14 DAY TRIAL // Forza Horizon 2 developer Playground Games has confirmed that the new racing title will run at a native 1080p full HD resolution and a 30fps framerate on the Xbox One, as its open world requires a lot more power to render in real time.
Forza Motorsport 5 appeared alongside the Xbox One last November and delivered a high-quality racing experience that hit the golden benchmark of 1080p native resolution and 60fps framerate. Since then, very few Xbox One games have managed to reach that standard, as most either sacrificed resolution or framerate.
This year's Forza Horizon 2, the next entry in the series, is no exception, as apparently developer Playground Games decided to sacrifice the framerate in order to maintain a high-definition resolution of 1080p.
According to Creative Director Ralph Fulton, who talked with IGN about the game's performance, a stable framerate is crucial to the new game, so a lower 30fps is better than a 60fps that might not always be available.
"I think what we did on Horizon was demonstrate that, and this is really important, a locked frame rate that’s absolutely solid and never drops is the most important thing for our game. 30 [frames-per-second] actually enables us to realize that experience."
"I think I remember that’s always a hot-button topic, until a game comes out and people go, 'Oh, this actually really works.' But 1080p was an absolute must for us; it’s the benchmark for next-gen."
Fulton emphasized that Forza Motorsport 5 wasn't an open world game, as it loaded just the current circuit and the surroundings, without worrying about the rest of the possible levels in the game. Forza Horizon 2, however, has an open world, which can be explored by players in any way they want, including at high speeds.
"The biggest difference is that, obviously, we’re an open-world streaming game. We need to be able to drive in any direction at up to 270 miles an hour. So one of the big technical challenges that we had to face was making sure that we could stream in a world that is next-gen beautiful, but fast enough to keep up with the fastest car."
Forza Horizon 2 is set to debut this fall for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 platforms, but expect to hear much more about the racing title next week, on June 9, during Microsoft's E3 2014 press conference.