Turn 10 studios the developers of the well received Forza Motorsport series of games have allowed gamers and motor-heads to experience some of the best pieces of metal and cylinders on some of the finest of the race tracks, the latest being Forza 4.

Now the Forza franchise is heading in a new direction. Forza Horizon, was officially announced at the E3 convention in Los Angeles. Developed together with Britain's Playground Games, known for producing games like GRID and DiRT, Forza Horizon heads into Need For Speed turf.

Turn 10 Studios describes the Horizon as an action racing game. "Action racing is all about pick-up-and-play fun. This game has been designed so that if you love driving cars fast, if you love smashing through stuff, weaving in and out of traffic, you're going to be able to jump right in and have fun straight away,"says the developers.

"What Horizon brings to the genre is authenticity, that's what Forza stands for. In the past there's been a problem with open road driving games in that they can feel a little arcadey. The problem with arcadey games is that the cars all start to feel the same. That doesn't work for Forza. In Forza the car is the star."

The Horizon Festival

The main part of Forza Horizon is the Horizon Festival. Its basically a Sims: Auto Fetstival DLC together with Facebook so to speak - A virtual place for car enthusiasts to gather. A mecca for car lovers.

Besides hanging out with your car enthusiast buddies, you can race in festival competitions to further your careers, with events becoming more and more difficult. Just like in Forza Motorsports, any races can be done in individual mode or in online multiplayer mode.

From the track to the open road

For the most part, Forza Motorsport is on the racetrack. In Forza Horizon, you get to the open road. For inspiration the developers turned to the mountain roads of Colorado where they spent four months taking photos and videos to create the virtual world of Horizon, which has been polished to make sure that it's a fun driving experience wherever you go. Also for the first time players can drive off-road, among 65 other surface types in the game.

Getting excited already? What if I mentioned you can also race at night, and AI traffic will be present on the open roadways, with some yet-to be announced special races as well.

Looks like Forza is extremely inspired by the NFS Blockbuster, the Hot Pursuit which was developed by Criterion games, the guys who did Burnout.

Kinect will also play a part for the voice-activated GPS system. Developers found the game's roads to be so expansive that the GPS system will direct players where to go and guide them to their next race or mission.

The cars

The full Forza Horizon car list won't be announced until later this summer, but the teaser gives us a bleak idea. The new 2013 SRT Viper will definitely be included, well it is featured on the cover art.

So essentially what they are developing is the lovechild of Forza/Grand Turismo and Brunout/Need For Speed. Actually, what Turn 10 is really developing is an alternative to NFS:Shift and NFS: Shift Unleashed.

I'm a bit of a gamer, and I've tried all the games mentioned here, and being a motornut, I cannot wait for the Forza Horizon. Forza Horizon will be on sale October 23rd.