Microsoft's Project xCloud Shown in Action with Forza Horizon 4 Streamed to a Smartphone

Today,  during the latest episode of Inside Xbox, Microsoft showcased the upcoming Project xCloud in action.

[SpaceRanger]

Some minor latency but it looks good 👍🏼 I’d imagine it being an E3 launch.

Edit: Meant to say, full E3 announcement with launch dates and more gameplay.

[Atom666]

I couldn't figure out if it was latency or she's just really awkward...Why is she tapping the accelerator?

[Abriael]

talking in camera and playing a game on a smartphone screen ain't exactly the easiest thing of the world.

[Jin_Sakai]

“I couldn't figure out if it was latency or she's just really awkward...Why is she tapping the accelerator?”

Because it’s fake and she’s trying her best to mimic what’s happening on screen.

[Atom666]

@Abriael

Just holding in the accelerator seems like an easier route, but maybe you're right.

@jin

Nah. Unless she is a master faker. Look at when she hits the gas and the speed. That's pretty impressive for a fake.

[Nitrowolf2]

@Abrial

She’s not really talking directly into a camera though, I mean the majority of the video she’s looking at the screen.

Knowing that MS probably won’t f this up since it’s just streaming a game, but this demonstration looks hella fake

At the same time the gameplay looks bad enough that it could be her

[AnthonyDavis]

With over 100ms of input lag. I will stick to my traditional local box.

And lol have you not see non-gamers play games. That’s what they do is tap buttons.

[rainslacker]

Because this is fake as all hell. Just look how many times she taps left on steering, and the car doesn't do anything at all. Never once shows her applying the breaks, and yet, outside of constantly driving off the right side of the road, barely ever turns right on the controller, and when she does push left or right, the car never reacts like you'd see in the game itself. There are times where she will push hard to the left, and the car just makes a slight few degree change in direction. Anyone that's played these games knows that doing this on a straight road, knows it will cause the car to go out of control.

If anyone has ever played a racing game, the cars don't just coast at high speeds indefinitely. Tapping the accelerator does not cause the car to drive at a relatively even rate, and the cars in the game react like normal cars when you do the same thing, and do that things where the front raises up when you accelerate, and goes down when you remove the force causing acceleration. Even crappy driving games get that basic principal of physics and inertia right nowadays, and Forza isn't a crappy driving game. To drive at a relatively even rate, you vary the accelerator gradually, or just coast, not constantly press and release it. Pressing the accelerator during when you have the wheel turned, or pressing it over and over again like that, would again, cause the car to spin wildly out of control. Go try it in the game, or real life if you're so bold and on an empty road, and it's pretty obvious.

Oh, and then there is that matter of you can't just display graphics that crisp from another device using another camera. Even in the digital age, the "Images are all simulated" is still a thing, and the quality of the image alone makes this obvious. It could be added in off her actual game play, but it's obviously not her playing the game, because her drive was too smooth for someone who apparently doesn't play many driving games, and generally wasn't paying that much attention to what she was doing.

[darthv72]

My daughter plays racing games the same way. Tapping the trigger and you can see the accelerator gauge reacting to the presses.

Does not look fake, she just sucks at forza.

[PoSTedUP]

@rainslacker. its either fake or the game has a mind of its own. OR the latency is so bad like a full second and a half. but i doubt it.

@darth. cmon man it looks like a horrible attempt to mimic whats going on on screen, she puts hard long inputs in with no response from the game. we've all seen this before we werent born yesterday...

[DaveZero]

custom gears lol

[Atom666]

@rain

Based on that comment, it sounds like you haven't played the game before. It's controlling like Horizon, which is what makes it frustrating and an awful game to use to determine latency.

Tapping the sticks is only going to result in small wheel movements, which won't immediately result in sharp corrections or spinning out. What game have you been playing?

Tapping the accelerator will also result in maintaining a moderate speed. You can see it reacting accordingly, but because of its control, you can't really see latency.

It's got analog acceleration, so I don't get why she's not just lightly applying the gas. Maybe she's bad or nervous, or maybe she's faking it very well.

If it's going to be at GDC, then we'll hopefully get hands on reports soon. I'm concerned with latency in more action-oriented games.

[itsmebryan]

I don't think the demo is fake. But for sure the hate is real.

[rainslacker]

I have played FH, and steady pressing at various pressures is how it's played. If you can tap it like that, and it does play like it's shown on the screen then I wasn't aware of that, because I never once even attempted to try that. I'd have the accelerator pretty much down the whole time on the relatively straight road she was on, and then let up on the accelerator to either slow down to coast, before accelerating out of the turn, or apply the brake to slow down if need be. She did none of this, and if what you say is true, then where is all this talk about how accurate the driving physics are, because in no way is that how a real car behaves.

And a bunch of quick jerks on the steering wheel does slight turning? Really? I jerk the wheel like that and my car loosing control. That has been how most driving games have been since the PS1 days.

