If you’ve ever played any entry in either the Forza Horizon or Forza Motorsport series, you’ll have noticed the developer’s acute attention to detail. Each car is painstakingly modeled to look exactly like its real-life counterpart. Every track or landscape you speed across is equally immaculately detailed, making for one of the most immersive and jaw-dropping experiences you can get right now. During our time playing Forza Horizon 4, we spotted a ton of tiny details that the team at Playground Games has slipped into the game that you probably won’t even notice.
To do the developer’s work justice, and because they’re generally pretty cool, we’ve included five of the most incredible, tiny details you might have missed in Forza Horizon 4.
Incredible, Tiny Details You Might Have Missed in Forza Horizon 4
The Streetlight Numbered Labels
This one caught even us out. I’m a Brit, for those of you who care, and so I was particularly excited to dive into Playground Games’ rendition of my homeland to see exactly what insane details they managed to drop in. And while I expected millimeter perfect car models, and generally stunning views as I cruised through the game’s rendition of the Lake District, I didn’t think they’d go as far as to detail the streetlights.
If you look closely enough on some of the streetlights as you’re cruising around in Forza Horizon 4, it’s possible to see the numbered labels that the real-life streetlights have. For those unaware, these numbered labels are essentially used to locate problematic streetlights, or to identify which circuit it’s a part of.
Is this common knowledge? Probably not. Is this something Forza Horizon 4 players really care about? Probably not. Is it an awesome example of Playground Games’ attention to detail? Absolutely.
This isn’t just the same number spammed over and over again on streetlights in Forza Horizon 4, either. I checked a few different ones dotted around, and each one had a different number. It’s these little extra steps that Playground Games takes that help to make its worlds feel so immersive and lived in. We’re just waiting to see the electrician pull over by one to do some maintenance next.
Incredible, Tiny Details You Might Have Missed in Forza Horizon 4
Brake Glow
This isn’t a tiny detail that’s entirely new to Forza Horizon 4, but it’s still a neat one all the same. The cars are always the stars of the show in any Forza game, and the developers ensure that every minute detail that players can possibly think of can be found on the car models.
Each car is lovingly recreated to be a near identical replica, but the team didn’t just stop at the permanent, physical details that players can see all the time. It added some in that, when you’re focusing on driving in a race, you’re never even going to notice.
Yes, we’re talking about that scorching orange glow coming from the brakes. Struggling to see it? If you look behind the fancy rims of my Audi R8 V10 above, you’ll see faint orange circles.
This brake glow comes from braking intensely in fast cars. What’s more, it doesn’t just come and stay forever. It slowly fades as time passes and the heat dissipates out of the brakes. The faster you go, the more fierce of an orange glow you’ll get emanating from your brakes.
You’ll likely need to move your right analog stick around while heavily braking to spot this in Forza Horizon 4, but it’s a neat, tiny detail to just admire while you’re admiring the tranquil scenery of the Lake District.
Incredible, Tiny Details You Might Have Missed in Forza Horizon 4
Tunnel Interference
Most games have a great soundtrack now. Be it FIFA 19‘s rather excellent mix of indie hits and modern chart-toppers, all the way through to Breath of the Wild’s stunning orchestral score. It’s something that helps to bring the game world to life, and avoids the same sound effects from grinding on you over and over.
Well, Forza Horizon 4 takes that one step further, implementing the way you’re listening to music in the game into how you hear it out of your TV. And it all comes down to tunnels.
For most people now, their daily commute or a trip in a car most likely involves them listening to music on Spotify or off their phone via an Aux cable. In Forza Horizon 4, the Horizon festival has a number of radio stations you’ll tune into. So it only makes sense that when you pass through one of the few tunnels on the map, you lose your signal, too.
As soon as your car enters the tunnel, you’ll hear nothing from your radio. It’s not all bad. You’re left hearing your engine reverberate through the tunnel, and wow do the engine sounds in Forza Horizon 4 sound good.
Emerge out the other side of the tunnel, and your preferred radio station of choice kicks back in, just as it would in real life. It’s the little things, ey!
Incredible, Tiny Details You Might Have Missed in Forza Horizon 4
Manufacturer Labels
This one was a bit of a pain for us to get a clear shot of, but rest assured it’s still a ridiculously minuscule detail that hardly anyone’s going to notice in Forza Horizon 4. If you explode your car when checking them out at the Festival, all of the doors of the car will open. You can sit in the car, admire the detailed interiors, and dream about how awesome it’d be to own it in real life.
When you’re done with your daydreaming, though, look in the nooks and crannies of the car. For example, when some cars have their doors open, you can spot manufacturer labels just below the lock mechanics. And that’s a whole thing in itself. They’ve actually detailed a functioning lock mechanism!
You can even make out the writing if you’re able to zoom in close enough, though, unfortunately, it can be a bit of a struggle getting the angle right around the open door. We tip our hats to you, Playground Games, and whoever modeled these labels is a true hero.
Incredible, Tiny Details You Might Have Missed in Forza Horizon 4
Festival Event Flyers
Though Forza Horizon 4’s world contains Edinburgh, Ambleside, and other iconic locales from around the UK, it’s the festival site itself which contains this final, and somewhat saddening tiny detail. The festival site is where all of the fans tend to gather and much of the behind-the-scenes work is going on, but the different racing events are scattered across the map. So, it only makes sense that there’d be a ton of different flyers advising wannabe racers on event details and limitations.
If you look closely, you can even make out some of the promotional images on the flyers as events you can find around the game. Even the vehicle restrictions or class can be spotted on them.
The sad part, of course, is that they’re just littered all about the floor. We spotted this pile as we were making our way out of the festival site. Sadly, no litter pickers could be spotted in the vicinity.
Have you spotted any other insane, tiny details while dominating the festival in Forza Horizon 4? Share them with us down below. We’d love to check them out!
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