Despite its shortcomings, Forza Motorsport 7 took home the award for Best Sports/Racing Game at The Game Awards Thursday night, beating out a field of nominees that comprised of both fellow racers and a selection of this year’s best sportsball simulators. The losers included Forza-archrival Gran Turismo Sport, Project Cars 2, NBA 2K18, FIFA 18, and Pro Evolution Soccer 2018.
This also marks the second win in a row for the Microsoft racing franchise with 2016’s Forza Horizon 3 taking home the same trophy last year, and also the fourth time in the show’s four-year history a vehicle-related title has gone home as the Best Sports/Racing Game. Rocket League and Mario Kart 8 were crowned with the distinction in 2015 and 2014, respectively. Must try harder, tennis-game devs.
While the dedicated and opinionated racing enthusiasts among you will no doubt have much to say about whether or not developer Turn 10 deserves its latest accolade, it’s hard to deny FM7‘s mainstream appeal. With one of the largest and most diverse vehicle and track rosters ever digitized, its sleek and PR-friendly graphical prowess, and relatively accessible gameplay beats, the game brings automotive fantasy to the couch-dwelling masses—very successfully so, apparently.
Forza Motorsport 7 is now available on Xbox One.