Racing game fans, the starting line for Forza Motorsport is taking shape, as the upcoming Xbox title begins to reveal more about its overhauled features. Though the Forza Motorsport release date has seen its fair share of changes, anticipation for the game continues to gain speed, and now developer Turn 10 Studios is giving racers an insight into the game’s newly revealed suite of accessibility features.
Appearing on the official Xbox YouTube channel, accessibility consultant Brandon Cole speaks about Forza Motorsport‘s Blind Driving Assists. Cole explains “that the biggest barrier was overcoming the natural barrier that already exists between blind people and racing […] I will fully admit it took me a while to notice that I was no longer crashing all the time.”
Working with numerous companies in the industry, Cole details that his role is to “work directly with videogame developers to take a look at their game and then help them turn that into an experience that is accessible to the totally blind, so they can have at least equivalent experiences to that of the sighted.”
In tandem with Cole’s guidance, gameplay and accessibility producer Neha Chintala claims that Forza Motorsport will be the “most accessible” entry yet. Furthermore, a statement from Xbox clarifies that “Blind Driving Assists (BDA) is a feature set that was built for players who are Blind or have Low Vision […]Blind Driving Assists work by providing a set of supplemental audio cues designed to help Low/No Vision players navigate the tracks of Forza Motorsport.”
The Xbox blog says that “players can listen to detailed descriptions, as well as a preview of each audio cue they will encounter on-track from within the accessibility menu. Once the player has familiarized themselves with the different audible information, what they represent, and how they all interact with each other, they can head to the track to try out the feature.”
Alongside Blind Driving Assists, Forza Motorsport will also include the following accessibility options:
- One Touch Driving
- Screen Narrator
- Dynamic Audio Description
- Text-to-Speech/Speech-to-Text
- UI Colorblindness Modes
- World Colorblindness Filters
- Controller Remapping
- Subtitles
- Audio Customization Settings
- Opponent Difficulty
- Text Scaling
- Contrast
- Moving Backgrounds
When the Forza Motorsport release date arrives it is sure to be an incredible time for racing game fanatics. From the sheer amount of Forza Motorsport tracks to Forza Motorsport cars, we’ll be ready and waiting at the starting position.