The Abominable Snowman
Member
GT4 recently dropped its online mode. How did you feel about that?
Kiki Wolfkill: We'd also assumed that GT4 would come out with online play from the beginning, but we were confident that our online modes would be deeper and a little more mature. So we were very surprised when we heard it'd been canned in GT4. We definitely think it's a huge differentiator between Forza and GT4.
If you look at the first Gotham and compare it to what Live added to the experience in the sequel it's pretty clear how important it is. What we don't want is just to have online there as part of the price for entry: we feel that we're taking things a step further so that the online stuff is a part of the whole game design.
In Forza, credits that you earn in offline play can be used in the online mode and vice versa. You're not making a decision about whether to rack up money and buy new cars to race against real people online - you're just making a decision as to whether you want to race against real people or AI opponents.
What else are you implementing on the online side?
Kiki Wolfkill: We've nailed all the usual stuff - everything you do while you're signed in will be reflected in a leaderboard somewhere and your stats will be constantly tracked. On top of that we're really keen to focus on the idea of a racing community. We have Car Clubs, which are effectively clans of up to 100 drivers. You can think of it almost as a race team.
Anything you can do in single-player you'll be able to do within your Car Club, so you'll have guys who are really skilled with upgrades and tuning, guys who are really skilled at customising cars with our decals and liveries, and the guys who are great at racing all working together within the team. Then there's the online economy feeding into that, with people trading upgrades, mechanical setups, decals and cars.
With such a realistic physics and handling engine a force feedback wheel would be great for Forza. Any plans?
Kiki Wolfkill: There's definitely things in the works that we haven't solidified yet. We appreciate that a force feedback wheel is the best way to experience a game like Forza and it's certainly something we're working on from a partnership standpoint.
You've talked about Forza as the first instalment in a major franchise for Xbox. What plans do you have for the future?
Kiki Wolfkill: We're already thinking about Forza 2, but we're still extremely focused on getting Forza finished and starting production on downloadable content. The vision for this Forza was a lot grander than we could implement and by the time Forza 2 comes around it'll most likely be on new hardware, so it's hard to say exactly what we'll be doing - and even if I knew I wouldn't be allowed to say anyway.
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Gran Turismo contender or not?