Much has been said about how Forza Motorsport is essentially winding down after two years on the market, with the team recently confirming that no major new content would be added to the game in 2026.
That obviously comes as a shame for those who enjoy a more simulation-focused experience than what Forza Horizon offers, but it also indicates that 2023's FM reboot hasn't managed to prove as popular as Xbox had likely hoped.
Meanwhile, PlayStation's Gran Turismo 7 — a game that's very similar to Forza Motorsport — is apparently experiencing a "phenomenon" right now due to how many players are still engaging with it. That number is growing as well.
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Here's what series producer Kazunori Yamauchi had to say in a recent roundtable interview (via GTPlanet):
“Gran Turismo 7 has been released for several years, but still, the active users are currently over 2 million people, and the new users are increasing. The status that Gran Turismo 7 is in now is probably the best of any Gran Turismo titles that we’ve had in the past. We’ve never experienced this phenomenon before, and neither has PlayStation.”
What's the reason for Gran Turismo's immense success and Forza Motorsport's drop-off, then? According to GTPlanet, Yamauchi apparently attributed GT's continued appeal to "the studio’s evolving relationship with its community and a shift in how it supports titles long-term", while the outlet also highlighted the game's recent update, Power Pack DLC and the millions of people who are watching Gran Turismo World Series events.
And just to be clear, we're not ragging on Forza Motorsport in terms of the game itself here. We've mentioned numerous times how we think FM has an excellent base to it, but it just didn't quite evolve in the way that we'd hoped.
It also makes sense that Xbox would rather prioritise Forza Horizon these days, and you can bet Forza Horizon 6 will be a best-seller across all platforms that it's available for, including PlayStation. Sony might have the dominant sim racer of the two companies, but Forza Horizon is in a league of its own in terms of casual open-world racers.
Still, we'll keep our fingers crossed that Forza Motorsport can make a return with GT7 levels of success in the future!