Forza Motorsport 8 First Look Leak Has Divided Fans

A new Forza Motorsport game — tentatively dubbed Forza Motorsport 8 — was announced back on July 23, 2020 for Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PC. At the time, the game was announced alongside a reveal trailer featuring in-engine footage or, in other words, footage that’s not representative of what the actual game will look like. In-engine trailers aren’t CGI trailers, but they always look better than the finished product. In other words, the trailer didn’t have any gameplay.

It’s been nearly two years since the game’s reveal and since then it’s been media and information blackout. The game has yet to resurface, leaving many fans wondering what going’s on with it. At the time of the announcement, the game was said to be in the early stages of development, but fans didn’t take this to mean it was going to be a couple of years and counting before they got to see the title again. 

Right now, Xbox and developer Turn 10 Studios still aren’t talking about the game, but a new leak has surfaced online revealing not only our first look at the actual game, but revealing that it may actually be a cross-gen release. The leak comes the way of Reddit and is accompanied by media that is said to be showing the game running on Xbox One last summer. There’s no room to doubt the validity of the images. They pass the sniff test and then some, but there’s no evidence the images are pulled from an Xbox One version of the game other than the leaker’s claims. That said, if the leaker has access to these images then it’s safe to assume the complimentary details are accurate as well. 

So, why are fans divided over the leak? Well, because it claims and seemingly reveals the game is cross-gen after the title was previously announced as next-gen and PC only. Why is this a problem? Well, for some — especially those on Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and high-end PCs — the worry is the game being on Xbox One will limit the potential of the game as it will have to be made within the confines of the Xbox One’s old tech. And this is a reasonable worry, but not very applicable to Forza Motorsport. From a design perspective, where the limitations would be a problem, Forza Motorsport is the same game no matter what platform it’s running on. The evolution is purely technical. When you’re looking forward to a new Forza Motorsport game, you’re looking forward to an increase in graphical fidelity and performance, mainly. The game being cross-gen won’t limit the title in this regard because Turn 10 Studios can simply scale the game depending on what platform it is on.

All of that said, take everything here with a grain of salt. While the leak above is seemingly credible, it’s not official. So far, neither implicated party has addressed the leak and its implications. If this changes, we will update the story accordingly.