Analog acceleration, braking, and steering all mean that you can have various levels of pressure on those components to mimic real life. That's how the game is set up. Just like when you're driving a real car, if you want to coast at a certain speed, you keep the pedal at a relatively stationary position within it's travel length, and pressing all the way down is opening the throttle all the way. With steering, jerking the wheel repeatedly to one side causes the car to jerk to the side, and that's my experience with Forza, and every other racing game of recent times. Just like in a real car, steady softer steering gives a better response, and half the time she pressed the analog, nothing happened on screen. Lag doesn't account for all of it, unless we're talking several seconds of lag.

When I get home tonight, and time permitting, I'll try to play the game the way she does and see if I get similar results. But I'm still thinking this is a staged video, and MS has already had a few staged videos this gen, so I don't know why anyone would give them the benefit of the doubt.

There are other things in the video which show it as fake, but if you guys want to talk up streaming based on this video be my guest. This looked more like a TV show where you have people trying to mimic playing a game, which is fine for those who don't play games, but when we as gamers watch it, we're like, "Yeah, OK, who plays games like that?".

[darthv72]

But here is the thing rain... the driving being shown was not 'for show' quality driving. It was crappy driving hence it was very real since the person playing does not know how to play the game.

Generally a "staged" demo is scripted and somewhat precise. This was none of that. She really does suck at this game and her button presses were accurate.

[Atom666]

Lol, come on, rain.They're not jerks, she's just flicking the sticks, which is typical. You're the one talking authoritatively about it to downplay whether it works. Of course it's going to work, but the question is how well it does it.

Maybe it's fake, but I was literary playing last night and most of what you wrote is wrong.

[RacerX]

Well once this gets figured out, no one will ever actually be "working" at work ever again, LOL

[RacerX]

She's obviously driving very slow in the game... Tapping the accelerator because she's obviously not a game, so keep the speeds slow.

[andibandit]

@rain

Never really played forza, but I imagine they turned on all driving aids for her, which might counter one or two of your 400 theories

[Italiano1234567]

Because i dont think she was playing and if she really was there was major input lag.

[rainslacker]

She's flicking the stick repeatedly to the left. All the way most of the time. All while also repeatedly pressing the accelerator. What game are you playing where performing such an action doesn't cause your car to go out of control at high speeds? That is how cars lose control out of turns, because you press the accelerator at the wrong time, and jerk the wheel to one side or the other. It's not how you drive at high speeds, and at no time in FH were the physics so bad that such actions would result in barely moving in the direction of the steering, or never losing control of the car.

I see people say how good the driving physics are in this game, and I agree with them, but the game responds like you'd expect from the controls, which is when you jerk the wheel like she is, because she certainly isn't doing smooth adjustments to the wheel, and you press the accelerator while doing so, the car loses control. The amount she's pressing to the left also would cause the car to move more than one or two degree in that direction, or in some cases not show any reaction at all, because again, it's not a smooth move to the left, but an actual sharp turn of the wheel the way she's doing it. In FH, and other racing games, that's akin to jerking the steering wheel suddenly.

You guys keep asking what game I'm playing, I'm wondering why you're trying to say this game plays in no way like it does, because what we see here is no way indicative of a realistic racing sim of modern times. Hell, they haven't been like that since the advent of analog controllers.

I don't play the game like this. I use various pressures on the bumpers to control my speed. I use brakes when necessary. I use smooth movements of the wheel for the movements she's attempting. If you can indeed use the techniques here, then this must be a pretty casual game to play for a lot of people, and I'm surprised that so many of you would claim to play it this way, or that's how you do it, because most of you act say you're pretty hardcore and demand lots of realism from your racing games, but if you can do this, then it's not realism.

@Andi

Maybe that's the case. I hadn't considered that. But it would mean that several rather stalwart fans of Forza here who often claim how realistic it is, also use those same aids. Been a while since I looked at those, but aren't they only ABS and TCS? Maybe manual shifting with a clutch, but can't remember if that's a thing in the game. I can't see how that would affect the acceleration, but maybe it could prevent losing control, although neither of those settings should really be represented in what she was doing here.

[VariantAEC]

@rainslacker
Agreed I actually own this game on PC and while I use the Xbox 360 gamepad to play I can't imagine the Xbox One pad being so insensitive to touch. Small but jarring manipulation of the left stick would surely cause her to move considerably in the chosen direction. Yet she stays straight... there was a point where it looks like she was going down the same exact bit of road at the halfway through the video. She was periodically tapping the acceleration... But the car was ALMOST constantly accelerating!
Again unless there are some odd accessibility options exclusive to the Xbox One version over PC or the Xbox One gamepad is garbage or both then this looks really fake to me.

[Jin_Sakai]

Her trigger finger on the trigger doesn’t match the accelerometer on the car at all. Reminds me of the fake Star Wars demo.

https://m.imgur.com/gallery...

[Atom666]

Lol. Yes it does. Why the hate?

[travestyj]

Yeah doesnt seem like she's playing at all or there is major latency. Pick one.

[TK-66]

You can see the accelerator and speed increase matching so I'm not sure how you're seeing this as fake. Even then theres going to be some latency due to it being streamed and it looks more reliable than previous services I've used so we'll see how it stacks up when its out but I don't have high expectations.

