It’s not a surprise there will be an addition to the already successful Forza Motorsport franchise. However, the timing of the announcement was a bit off, possibly even for Microsoft and Turn 10 Studios.
Fanatec CEO Thomas Jackermeier recently made a blog post asking players what new features that they want for Forza Motorsport 7, as well was what issues they had with Forza Motorsport 6. The blog post was recently updated with the following message:
I had a very good meeting with them and I am happy to report that there is a good chance that a lot of things will change for the better in upcoming FM titles. There is a new person who is responsible for physics and force feedback and this is a “wheel guy”. He is a real world racer with car engineering background and very familiar with PC simracing.
Fanatec produces racing wheels for the PC-first market, which would explain Jackermeier’s excitement in the second part of the blog update.
The PC market seems very important for them and they are aware that this market is dominated by wheel users. Therefore we will intensify our co-operation and get the best out of the games for wheel users.
I cannot confirm at this point what features can be implemented but the interest to do so is very high.
Wheel support was just recently added, first for Forza Motorsport 6, so it’s good to hear that Fanatec has partnered with Turn 10 Studios to make sure wheel support is well implemented. The wheel support appears to only be for PC; Xbox One users may only be able to use the regular controller.
Gamespot has reached out to Xbox about the accidental reveal, but they have yet to receive an answer. As the release was accidental, there is no confirmed release date for Forza Motorsport 7.