History VideoGame / Forza

* BrandX: Performance parts in ''Motorsport 4'' are a generic brand, unlike ''Motorsport 3'', where most of the parts were "made" by a certain manufacturer, such as K&N making air filters for certain car brands.
** Generally justified, as ''Motorsport 4'' features a lot more niche and unique cars where no real company would design aftermarket parts for them. However, said niche cars often use engines or are actually built from other cars (for example, the Bertone Mantide is just a Corvette [=ZR1=] with a lighter, radically designed body), so the reason why aftermarket companies were removed besides advertising billboards remains unclear.

* EveryCarIsAPinto: Averted, despite having an ''actual Ford Pinto'' in the game.

* GaidenGame: ''Forza Horizon'', to some extent.

* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: ''Forza Horizon'' titles from ''3'' and onward introduce cars whose real-life counterparts that do not have headlights. In order to allow these vehicles to be driven at night, lights will either be attached to the model (eg. Napier-Railton, which has 2 LED projectors attached to either side of the grille) or certain parts of the body will become sources of light projection (eg. "Headlight" stickers for Chris Forsberg's [=2JZ=]-powered NASCAR have been made sources of light projection).

* RuleOfFun: ''Horizon'' in general is this, letting people tool around in several-million dollar hypercars like they're falling off the trees, taking them down back roads and off-roading through the jungle for kicks. However the Hot Wheels expansion from ''3'' hits entirely new levels with crisscrossing orange and blue track pieces soaring hundreds of feet in the air along with loops, flaming rings to jump through, life-sized animatronic Tyrannosaurs rexes, and massive half-pipes. Leaving the impossibility of creating something of this scale aside[[note]]and that casually sailing around loop-de-loops and driving at 85-degree angles is a general physics bugbear[[/note]], such an arrangement would be the biggest liability nightmare you could ever conceive but dang if it isn't fun.
** Making only large objects have collision physics also applies. In reality there isn't too much difference between hitting a medium tree or large, house or greenhouse, stone or brick walls, but this allows much more forgiving off-roading. (Though smaller obstructions ''will'' hinder a car's progress, as is most noticeable on cross country races).

* WideOpenSandbox: The ''Forza Horizon'' series.

* CharacterTiers: [invoked][[InUniverse A game mechanic]], each car is given a numerical value called their Performance Index (PI) [[note]]PI is calculated by the car's theoretical hotlap time around an imaginary track; claimed to be somewhat like the Sedona racetrack in ''Motorsport 4''[[/note]], which is then matched to a letter grade; higher letters mean faster classes. Cars can be upgraded to higher classes, and a few can be creatively ''downgraded'' to lower classes too, with engine or aspiration swaps or by installing heavy rims. In ''Motorsport 4'', the classes generally go like this:

* CharacterTiers: [[InUniverse A game mechanic]], each car is given a numerical value called their Performance Index (PI) [[note]]PI is calculated by the car's theoretical hotlap time around an imaginary track; claimed to be somewhat like the Sedona racetrack in ''Motorsport 4''[[/note]], which is then matched to a letter grade; higher letters mean faster classes. Cars can be upgraded to higher classes, and a few can be creatively ''downgraded'' to lower classes too, with engine or aspiration swaps or by installing heavy rims. In ''Motorsport 4'', the classes generally go like this:

** X class - Modified Le Mans Prototypes.
*** From ''Motorsport 5'' onwards, this class has also included all open wheel cars from the 1980s onwards.

*** Festival Playlist objectives that require a player to finish and/or win X amount of Y race type do not count races if the event was created via [=EventLab=] '''and''' said event's custom route distance is below a certain threshold, a direct response to players in ''4'' simply making minimum length routes (after sending the drivatars off into the middle of nowhere) for fulfilling this type of objective. Players quickly found a way around this by keeping the route length above the minimum threshold, and instead used Instant Win triggers to immediately end the event, something that would count towards completion of the objective. In response to this tactic, the restriction was made stricter for Treasure Hunt tasks that require a player to complete or win a race (usually of a certain type), often in a specific car or series of cars. Using any [=EventLab=] event, even one that would normally count towards the "finish and/or win X amount of Y race type" objective", would cause the task to '''outright bug out''', preventing the treasure chest from spawning, which prevents the player from completing that week's Treasure Hunt task.

