Many games and game developers say they offer accessibility features in their titles. However, developer Turn 10 Studios and publisher Microsoft are going a bit further than most with the upcoming launch of the racing sim reboot Forza Motorsport.
Ahead of the game's launch on October 10, Microsoft allowed a number of game streamers to play a build of Forza Motorsport. One of them was Steve Saylor, who suffers from nystagmus, a condition that makes him legally blind.
However, Saylor was able to play Forza Motorsport and, as he shows in this YouTube video, (via VGC), was able not only to compete but win a race with the new Blind Drive Assist feature.
The feature, which Saylor disclosed in the video he helped to test in 2022 with Turn 10, will let blind gamers play the game with audio cues while driving. Saylor stated:
It's the first time we've ever seen this in a racing game before. You have audio cues for when a player needs to accelerate and when to go back on the throttle. There's an off-screen coach that tells you what turn is coming up, whether it's a left or right, a hairpin or a slight turn, and the severity of that turn, ranging on a scale from one being the tightest of turns to six being a less severe of a turn.
There are also other audio cues, including ones that tell the player when they will be entering a turn, where the apex of that turn will happen and when they will be driving out of the turn.
Saylor stated that there is a bit of a learning curve for players with the Blind Drive Assist feature and that he needed to adjust some of the volume and pitch sounds for the audio cues before he was able to actually win a race.
While it doesn't sound (no pun intended) like a perfect solution, it does show Turn 10 and Microsoft are trying to help make games more accessible to everyone.
Forza Motorsport is due out on October 10 for the Standard Edition for the PC, Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X consoles, and will also be included in Xbox Game Pass. If you preorder the Premium Edition, you can play five days earlier.
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