Forza Horizon 4 is a family-friendly racing game for the Xbox and PC, but it seems not everyone that plays it is friendly themselves, with hundreds of players slamming the online community and ranked play system.
Online multiplayer is one of the greatest features of gaming in the 21st century. With players able to collaborate and play together regardless of where they are located, it is a wonderful feature that has allowed friendships to grow and businesses to become established in the world of esports.
Unfortunately, there are those that abuse online gaming platforms, and that is exactly what has happened here on Forza Horizon 4. The built-in ranked games are designed to show off the best-of-the-best that FH4 has to offer, but some choose to play over-aggressively, with other players blasting them as “toxic.”
Forza Horizon 4’s “Toxic” ranked play matches
In a situation that was first highlighted on Reddit by user u/BabaJuhnJuhn, players in ‘Ranked’ matches are doing everything possible to sabotage the game for others.
In the video that was shared on the online forum site, it is clear to see that the Redditor is being forced off the road and slammed into by their opponent. Unfortunately, it seems that this is far from a rare occurrence, judging by the number of responses in the comments section of the post.
In the 24 hours that the post has been up at the time of writing, over 200 comments have been amassed. The majority of these also appear to be in agreement with the OP, slamming the state of Forza Horizon 4’s “toxic” online culture.
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How to improve Forza Horizon 4 online play
The top comment on the post not only agrees with the OP, but also offers a number of suggestions for how the devs could improve online play for all: “It’s one of the reasons I do the absolute minimum when it comes to ranked events. Nothing worse in a ranked team event when your so-called “teammates” seem to spend the whole time trying to muck it up for their own team.”
“I have also started to notice in the Drag series that people seem to have problems going in a straight line, usually when they realize they aren’t going to win. I so wish there is some way the game developers could penalize these idiots as it is ruining what is a cool concept within the game itself.”
Sadly, a vast majority of comments further the above thoughts, with many saying they no longer play ‘ranked’ matches due to issues with players sabotaging the games for their own gain.
There are also numerous calls to implement compulsory physical damage in matches, or make them strictly non-contact, with a punishment for those that blatantly flout the rules.
Either way, it is clear that this is a big issue within the Forza Horizon 4 online community. Whether we will see Playground Games respond is unclear, but until then, at least this Redditor can rest easy knowing they still beat the would-be saboteur.