Microsoft has just announced Forza Motorsport 6 Apex, a free, "curated" version of Forza Motorsport 6 that will release on Windows 10 this Spring. Curated, in this instance, means 63 different cars, and "more than 20 exciting track ribbons across six world-famous locales."
Apex is, however, more than simply a cut-down version of Forza 6. The game is divided up into 12 events—what developer Turn 10 refers to as driving stories. During a presentation at last week's Xbox Spring Showcase, I was shown one of these events—an "Italian Greats" series that pitted Ferrari versus Lamborghini. Each event race offers medals and bonus objectives, for instance performing perfect passes or completing a lap in certain time.
"We looked at all the content that's available for in Forza Motorsport 6 and said, 'how would we put that together in ways that we've never done it before,' said Dan Greenawalt, Turn 10 creative director, in a PC Gamer interview. "So the scoring system, the medal system, those came out of this idea we should start from scratch and try to take these addictive systems, tell these stories and build something new."
As to why Microsoft is releasing Apex, rather than the full Forza Motorsport 6, check out our interview with Phil Spencer, head of Xbox.
Forza Motorsport 6 Apex will feature DirectX 12 support and run at 4K resolutions. Through a 'Spotlight' mode, Turn 10 will also be adding additional post-release events—also for free. Apex, like all of Microsoft's upcoming first-party offerings, will be available exclusively through the Windows Store on Windows 10.
