Forza Motorsport 4 was a fantastic game when it launched back in 2011 but a feature that turned that entry in the hugely popular racing simulator into a worldwide appeal, the introduction of the Top Gear team.
Everyone and their grandad know about Top Gear. I myself have been watching Clarkson, May and Hammond get up to their raucous antics since the show rebooted back in 2002. Before the incident with Clarkson’s fist and a BBC producer, Top Gear was broadcast in 214 countries around the world with a guestimated 350 million viewers per week. Top Gear, was massive.
Obviously, that’s all changed now. Not only was Jeremy Clarkson from the Top Gear crew not included in the 2015 Forza Motorsport 6 but they were replaced by Chris Evans in the disappointing Top Gear Pack DLC for the game which released in April. I have nothing against Chris Evans but some on! Jesus!
There may be hope on the horizon for the famous and infamous trio to return in this year’s most-definitely-going-to-release Forza Motorsport 7 as Clarkson, May and Hammond recently appeared on an Xbox livestream of Forza Horizon 3—actually playing the game—just seemingly for fun. While the three could have just appeared for cross-promotion of The Grand Tour show, the threesome’s obvious partnership with Microsoft and the Forza teams would hopefully lead to their triumphant return in the next Forza game. I want Clarkson instead of the new Top Gear hosts…Matt LeBlanc took over since Chris Evans quit or something? I’m not sure what’s going on there but I want Clarkson.
I think Microsoft and The Grand Tour hosts all realize the love for Clarkson and the gang and will undoubtedly bring back the crew for the next installment of Forza. If you want to watch the full livestream with the three, check the video below.
Lewis is a games journalist, freelance gaming and consumer-tech journalist. They contributed 344 articles to ICXM between 2015–2017, focused on opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news: has since served as Editor-in-Chief at StealthOptional and Gaming Editor at MSPoweruser, with bylines at Gfinity Esports and FRVR.