One of the most demanding and daunting racetracks in the world, the notorious Nurburgring is a staple of Forza Motorsport track lists, appearing in every game in the series since FM3. Despite this, the fan-favourite German racetrack was missing in Forza Motorsport at launch.
Before Forza Motorsport launched in October last year, Turn 10 announced that the Green Hell is coming in a free post-release update this Spring. It turns out, however, that the legendary Nurburgring is coming to Forza Motorsport earlier than expected.
Nurburgring coming to Forza Motorsport in February
During the latest Forza Monthly stream, Turn 10 announced that the Nurburgring is coming to Forza Motorsport in February as part of the next major update known as Update 5. That’s earlier than expected after Turn 10 announced it would be coming in the Spring. In the UK and US, Spring starts in March and ends in May. Given the negative fan reception, Turn 10 might be releasing it earlier to win back players.
A short video gives us a first look at the Nurburgring in Forza Motorsport with the Mercedes-AMG One tackling the 12.94-mile circuit. It’s a deliberate car choice, with the AMG-One holding the Nordschleife production car lap record with a blistering time of 6:35.183 – a time that’s yet to be beaten since 2022.
The Nurburgring Nordschleife will be added to Forza Motorsport’s single-player and online modes including Career, Free Play, Private Multiplayer and Rivals Time Attack. L
ast year, Turn 10’s Dan Greenawalt boldly claimed the circuit is “the most accurate Nordschleife ever available in Forza Motorsport." We’ll find out soon if Forza Motorsport’s Nurburgring lives up to these lofty expectations.
Update 5 set to bring more bug fixes
As well as the Nurburgring Nordschleife, Update 5 will bring a slew of fixes and improvements after Turn 10 highlighted three key areas the team is focusing on improving last month. Following fan feedback, Update 5 will add a Skip Practice option to the Career mode pre-race menu to make this option more visible.
In addition, Update 5 will let players create a save point after finishing a practice session and bring quality-of-life improvements to the livery editor including advanced zoom for applying decals and the ability to paint upgraded brake calipers. A prompt will also remind you to save your design when exiting the livery editor.
These are welcome changes and additions, but they don’t fix Forza Motorsport’s core issues. One of the biggest fan complaints is the slow car upgrade system, where players need to earn xp to unlock upgrade parts. In response, Turn 10 is working on changes that “will give players freedom to equip the parts they need regardless of car level.”
“We have additional changes to the system in various states of design and testing with plans to implement these changes as soon as possible,” Turn 10 wrote in a blog post.
“For Forza Race Regulations, we have enabled Race Marshals and some content creators the ability to flag in-game incidents for review to help feed changes to the adjudication model that will improve the system,” the post continues.
Additionally, Turn 10 is also testing fixes for the Drivatar AI to “alleviate competitors bunching up around turn 1 and causing the first few AI opponents to reach insurmountable leads.” Turn 10 is also working to “reduce how aggressively they stick to the racing line.”
Forza Motorsport Update 5 is set to arrive sometime in February, but a specific release date has yet to be confirmed. Ahead of the update, Turn 10 has previewed the patch notes, providing a more detailed overview of the planned fixes.
