Forza Motorsport is doing the rounds for previews this week, and something very interesting and exciting happened. A blind racer played the game with its built in blind assists, and ended up actually winning a race.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, a game Youtuber named Steve Saylor tried out the game’s Blind Drive Assist. Steve has nystagmus, a condition that leads to repetitive, involuntary eye movement. As a result, he has been deemed legally blind.
Blind Drive Assist helps blind players like Steve by giving them audio cues. This, combined with the default audio cues provided in game, theoretically help even things out between him and other players.
Now, we have to remember that Forza Motorsport is not a pick-up-and-play style arcade racer. As a more serious racing sim, it endeavors to create a realistic simulation of each car and track in the game. That means each engine has a distinct sound, and so does the sound of rubber on each track.
Most players take these cues in alongside the visuals to play racing sims better. Some players add an extra advantage for themselves by using force feedback enabled racing wheels, giving them even more feedback to work with.
Steve didn’t say if he used a controller or a racing wheel himself, but it seems that this experience would be fascinating for both. Some of the Blind Drive Assist cues are straightforward – there’s an assist that tells you when a left or right turn is coming, and how much you should turn. That’s just like the co-driver gamers already have in rally racing.
Other audio cues tell you if you’re pivoting away from the track, if you’re being signaled to start the race, and so forth. These cues were clearly well thought out, covering practically every aspect of a race that requires replacing visual attentiveness with cues.
Steve’s first race ended with him at 17th place, and then a second race at 4th place, and finally, a race where he actually won. But it wasn’t easy at all, as he had to learn the intricacies of the Blind Drive Assist system.
Not only that, but even after getting acclimated to the system, Steve had to make customizations to everything. That included lowering the volume of his engine’s noise so he could hear the cues better.
In the end, after mastering the Blind Drive Assist system, Steve still had to earn his racing victories, and that’s exactly what he did. Much like BlindWarrior Sven impressed EVO attendees with several wins in the Street Fighter 6 tournament while wearing a blindfold, Steve had to jump just a few more hoops to win in Forza Motorsport, but he was ready to put in the work for it. And that’s what Forza Motorsport’s Blind Drive Assist system is for.
Forza Motorsport will be releasing on October 10, 2023, on Xbox Series X|S and Windows via Steam. It will also be Day One on Game Pass. You can watch Steve Saylor’s video below.
