Forza 5 Requires The Internet At Least Once

The guys at Turn 10 Studios have introduced a very interesting AI system for Forza Motorsport 5, and what we mean by that is there is no traditional AI to speak of. The result of this is that despite Microsoft's u-turn on DRM you will indeed need to connect Forza 5 to the internet at least once

You see, Forza 5's attempt at next-gen AI are called 'Drivatars' - they replace any pre-programmed AI. "Instead, a ghost version of yourself races on your behalf, using your repeated behavior and tendencies to mimic how you’d race if you were actually playing. Drivatars of random gamers all over the world are what you race against in your single-player campaign."

This is where the whole internet requirement comes from - Forza 5 will use The Cloud to power its Drivatar system. Dan Greenawalt, the studio head at Turn 10 Studios explained the situation in a recent interview.

“So when you first boot up the game, we’re going to ask you to log in, and when you log in you’re going to get the Drivatars and you’re also going to get a whole bunch of content: tracks and cars. Our production schedule is such that we are putting them in as late as possible and that means making them free as downloadable content on Day One."

He went on to say “[But] that is required content to play the game. We basically have designed the game to work with all that content no matter how late is coming in, in order to make the biggest game possible.”

Then everything got a bit confusing when he started referencing fridges... “You have to fill it up with food the first time, and from then on, you connect whenever you want when you want to update your food. The Drivatars are as fresh as they are. It’s not like they’re going to degrade, but when you’re looking for new stuff – fresh stuff…it’s going to keep evolving. That’s the nature of this Drivatar system.”

That all sounds very interesting to us, but what are your views on the situation?

Source: IGN