*** Festival Playlist objectives that require a player to finish and/or win X amount of Y race type do not count races if the event was created via [=EventLab=] '''and''' said event's custom route distance is below a certain threshold, a direct response to players in ''4'' simply making minimum length routes (after sending the drivatars off into the middle of nowhere) for fulfilling this type of objective. Players quickly found a way around this by keeping the route length above the minimum threshold, and instead used Instant Win triggers to immediately end the event, something that would count towards completion of the objective. In response to this tactic, the restriction was made stricter Treasure Hunt tasks that require a player to complete or win a race (usually of a certain type), often in a specific car or series of cars. Using any [=EventLab=] event, even one that would normally count towards the "finish and/or win X amount of Y race type" objective", would cause the task to '''outright bug out''', preventing the treasure chest from spawning, which prevents the player from completing that week's Treasure Hunt task.

*** Festival Playlist objectives that require a player to finish and/or win X amount of Y race type do not count races if the event was created via [=EventLab=] '''and''' said event's custom route distance is below a certain threshold, a direct response to players in ''4'' simply making minimum length routes (after sending the drivatars off into the middle of nowhere) for fulfilling this type of objective.

The games (sans ''Street'') usually feature monthly new car DLC - one free car (usually a new-model-year of an in-game car) available for everyone, and a mix of other cars which require purchase. ''Forza Motorsport 4'' had monthly $7 packs of ten cars (most of which could be purchased on their own). ''Horizon'' 1 had $5 packs of six cars. Starting with ''Motorsport 5'', all DLC cars have been available to buy for free in-game upon buying their respective DLC. ''Horizon 4'' shook things up first by releasing two DLC cars every week instead, while adding [[TemporaryOnlineContent new cars (between three and eight per update) to win for free in monthly updates]] since the game launched (37 updates by the end of the game's development in June 2021!). Additionally, each of the main games and their DLC were normally digitally available for four years from their release before [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes they are delisted from the Xbox and Windows stores]]. However, ''Horizon 4'' broke that trend as there is no reports of impending delisting, and will continue to be available past 2022.

The games (sans ''Street'') usually feature monthly new car DLC - one free car (usually a new-model-year of an in-game car) available for everyone, and a mix of other cars which require purchase. ''Forza Motorsport 4'' had monthly $7 packs of ten cars (most of which could be purchased on their own). ''Horizon'' 1 had $5 packs of six cars. Starting with ''Motorsport 5'', all DLC cars have been available to buy for free in-game upon buying their respective DLC. ''Horizon 4'' shook things up first by releasing two DLC cars every week instead, while adding [[TemporaryOnlineContent new cars (between three and eight per update) to win for free in monthly updates]] since the game launched (37 updates by the end of the game's development in June 2021!). Additionally, each of the main games and their DLC were normally digitally available for four years from their release before [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes they are delisted from the Xbox and Windows stores]]. However, ''Horizon 4'' broke that trend and will continue to be available past 2022.

* ''Forza Horizon 5'' (2021) takes place in UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}}, with Guanajuato City as the main city. It returns the series to North America since the first ''Horizon'', and has the level of environmental diversity that ''Horizon 3''[='=]s Australia has, including mountains, beaches, deserts, rainforests, and even an active volcano, all on a map that's 50% larger than ''Horizon 4''[='=]s Britain. ''The Eliminator'' mode added to ''Horizon 4'' in late 2019 returns, with the game world designed around the mode, which now supports 96 players, and the game has a new Horizon Expeditions that feature story-telling adventures. Plus, a new LevelEditor suite called the [=EventLab=] allows players to make their own races and minigames with a suite of tools akin to those found in ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV Grand Theft Auto Online]]'' and ''VideoGame/TrackMania''. Oh, and the Player [[SuddenlyVoiced talks now, too,]] and has a wider selection of character customization options than ever before, including the ability to change hairstyles, select prosthetic limbs, and choose pronouns to be referred to by. Additionally, ''Horizon 5'' is a narrative sequel to ''Horizon 4'', with the Player themselves being a returning star from Horizon Festival UK. It was released for Xbox One (likely making it the final ''Forza'' release on that platform), Xbox Series X|S, and Windows on November 5, 2021, for premium edition players, and November 9 for standard and deluxe edition players, including those with Xbox Game Pass. Its first expansion, to be released on July 19, 2022, will be a full return to Hot Wheels with more life-size scaled versions of the toy cars and the iconic orange and blue plastic tracks.

