Forza Horizon 4 Is Likely Coming Out Next Year

It seems that Microsoft isn't slowing things down when it comes to keeping up the momentum of its Forza franchise. It released Forza Horizon 3 last year to critical acclaim, and recently introduced a Hot Wheels expansion that the fans have been loving. And later this year, it'll bring back its traditional Forza Motorsport series for a seventh go-around, with its most effective looking visuals to date.

So what's after that? Well, it seems like Microsoft will once again turn to Horizon to speed things along, as we've received word that the annual series will continue in 2018.

Speaking with GameSpot, Turn 10 Studios software architech Chris Tector confirmed as much, noting, "Now that Forza is between both Motorsport and Horizon, it's an annual title," he proclaimed. "It's really this interesting path that we weave between the two titles and try to keep up with the changes."

And getting the games to achieve the best performance is always a challenge, even with things going smoothly the way they are with Forza Motorsport 7. "We have to look far enough ahead in the future to know what changes are going to come and then try to steer everybody so we're headed in the right direction," he noted. "It's a big job to line up with what hardware changes are coming, what platform changes are going to come in the OS and other bits of software that we use. And how we're going to maximize that to exploit it for each game that we do."

So, not a direct confirmation, but considering that Forza Horizon is selling just as well as the Motorsport series of games (if not better), it'd be ridiculous for Microsoft to stop that particular party now. Besides, with Playground Games (the Horizon developer) pretty much driving evenly with Turn 10, it might as well keep busy, right?

But Microsoft isn't talking Horizon right now, instead focusing all its efforts on the forthcoming Forza Motorsport 7 – and rightfully so, as that's sure to steal the virtual racing crown this year.

Forza Motorsport 7 will release on October 3rd for PC and Xbox One.