The developers behind the popular open-world racing simulation, Forza Horizon, have consistently strived for authentic environments in their games, having previously recreated locations like Colorado and Australia. This commitment to realism is achieved through in-depth research, where design teams meticulously document real-world settings by capturing thousands of photos, hours of video footage, and even detailed sky scans before embarking on the virtual construction process.
However, recreating Japan presented a unique and formidable challenge that had been on the development team’s radar for several years. Torben Ellert, the design director, noted that while Japan was a recurring aspiration, they initially felt unprepared to tackle the complexity of its virtual representation.
The difficulty extended beyond the sheer diversity of Japan’s landscapes. A significant factor was the highly stylized and often fragmented, yet powerfully ingrained, imagery of Japan that has been presented to gamers for decades through various media. Art director Don Arceta explained that this existing perception creates a specific expectation among players regarding what Japan should be like in a game, emphasizing that “with Japan there’s such an expectation [of] what gamers want – it’s a certain version of Japan that they picture.” This pre-existing mental blueprint, shaped by popular culture like the fictional town of Inaba in Persona 4, the docks of Yokosuka in Shenmue, or Tokyo’s neon-lit Kabukichō in the Yakuza series, made the task of building an authentic yet recognizable virtual Japan even more demanding.