This week we’re tackling the winter chill in Forza Horizon 4, bringing you another update on the #TeamAkane project, and celebrating some of the amazing accomplishments by members of the Forza community. Let’s go!

Forza Horizon 4 | Winter

Winter has returned in Forza Horizon 4 and that means slick roads and dangerous driving conditions. In other words: FUN. After all, a little ice and snow never stopped Forza Horizon 4 players from enjoying themselves in the vehicle of their choice. There’s lots to love about wintertime in Forza Horizon 4 and, between new events on both the mainland and Fortune Island, there’s lots to do too. For the full rundown of events, check out our Season Update story posted yesterday on the site.

This week we released two small updates for Forza Horizon 4. These updates were for minor edits to four Horizon playlist songs, among other changes. For the full list of updates, check out the Release Notes (Feb. 25, Feb. 27) on the Forza Support site.

Forza Motorsport 7 Leagues, Hoppers, & Rivals

Series 2 of our “Slushbox Slip” League season begins this weekend:

EVENT 01 – Ghost – Forza P2 Division

EVENT 02 – Simulation – Early Sport Luxury Division

EVENT 03 – Spec Sim -- 2017 Formula E #33 Techeetah Z.E. 16

EVENT 04 – Class – R Class Vehicles

New hoppers have arrived today as well:

Ghost – Early Sport Touring

Cosmetic – GT Racing Reborn

Simulation – Showroom Rally

Virus Tag – S Class

Keep the It – B Class

Pass the It – B Class

Finally, here’s the March crop of Rivals events coming to the game starting today:

All Fired Up (VIP event) – Get a classic 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am in the garage and watch it rise from the ashes and rust. Track: Sebring Full Circuit

Batty Bull -- Driving a 2010 Lamborghini Murcielago 670-4 SV is like fighting a bull. There's danger, elegance, and lots of excitement. Do you dare to challenge the bull? Track: Maple Valley Full Circuit

March Competition Settings -- Prepare for future competitions by training with competition restrictions. Race with the following assists set to OFF: Suggested Line, ABS, STM, TCS, and Friction Assist. Automatic shifting is allowed. Track: Road America Full

Forza weekly photo contest winner by QuickSloth10237.

#TeamAkane Update

Earlier today, on Verena Mei’s #HeyWatchThis livestream on the Forza channel, viewers got to see a tribute to Akane Beardow – daughter of fifteen52 founder Brad Beardow. As I mentioned in last week’s edition of the Week in Review, Akane was recently diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and is currently undergoing treatment.

It’s an understatement to say that the Forza community has come up huge in support of Akane and her family; especially the PTG community, who created an astounding tribute video that the team put together in support of Akane. The video aired on Verena’s show earlier today (be sure and watch the replay if you missed it the first time around) and features incredible video work and an astounding set of liveries created by the talented PTG artists, all dedicated to Akane and her ongoing battle.

Thanks to each livery designer, tuner, photographer, and creator who contributed to this project; many of those liveries and tunes are available for download in Forza Horizon 4. Grab your favorite and show your support for #TeamAkane the next time you’re playing. Here’s the full list of creators who contributed to the project:

