Clutch preview: Forza Horizon has its first real open-world racing game competition

Is that Dominic Toretto on the horizon?

Created by Maverick Games, a new studio founded by former Forza Horizon creative director Mike Brown, Clutch takes the Horizon series’ open-world racing and modifies it with cinematic storytelling on par with a Hollywood racing drama. Based on a deep dive I got on the project at Summer Game Fest, along with a little hands-on time, that combination already feels like a winner. It very well might be the most exciting thing that’s happened to the racing genre since Forza Horizon first rolled onto the scene.

The hands-off part of my demo kicked off at the very start of the game. It’s that classic Forza Horizon moment where you race through a few spectacular set pieces, but placed into a pretty brilliant narrative context. I’m introduced to the game’s two protagonists, siblings Theo and Cass, at age 10. After getting into an argument with his mother, Theo takes the car out for a sloppy joyride through London — a quick driving tutorial with a bit of dramatic tension. Flash forward much later, and Theo is in the midst of a high-octane heist in the French Riviera. (Same setting as 2014’s Forza Horizon 2, for the record.) Flash forward again and he’s competing in a street race, and utilizing a grappling hook to take a tight corner. It’s a hell of a start.

The story builds from there with some top-notch cinematics, complete with strong acting from a cast of genuine film stars, like Peter Serafinowicz (Shaun of the Dead, Guardians of the Galaxy). Soon, I’m introduced to the RK, a popular racing league embroiled in a safety crisis after its top star dies in a fiery crash. The head of the league calls for change, threatening to implement automated driving features that could take the heart of the competition away. Everything plays out like an Oscar-season racing drama about drivers fighting for the soul of their craft, while grappling with the realities of how dangerous it is.

I was gripped right away, and I can’t say that many racing games have ever pulled me into a story like that. Theo and Cass feel like complex characters, and there’s a lot of strong worldbuilding right from the jump. For instance, Theo’s disillusionment quickly leads him to the Midnight Collective, a street racing league whose members pride themselves on dirty races.

That’s not just a way to create some intriguing politics within the fictional racing world, but a great way to motivate different kinds of races you need to play. Proper RK races have a cleaned-up feel, like playing a by the books race in a hard driving simulation. Midnight Collective races, on the other hand, are all about style. You earn points by pulling off tricks like drafting and drifting. All the races are also being streamed in-universe, and the on-screen UI features a mock chat that reacts to what’s happening in the race. Sometimes a commenter will ask to see a specific move. If you pull it off, you’ll get some points and earn the stream some subscribers.

The best races, however, aren’t really races at all. Clutch also features heist sequences that turn it into the closest thing we’ve ever gotten to a Fast and Furious game — and I’m including real Fast and Furious games in that list. In one mission, Theo is tasked with stealing a car from a fancy penthouse in the hills of Monaco. After rolling into the building’s parking garage, avoiding a patrolling car in the parking lot by ducking behind the wheel, he breaks in and (gasp) walks around the apartment in third-person. By the time he finds it, the security systems have triggered, so he has no choice but to plow it out of the penthouse and off the patio. It’s a long fall down, but thankfully the car he’s been tasked with stealing has a special mod: a grappling hook. He shoots it into a helicopter and uses it to glide down to a road below. A police chase ensues, culminating in Theo grappling onto an open truck and driving into it. It’s pure Fast Five.

The grappling hook is just one of six tools that players can attach onto their car. It has multiple uses in and out of story missions. Shooting it at the road ahead, for instance, gives you a boost of speed as you drag towards it. It can latch onto anything in the environment and interact with it, adding a totally unique twist to the driving. Players also have access to a skill tree that can upgrade those pieces of tech, making it easier to find the rest.

If you’re a simulation purist, don’t worry. Clutch is still a meat and potatoes racing game that borrows the basics of Forza. You still need to take corners carefully by pumping your brakes. There’s still a guiding line that shows the optimal route and when to slow down. There’s still a rewind function, one that’s styled like a VHS screen. And there’s still a menu full of optional assists for players who need them. It’s clear that the team is respectfully building on Forza’s best ideas while finding room to innovate and get loose. During the demo, Mike Brown told me that it’s one of the reasons he wanted to create something new, as he felt that Xbox had been playing it too safe with Forza Horizon so as not to mess up something that works. This is a much-needed disruption, even if Brown sees it as a friendly rival that can coexist with Forza Horizon.

While the narrative components were the focus of my demo, I haven’t seen the open-world yet. Brown told me that it features plenty of activities to complete, including a minigame where players ferry NPCs around France. (Eat your heart out, Crazy Taxi: World Tour.) Up to 16 players can party up at once, while the entire story campaign can be played in two-player co-op. There’s also a full day-night system, on orchestral score, music playlists, in-universe podcasts, and more. That’s a robust set of features, especially for a new studio’s debut game.

If Clutch can pull everything off, it has the potential to be a trailblazer. Steel sharpens steel, and long-running series like Forza Horizon could use a good sparring partner right about now. — one that lets you grapple off of a goddamn helicopter.

Clutch will be released in 2027 for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.