Forza Motorsport 8: Release date, early access, Game Pass, pre-order, gameplay, trailer and latest news
When can we play the gorgeous racing game?
Forza Motorsport 8 – simply dubbed as Forza Motorsport – is only a short while away, and it won’t be long until we can grab the digital wheel and burn some rubber in greater fidelity than ever before. Read on to find out everything there is to know about the Forza Motorsport 8 release date, early access, pre-order, gameplay, trailer, latest news and if it’s coming to Game Pass.
Recently, we have been able to see plenty of the game, and it’s clear to see just what Take 10 have been up to in the six years since Forza Motorsport 7 came out. The game is looking as lovely as ever - with stunning graphics and a plethora of cars to choose from. It’s going to be an epic showdown between Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo – especially against the backdrop of the Sony vs Microsoft shenanigans regarding the Activision-Blizzard-King acquisition. The stakes have never been higher in the console wars.
Drama aside – there is plenty to get up to speed with Forza Motorsport 8 in the meantime, so buckle up and read on!
When is the Forza Motorsport 8 release date?
The Forza Motorsport 8 release date is 10th October 2023. This was revealed during the latest Xbox Games Showcase, and after previously having only the vague release window of 2023, it’s great to finally have a solid date locked in.
Competition for Forza Motorsport will be tough, however, as October is full to the brim with upcoming releases such as Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Alan Wake 2, Spider-Man 2 and Alone in the Dark.
Mercifully for the developers, there aren’t any racing games coming out, so Take 10 will have the full attention of Xbox and PC players who have been craving a new racing sim.
How to get Forza Motorsport 8 early access
To get Forza Motorsport 8 early access you need to pre-order the Premium Edition of the game or alternatively, the Premium Add-Ons Bundle, and this will net you 5 days of early access starting on the 5th October 2023.
This has the added benefit of getting the game on a Thursday means you'll have the full weekend ahead to play the game and hone in your lap times ahead of the full launch, which drops on a Tuesday.
As well as early access, you will get all of the other additional Premium Edition bonuses, which we will touch upon further down, so keep reading to see what goodies are in store for you.
Is Forza Motorsport 8 coming to Xbox Game Pass?
Forza Motorsport 8 will be a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass, so if you’re already a subscriber, you won’t be shelling out any extra cash for the privilege. The release will be the same for PC and Xbox players alike so don’t worry about missing out (unless you only game on the PlayStation 5 of course).
There are multiple editions of the game, however, which aren’t included with Game Pass, so you will need to purchase these separately.
Can I pre-order Forza Motorsport 8?
You can pre-order Forza Motorsport right now from CDKeys with the Standard Edition costing £51.49, the Deluxe Edition for £59.99 and the Premium Edition coming in at £63.99.
If you’d prefer a physical copy, you can get the game for £69.99 from GAME.
Unfortunately, it would appear you cannot buy a physical copy of the Premium or Deluxe Editions, but you can pick up the Premium Add-Ons Bundle from the Microsoft Store for £29.99. You can also use this if you were just planning to play the game via Game Pass.
You might be wondering just what’s in store for you for each version of the game so we’ve listed what’s included in the Standard, Deluxe and Premium editions just below.
Standard Edition
- Base game
Deluxe Edition
- Base Game
- Car Pass (30 cars delivered to your game weekly, one per week)
Premium Edition & Premium Add-Ons Bundle
- Base Game
- 5 days of early access
- The Race Day Car Pack
- Car Pass (30 cars delivered to your game weekly, one per week)
- VIP Membership (permanent 2x Credits Boost, 5 custom Forza Edition cars to collect, build and race, VIP Driver Gear, VIP Player Card, VIP Crown Flair and VIP-exclusive Rivals events.)
- Welcome Pack (five immediate car unlocks and bonus credits)
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Which consoles and platforms can play Forza Motorsport 8?
Forza Motorsport 8 will be coming to Xbox Series X/S and PC exclusively. As Sony holds onto Gran Turismo, Microsoft want their own triple-A racing sim all for themselves too.
Unlike Forza Horizon 5, there won’t be a pared-back version making an appearance on last-gen consoles, as the game is decidedly a current-gen affair with stunning visuals and complex physics simulations that the AMD Jaguar APUs of the PS4 and Xbox One just couldn’t handle.
While it is a shame that some will miss out – it will be exciting to see the Series X/S and high-end PCs get pushed to their limits.
Forza Motorsport 8 gameplay details
The new Forza Motorsport will bring you more of the thrills and spills of Forza racing you know and love but with stupidly detailed life-like and colourful graphics. It’s staggering how pretty this game looks, and you can check it all out in the Developer Direct from January down below.
More like this
Car enthusiasts will love to know that, from launch, there will be over 500 cars to collect, race, and customise. Over 100 of these cars are all-new for the latest Forza.
Those customisation options? There are over 800 upgrades to equip to your cars to improve performance in a huge number of ways. The possibilities are near-endless.
The game also promises the most realistic paint, reflection details, and damage and dirt build-up throughout racing. At least, it’s probably the best and most detailed we’ve ever seen. Paint thickness, chipping, and directionality have been simulated across each and every car model, for goodness' sake!
In terms of the actual racing, it has been revealed that the game will launch with 20 environments built from the ground up. This includes a mixture of fan-favourite locations and five brand-new-to-series locations, with Kyalami in South Africa named.
One of the main upgrades to races is fully dynamic time of day and weather effects. These are a first for the series. Given how fun these dynamic effects can be in the likes of Dirt 5, it’s nice to see the feature added to Forza. Another upgrade is changes made to the physics simulation. Cars should drive better than they ever did before in the series.
Is there a Forza Motorsport 8 trailer?
Yes! There are quite a few Forza Motorsport 8 trailers and the last big look at the game was the Official Career Mode Gameplay Demo, which we have included just below.
In the almost 12-minute long trailer, we get a substantial look at the various modes that will be available to players in the single-player mode, including the new Builders Cup Career Mode which Take 10 like to dub as a "CarPG".
In the new mode, there are three principles: competition, car progression and car building, which will see you spending a lot more time with the one car than in Gran Turismo, in which players felt cars were just thrown at you left, right and centre.
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