Update 5 pre-release patch notes
Stability
- Fixed an issue where the game enters an unresponsive state when returning to Open Practice in Featured Multiplayer from a suspended state. [1612807]
- Fixed a crash that could occur after selecting “Skip Practice,” exiting the race and re-entering the event. [1657219]
- Fixed a crash that could occur when entering Forzavista. [1671290]
- Fixed a game crash that could occur when opening a race replay. [1672588]
Photo Mode and Replays
- Fixed an issue in Photo Mode on PC where non-16:9 resolutions include letterboxing in saved photos. [1671404]
- Fixed an issue when searching Replays or Photo Galleries by Track or Track Layout would return no results. [1604588]
Gameplay
- Skipping Completed Practice: Players are now presented with the option to Skip Practice in the Career mode pre-race menu. Furthermore, if the player previously completed Practice, the game creates a save point and gives the player additional options when returning to a series for replaying or skipping complete practice. [1635662]
- Fixed an issue in Private Multiplayer where someone driving the wrong way wasn’t correctly ghosted and could collide with other players. [1613125]
- Fixed an issue in Free Play where car model names are missing from the drivers list. [1660255]
- Additional information has been added for projected finishes in the Challenge the Grid screen. [1673345]
- Fixed an issue in Builders Cup where the series standing list is missing the names of AI drivers. [1668229]
- Fixed an issue in Featured Multiplayer where players could encounter an infinite loading screen when attempting to change their Fuel and Tire setup at Grid Preview. [1611726]
- Fixed an issue where Featured Multiplayer events at Hockenheim had only 3 laps instead of the intended lap count. [1691754]
- Fixed an issue in Builders Cup where the Skip Practice option loads the incorrect time-of-day for the track intro cinematic. [1674381]
- Fixed an issue in Free Play Quick Events where the "Number of Laps" returns to the track layout default when going to Event Setup in the pre-race menu. [1629341]
- Introduced a first-time pop up to the Buy Cars menu that explains the Featured Tab. [1635604]
- Fixed an issue in the Showroom where cars have a checkmark despite not being properly selected. [1602611]
- Fixed an issue where the "Do You Like This Design?" and "Do You Like This Tune?" post-race prompts are not appearing. [1604582]
- In the Fuel and Tires setup menu, added descriptions for non-race tires that explain their all-weather capability. [1607316]
- Fixed an issue in Featured Multiplayer Forza GT Spec Series where multiple classes are displayed when filtering by class. [1607337]
- Fixed an issue where Load/Save Event Setup options appear in Free Play Advanced while offline. [1446888]
- Time of Day and Weather will no longer always be randomized for the "Next Event" after a Free Play race. Your settings will be remembered. [1598884]
- Fixed an issue where audio sounds were played twice when pressing and releasing the “A” button on controller in the post-race podium finish sequence. [1555390]
- Fixed an issue in Free Play where the post-race information on the next race screen is inaccurate when weather is set to Variable. [1569880]
- Fixed an issue where the “Seeing Stars” blue and teal Driver Suits are mixed up in the Driver Customization menu. [1603140]
- Added an explanation to the Fuel and Tires menu that clarifies why tires cannot be changed while using a rental car. [1612374]
- Fixed an issue in Forzavista where the car model remains “exploded” after accepting a Multiplayer invite. [1646951]
- Adjusted the post-race rewards flow to ensure credits earned are displayed before a new Driver Suit unlock. [1651459]
- Fixed an issue in Builders Cup where players cannot use Rewind after AI Drivatars have completed the race. [1269413]
- Fixed an issue where Rewind is disabled for the first 30 seconds of a Free Play Solo race and in Builders Cup during Open Practice and the Featured Race. [1577801]
Livery Editor
- Players are now prompted to save their livery if they attempt to exit the Livery Editor without saving. [1437864]
- Fixed an issue where the "Color Fine Tune" button hint doesn't appear until player moves off then back on to a color option. [1441863]
- Fixed an issue when exiting a search in “Find Designs” exits the design section of the Livery Editor. [1490136]
- Fixed an issue where upgraded calipers are unable to be painted. [1555302]
- 2004 Maserati MC12: Fixed an issue where the manufacturer livery partially disappears when paint and decals are applied to the vehicle. [1557639]
- Fixed an issue where Vinyl Group sizes can become negative, leaving it difficult or even impossible to get them back to positive values. [1603790]
- Fixed an issue where shared Vinyls created and used by the same author on a Car Livery will lock sharing on the livery. [1608207]
- Fixed an issue on PC where zooming in with the mouse wheel scrolls the decal layers as well. [1612231]
- Added custom advanced zoom to the Livery Editor when applying decals to a car. [1621135]
- Fixed an issue where the Paint Wing option would be still accessible when the wing is removed from the car. [1556604]
