Forza Motorsport‘s Update 6 – due to release in March 2024 – is shaping up to be a huge step forward for the live-service racing game from Turn 10. Notably, the developer has just revealed that the game’s entire Car Level progression mechanic will be getting upended in accordance with player feedback.
Notably, Turn 10 has gone back to the drawing board with Forza Motorsport‘s Car Level mechanic, as promised earlier this year. From the very start, a vocal portion of the player base has been highly critical of Turn 10’s decision to lock vehicle upgrades behind level gates that, granted, do take a while to reach. The issue was so serious at one point, in fact, that players discovered a way to fully automate the process just to side-step it. That’s all set to change with Update 6, however, which will make this entire feature essentially optional.
Turn 10 fixes Forza Motorsport’s Car Level progression
As outlined in Turn 10’s new Car Progression blog, players will no longer need to grind levels to upgrade their vehicles as of Update 6. There are two main changes being delivered here:
- Every car upgrade will be accessible from level 1 onwards
- Players will be able to purchase Car Points, the vehicle upgrade currency
More specifically, Car Points are basically an upgrade currency that can be spent on specific parts and tweaks to change how a vehicle behaves. Up until now, the only way to stack up Car Points was to grind races in a given car until you have enough CP to invest in your desired upgrades. Each level brought in a set amount of CP, as well as unlocking particular parts. The interesting bit is that CP is fully refundable. If you decide that spending 700 CP on a new set of tires was a bad investment, you can simply retrofit the original set onto the vehicle, and reinvest your CP elsewhere.
Once Update 6 hits, on the other hand, you’ll be able to spend earnable Credits (the car purchasing currency) on CP for a specific vehicle. And, since all the upgrades will be accessible from level 1, a huge portion of the game’s grinding loop will be made entirely optional.
“We’re testing a ratio of 4,500 Credits for 500 Car Points and based on the feedback we’ve collected, we expect this to provide a healthy balance,” Turn 10 explained.
It’s a great change for those who didn’t like how the game handled its RPG-esque progression system, but it being optional means those who enjoyed the grind will still be able to participate in it. Quite player-friendly, at least on paper.
There’s still some time to go before Update 6 hits Forza Motorsport, of course. Update 5 is coming out around mid-February, for one, and it’s going to include the long-anticipated Nürburgring Nordschleife track. A single new track isn’t a huge deal on its own, granted, but it does build upon Turn 10’s reasonably impressive post-launch track record, with each major new patch introducing a new raceway. That, at least, has been satisfying to see, and it appears set to continue for the foreseeable future. Presumably, Update 6 will have its own new track for players to race on, but that remains to be seen.
