Weekly racing game news roundup 16 September: Forza Horizon 5 Series 12, Shanghai returns to F1 22 & more

Welcome to Rear View Mirror, your weekly racing game news roundup. Get up to speed on all the latest racing game news from the past week. From a new Forza Horizon 5 Series to the return of the Chinese Grand Prix in F1 22 and an exciting start to F1 Esports, it’s been another busy week in the world of racing games so let’s dive in.

Forza Horizon 5 Series 12: Horizon Road Trip

This week saw the start of Forza Horizon 5 Series 12: Horizon Road Trip. Unveiled during September’s delayed Forza Monthly, Horizon Road Trip brings new weekly Festival Playlists celebrating different race types, from Road Racing to Cross Country.

Five new cars are also coming to FH5 in Horizon Road Trip, with the electrifying Audi RS e-tron GT making its Forza debut.

The first season of Series 12 kicked off this week, with the Summer Festival Playlist focusing on Road Racing and adding new rewards and challenges.  

Shanghai Circuit returns to F1 22

A substantial F1 22 update rolled out this week, with the Chinese Grand Prix to returning to Codemasters’ F1 game series for the first time since F1 2019. This means you can see how the redesigned 2022 F1 cars handle the challenging Shanghai Circuit before the Grand Prix returns to the F1 calendar in 2023.

Along with the Shanghai Circuit, update 1.10 also adds the yellow Ferrari Special Livery from this year’s Italian Grand Prix, a Moon Festival-themed weekly event, and a host of bug fixes. For more details, check out the F1 22 update 1.10 patch notes.

Assetto Corsa Competizione update 1.8 coming to consoles this month

Assetto Corsa Competizione’s update 1.8 has been available on PC for several months, and now it’s finally coming to consoles after a long delay. Kunos Simulazioni confirmed that Assetto Corsa Competizione update 1.8 will be available to download on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on 29 September, so console players don’t have to wait much longer.

This will be a significant update, bringing tyre model improvements, new 400hz physics, and other gameplay enhancements.

In other news…

In other racing game news, Turn 10 provided a development update on Forza Motorsport, confirming it will enter the critical polishing phase next year. In other words, don’t expect any updates on Forza Motorsport until early next year. Speaking of Forza, Playground Games will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the original Forza Horizon in Forza Horizon 5 Series 13.

Gran Turismo is the latest PlayStation franchise getting the movie adaptation treatment. This week, Hollywood Reporter revealed the first casting details.

Best known for playing police chief Jim Hopper in Stranger Things, David Harbour will play a retired racing driver who teaches a teenager how to drive, helping him prepare for an esports competition and go on to become a professional racing driver.

That lead role will be played by Archie Madekwe, who has appeared in Midsommar, Voyagers, and the Apple+ drama See.

We also got to see Gran Turismo Sophy AI in action. To show how its behaviour is progressing, the AI agent recently competed in a series of exhibition races in GT7’s World Series esports tournament. You can watch the races in full, where Sophy AI thrashed the world’s best GT7 players.

Nintnedo revealed two tracks coming in the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC Wave 3 DLC this Christmas and we also got a new gameplay trailer for Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway.

For fans of retro racers, Formula Retro Racing is getting a surprise sequel, with Formula Retro Racing World Tour speeding onto consoles in December. Excitebike 64 is also wheelieing onto Nintendo Switch next year.

In case you missed it…

This week saw the start of the 2022 F1 Esports Series. It’s already been an exciting season so far, which saw McLaren Shadow’s Lucas Blakely win the first two races at Bahrain and Imola and a strong debut for Haas driver Thomas Ronhaar.

You can catch all the action in the third round at Silverstone tonight at 7.30pm BST.

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