The games (sans ''Street'') usually feature monthly new car DLC - one free car (usually a new-model-year of an in-game car) available for everyone, and a mix of other cars which require purchase. ''Forza Motorsport 4'' had monthly $7 packs of ten cars (most of which could be purchased on their own). ''Horizon'' 1 had $5 packs of six cars. Starting with ''Motorsport 5'', all DLC cars have been available to buy for free in-game upon buying their respective DLC. ''Horizon 4'' shook things up first by releasing two DLC cars every week instead, while adding [[TemporaryOnlineContent new cars (between three and eight per update) to win for free in monthly updates]] since the game launched (37 updates by the end of the game's development in June 2021!). Additionally, each of the main games and their DLC is normally digitally available for four years from their release before [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes they are delisted from the Xbox and Windows stores]]; ''Horizon 4'' is expected to be delisted in 2022.

[[caption-width-right:300:''"Welcome to the Horizon Festival!"'']]

-->'''Warren''': [[TheNameIsBondJamesBond The name's Warren.]] Um... it's just Warren.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: In ''Horizon'', Alice Hart and the radio DJs sometimes reference how the racing at the Festival is heavily regulated and speaks of instances where Festival participants getting pulled over for illegal modifications, speeding, etc. Yet the player can do things like go over 200 mph on a public highway, crash into traffic, destroy property (fences, tables, signs) without facing any consequences apart from losing their skill chain combo, and the only regulation seen in the Horizon races are what cars are allowed to enter.

* ArtisticLicense: The LNER A3 Flying Scotsmanin in the "Flying Scotsman Showcase" race in ''Horizon 4'' has the wrong whistle, as it has a deep, low-pitched American three chime whistle, despite being a British steam locomotive that has a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-DzVPJq7qc high-pitched, shrill whistle]] on par with other British steam locomotives. This is most likely due to RuleOfCool being in effect or TheCoconutEffect (since the former is what most associate Steam Locomotives to sound like)[[note]]That said, the Flying Scotsman did once wear a American whistle during its USA tour, so it isn't entirely inaccurate, even if it was only briefly in America where she wore it.[[/note]].

* ArtisticLicense: The LNER A3 Flying Scotsmanin in the "Flying Scotsman Showcase" race in ''Horizon 4'' has the wrong whistle, as it has a deep, low-pitched American Steam Locomotive 3 chime whistle, despite being a British steam locomotive that has a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-DzVPJq7qc high-pitched, shrill whistle]] on par with other British steam locomotives. This is most likely due to RuleOfCool being in effect or TheCoconutEffect (since the former is what most associate Steam Locomotives to sound like)[[note]]That said, the Flying Scotsman did once wear a American whistle during its USA tour, so it isn't entirely inaccurate, even if it was only in America where she wore it.[[/note]].

** ''Horizon 3'' has special events called Forzathon that give prizes for competing in certain kinds of events, one which was based around Franchise/{{Halo}} had car horns offered with the task having a title based on something from the games. However the final task which gave the player their own Warthog is called [[Machinima/RedVsBlue "Looks more like a Puma"]].

*** Several Showcase Events in the first game pit the player against other standard vehicles in basic 1-on-1 races, or a full-grid one-make race (eg. Manic Mini, both of which are always run on the same routes and circuits as the regular wristband events. Starting with ''2'', the Showcase Events are always races against non-playable vehicles like planes, motorbikes, or hot air balloons, and are run on custom-made routes that are not used in regular races. Also, winning a showcase in ''1'' would also award the player with the car used in said showcase. In ''2'' only the first showcase would award the player with the showcase car (due to it being required for the plot, and the car appearing in the following cutscene as the convoy prepares to depart for Nice), as none of the remaining showcases, nor any showcase in ''3'' or ''4'' will reward the player with the car used.

