Forza Motorsport Expands Online Play With Featured Multiplayer, Open Practice and More

gamingbolt.com:

Turn 10 Studios’ Forza Motorsport won’t have split-screen multiplayer at launch, but the online multiplayer will receive several new features. The developer outlined several of these in a recent blog post, like Featured Multiplayer. Described as a “live, real-world time-based mode of pre-defined live events,” it offers scheduled races with real-world times.

It consolidates Hoppers and Leagues from previous titles with events for car divisions like GT Cars, Touring Cars, and whatnot. Players can see the different track layouts, weather, time of day and other factors, and there are also cut-offs for entry. Of course, it wouldn’t be a race weekend-style event without Open Practice and rounds to Qualify.

Open Practice allows for practice laps for five to 20 minutes, and you Qualify based on the time joining. Qualify allows for racing on a set number of laps, with your starting position in a Featured Race determined by the best lap time.

“You can join an event anytime during Open Practice or Qualifying, up to 5 minutes before the Featured Race, and then the entry for that event closes for new participants. When you join an event, you start in Open Practice with up to 23 other players,” the developer said. Of course, there’s also a Skip Lap option in Open Practice and Qualify to start laps over in case of mistakes, though it voids the current lap.

“We’ll generally have at least one event available to join in each series in Featured Multiplayer at any time, with new events starting roughly every 30 minutes. Parameters for each event are varied, with different tracks, weather, and time of day, and rotate through multiple series.” Players can look forward to Spec Series, where all cars are identical and tuned by the developer