Quick Look: Forza Horizon 4

WOO!

Goddamn this is stunning, almost every new game I buy I'm constantly in awe of how good stuff can look these days on all platforms, diminishing returns my ass, things are super impressive constantly, at least to me, maybe I'm just easily wowed even on my base consoles. I've been playing God of War and Far Cry 5 and taking tons of photos both from gameplay and photomode, my favorite feature this gen. Don't get me wrong, gameplay is still king, and I'd take an ugly game with good gameplay than a pretty game with bad one (I've been playing Shadowrun: Dragonfall on PC so graphics aint everything) but still, jeez graphics these days are insane.

Can't wait for FH4 it's gonna be so awesome, just pure fun and chill. And seasons are such a cool addition, love weather in games, especially when it's dynamic or changing the whole world.

gonna do donuts in edinburgh while blasting whatever new chvrches song is in this one.

i love these games so much.

Would definitely buy this if it was released on anything other than the Windows Store. I bought Forza Horizon 3 at launch and I'm currently unable to play it OR get a refund because their store is bugged. Worst customer experience ever.

Watching cars smash through those stone walls with ease is obviously necessary for gameplay but absolutely fucks with my mind. They'd fuck a car all the way up.

The Forza Horizon games are so damn good. Can't wait for this.

Flossing atop a waterfall is simultaneously the best/worst.

@eedobaba: I had bad experiences with FH3 on PC but 4 seems better. Also, I know this isn't a good solution to Microsoft Store problems but performing a clean install of Windows helped my machine a lot. (Bad solution to a bad problem)

@wallrod: Yeah, I don't know what it is about the dry stone walls specifically, but while this is a pretty good recreation of the UK scenery, the wall thing really screws up the immersion for me. I don't know if it's because I know the location better or just that if it was set in the US the walls would be wooden or wire fences (which could more realistically be driven through).

I love the idea of a car-train race in this version. I assume you turn up at the start and have to race a bus instead?

man I'm pumped for this game. 3 was incredible and one of my favorite gaming experiences this generation. I expect no less from 4 especially with the seasons element thrown in.

Also awesome I'm getting to play this on release date since I'm a game pass member.

Game pass kinda feels unreal. I paid $2 for 2 months at the end of August and I'll get to play this at launch for basically $1. I'm so pumped for this.

Nope. Wooden fences are nasty because they can punch holes all the way through your car into the passenger compartment. And it turns out barbed wire doesn't stretch or break easily, so it would just wrap around your car like a giant, pokey, rusty net.

As it turns out, video games just don't bother to recreate car collisions with non-cars very well or realistically at all (and this is for good reason, because it wouldn't be very fun to stop the racing every time your car strayed off the paved road.)

Dat license plate tho!

I played the demo and already had plans to get this but after 2 hours in the demo went straight to the ms store and got the ultimate edition for 100 bucks. 7 more days left am hoping they have another insane dlc like blizzard and hot wheel

I just hope there is a cohesiveness to seasons changing weekly rather than ehile playing dynamically

@endsofinvention: It's the size of the roads that's throwing me off. Everything feels just that bit wider than it actually is.

All acceptable compromises, obviously, but it hits home more when, well, the game's set in your home.

I just remembered I have an Xbox One.

Imagine the shock of Angelenos (or "Los Angeles people") when, in Midnight Club: Los Angeles, you could get from Laurel Canyon to Downtown LA in, like, 2 minutes.

In real life, I think the best time I've made has been about 45 minutes. :b

Not sure why I find that Nintendo tag so funny.

@mattgiersoni: the fact is this is the best looking game so it's not a stretch for you to feel that way. Playing it 4k extreme with no hud and driving lines off it almost looks photo real in some parts.

edit: meant to throw in shadow of the tomb raider and horizon zero dawn also for some of the best looking games out there. I highly recommend shadow of the tomb raider if you like photo mode! I've taken about 300 screenshots so far just have nowhere to post them but its a beautiful looking game ... forza horizon 4 is just breathtaking due to the speed in a different way. I can't wait for cyberpunk 2077 personally for the next generation of graphics but we are getting to photoreal everyday.

Anyone know if they fixed the Windows Store issue where you can't install a game to anything but your C drive? That made my experience with the previous game, uh, difficult.

@forebodingburger: I installed the demo for this the other day and there was an option to chose which hard drive it installed to.

11:22 It really looks like Jeff lost, but they gave him the win anyways.

I've a feeling this game is really forgiving to attract more players.

Cant wait for this!

Yo this is a fuckin beautiful game. Like not even just for a racing game

Flossing on the waterfall gave this game some serious charm

you fixed the quicklooks image. i am calm again.

Gamepass FTW

Between the blatant "ripping off whats popular" with Fortnite dances, bonus XP for Streaming and watching Streams of the game, this is all a very "Microsoft" kinda game.

@mattgiersoni: I wanna upvote your comment or something, I completely agree. Games constantly stun me these days with how amazing they look.

The stone wall physics bug me enough that I think I'll forgo the easy skill point chains. Just think of all that labor, some farmer 200 years ago pulled all those rocks out of his fields and spent ages piling them up just so, I'm not gonna just spray 'em all over the road.

And four games in Jeff still hasn't seen Top Gear? I don't know how many times I've heard him complain about the showcase races without ever acknowledging their inspiration. Not that I necessarily disagree with his take otherwise.

I don't have an Xbox but damn is this a good lookin' game.

I'm earning influence by watching this, right?

@orange_pork: It’s “Never Say Die,” which is one of my favorite tracks from Love Is Dead.

The As A Service features in this game look great. Forza Horizon 3 was one of those games that I would pick up every few weeks and have a great time with, and I love the idea of them leaning into the short-term goal appeal of Forzathon. I may end up getting the DLC pass this time!

Also, I may be in a minority on this one, but I’d rather have 30fps with motion blur. I like the way it looks; there’s something about higher frame rate that looks unreal, and I prefer the way that a nice locked 30fps looks like I perceive real life, even if it is a bit less responsive.

Presence of random sheep in unexpected locations: 100% accurate

Sheep actually responding to oncoming cars: 0% accurate

I don't think I have ever played a pure driving game with even close to a good story. I'll probably play this game anyway though.

I feel like I kinda get what Brad and Jeff are saying about being a bit sillier but I feel like Horizon is plenty self aware.

But when I imagine sillier I just imagine the tone of like Rage 2 commercials and I'm not sure that's ideal.

@cliffordbanes said:

That's a Fiesta

So I assume the stone walls get so easily destroyed because the developers don't have the licensing rights to model car damage and its no fun for cars to just freeze-frame stop when they collide with things?

@fezrock: Yeah some hindrance would be nice, all the stuff you hit just kinda crumbles like paper, still, looks fun though

How has no one called it 4ZA yet

That bike was CLEARLY in front of Jeff at the finish. Between the terrible rubberbanding and fake winning, and also the no car damage, this is a hard pass from me. Thats such a bummer because the Horizion games are the only fun racing games out basically, and it looks like they are taking a step back even further from fun.

do not sweat the technique

Holy shit, thats a one incredible looking game.

@brad there are day to night cycles, notice how when jeff drove to the festival it was night? It didn't unlock cycles in the demo until you unlocked everything so seems progression locked here too

Seeing those dances really makes me regret preordering this...

I wish there was something like that for PS4

I thought this game was explicitly Northern England and Scotland, because all the scenery looks northern to me, but then I see the Uffington white horse on the map... I was going through the video admiring how well the game represented northern rural landscapes like the Peak District and the Dales, feels like nothing in here looks like the Southern England I know though.