Forza Motorsport dropped this question on Twitter as it must have considered it no big deal: “If you could design a new IndyCar track anywhere in the world, where would it be?” And honestly, the answers are chaos at maelstrom level. You’d think people would be excited about this, right? But no. Instead, the community took a totally different approach. It’s great to see that yet kind of sad.
Now though, just wait a half minute and think about the question. They really posted this question with a really cool image of an Indycar that looked very fast and much more on the official Forza Motorsport account. But instead of being flooded by crazy ideas for new tracks, the replies were filled with players asking about when certain updates might come through or just casual roasts of the game. Like, they either didn’t see the question or chose outright to ignore it.
In response, Evil-MC took the opportunity to answer with: “Phil Spencer’s XBox legacy… another dead great XBox game. I would have the track in XB headquarters and drive straight through the windows on Xbox leadership offices. The side of the track would be full of all the dead and ignored XB owned IP characters.” Ouch! That’s not just a burn; that’s an inferno. And it’s not about track design at all! It’s about Xbox exclusives getting prime time treatment and thereby, Forza feeling lonely. Which might, honestly, be close to the truth judging by some other responses.
Then Swin87 called out the developers: “Update 21 schedule finishes in 3 days… You posted this a month ago which only told us what we already knew. Please give us some idea what comes next…” and that is a recurring theme through those replies. Players feel like they’re not being kept in the loop of what’s coming next for Forza Motorsport. They want new content. Anything to keep the game fresh. Instead, they got asked about imaginary tracks. Asking someone what they want for dinner when the fridge is empty.
Of course, it isn’t like every response was a downer. Some did proceed to answer the question. “Yellowstone; sounds awesome, honestly” says Rod Bessey. Just imagine racing through geysers and bison? That would be sick. JamesRobertMitchell chimed in with Floyd Bennett Field, NYC, for Grand Prix of New York. Nice idea, racing in the big apple. And all that REKM Racing said was, “Australia!! Need more here,” which is a reasonable call: the under does need a little attention.
Now, onto the sidebar debate about whether Forza is an actual simulator. Est1998Fan and GenericXbxGamer exchanged words with Est1998Fan saying, “Real simulator and Forza Motorsport do not go together in a sentence😂,” to which GenericXbxGamer replied, “Your opinion, but thx.” A classic gamer argument that will never die out and yet is interesting to see pop up here. It shows that the community about strongly in what the identity of the game is.
More random suggestions are just… off. Daviedigi said, “Phil Spencer’s forehead!” Funny enough. Antony Martin added, “In the UK so I could actually go to a Race,” which is pragmatic. And nardonariosfc shared a childhood memory: “When I was a kid, I tended to imagine tracks in crazy places such as an oval in Antarctica. A street course in Tel-Aviv or Tashkent.. I only needed a globe.” Wholesome and creative right there.
But all these replies gave off a vibe of frustration. The players want more from Forza Motorsport and therefore want new tracks, cars, and updates to keep their game alive. Asked to do the job for these people? It’s like, hey, we’ll suggest a place for your track if you actually make it a game, okay?
There was also an old Forza Motorsport response promising everyone that Turn 10 and Playground Games will continue supporting Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon 5. Judging by these reactions, though, it looks like players don’t feel supported enough; they want some concrete info instead of these vague promises.
So, what did we learn? Forza Motorsport has a passionate community too much interested in the game’s destiny. But the community is also outspoken about things that disappoint them. Getting them to engage in designing a track is a fun idea in theory, but if they’re crying out for content, it falls flat. The dev team needs to find a happy medium between engaging the community and delivering on promises, or else all they will hear back are sarcastic comments about driving through Microsoft headquarters.
In the end, the tweet did kind of ask a question, but it wasn’t the one Forza Motorsport wanted. It became a platform for players to air their grievances and frustrations. That’s important too. Listening to your community is just as important when their feedback is harsh. Perhaps the next update could fix some of these complaints and put everybody back on the road. Literally.
And hey, Yellowstone, or Aussie, would be awesome. That, however, is the very least of the players’ concerns right now. More content, better communication, better marketing for someone to actually keep playing should be your main priorities. Currently, the whole community feels as though the game is stuck in neutral, and they’re ready to shift gears.
