Next-gen Forza Motorsport will take advantage of Xbox Series X power

Microsoft and Turn 10 Studios are returning to the track with the latest Forza Motorsport for Xbox. This new entry in the series is getting an overhaul to take advantage of the next-generation Xbox Series X, which launches this holiday. That means cutting-edge visual tricks like real-time ray tracing. But it also means new features and racing modes that will take the action offroad.

Turn 10 debuted Forza Motorsport at the Xbox Games Showcase as part of the lead up to the Xbox Series X launch. The studio revealed new simulation systems to model tire pressure, track temperatures, and suspension. And a lot of this is possible thanks to the improved horsepower in the next Xbox. Unlike the Xbox One family of systems, the Xbox Series X has a modern, 8-core CPU that excels at calculating physics and other simulations. So while past racing games have emphasized their visual fidelity on new hardware, Turn 10 and Microsoft may highlight what's happening under the hood.

The new Forza Motorsport is coming in 2021. This marks a significant break for the series, which was on an every-other-year schedule through the Xbox One generation. But Turn 10 has worked on this followup since 2017's Forza Motorsport 7. And Microsoft hasn't launched a Forza of any persuasion since 2018's Forza Horizon 4.

That time off is giving Turn 10 a chance to rework the underlying systems that make Forza such a fan favorite. And this should make it a standout release for the Xbox Series X.