new cars though.

@notnert427:

A lot of DLC is demonstrably useless. Skins are rarely worth their money, a new gun that works functionally similar to half a dozen others, etc. But in Forza the DLC has never felt like a rip off. Sure, they do go deep on some of that stuff. But the core package has enough to keep anyone busy. And if you want extra, I've always thought it was reasonably priced.

I was under the impression that you could purchase the cars individually though. I know it was like that on the 360 installments of the franchise, but I admit that I haven't looked on FM5 or FH2 since I went with the car pass pretty early on.

True, Forza 5 leaned a bit to heavily on the cash pump and it bit them in the ass. I imagine we can say lesson learned on Turn 10's part. And I suspect that they really felt the sting. Even though I'm a die-hard Forza fan I didn't even buy V.I.P until they got the economy sorted out, let alone any DLC. In the end though, Forza 5 ended up being one of my favorite entries in the series despite the lower car and track count. What was there was polished to perfection and I felt like many of the cars they let go from Forza 4 was just trimming the fat. I'm a car guy, sure, but does anyone really need 7 versions of the Subaru Imprezza or the Mitsubishi EVO? 2 or 3 will more than suffice. Coupled with the Auto-Vista mode being used for every car rather than a select few and it was easy to see their goals even if the message became muddy from the broken economy.