Forza (pronounced FORT-sə, Italian: [ˈfɔrtsa]; meaning "force" and "strength" in Italian) is a racing video game series available on Xbox consoles and Microsoft Windows. It is published by Xbox Game Studios.
The series includes two main games. The Forza Motorsport series, created by American studio Turn 10 Studios, focuses on realistic racing on real and fictional tracks. It aims to show how real cars, including both regular and racing vehicles, perform and handle. The Forza Horizon series, made by British studio Playground Games, offers a more fun and less realistic style of racing. It uses simpler physics than Motorsport but still includes some realistic elements. Horizon is set around a music festival called the "Horizon Festival" and takes place in open worlds that look like real places but are fictional. Players can explore these worlds and join racing events.
In addition to Motorsport and Horizon, Forza had two spin-off games that are no longer available. Forza Street (2019–2022) was a drag racing game set in Miami. Forza Customs (2023–2025) was a tile-matching game about customizing cars. Both games were first released separately before being renamed as Forza titles.
As of December 2016, the Forza series had sold 16 million copies and received high praise from critics.
History
Turn 10 Studios was created in 2001 by Microsoft, as part of its Microsoft Game Studios division, to make a series of racing games called Forza. These games were made to compete with Gran Turismo, a popular racing game for PlayStation. When the studio was first started, most of its employees had experience in publishing games, such as Project Gotham Racing and Golf 4.0, but they had not worked on game development before. The first Forza Motorsport game was made to show the power of Microsoft’s first console, the original Xbox, including its online multiplayer feature called Xbox Live. From the beginning, Turn 10 aimed to make the Forza series appealing to a wide audience, not just racing fans, while also celebrating car culture. The development team also spent a lot of time researching how race cars handle, sometimes working with professional racing teams like those from Formula One and NASCAR.
Every Forza game includes an artificial neural network used by its AI racers, called Drivatars, which is a combination of the words "driver" and "avatar." Drivatars were created by Microsoft Research Cambridge to learn from players’ driving styles. In early Forza games, Drivatars used a type of computer system called a Bayesian neural network, which used data from past races to choose the best solution for problems like turning at a specific angle or pressing the accelerator. At first, players could only share Drivatars by copying them onto Xbox Memory Units for other consoles to use. Starting with Forza Motorsport 5, Drivatars use a system called reinforcement learning, which collects racing data from all players connected to the Xbox Network. This system tracks a player’s car position, speed, and driving habits to guess how to handle turns and speed for parts of a track the player hasn’t raced on, or for cars the player hasn’t driven before. The data is then sent to the cloud to update Drivatar behavior, and new Drivatars are sent to other Xbox consoles. Each upload is marked with a date, and older data is given less importance. Some players worried that the system could be abused to make AI cars move closer to them, but Turn 10 explained that only the cars’ performance is slightly changed based on how far ahead or behind the player is. Turn 10 added a control system between players and AI to let developers adjust Drivatar behavior and avoid unexpected results.
At first, Turn 10 used commercial software like 3D Studio Max to design car and track models. Today, the studio uses its own software called Fuel, which allows multiple artists to work on the same model at the same time, mainly for cars and tracks. As video games became more complex, it took six months for four people to design one car model for Xbox One versions of Forza, so Turn 10 began relying on car manufacturers to share CAD files, scan real cars, or send photographers to take hundreds or thousands of photos of new cars.
Playground Games was started in 2009 in Leamington Spa, England, by Gavin Raeburn, Trevor Williams, and Ralph Fulton, who all worked for Codemasters before. Raeburn was known for creating successful games like Dirt and TOCA, but he left Codemasters after being inspired by the open-world style of Test Drive Unlimited. He felt Codemasters didn’t have the resources to support his ideas. Other members of Playground Games have worked for companies like Bizarre Creations, Black Rock Studio, and Sony Liverpool, which are UK-based racing game studios. Around the same time, Turn 10 Studios was looking for a company to help expand its Forza franchise. At E3 2010, Raeburn and Williams proposed an open-world version of Forza Motorsport to Turn 10 in exchange for support, which Turn 10 agreed to. Playground Games then developed Forza Horizon, working closely with Turn 10. Playground Games had a strong partnership with Microsoft Studios, but it was not until a June 10, 2018, event at E3 that Microsoft announced it had acquired Playground Games.