Roster Twitter Xbox Gamertag Role Car AMR the Hulk @jgoodmanartist AMR THE HULK painter 2012 Porsche 911 Brokenvegetable @Brokenvegetable Brokenvegetable painter/photographer 1977 Gym 10 Hoonitruck :: 2014 Ford Fiesta ST :: 1991 Hoonigan RWB 911 Fireprofcargo7 @fireprofcargo Fireprofcargo7 painter 2015 Gym 8 Hoonigan Fiesta ST RX43 IceRabbitDesign @mesasphere IceRabbitDesign painter 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS Koshiro @MNKoshiro MN Koshiro painter 2016 Gym 9 Hoonigan Focus RS RX PTG ConnerSpeed @ConnerSpeed6 PTG ConnerSpeed YouTuber All PTG Coops @StylerDesign PTG Coops painter 1977 Gym 10 Hoonitruck PTG Dee Jay @PTG_DEE_JAY PTG DEE JAY painter 2015 Gym 8 Hoonigan Fiesta ST RX43 PTG Fox @For_Fox_Ache PTG FOX painter 1995 Porsche 911 GT2 PTG Jamie @PTG_Jamie PTG Jamie tuner 1965 Hoonicorn Mustang v1 PTG Phil @ptg_phil PTG Phil painter 2017 Ford Focus RS PTG Stuzib85 @stuzib85 PTG Stuzib85 painter 1992 Hoonigan RX-7 Twerkstallion PTG Wildcat @PTG_Wildcat PTG Wildcat painter 1982 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.3 :: 1965 Hoonicorn Mustang v1 Scholesy (YMTV) @Scholesy46 ScholesySlash46 painter 2015 Gym 8 Hoonigan Fiesta ST RX43

A small selection of some of these amazing liveries:

Team Akane liveries by PTG Phil, AMR the HULK, MN Koshiro, and PTG Wildcat.

Community Racing Updates

Forza drivers – including some familiar Forza Racing Championship names -- have been out and about of late in competitions throughout the racing community. Congratulations to the Forza community’s own Raceboy77 for his win at the WorldGaming Pfaff Forza 7 Canadian Challenge, which was held in Toronto this past Saturday.

Congratulations also go out to the latest qualifiers of the American Sebring Round of the ongoing Le Mans Esports Series:

American EMEA Asia Sauber ZooM JOTA Commando JSR AziDhk TX3 Billysoo bbbb0x Nee Vanquish G2 Laige AytronGoki Veloce ForceOne Rich92F1 LSEM The Butler FRF Prodigy Aerox Bowkett JSR Craviator Igorduti Williams RR ADD JHickson Eternitum Williams Mitch THR Flex REVZ9339 LZR Racerz ADD Rocky LSEM Zero Williams Seven kamikazi110 Harmonic Vitality ASIX LSEM SirLagALot

Tune in for the next round of live Le Mans racing action on March 3 over at the Le Mans eSports Series Twitch channel beginning at 10 a.m. UTC.

Don Joewon Song’s ‘Project Arcade’

Have you ever wondered what Forza Horizon 4 would look like as a quarter-eating Arcade game? Or perhaps the better question is: What if Forza community creator Don Joewon Song created his own game? DJS took the question to its extreme with his latest video creation dubbed “Project Arcade.” Without giving too much away, DJS combines some skilled graphics work with his patented mix of incredible driving to create this fictional arcade Horizon game. As always with his work, this latest project needs to be seen to be believed:

#ForzaFriday & More – March 8

If you love the Forza channel on Mixer and Twitch, make sure you’re locked in one week from today, on Friday, March 8. There’s a full lineup of streaming on the way, starting off with off with the latest update from Playground Games HQ which kicks off at 10 a.m. Pacific, featuring details on the upcoming Series 7 update for Forza Horizon 4. That will be followed by the March edition of Forza Monthly, which will feature guests from both Playground Games and Turn 10, including Forza creative director Dan Greenawalt. We’ll also be welcoming Formula Drift driver Chelsea DeNofa to the show to talk about some of the cool stuff we’ll have going on in March.

After Forza Monthly is wrapped, stay tuned for Verena Mei’s #HeyWatchThis which will be starting at 1 p.m. Pacific, followed by #ForzaFriday which will begin at its regular scheduled time of 3 p.m. Pacific. It’s going to be a jam-packed day of Forza news and fun so don’t miss it!

On today’s edition of #ForzaFriday we’ll be welcoming Turn 10’s Matt Collins to the show to talk about his role with Forza, as well as work his team has done in recent updates for Forza 7, including the new paint space lighting options that were part of the February update. Matt’s one of the most entertaining people around so come for the interesting Forza tidbits, and stay for the laughs. It all begins at 3 p.m. Pacific – see you then!

I’ll leave you with our streaming calendar for next week. See you then: