Forza Motorsport 6 adds Formula E to its roster. Funny, when video games aren’t concerned with virtual carbon emissions.
Formula E is something of an odd duck in the world of motorsport. As an attempt to make a very ecologically unsound sport greener it’s a noble one, and cutting out the hundreds of tonnes of CO2 emitted by each Formula 1 car – by replacing their petrol engines with electric power plants – seems to be a logical place to start.
It makes for jarringly uncomfortable viewing, though, replacing the traditional throaty roar of an F1 car with an electric engine’s distinctive whine:
It just feels kind of wrong, somehow.
And besides, even if you do cut out the emissions of the race cars themselves, the whole circus that goes with it – hundreds of articulated lorries, private planes and other vehicles – still does more than enough damage to the environment.
But you can’t fault them for trying. From little acorns, and all that.
Formula E and Forza Motorsport 6
Forza Motorsport 6, the latest in the series of highly successful Xbox-only racing titles, is coming out September 15 of this year. Perhaps driven on by the success of PS4 exclusive Driveclub and the oft-delayed-but-still-as-it-turns-out-rather-excellent Project CARS, Turn 10 Studios are doing something a little different with Forza Motorsport 6: They’re bringing the eerily quiet calm of Formula E to gamers for (almost*) the first time.
We don’t know much about the Formula E inclusion in Forza Motorsport 6 yet, other than there will be a vehicle from each of the championship’s ten teams available. Whether this precludes the Formula E championship from embarking on their own racing franchise – a la F1 2015 – also remains to be seen.
If the real championship is anything to go by, they should be damn quick though, which at least makes up in part for the fact they sound like an angry wasp trapped in a plastic bottle.
Much like Project CARS, Forza Motorsport 6 is aiming to have a car list of Brobdingnagian proportions, and they’ll be releasing the full list of almost 450 cars in dribs and drabs right up to the release. Currently, 117 are on show on their website, but keep checking back for more information.
* There was a single Renault Formula E car available as DLC for Forza Motorsport 5, but this is the first time they’ve been included in a game’s lineup proper.
