Forza Motorsport won’t support 120 fps on Xbox Series X – and there’s a good reason why

Pushing the power of the Xbox Series X, Forza Motorsport will run at a locked 4K resolution and 60 fps, delivering a high-fidelity and super-smooth racing experience. 

Given that the racing takes place on closed circuits rather than a large open world like in Forza Horizon 5, you might be wondering if Forza Motorsport will support 120 fps on Xbox Series X.

Unfortunately, the answer is no – but there’s a good reason why.

Why Forza Motorsport won’t support 120 fps on Xbox Series X

In a hands-on preview at IGN, Ryan Mccaffrey asked Turn 10 about Forza Motorsport’s performance on Xbox Series X. While it will run at a locked 4K and 60fps on Microsoft's flagship console, Turn 10 confirmed Forza Motorsport will not have a high frame rate option enabling 120 fps.

As for why Forza Motorsport will not support 120 fps, Turn 10 explained the need for a level playing field when playing competitively.

In online multiplayer, playing Forza Motorsport at 120 fps would give players an unfair advantage against others playing at 60 fps. Locking the game at 60 fps ensures all console players will get the same experience.

This also means Forza Motorsport will run at 60 fps on Xbox Series S, despite the console's lower specification. As a compromise, Forza Motorsport will run at a lower 1080p resolution on Xbox Series S.

Microsoft's push for ray tracing might be another reason for Forza Motorsport's lack of 120-fps support. With real-time reflections and physics-based lighting, this technology is very graphically intensive, making it difficult to optimise games at higher frame rates.

This gives Gran Turismo 7 a performance advantage, as the PlayStation racer runs up to 120 fps. In March this year, a 120-fps mode was added to GT7 in a patch update alongside a variable refresh rate option.

It’s worth noting, that 120 fps only works on high-end TVs that have a 120Hz refresh rate. So even if Forza Motorsport did offer a 120 fps mode, only a limited number of players could take advantage of the higher frame rate.

Release date

Forza Motorsport is only a few months away. During the Xbox Games Showcase, Turn 10 confirmed that Forza Motorsport is launching on 10 October on Xbox Series X|S and PC.

However, players who pre-order the Ultimate Edition will get five days of early access starting on 5 October.

For more on Forza Motorsport, check out Turn 10's deep dive into the career mode.

Have an opinion on this article? We'd love to hear it!

Join the conversation