As the only Xbox One-exclusive launch title to hit the 60fps at 1080p resolution mark, Forza 5 was undoubtedly one of the best-looking launch titles for the next-gen consoles. By all accounts the game also plays well and is one of, if not the, best racing game of the year.
However, when consumers finally got their hands on the game they found that it, like many of the Xbox One’s other exclusives, was heavily interwoven with microtransactions. Players were faced with expensive real-money purchases for the best cars in the game, a tactic that has been bleeding over from free mobile titles to full-priced console titles in recent years.
Fan uproar over the game’s design was immediate, and now Turn 10 Studios and Microsoft have eased back prices for the game’s vehicles in response. Microsoft today announced that its promised update to Forza 5‘s economy has now arrived.
The game’s developers have more than doubled the level at which players earn vehicle credits by actually playing the game. This allows players to more easily purchase vehicles with in-game currency.
The prices of nearly all cars in the game have also been slashed, with the combined price of all on-disc cars cut nearly in half (45%). Some of the most expensive on-disc cars have even had their prices dropped by as much as 66%.
Microsoft is now estimating that these changes will allow players to earn cars in just one-fifth the time it took them when the game launched. In its announcement, Microsoft stated that “even the fastest cars in the game are now within every Forza 5 player’s reach.
In addition to the economy balancing, the update is bringing two new modes to Forza 5. Drag racing will allow players to race against each other on a quarter-mile, half-mile, and full-mile drag airfield drag strip track. The other mode, “Tag,” will encourage players to make contact with other cars in arcade-style, wreck-filled races.