{"id":975,"date":"2014-04-14T14:46:14","date_gmt":"2014-04-14T18:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/?p=975"},"modified":"2014-04-14T14:46:14","modified_gmt":"2014-04-14T18:46:14","slug":"new-tracks-keep-forza-motorsport-5-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/new-tracks-keep-forza-motorsport-5-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"New Tracks Keep Forza Motorsport 5 Alive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many gamers can recall the first day they played a new title.\u00a0 The excitement of playing an A-list release on day one has a habit of staying in our memories, as does the joy of finding a sleeper hit in the bargain bin.\u00a0 What\u2019s often less memorable is the last day of a game\u2019s lifespan.\u00a0 Unless it\u2019s an epic rage quit or a soaring triumph of 100% completion, we rarely remember the last time we play a game.\u00a0 It\u2019s often an ordinary experience, a few matches in an FPS or a mundane sidequest in an RPG.\u00a0 No matter how good or replayable a game may be, there always comes a time when we simply stop coming back.\u00a0 It\u2019s as true for racing games as it is for any other genre, and it\u2019s something that developers have long tried to postpone by releasing new content after launch.<\/p>\n

\"ForzaLongBeach\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For driving sims, this DLC usually comes in the form of new cars.\u00a0 For a not always nominal fee, developers offer gamers additional vehicles to customize and race.\u00a0 Repeat this exchange every month for the first year of a game\u2019s lifespan, the thinking goes, and the chance to try new cars will keep people coming back.\u00a0 However, for all the hours I\u2019ve sunk into the Forza Motorsport<\/i> series, I\u2019ve never shelled out for a single piece of paid DLC.\u00a0 Despite their individual nuances, there just isn\u2019t enough of a difference between the original selection of cars and their downloadable counterparts.\u00a0 You can drive a circuit in half a dozen different vintage Mustangs, but the experience just isn\u2019t varied enough for me to consider it a new and interesting challenge.\u00a0 The recent releases of the Road America and Long Beach circuits in Forza 5<\/i> helped me understand the issue: while new cars can be appealing to collectors, it\u2019s new tracks that increase a game\u2019s lifespan.<\/p>\n

Put out as free updates to the game, Road America and Long Beach have played a big role in keeping Forza 5<\/i> on my radar.\u00a0 In the wake of Long Beach\u2019s release last week, I even decided to stick around and keep playing until I finally bring my driver level up to 150 (just a few more to go as I write this).\u00a0 Each of these tracks offers a new location, a new layout, and a new challenge to take on.\u00a0 Unlike a new car, a new track moves players back to square one.\u00a0 Rather than simply adjusting your approach to compensate for a new car\u2019s strengths and weaknesses, track DLC throws up a fresh set of unfamiliar corners.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to take much longer to wrap my head around the turn 11 hairpin at Long Beach than it would to find my rhythm around a familiar circuit in a new car.<\/p>\n

Of course, it helps that the tracks were free, but I would\u2019ve happily paid for content like this.\u00a0 For people like me who obsess over doing the perfect timed lap, a new track is like a new campaign in a first person shooter.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to replicate this effect with car DLC, unless an expansion came out featuring an entirely new class of vehicles.\u00a0 It\u2019s nice to see the folks at Turn 10 taking a new approach to expanding their games after release.\u00a0 Maybe they\u2019ll bring back the Suzuka circuit next (hint, hint).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pit Box One is written by Paul Jensen. You can follow his thoughts on video games and motor racing on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>.<\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many gamers can recall the first day they played a new title.\u00a0 The excitement of playing an A-list release on day one has a habit of staying in our memories, as does the joy of finding a sleeper hit in the bargain bin.\u00a0 What\u2019s often less memorable is the last day of a game\u2019s lifespan.\u00a0 [Read more…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=975"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":977,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975\/revisions\/977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}