Until 2019, each Forza game was released every two years, with Motorsport games coming out in odd-numbered years and Horizon games in even-numbered years. This pattern changed because no new Motorsport game was released in 2019. In 2025, Forza Horizon 5 was announced and planned for release on Sony’s PlayStation 5 in Q1/Q2 2025 as part of Microsoft Gaming’s effort to make its first-party games available on multiple platforms. This marked the first time the Forza series was released on a console that was not made by Xbox. In July 2025, as part of Microsoft Gaming’s restructuring, Turn 10 Studios faced layoffs that reduced its workforce by nearly half. Reports suggested that Turn 10 would be reorganized to focus on supporting Forza Horizon and development on the ForzaTech engine, effectively ending the Forza Motorsport series, according to former content coordinator Fred Russell.
ForzaTech is the video game engine created by Turn 10 Studios. It is the main engine used for the Forza series. Microsoft trademarked ForzaTech in 2015, and it has been used to develop current Forza games, as well as the Fable reboot.
Titles
Forza Motorsport was released on May 3, 2005, and is the first game in the Forza Motorsport series. It is the only game in the series released for the original Xbox console. The game includes 231 cars and racetracks from 15 real and fictional locations. This game introduced features that later Forza games used, such as how damage affects car performance, a tool to design car paint and decals, the ability to customize and upgrade cars using in-game money, and driving aids that help players but reduce bonus points. The game supported online multiplayer through Xbox Live, a feature all later games also included. The Honda NSX and a modified Nissan 350Z are the cover vehicles. It can be played on the Xbox 360 through backward compatibility.
Forza Motorsport 2, the sequel to the first game and the first Xbox 360 title in the series, was released on May 29, 2007. It includes 349 cars and 23 circuits from 12 locations. This game first introduced force feedback support, which allowed players to feel vibrations through a racing wheel. Car customization options were expanded, with more parts, upgrades, and the ability to apply up to 4,100 vinyls to any car. Players could sell cars online with custom designs for in-game money. The game also grouped cars into performance-based classes using a numerical index that changes with modifications. Before its release, Microsoft created a four-part TV series called Forza Motorsport Showdown on Speed. The series was produced by Bud Brutsman and hosted by Lee Reherman. A modified Nissan 350Z is the cover vehicle.
Forza Motorsport 3, released on October 27, 2009, includes over 400 cars from 50 manufacturers and about 100 track variations. This game introduced sport utility vehicles and stock cars for the first time. It added driving aids to help less-experienced players, such as the rewind feature to correct mistakes, auto-braking to prevent skidding, and an auto-tuner to adjust car settings. The career mode now includes 250 events, with new modes like drag racing and drifting. This game was the first to include a cockpit camera and the ability to record and share gameplay clips. The Audi R8 is the cover vehicle.
Forza Motorsport 4, released on October 11, 2011, partnered with BBC’s Top Gear to include Jeremy Clarkson’s commentary in a new mode called Autovista, which lets players explore cars in detail. It was the first game in the series to use the Kinect sensor, allowing players to control the camera by turning their head. This was the last Forza Motorsport game for the Xbox 360. The 2009 Ferrari 458 is the cover vehicle.
Forza Motorsport 5, the fifth game in the Motorsport series and the sixth overall, was released on November 22, 2013, as an Xbox One launch title. It expanded the Top Gear partnership by adding Richard Hammond and James May as commentators. The Autovista mode was renamed Forzavista, and new features included open-wheel cars and cloud computing that uses player data to shape AI behavior. The 2013 McLaren P1 is the cover vehicle.
