Driving through the iconic red dirt of the Australian outback, I watched intently as my BMW spun up the dust behind it, scattering it unevenly across the screen. Surely, at some point, those pixelated dust clouds suddenly grew in density, or repeated a formation, or even disappeared, but I couldn’t spot those changes. The dust seemed to move as unpredictably as if it were real, individual particles, not purposefully crafted effects, while it slowly coated the back of my car.

I looked for a specific moment where the dust had finally stuck to my car, too - like how a crash used to automatically result in the same scratches and dents in older racing games - expecting to see predictable patterns emerging on the trunk as it accumulated that red dirt. I couldn’t spot that moment, nor could I spot when it all came off. It was gradual, and subtle, and in that, Forza Horizon 3

The same applies to the water droplets that scatter across your windshield while it rains, and the clouds that roll in to signal a change of weather, and the coastal skyscrapers that slowly light up, room by room, as Australia’s Surfer’s Paradise transitions into night time. Those meticulous details surely exist in the console version of the game, too, but in 4K, almost every visual detail of Forza Horizon 3 looks sharp, clear, and consistently engaging. I look forward to drifting my way through the game’s new drift challenges, or flying over one of the new GTA-style jumps that are scattered across the map, or pushing a Supercar to its top-speed on a straight, just to see the difference.

The glimpse of the game that I was able to see was a treat to look at, and that’s made even more appealing by the addition of the new “Drone Mode”. In-game photography has existed in racing games since the early 2000s, and the Forza community has produced some beautiful images already, but the drone mode functions in real-time, in online multiplayer, letting you park your car down by a beautiful beach at Byron Bay and chase your friends through the vineyards at Yarra Valley, all in a drone-like perspective. It’s a game that seems to be begging to be photographed, and Drone Mode, assuming it works the way it’s promised to, paves way for more creative, social ‘Forzatography’, all in 4K.

This wasn’t all an easy treat to put together, though, and Forza Horizon 3 is still over a month away from release. A new era for Forza Motorsport has begun, with Forza Motorsport 6: Apex heralding the franchise’s expansion into PC, on Windows 10. Apex has combined the power and performance of DirectX 12 with Playground Games's and Turn 10’s racing game experience, and in turn, paved the way for Forza Horizon 3 to exist on PC. That isn’t anywhere as easy as it might sound, and requires a whole lot of bizarre testing - like finding some truly awfully built PCs, and seeing how the game runs on the lowest, least recommended settings.

The result is shaping up to be something that’s so satisfying to look at that driving across the expansive map of Australia, and experiencing environmental density far beyond previous games in the Forza series, might be worth trying the game out for by itself. Congratulations, PC players, it looks like you’ve got yourself one beautiful introduction to a great series of racers.

Alanah Pearce is an editor at IGN, and she had a whole lot of fun customizing ridiculous track toys in Forza Horizon 2, as seen on her YouTube channel . You can also find her on Twitter at @Charalanahzard