Studio adds audio cues to Forza Motorsport that help blind players race like pros

In context: If you haven’t been paying attention, video game makers have spent considerable time adding accessibility features to their new and existing games. Developers have added settings that alter the colors to correct for all three types of color blindness, sensitivity adjustments for those with motor control issues, and easier difficulty levels, to name a few.

In the race for being the most inclusive video game maker in history, Turn 10 Studios has gone where no racing sim developer has gone before. On Thursday, Xbox dropped a video showing how “blind driving assists” help the visually impaired play Forza Motorsport (below).

So much of playing a video game is visual that it’s hard for sighted people to understand how those with little or no vision can have fun playing a racing sim. However, Turn 10’s accessibility consultant Brandon Cole, who has been totally blind from birth, points out a simple fact: All blind people have experienced driving in a car from the passenger seat. Forza just takes the next step and puts them behind the wheel.

The feature adds audio cues that let players know where they are on the track. The first time Cole tried the feature, he was so awe-struck that he could stay on the track that his response was, “Wait. Is it happening? Is this really happening right now?” To which some on the dev team replied, “Yeah. You’re perfect right now. You’re driving.”

Cole admits that there is a learning curve to using the audio cues. Not only do players have to get used to the prompts and know what they mean, but they also have to translate them into inputs on the controller with the right timing. Some cues are voiced, and others are beeps and boops.

Steering alerts are arguably the most clever and intuitive. Instead of a voice saying something like, “Steer left” or “Steer right,” the feature pans the driving noises to the left and right, depending on how far the player drifts off the racing line. Perfectly balanced audio means the player is right on the money.

It sounds somewhat complicated, but it’s not much different than the visual cues that sighted players use to know when to brake, accelerate, turn, and go straight. Either driving method, especially at high speeds, takes hours of practice, resulting in a sighted racer who knows to start braking at, say, a cone or a blind racer who knows to start braking at a beep. The sense of accomplishment at achieving this level of expertise is the same for either driver.

“I can honestly say that I’ve gotten first place in a race against AI opponents, and that felt fantastic,” Cole said.