Forza Motorsport 6, released on September 15, 2015, added new gameplay elements like racing in the rain or at night, an online ranking system called Leagues, and game-modifying cards. The game included 460 cars and 26 locations, with 24 racers per race. Players could adjust the aggression of AI drivers. A free-to-play version called Forza Motorsport 6: Apex was released in 2016. The 2017 Ford GT is the cover vehicle. The game was no longer available for purchase in 2019 due to expired licenses.
Forza Motorsport 7 was developed for Windows 10 and Xbox One and released on October 3, 2017. It includes many tracks, including the return of Maple Valley Raceway, a fictional track last seen in Forza Motorsport 4. This game has the largest number of playable vehicles in the series, with 830 cars (700 in the base game and 130 added later). The 2018 Porsche 911 GT2 RS is the cover vehicle.
The eighth game in the Forza Motorsport series is a reboot of the sub-series. It was announced on July 23, 2020, and released on October 10, 2023. The 2023 Cadillac V-Series.R and the 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray are the cover vehicles.
Forza Horizon was developed for the Xbox 360 and is the first open-world game in the series. It is set in a fictional festival called the Horizon Festival in Colorado. The game includes many cars, realistic physics, and high-definition graphics. Players earn wristbands by driving fast, winning races, or completing challenges. It uses physics from Forza Motorsport 4 and allows off-road driving in some areas. Players can customize cars and earn vehicles through races, hidden treasure cars, or the "Auto-show." The 2013 Dodge SRT Viper GTS is the cover car. It is backward-compatible with the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
Forza Horizon 2 was developed for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One. It is set in Southern France and Northern Italy, with a map three times larger than its predecessor. The Xbox 360 version was the last Forza game for that console. The Xbox One version added dynamic weather and lighting systems, as well as tuning options. Both versions include day-and-night cycles, cross-country races with up to 12 players, and "Bucket Lists" with location-specific challenges. Single-player and multiplayer modes are connected, allowing players to join each other seamlessly.
Reception
The Forza series is one of the most well-known game series in the racing category. By August 2014, the games had sold over 10 million copies, and by April 2021, they had sold 16 million copies. This made Forza the sixth best-selling racing game series. It is also one of the most profitable video game series, earning more than US$1 billion in sales by December 2016. Forza Motorsport 3 sold 3 million copies by February 2010. Forza Motorsport 5 was purchased by more than one-third of all Xbox One owners in February 2014, which is estimated to be about 1.3 million copies. By December 2016, around 2.5 million copies of Forza Horizon 3 had been sold. By December 2016, over 14 million unique players had joined the Forza community on Xbox One and Windows 10.
The first Forza Motorsport game was praised for its realistic car movement, a paint job editor that allowed players to customize car colors, and integration with Xbox Live. Features such as the rewind ability in Forza Motorsport 3 and the Autovista mode in Forza Motorsport 4 were also praised by reviewers. Overall, the Forza series has received mostly positive reviews. Every main game in the Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon series has an average score of at least 80 out of 100 on Metacritic. The only exception is Forza Motorsport 5, which received criticism at launch for having fewer cars and tracks than earlier games and for including microtransactions that let players buy in-game items to progress faster. Turn 10 Studios later improved the game by increasing rewards for completing races and lowering car prices.
The Forza Horizon series was praised for showing the potential of the new series, but some critics noted that the game’s AI and multiplayer features were limited. By August 2019, Forza Horizon 4 had reached 12 million players. The Horizon series has been more successful than the Motorsport games, even though the Motorsport games have improved technically. The Motorsport series has struggled to match Horizon’s popularity because it has not changed much, while players prefer Horizon’s gameplay style.
The Forza series is known for using one of the longest-running examples of machine learning in gaming for its AI. Since Forza Horizon 3, the Horizon series has often won the Best Sports/Racing Game award at The Game Awards.