It’s been nearly two years since Microsoft launched the Xbox One console, and Forza Motorsport 5 along with it. While there was no question that the launch title made for some seriously compelling eye candy and the horsepower bump provided by the new hardware offered other numerous advantages, there was no getting around the fact that the game felt incomplete. A string of downloadable additions to the game – comprised largely of car packs that were available for an additional fee – helped address the issue to some degree, but ultimately Forza Motorsport 5’s biggest weakness was its lack of content in comparison to previous installments in the franchise.

Turn 10 Studios looks to be addressing that issue in a big way with Forza Motorsport 6, expanding the roster of tracks, cars, conditions and modes substantially. But is it enough to make the newest title in the series feel fresh?

What A Difference Two Years Makes

With the introduction of the Forza Horizon offshoot series in 2012, Turn 10 Studios adopted a development format that has become commonplace in the realm of video games: Release a title from the franchise every year, but hand off development duties to another studio – in the case of Horizon, Playground Games – for the years in which the second tier title is scheduled for release. This method gives Turn 10 two years to develop a new installment rather than one while also ensuring the brand has a new title on the shelf every holiday season.

Of course, sticking to that timeline has its drawbacks, and when Forza Motorsport 5 debuted it was clear that while the bones of the game were solid, the rush to get the game on the shelves alongside Microsoft’s brand new gaming console had resulted in some significant cutbacks in terms of content. Since FM5 was an all-new game for an all-new system, most of the game’s assets had to be rebuilt from scratch rather than simply buffed and improved upon, as had been done in previous installments of the game for the Xbox 360.

But with two years to continue developing the game since FM5, with Forza Motorsport 6 what we’re given now is essentially what FM5 would have, or should have been.

Some Old, Some New

From a foundational standpoint, FM6 doesn’t deviate far from its predecessor. The physics, graphics engine, sound design, and overall narrative format of the game is nearly identical, but that doesn’t mean that FM6 lacks the substance to make this a compelling title for motorsport fans.

The most immediate and obvious improvement is the car list – FM6 more than doubles its car count from FM5 with a whopping 460 cars, all of which are available for up-close inspection in the game’s Forzavista gallery. It’s a similar story with the tracks available as well – while FM5 debuted with 14 tracks (a few, including the Long Beach street circuit and the Nurburgring, were added later as DLC), FM6 comes out of the gate with no less than 26 real-world locales, including iconic tracks like Daytona, Lime Rock Park and Brands Hatch, all of which offer painstaking detail and are rendered impeccably.

There’s a few new tricks up Turn 10’s sleeve this time around, too. Rain, which made its first appearance in Forza Horizon 2 finds its way into this title as well, though its use is far more meaningful and well executed here. Instead of a blanket ding to grip all across the track, the game’s designers studied real world imagery of the courses in the game to determine where standing water pools up during rain and added those sections to FM6. Hitting those sections of standing water can have a profound effect on handling depending on the car, speed, angle and tires you’re using, and hydroplaning is an effect you’ll soon learn to be concerned about, as is memorizing where those puddles accumulate.

Night driving also debuts in FM6 as well. Aside from just looking great, night driving has the added factor of reduced road surface temperatures, which in turn reduce tire grip to a noticeable degree. While the execution of the latter seems a bit heavy handed at times, and no matter how damaged your car becomes the headlights always work, it’s still a welcome addition to mix things up and make familiar courses feel fresh again.

Never Short Of Things To Do

FM6’s career mode now spans more than 70 hours of gameplay. While previous installments in the Forza series have allowed the player to choose their own path more or less from the get-go – assuming they had the funds to purchase cars for the series they wanted to enter – Forza 6 takes a new approach by making the career mode more or less a linear experience. Turn 10 explains the reasoning behind this change is to provide the player with “an automotive journey across the game’s unrivaled diversity and tell the “Stories of Motorsport””, but the upshot here is that you’ll be following the career path of Turn 10’s design here.

That’s probably a good thing though, because if you’re anything like me, you tend to gravitate toward your favorite set of vehicles and stick close to them for the duration of your time with the game. This new format forces you to discover new things and learn how to master every different type of car offered in the game in order to complete it.

Serious Competition, On and Offline

FM5’s “Drivatar” AI system is back in FM6, and it’s even better than it was the first time around. For those unfamiliar, the Drivatar system uses each player’s driving style to create an artificial, computer-controlled version of that player which runs in other gamers’ offline races. The result is that the AI cars behave much more like human beings. They not only making human mistakes but some will also exhibit some level of racecraft, preventing passes and otherwise doing what they can to maintain or improve their position. The system seems to be refined even further from FM5, and it’s a quantum leap beyond the AI used in other racing simulators right now.

In terms of online multiplayer, FM6 now boasts online “leagues” in which players are organized by skill level and temperament in races of up to 24 players at a time. This new approach should help players have a better time racing online by pairing them up with more evenly matched opponents. And for those just looking to watch the action unfold or perhaps learn from other racers, a new spectator mode allows them to watch the race in a live broadcast, which they can in turn stream to their friends as well.

Bottom Line

Forza Motorsport 6 doesn’t exactly reinvent the genre, but there’s a lot to like about it. It’s clear that the game is an evolution of FM5 rather than a wholly new title. Many of the annoyances from the previous titles still exist, like the fact that players cannot swap parts from a race menu and instead have to back out to the main menu to, for instance, change sway bars. But despite its shortcomings there was plenty to like about FM5 to begin with, and that holds true for Forza Motorsport 6 as well.

FM6 builds upon those strengths, adds all of the content we wanted the previous title to have, refines it further, and adds a few new features along the way. If you’re a diehard racing fan and loved FM5, you’d be hard pressed to avoid the urge to pick up this title and it’s doubtful you’d regret it. While it’s not likely to blow your mind as far as changes go, there’s so much to enjoy here and it’s so well executed that the $60 asking price will probably seem like a bargain once you fire this new installment up.