A new one Forza Motorsport games – provisionally dubbed Forza Motorsport 8 – was announced back on July 23, 2020 for Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X and PC. At that time, the game was announced along with a revealing trailer with footage in the engine or in other words footage that is not representative of what the actual game will look like. In-engine trailers are not CGI trailers, but they always look better than the finished product. In other words, the trailer had no gameplay.
It’s almost two years since the game’s unveiling, and since then it’s been a media and information blackout. The game has not yet reappeared, leaving many fans wondering what will happen to it. At the time of the announcement, the game was said to be in the early stages of development, but fans did not perceive it as meaning that it would take a few years and count before they got to see the title again.
Right now, Xbox and developer Turn 10 Studios are still not talking about the game, but a new leak has emerged online that not only reveals our first look at the actual game, but reveals that it may actually be a release across generations. The leak comes on the way by Reddit and is accompanied by media that are said to show the game running on Xbox One last summer. There is no room for doubt about the validity of the images. They pass the sniff test and a little more, but there is no evidence that the images were taken from an Xbox One version of the game other than the doctor’s claims. That said, if the doctor has access to these images, it is safe to assume that the free details are also accurate.
So why are fans divided over the leak? Well, because it claims and apparently reveals that the game is cross-gen after the title was previously announced as the next generation and PC only. Why is this a problem? Well, for some – especially those on Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X and advanced PCs – the concern is that the game on Xbox One will limit the game’s potential, as it has to be made within the framework of Xbox One’s old technology. And this is a reasonable concern, but not very useful for Forza Motorsport. From a design perspective, where the limitations would be a problem, Forza Motorsport is the same game no matter what platform it is running on. The development is purely technical. When you look forward to a new one Forza Motorsport games, you are primarily looking forward to an increase in graphic fidelity and performance. The game is cross-gen will not limit the title in this regard because Turn 10 Studios can simply scale the game depending on what platform it is on.
All that said, take everything here with a pinch of salt. Although the leak above is apparently credible, it is not official. So far, none of the parties involved have addressed the leak and its implications. If this changes, we will update the story accordingly.