The open world driving sim has roared through locations from Colorado to Australia, its authentic feel resting on exhaustive research. But, as the team explain, this was the toughest challenge yet<\/p>\n
Since the arrival of the original Forza Horizon in 2012, a game that revolutionised open world driving sims by setting players loose in a virtual Colorado, British developer Playground Games has promised authenticity with its settings. For each instalment, design teams are sent out on location to take thousands of photos, hours of video, even detailed captures of the sky, before construction of a virtual copy begins. It\u2019s a huge undertaking. But it seems that for much of the past decade, one country remained slightly out of reach \u2013 an intimidating prospect. \u201cJapan has been on our shortlist for several games now,\u201d says design director, Torben Ellert. \u201cBut we just didn\u2019t feel like we were ready to take on the challenge of building it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just about the sheer variety of the country\u2019s landscape. There\u2019s something else going on. Most video game players hold an image of what it is like to explore Japan. It may be inspired by the fictitious rural town of Inaba in Persona 4, or the busy docks of Yokosuka in Shenmue<\/a>, or perhaps the neon-drenched Kabukich\u014d district of Tokyo, which forms a regular backdrop in the Yakuza series. For decades, gamers around the world have been bombarded with images of the country that are often highly stylised and fragmented, but nonetheless potent and persuasive. As art director Don Arceta puts it, \u201cwith Japan there\u2019s such an expectation [of] what gamers want – it\u2019s a certain version of Japan that they picture.\u201d<\/p>\n
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