*** Any players that, prior to Series 18's winter season when the car could be obtained, imported their liveries from earlier Xbox One titles that featured this car using the game's own livery importer function found themselves slapped with a suspension for "time-travelling", as the auto-mod bot was working under the false premise that the liveries were made within ''Horizon 4'' by illegitimately obtaining the car early. All these suspensions were quickly reverted, but due to the suspensions being of the kind that barred the player from accessing or creating User-Generated Content, any player that received this erroneous suspension had their ENTIRE Creative Hub wiped clean.
*** When the Winter Season came, players who, within the first few hours of the season, achieved the 50% season completion necessary to obtain the car also found themselves getting smacked by the bot, and for the same erroneous reason as well ("Time-travelling").

** ''Horizon 3'' takes this UpToEleven. You start off in a Lamborghini Centenario, before switching to a Baldwin Trophy Truck, before doing a showcase event in a Penhall Cholla, before going back to the Centenario again, before ''finally'' giving you a choice between high-performance starter cars.

** ''Horizon 2''[='=]s ''Storm Island'' expansion pack adds a new open-world which emphasizes extreme rally racing, abrupt and violent weather conditions, and six new vehicles. It can be easily summed up as the ''Rally'' expansion pack for the first ''Horizon'' turned UpToEleven.

** The final race in the Xbox One version of ''Horizon 2'' takes place in a circuit which circumnavigates the entire map, with the Festival's main hub as start/finish location. It takes around 20 minutes to finish. The "Goliath Circuit" (which opens up when you max out the Byron Bay festival) serves a similar purpose for ''3'' (though, thanks to the blueprinting function, if you're nuts enough you can [[UpToEleven add laps to it]]) and bag several hundred thousand dollars, enough skill points for a free tune on your next ride, and a wheelspin or six for further riches and cars for the auction house.

** Taken UpToEleven in ''Horizon 4'': Horizon Life grants you experience for ''everything'' where progress can be tracked, be it racing through any discipline, rivals, online adventure, [[BattleRoyaleGame the Eliminator]], maxing out PR stunts, completing stories/businesses, taking photos or creating liveries, tunes. Some cars are locked until you reach a certain level on a discipline.

* ArtisticLicense: The LNER A3 Flying Scotsmanin in the "Flying Scotsman Showcase" race in ''Horizon 4'' has the wrong whistle, as it has a deep, low-pitched American Steam Locomotive whistle, despite being a British steam locomotive that has a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-DzVPJq7qc high-pitched, shrill whistle]] on par with other British steam locomotives. This is most likely due to RuleOfCool being in effect or TheCoconutEffect (since the former is what most associate Steam Locomotives to sound like).

* WeirdCrossover: The ''Horizon'' series, while not as grimly realistic as the ''Motorsport'' superseries, is still fairly grounded in reality. So for ''Horizon 3''[='s=] first expansion, ''Blizzard Mountain'', it's a trip up to a snowy peak to do some racing in cold-weather conditions like blizzards and icy lakes. Seems pretty normal, yeah? The second expansion, you ask? How about [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COaOCuv0yWA life-sized Hot Wheels plastic tracks?]]
** Not to be outdone, ''Horizon 4'' tries its hand at twisting up player expectations with a Franchise/{{LEGO}}[=-themed=] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cASCytz8o9g expansion]].

* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: ''Forza Horizon'' titles from ''3'' and onward introduce cars whose real-life counterparts that do not have headlights. In order to allow these vehicles to be driven at night, lights will either be attached to the model (eg. Napier-Railton, which has 2 LED projectors attached to either side of the cowl) or certain parts of the body will become sources of light projection (eg. "Headlight" stickers for Chris Forsberg's [=2JZ=]-powered NASCAR have been made sources of light projection).

''Motorsport'' mainly revolves around closed-circuit race tracks in a wide variety of gorgeous environments for players to race at. ''Motorsport'' games have a career mode which has players going to various real and fictional tracks around the world to compete in race events, like in other traditional sim racers. Meanwhile, ''Horizon'' revolves around a fictitious annual music and racing festival, taking place in open-world maps that are fictionalized versions of real-world environments (except in certain expansions that loosen things up). ''Horizon'' games' career mode has players competing in various events around the festival to become the Horizon Festival Champion. ''Street'' is more story-oriented than the other two, revolving around an up-and-coming racer climbing the ranks of a racing organization called the 'League', with the setting being established in UsefulNotes/{{Miami}}.

Until 2019, the two main series were released biennially from their debuts; ''Motorsport'' entries in odd-numbered years and ''Horizon'' entries on even-numbered years.