Microsoft has done away with the Xbox One’s online requirement, and it appears like titles akin to Forza Motorsport 5 are still having to regulate.

In an interview with IGN, Dan Greenawalt, studio head for Forza 5 developer Turn10 Studios says that because of time constraints players could be required to download an afternoon-one patch for the sport that contains tracks, cars, and Drivatars – the game’s data-driven cars that duplicate the driving of real-life Forza 5 players.

“So while you first boot up the sport,” Greenawalt said, “we will ask you to log in. And whilst you log in you’ll get the Drivatars and you’re also going to get lots of of content: tracks and cars. Our production schedule is such that we’re putting them in as late as possible and that implies making them free as downloadable content on day one. [But] this is required content to play the sport.”

Going forward, it feels like a web based connection may be integral to the experience since you will need it to get new and updated Drivatars, which make up your field of AI cars notwithstanding you’re playing an offline, single-player game. “You do ought to connect the sport with a view to get the most recent Drivatars, because we want as many of us training them as possible. And so in preference to having only a launch-day set that was created by us, each day that folks race goes to make the Drivatar set that rather more accurate, that rather more diverse, that rather more interesting.”

Greenawalt didn’t go into specifics of what playing Forza 5 offline except the day-one download would appear like, but he did say the team is “attempting to get as much of [the Drivatars] into the unconnected, offline mode to boot.”

We’ve reached out to Microsoft and Turn10 Studios for more details at the matter, and may update this story if we hear anything.

[Source: IGN]

Our Take
The Drivatar feature – if done well – might be great for online players, but it surely sounds like Forza 5 is having to suddenly comply with Microsoft’s reversal of its online-requirement policy for Xbox One. Drivatars sound so integral to the now-offline single-player mode that we wonder what playing single-player will seem like if you are not connected. In the event that your Drivatars aren’t allowed to adapt since you should not have the newest download, can we be stuck with moronic, swerving drivers? Will Turn10 offer a hard and fast of developer-created AI it is more stable? This also brings up the age-old issue of what you as a client actual own once you buy a disc. Day-one patches are common, but to have it tied to something so fundamental to the sport as Forza 5’s Drivatars, cars, and tracks, may be something different altogether.