Forza Horizon 2 is only a week away, and has quickly become a hot topic of discussion following the release of a free demo last week. Impressions have been extremely positive despite the demo only offering a small glimpse of the game’s massive scope. People are in for a very good surprise.
After playing Forza Horizon 2 for more than 14 hours, I’ve run into some things that I simply wasn’t expecting. While there are sure to be those who have been following the game enough to know just about every detail, I get the feeling that there is an even larger group of people interested in the game who might not know about some of its greatest qualities.
Related: Forza Horizon 2’s Weather and Day/Night Cycle
So, I’ve compiled a list of six things you might not know about the game. Check them out in the gallery below.
6 Things You Might Not Know About Forza Horizon 2
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Car meets replace Forzavista
If you've played a Forza game before, you maybe familiar with Forzavista. This feature has allowed you to dive in and examine cars in your garage from the inside out. It's a cool feature, and it's actually been made much better in Forza Horizon 2.
In Forza Horizon 2, you can visit car meets that function similarly to Forzavista. When at a car meet, you and other players will be parked next to one another. Instead of only being able to examine your car, you can go to any of the cars at the meet and check them out. With this, you can admire each of the 210 cars in Forza Horizon 2, listen to their engines, and also see what kind of modifications the other players have done to their car using the upgrade system and livery editor. If you happen to love one of the cars and have enough money, there's a shortcut to buy the car directly from the car meet interface.
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Anna, your personal assistant
Anna has a digital personal assistant that will be with you whenever you're driving around in free roam. She's very helpful, allowing you to waypoint quickly to the nearest event, garage, and other locations. Basically, she allows you to avoid opening the map if you just want to keep driving. Given the size of Forza Horizon 2's map, there are times where you may have difficulty finding what you're looking for, so in those cases Anna is a godsend.
Made better, Anna is fully operational using voice commands through the Kinect. This means all you have to do is say short phrases to be pointed to wherever you need to go. How cool is that?
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Over 100 hours of content
I've played for more than 14 hours, and am only 16% of the way through my journey. With over 700 events, 210 cars to collect, Showcase events, signs to knock down, hidden garages, and much more, you can easily get over 100 hours out of this game. That's something that very few video games in history can say, let alone racing games.
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Lots of online options
If you're someone who enjoys playing with others, Forza Horizon 2 has you covered. You can play Online Road Trip which sends you and everyone else from one location to the next to compete in a cross-country championship. Or, you can participate in Online Free Roam which is free-spirited, and allows a designated leader to determine if and when the next event starts.
When playing online you aren't limited to just racing in events, there are a couple of cool game modes included. There's King and Infected, both of which send you crashing into other players where you can see the impressive damage modeling in Forza Horizon 2.
You can also join or create a car club, and participate in a variety of leaderboards. There's a ladder reset each week for car clubs, so you and your teammates/friends will have reason to log in each week and race vigorously.
All of this is done without lobbies, so you get to stay in your car with only some short loading times between events.
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Showcases are epic
There are a few keystone events during your Forza Motorsport 2 journey that are as epic as they are rewarding. Called Showcases, these pit you and only you against something other than a car. Turn 10 has shown that you'll race against jets and a train, but there are several more.
Once completed, these events reward you handsomely with a new car and/or a great sum of money. Time to go shopping.
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Constant reward
This isn't vanilla Forza Motorsport 5 where the progression system is quite static and unexciting. Forza Horizon 2 has a couple of systems that make leveling up feel substantial no matter how much you play.
For one, you'll get a single wheel spin per level up. With this, you are awarded a random amount of money, or a free car. You'll watch the wheel spin around hoping that it lands on a new supercar or the $100,000 reward. It never gets old. This also makes growing your garage an easier and more eventful experience.
Additionally, there's a skill system which uses the currency you earn from driving flashy and with precision (drifting, drafting, avoiding collisions with other cars, etc.) to unlock a variety of perks. You'll have a chance to unlock a 10% discount on all cars, the ability to teleport to any location on the map, and more.
