Xbox Product Manager Chris Bishop told FamilyGamerTV on TUESDAY that the most advanced aspect of Forza Horizon 2 is the atmosphere. For more realistic weather patterns and its effects on vehicles, developer Playground Games has essentially started from scratch. By reducing the atmosphere to empty space they are able to recreate various weather conditions that Bishop says are “mathematically correct based on atmospheric conditions”, and “There are some smart Playground Studios people who probably could be meteorologists.”

Bishop went on to explain some of the new game modes like “Infected”, an arena based playground mode where players must avoid the infected vehicles. Bishop said it reminds him of the MARIOKart days, only with Forza graphics and physics. In Online Road Trip mode, you seamlessly journey across several locations and compete in events at each destination. A WINNER is chosen and the team then votes on the next location.

The bad NEWS for those planning to pick up Forza Horizon 2 for the Xbox 360 is that it is not a direct port. Sumo Digital will take over development for the 360 version which will run on the same engine as 2012’s Forza Horizon while the Xbox One version will use the same engine as 2013’s Forza Motorsport 5. Forza Horizon 2 will be hitting shelves for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One on September 30.