- 2018 Acura #36 NSX GT3: Fixed an issue where the car’s shadow would “pop-in” at certain camera angles in the Paint Car menu. [1452096]
- Fixed an issue in Apply Decals > Vinyl Group where Curated Groups do not populate if selected too quickly. [1631003]
- Fixed an issue in Apply Decals > Vinyl Group where layers display incorrectly. [1536758]
- Fixed an issue in the decal selector where letters and symbols are incorrectly rearranged in the tab Lower Letters 5. [1570323]
PC
- Numerous under-the-hood improvements to reduce CPU spikes and better utilize the GPU, helping to improve framerate consistency while driving. [1536749, 1651623]
- Fixed numerous crash scenarios caused by multi-threaded rendering. [1624448, 1659051]
- Fixed being unable to use full screen mode when using a PC with an integrated GPU. [1603057]
- Fixed erratic framerate after reverting a video settings change. [1577163]
- Improved Mouse navigation by allowing RMB to behave like esc + B to navigate back through menus. [1486418]
- Fixed an issue on PC where players would see no performance boost when switching from a high-quality mode to low quality. [1648332]
- Fixed an issue where objects were missing from car reflections in Photo Mode and Forzavista [1670932]
- Added a check for GPU support of D3D12 Enhanced Barrier feature to application startup. Error code AP205 corresponds to detected lack of support. Client will attempt to find a device which has required features and will report a "failed to create graphics device" modal if none are found. [1684419]
Wheels
- Fixed an issue causing custom wheel input layouts to reset to their default settings after relaunching the game with both a controller and steering wheel connected. [1593360]
- Fixed an issue that caused the first shift LED light on the Logitech G923 to be illuminated when the car is idling. [1653804]
- Fixed an issue where the shift lights don’t blink on Logitech steering wheels when the car exceeds redline. [1653801]
Graphics
- Improved screen space reflections to handle quick dynamic resolution changes. [1670567]
AI
- Fixed issue where “Skip Lap” forces player off-track at Suzuka Full Circuit if they have adjusted their fuel levels on certain X class cars. [1681253]
- Fixed issue where AI controller takes player car off the track at VIR North when using “Skip Lap” or the start of a Test Drive session. [1682343]
Cars
- 2010 Lexus LFA: Updated inaccurate car audio. [1653741]
- 2017 Mercedes-AMG GT R: Fixed an issue where the Rear Tire Width options are displayed in the wrong order after applying a widebody kit. [1664831]
- 2009 Ford Focus RS: Fixed an issue where the car’s audio sounds metallic and distorted. [1661365]
Tracks
- Hockenheim: Fixed an issue where race-day objects clip into the post-race cinematic when the player does not earn a podium finish. [1663889]
- Daytona: Fixed an issue where crew members can appear floating during the walk-the-grid cinematic in Featured Multiplayer. [1671191]
- Spa-Francorchamps: Fixed the typo on the “Welcome to Circuit de Spa” track sign. [1675335]
Accessibility
- Blind Driving Assists: Fixed an issue where the AI Takeover Cue pitch-volume setting is not honored during pit entry if the player enters with Pit Assist enabled. [1639525]
- Blind Driving Assists: Fixed an issue where the Deceleration Cue Pitch preview does not function properly in the Accessibility settings menu. [1639445]
- Fixed an issue where the UI Contrast setting text does not accurately describe the setting function. [1593309]
- Fixed an issue at Laguna Seca where certain P and X Class cars do not follow the driving line with throttle assist turned on. [1662584]
- Fixed an issue at Daytona where certain P and X Class cars do not follow the driving line with throttle assist turned on. [1662599]
- Fixed an issue where the Screen Narrator reads the acceleration or braking stat changes in kilometers per hour when miles per hour is displayed. [1613130]
- Fixed an issue where the Screen Narrator reads "no results for this leaderboard are available at this time" when entering the leaderboard in Rivals. [1657145]
- Blind Driving Assists: Fixed an issue where the Turn Navigation preview does not function properly in the Accessibility settings menu while on track. [1657217]
- Blind Driving Assists: Fixed an issue where audio cues are present during and after the Benchmark mode on PC where the player is unable to control the vehicle. [1607324]
- Added hyphenation for common compound word, front-wheel drive, to the subtitle when inspecting the 2018 Honda Civic Type R during the Builders Cup Intro Series. [1576107]
- Fixed an issue in the Quick Upgrade menu where the "Confirm" button on this screen always narrates the incorrect status initially. [1603873]
- Fixed an issue where the Screen Narrator does not readily read all the VIP event information in Rivals. [1625474]
- Fixed an issue where the Screen Narrator does not inform players that they are highlighting a new Series they have not viewed before in Career mode. [1581960]
- Fixed an issue in the Showroom where the "Owned" text appears much larger than its UI box while Menu Text size is set to largest. [1660344]
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