Forza Motorsport Wins Two Classes at The Sport Awards, However Gran Turismo Misses Out
Forza Motorsport won two trophies at The Game Awards 2023, for Innovation in Accessibility and Best Sports/Racing Game, although the Gran Turismo series was nominated in both categories.
Another Forza game has won the Innovation in Accessibility award, with Forza Horizon 5 already receiving the honor – and Forza has now won two trophies in the four years since the category was launched.
In terms of accessibility, the series has always done well, with a plethora of options for gamers with vision impairments like as subtitles, color blindness filters, font size, and screen reading/audio description.
Forza Motorsport added a Blind Driving Assist feature, allowing players with total vision loss to race — a first for racing games — though sign language support hasn’t made the jump from Forza Horizon 5, which supports both American (ASL) and British (BSL).
Katrin Hilman, accessibility development lead at Turn 10, accepted the prize from co-host Sydnee Goodman and said, “I think we’ve made the most accessible racing game ever, playable by people across the mobility and vision spectrum.”
Neha Chintala, Forza Motorsport’s gameplay and accessibility producer, praised the game’s audio and UI teams, as well as accessibility consultant Brandon Cole, saying, “We’re really proud of the work we’ve been able to do.”
Forza Motorsport also won Best Sports/Racing Game, a sixth award for a Forza game, beating F1 23, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 Turbocharged, The Crew Motorfest, and soccer title EA Sports FC 24; one of these things is not like the others…
This award was announced in an odd 18-second flurry, as co-host Geoff Keighley appeared to be speed-running through categories that didn’t contain noir RPGs or the possibility of perplexed celebrity visitors in between new game trailers. Gonzo the Muppet and Camilla the Chicken gained two extra minutes of screen time…
Gran Turismo had a less successful night, as it was nominated in two categories but lost both.
Gran Turismo 7, 2022’s Best Sports/Racing Game title, was nominated in the Best VR/AR category, but finished second to fellow PS VR2 title Resident Evil Village VR Mode. Meanwhile, the Gran Turismo film was defeated in the Best Adaptation category by PlayStation Productions stablemate The Last of Us.
Baldur’s Gate 3 was the big winner of the night, taking home six prizes in total, including Game of the Year.
The Game Awards category nominations are chosen by a panel of 100 gaming media and influencer sources from across the world, with winners determined by a combination of a small jury board and public voting – weighted 90:10 in favor of the jury.
