Exclusive: Forza Motorsport 4 will be the first game in the series to sport motion controls. Microsoft Kinect will let players steer cars with just their bare hands, explore cars like never before and track head movements when playing. Forza Motorsport 4 won’t be in shops until Autumn, but we paid a visit to developer Turn 10 Studios in Washington for a first-hand look. We’ve got it all on video, right here.

Forza Motorsport 4 will get three core Kinect-specific features. One of which was first shown at E3 2010 – the ability to tour cars in your garage by literally walking around them, and moving in for a closer look as if they were real.

Kinect garage

Play the video above from the start to see Lead Design Bill Giese peer around a Ferrari Enzo, opening up its boot, car doors and demoing the points of interest feature that lets players learn more about the cars in the game.

The studio has also secured the help of Top Gear’s Jezza Clarkson, who provides audio summaries and descriptions of the motors. If you’re a Top Gear fan, it’s well worth a watch. Jeremy doesn’t hold back. Watch at the 5-minute mark to hear Clarkson dispense some Ferrari Enzo trivia, or the 10:35 to hear the Top Gear legend rip into the Ferrari California.

Kinect driving

Want to see some actual driving? Then check out the video below. Here, Giese drive around the new Alps track, which we were one of the very first to see. Intended for more casual players, breaking can be taken care of, letting players concentrate on steering. Players can move their foot forward to lay off the gas. “We kept falling into this pit of trying to design it for the core,” Giese explains in the video. “It’s not for them.” Take a look.

Kinect head-tracking wheel gameplay

Microsoft Kinect will also be able to track the movement of players heads. It’s not a new innovation, but remains a first for the Forza Motorsport series. We’ll admit, it’s difficult to see the full effect of Kinect-head-tracking here in this video – the developer has a steady head, it seems. Take a quick glimpse of it below.

Will you be combining Microsoft Kinect with Fora Motorsport 4? Impressed by what you’ve seen so far? Let us know in the comments section below.

Be Sociable, Share!
  • Anonymous

    LOL a “proper” racing game with Kinect.   Don’t make me laugh….   Forza is and always will be a poor-mans Gran Turismo.

    • Michaelstevns19

      You jelous

      • Anonymous

        ??  Why would ANYONE be jealous of Forza thats now been dumbed down to MarioKart levels by taking away acceleration and braking, and turning it into a Kinect steering challenge?

        Seriously, Forza has been ruined by Microsoft, they have taken a half-decent racing game (it’s no GT5 for sure), and turned it into a joke.

        • Anonymous

          Acceleration and breaking is as it always has been, but more ‘casual’ players can choose to have it switched off when playing using Kinect. Bill Giese even says so in the second video.

        • Jabo

          @Mark You should first look into all information, before judging it. People who have no idea about such a matter shouls shut up.

    • Anonymous

      Oh God! Get this through your head you stupid little twat. Forza has long since surpassed Gran Turismo as the console racing sim. GT has only it’s name and graphics, and it doesn’t even have the graphics anymore. GT5 was a massive fail and disappointment. LOL! 80% of the cars look like shit and didn’t even have a cockpit. Forza 3 also happened to be the more highly reviewed game.

      So get lost.

      • Anonymous

        One more personal attack Joe and we’ll blacklist you. We want a good debate here on EP but personal attacks play no part in that so please keep it civil. Thanks.

    • http://twitter.com/nrXic nrXic

      Forza is better than GT in many ways, namely better tire physics (more realistic tire behaviour and wear and tear), more realistic braking, better telemetry options, better tuning, better car modifications, more racing modes, more cars that have cockpit views, much better leaderboards, the ability to save tunings for each track (I can’t believe GT5 still doesn’t has this despite all their updates), and generally has a much better racing and tuning community.

      There are a couple of glaring flaws with Forza 3, one being that there is a steering assist that you can’t turn off.  Another being that the lateral body roll physics are too stiff.  And lastly some tracks like Suzuka are not accurate, while they are in GT5.  But compare that to the flaws of GT5, and Forza ends up looking like the better game.  Played on the same wheel (for example, a Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo S), Forza is a better experience all around except for when the steering assist kicks in.  I still like GT5 because it supports the Fanatec wheel very well, it’s some of the best forcefeedback ever (better than on a G27) and there is no steering assist, making it a white knuckled experience (in Forza 3 when you lose control it is very easy to regain it, so the physics are all there, but they’ve added an assist to make it easier).

      So yeah, you don’t know what you’re talking about.  The GT series has been long outclassed by PC sims and Forza 3, despite being released a year BEFORE GT5, gives GT5 a run for its money.  The steering assist is a glaring flaw but if it is removed in Forza 4…GT5 will seem irrelevant.

      • Anonymous

        I  see Turn 5 are posting on Electricpig now.

        P.S   We call them TYRES…..

        GT5′ physics and graphics are a gaming generation ahead of Forza.   The Xbox simply doesn’t have the computational power to d the physics that GT5 pulls off.

        • Dude

          has nothing to do with computational power, vehicle physics are very simple, you could fully simulate a car in real-time on a Pentium 4 in all likelihood

        • http://twitter.com/nrXic nrXic

          I’m a sim racing fan.  Instead of trying to label others, why not come up with points of your own to counter my statements?

          Tell me, what wheel do you use when you play with either game? How many hours have you put into either game? Have you ever tried running the same car, on the same track, with the same wheel, across both games?

          GT5′s physics don’t even match PC sims that have been out for years (and neither do Forza’s), so clearly, computational power has nothing to do with it.

          Live for Speed ran on my PIII 900MHz machine and still has better physics than GT5…

          • Anonymous

            Carry on believing on that…..   GT5 physics have not been matched (even closely) by any other game, PC or console.    

            Have you ever driven a real car?   Forza is an arcade racer, GT5 is a proper grown up racing sim.

          • Dude

            if GT5 is the most realistic driving simulation, then you’re an idiot

  • Arathorn

    Forza4 will be really big. I believe this game will finally be able to make my wife play racing games with me. =)

  • Arathorn

    Forza4 will be really big. I believe this game will finally be able to make my wife play racing games with me. =)

  • http://twitter.com/benwallis Ben Wallis

    Kinect garage and head-tracking = useless.

    Top Gear commentary = will only be good the 1st time you hear it.

  1. WikiCell: Food packaging you can eat
  2. Saving endangered fish with the SafetyNet
  3. Upcycling: Designing the cardboard chair

Hot chat, right here!


Our most commented stories right now...