Forza Horizon 4 is a sequel of tasteful innovations and gorgeous seasons

Benjamin Penrose almost gets misty-eyed when he talks about recreating Playground Games' native Britain for Forza Horizon 4. "The Scottish mountains, the Welsh valleys, the English countryside. It's seldom seen in video games, and highly different from the Australia we showed you in the last game," he says, in his wistful art director cadence, in the basement of Microsoft's offsite E3 epicenter. The rally car on screen careens through a sparkling meadow and narrowly dodges a peaceful herd of sheep.

"We came to the conclusion that we couldn't do seasons without Britain, and we couldn't do Britain without seasons. "The demo starts in summer, but quickly gives way to a gorgeous, burnt-orange autumn, with bushels of fallen leaves congregating on the asphalt, under one of those liquid-pink after-school sunsets. Next up is a gentle winter, where we're guided solely by the globby lights emanating from an endless line of stone-hewn cottages. Back to