Forza Motorsport’s adding the Nordschleife to its track roster in February. All 20.8km of it

To some, it’s the ultimate test in motorsport. To others it’s a torture device that stopped them getting their S-license in Gran Turismo 4. Either way, the 20.8km Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit is coming to Forza Motorsport.

Arriving in February as part of Update 5, it’s free to all players. That means you can have a crack at beating the all-time lap record at the real track, a 6m 35.183s set in 2022 by Mercedes’ riotous AMG One. Er, good luck.

There’s a sneak peek at the track in developer Turn 10’s latest Forza Monthly video newsletter, and TG can confirm that all the virtual graffiti looks like it’s where it should be and the sweat-inducing undulations look very much present and correct.

Series fans will recall that 2017’s Forza Motorsport 7 featured the circuit. In fact it’s been a staple of the series, turning up on day one in nearly every release. So what’s taken this long to bring it into the latest game? In short, because Turn 10 completely rebuilt it, aiming to make the most accurate videogame version of the track ever.

"We know how important the iconic Nürburgring GP and Nordschleife are to the Forza community,” Turn 10’s Dan Greenawalt told The Drive back in August 2023. “Especially in modes such as Rivals and Time Attack.

"In addition to both being completely rebuilt for Forza Motorsport, we focused on the Nürburgring GP circuit because of how well it fits into the vision we had for the Builder’s Cup career mode as well as Featured Multiplayer. Both of these modes focus on shorter sprint races as well as pitting and qualifying in the case of Featured MP or practice in the case of Builder’s Cup."