• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

CLUTCH by former Forza Horizon developers has been announced

Full reveal on Summer Game Fest.

''Maverick Games, the independent UK outfit founded by former Forza Horizon creative director Mike Brown, has pulled the covers off its debut title. It's called Clutch, it's a cinematic open-world driving game, and it's heading to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC in spring 2027.''

''Clutch features a cinematic, story-driven campaign telling the story of sibling racers competing in a historic racing series called the R1K. Within the R1K, players can take part in sanctioned events. However, on the other side of the campaign is the Midnight Collective, the underground circuit that's more about style. The hero of the story finds himself in trouble, and the seedier elements of the world are brought to light."






xMSBnZ.png


HJwlCm0WkAAlUht

HJwlFvsWQAA1nYN

HJwlCmnWUAAdfYh
 
Last edited:
Looks like some nice competition for Forza Horizon. Love it! Hope it doesnt end like Test Drive...but looks good sofar.
 
Hopefully this one is less cringe
There's pretty much no racing game out their with a story that isn't cringe. They're all horrible but in different ways.

FH6 is all the NPC characters glazing each other and you about how awesome they are. Horrific amounts of positive guff.
 
"former Forza Horizon creative director Mike Brown".

"Guy who drew grass textures".

🤷
Yes. He didn't program anything. He wasn't the person who created the physics or how the cars handle. He didn't creat the progression of the game.

He literally was in charge of making sure the grass textures look like grass.
 
If that's ingame then the characters, cars and overall graphics already look better. Big if though. Will have to wait and see what they actually deliver.
 
Absolutely nothing they talked about matters one bit if the handling model isn't there. Test Drive, The Crew, and anything else that has tried to do Forza never work because the feel isn't there when driving.
 
We have seen enough "former director" efforts crash and burn. So some skepticism is natural.

That said, this at least looks interesting.
Correct former Devs making something new is not a guarantee of quality in the slightest. It often goes badly when they branch off and form their own studio.

Especially when you're just a low level guy like a creative director who drew the grass.
 
The more racing games the better.
The Customizing did not look extreme but decent. I mean in Forza we are still not able to change the exhaust tips expect they are "part" of the bumper or kit.

Physics, Maps, Progression and Carlist.
If they nail these points, they can attack FH.
Graphics wise it already look good enough.

Fiat Multipla and Widebody M3 GTR a la NFS MW are already a good start IMO
 
Last edited:
The more racing games the better.
The Customizing did not look extreme but decent. I mean in Forza we are still not able to change the exhaust tips expect they are "part" of the bumper or kit.
Yeah, customization was really a let down in FH6. Absolute zero progression imho compared to FH5.
 
The whole " former devs " tag line
Doesn't work anymore. People don't care if the guy who drew the grass textures makes a game.
Biggest irony is that whenever a game is introduced as "by former Blizzard devs" that's an active deterrent (for me, at least).
 
A arcade racer to rise above it all just need to play well enough and bring back illegal street races with the 2000s car culture in mind when talking about customization. It is that simple. And take off the cringe scripts. If possible don't even make a proper story.
 
Top Bottom