{"id":95574,"date":"2026-10-26T00:46:59","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T16:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=95574"},"modified":"2026-10-26T00:46:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T16:46:59","slug":"forza-might-actually-lose-at-the-game-awards-for-the-first-time-in-a-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=95574","title":{"rendered":"Forza Might Actually Lose at The Game Awards for the First Time in a Decade"},"content":{"rendered":"


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If you made a list of the most exciting categories at The Game Awards, Best Sports\/Racing Game would usually come near the bottom (though above the pointless Best Fighting Game, which struggles to fill five nominees every year). Year after year, it is one of the most hidebound and predictable awards, both in its choice of nominees and eventual winner.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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The Sports\/Racing category has a number of almost inviolate rules, which are as follows:<\/p>\n

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  1. \n Racing games win. Sports games don’t: <\/strong>A racing game has won this category nine times out of 12. The only exceptions are Rocket League <\/em>(a viral smash), Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 <\/em>(a remaster of two beloved classics), and EA Sports FC 25<\/em>, which won in a historically weak year for racing games.\n <\/li>\n
  2. \n Forza rules: <\/strong>Of those nine racing wins, Gran Turismo and Crash Team Racing have one each, Mario Kart has two, and the Forza series took the other five \u2014 three wins for Forza Horizon titles, and two for Forza Motorsport. The franchise hasn’t missed a win since 2015, when Forza Motorsport 6<\/em> lost to Rocket League<\/em>.\n <\/li>\n
  3. \n FIFA\/FC, NBA, and F1 will be nominated: <\/strong>EA’s soccer game, whether under the FIFA banner or as EA Sports FC, is nominated every single year, without fail. Codemasters’ F1 series \u2014 a natural for this category, as both a sports and a racing game \u2014 has been nominated seven years in a row. 2K Games’ NBA franchise is a little more fallible, but it still has eight of the possible 12 nominations.\n <\/li>\n
  4. \n Only sports with global appeal need apply: <\/strong>As borne out by the previous rule, sports that only have local appeal in the U.S. are not going to get past The Game Awards’ international jury. Madden and NHL games have never been nominated; neither has EA’s excellent recent revival of College Football. There’s been only one MLB The Show nomination and one for a WWE game. Tennis and skateboarding games have a couple each, while Konami’s dodgy eFootball\/Pro Evolution Soccer series somehow has five nominations to its name.\n <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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    \"Four\n <\/picture>Image: Playground Games\/Xbox Game Studios<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

    All that being the case, it’s easy to predict that the 2026 nominees for Best Sports\/Racing Game will be as follows:<\/p>\n