Forza Motorsport’s Blind Driving Assists opens up new possibilities for visually-impaired gamers.
The racing game industry is undergoing a technological revolution opening new alternatives and allowing games to be as inclusive as humanly possible. As surprising as it may seem, Turn 10 Studios, the mastermind behind Microsoft Xbox’s massive success, Forza Motorsport, has devised an innovative feature enabling blind or visually-challenged players to enjoy the game too.
Indeed, after years of research and collaboration with accessibility consultant Brandon Cole, who’s been visually impaired all his life, Turn 10 Studios appears to have finally broken down the barriers hindering blind individuals from playing video games. Thus, the upcoming 8th-gen Forza Motorsport will be available with a new groundbreaking Blind Driving Assists (BDA) feature.
As explained by the consultant, the real challenge was to create a game accessible to people with little to zero experience with video games, keeping in mind that visually-impaired people might not have ever even seen a racing game yet. “We have to design for people that, again, have never played a racing game before,” Cole said.
Xbox’s YouTube channel recently published a video of Cole playing the game and emerging victorious against the AI. Seeing him achieve such a feat despite his limitations is truly inspiring.
Turn 10 Studio’s BDA feature lets visually-impaired players receive in-depth detailed descriptions and audio cues, offering critical information on the vehicle’s location on the track, steering angles, and obstacle conditions. Simultaneously, details on when to slow down or shift gears are also provided to help players clinch the winning spot.
To make the game even more inclusive, Forza Motorsport presents the One Touch Driving feature, allowing players to set and configure input combinations they need to play the game. This is especially helpful for those who find it difficult to press multiple buttons simultaneously or hold the controller properly, significantly simplifying gear shifts, braking, and acceleration.
Besides, Turn 10 Studios offers the Screen Narration feature, allowing people to customize the narrator’s volume, tone, and speed to suit their preferences and needs. These three features come with several other accessibility boosts, such as Text-to-Speech/Speech-to-Text to facilitate player conversations, Dynamic Audio Description, UI Colorblindness Modes, World Colorblindness Filters, and much more.
Neha Chintala, Gameplay & Accessibility Producer on Forza, aspires to create an inclusive gaming experience for everyone. “We’re trying to do things that no one has ever done before, and we are trying to balance that with all of the other gameplay priorities,” she added.
Players can start exploring the BDA feature in the upcoming Forza Motorsport, planned to be released on Xbox Series X|S consoles, Steam, and Windows PC sometime this year. This creates a positive milestone for the gaming industry, which we hope will continue developing features to assist special needs individuals and allow them to experience the thrill of racing games too.
Buckle up, everyone; next-gen racing games are about to get even more interesting.
