According to Fanatec CEO Thomas Jackermeier, he recently had a meeting with Turn 10 Studios to discuss Forza Motorsport 7 and the implementation of better force feedback support for the Fanatec line of racing wheels for PC and Xbox One.
Over on the Fanatec forum, Jackermeier explained that he was going to discuss the wheel, pedal and shifter support with gaming racing wheels with Turn 10 Studios, writing…
“I have a meeting with the team of Turn 10 this week and we will discuss several things we could do together for their next title of Forza Motorsport. […]
“There is a new person who is responsible for physics and force feedback and this is a “wheel guy”. He is a real world racer with car engineering background and very familiar with PC simracing.
“The PC market seems very important for them and they are aware that this market is dominated by wheel users. Therefore we will intensify our co-operation and get the best out of the games for wheel users.”
That’s some very interesting details that Jackermeier spilled there. First up, it’s great to know that Turn 10 seems to want to put some serious effort into supporting the PC racing sim community. Microsoft – after the generational blunder that was Games For Windows Live – decided to try their hand at courting PC gamers once more with Windows 10. If Turn 10 is really putting some serious effort into Forza Motorsport on PC, then that would fit in line with Microsoft returning to the platform to get serious about PC support.
The other thing that Jackermeier mentions that I didn’t see coming was that they have a new engineer with real race car experience under his belt to rework the Forza Motorsport series’ physics and engineering in regards to feedback and support for racing wheels.
The thread actually points out a lot of useful, legitimate feedback on wheel support, such as suggesting that Turn 10 needs to adjust wheel centering while the car is moving but implementing more feedback to make it more difficult to turn the car at low speeds or when the car is still.
Ultimately, all of the suggestions seem to point toward the Fanatec fans wanting a more realistic racing experience, especially when using the highly expensive racing wheels that they dumped hundreds of dollars into.
Now keep in mind that Jackermeier’s meeting with Turn 10 doesn’t necessitate that Forza Motorsport 7 is guaranteed. It could mean they’re working on a new game in the series, but it may or may not be a spin-off and we’ll have to wait until Microsoft makes the full announcement before we jump to conclusions. However, if what Jackermeier says is true, then it could mean big things for the PC racing sim community in terms of Forza Motorsport being given some real tender, love and care in the racing wheel integration and physics department.