[travestyj]

No it isn't and you can see when she uses the joystick nothing happens. If it is actually playing on the phone then the latency is awful and PSNow is much better.

[RacerX]

All I see is the normal PS4 guys down voting this as much as possible... It's a cool feature no matter what your preferred console is.

[gravedigger]

What a latency. Especially a 0:17 sec.

[Sly05]

Yeah Google and MS are going to own this space.

[SpaceRanger]

This space is already owned.

https://m.ign.com/articles/...

[jukins]

Streaming is really anyone's game. Google Microsoft and Amazon all own there own data centers and tech Sony has tech but not data center capacity of the the others that said none of those companies would turn sony away should they need additional servers

[CaptainCook]

@SpaceRanger that's because PlayStation Now had a 2+ years headstart

[NarutoFox]

Something looks off when she's playing it. That control input?

[LordoftheCritics]

It's fake.

She taps left 4 times while car barely moves left.

[Spurg]

One question that she could have asked was if the games would run at their native resolution.
The quality looks great though.

[djl3485]

They would run at native resolution if your network can handle it.

[sinspirit]

That depends. It costs a lot more resources to stream 1080p over 720p, and 720p is perfectly fine for streaming to a phone. Until we hear clarification, it's safer to assume the lower setting.

[rainslacker]

She asked the questions MS paid her to ask.

[lxeasy]

This looks amazing

[Razzer]

LOL

[RacerX]

You wouldn't want to play your PS4 games while sitting at an airport or something like that?

[Razzer]

Sure......if it worked. But in no way did that look "amazing".

[averagejoe26]

@racerX

You have been able to do this on ps4 for years with remote play.

[Sonyslave3]

shet look fake idk why her control input not matching what going on the screen.

[Eonjay]

I'm not sure if it's fake or just supreme latency. I'm gonna go with latency because I would like to think that after Crackdown 3 they learned their lesson.

[SegaGamer]

I don't know what I would prefer, fake or latency. If it's fake, then it makes me wonder what it is they have to hide and if it's latency, then that is terrible. There is no chance I would even bother with this if that is a latency issue.

[RememberThe357]

Yeah I'm gonna wait til real gamers get their hands on it. The video just oozes fakeness.

[DaDrunkenJester]

If you watch her finger presses it matches with her acceleration as well as her brakes matching the break lights.

[Razzer]

That does not look responsive at all. And that is on a Wifi connection.

[SamPao]

fake as fk

[gangsta_red]

If you like to play on a mobile phone....I guess....

[ArchangelMike]

^^Exactly this. Why did I get my 42" if I'm going to end up gaming on my smartphone?

[jukins]

It's just for those times when you're away from that 42". Some people commute on trains buses etc and have plenty of dead time or someone else is using the TV. Lots of different unique circumstances where it's useful.

[gangsta_red]

I can see somewhat of a benefit if you're maybe on vacation somewhere with some down time...maybe...but I have a samsung S9, nice size screen and all but I can't see myself playing console games on it .

[timotim]

When you can take your 42" TV with you on the bus/train, school, work, coffee shop...heck, while walking down the street...be sure to let us all know how you pulled that off. I mean, the Nintendo Switch is all about being able to take it with you where ever you go and continue playing it...why would that different here...

[sinspirit]

@jukins

Do trains, like the "London underground" have wifi yet? I feel like there would be tons of deadzones, and certainly if it is an underground subway. Not to mention how many others might also use wifi if that transportation did have it. Planes charge for wifi access and it's normally pretty slow and costly. I don't think their examples of using streaming work well anytime soon. It should be like if you're on vacation or traveling for work and can't bring your whole set up. Honestly, I don't see why anyone would choose it over the other options that have more games and currently work.

[rpgenius420]

Yeah you should've went 65 or bigger you weenie lol

[Sirk7x]

Because in six years or so there will be cheap, affordable laptops where they're basically full streaming devices, and the Windows OS, storage and other services (XCloud, Gamepass, Spotify, Netflix, etc) will all be part of a subscription, compatible with 5G networks. Like Virtual Reality, this is new technology in its baby steps. Whenever you see new things like this, imagine where it will be in 15-20 years. Probably connected to smart glasses you can wear that overlay AR, can switch in VR, anything you can imagine. The possibilities are incredible. These huge companies wouldn't be investing billions of dollars into this stuff if they didn't think it was going to pay out in the future.

[rainslacker]

Streaming works. It's been proven to work. But yeah, mobile phones, and that set up they have, seems like something that's not going to be all that popular in the bigger picture. I think if someone really cares enough to have a set up like that, and carry around with them, then they're probably more prone to just buying a portable device. OTOH, they will have on screen inputs I suppose, and that's a more likely scenario.

This demo seemed faked though.

I just got my S9 this week. nice phone, but extremely slippery and Bixby can suck it. nice screen though, and it's pretty snappy, compared to my 5 year old $99 pre-paid phone I brought from Wal-Mart.

[hanko14]

why is it lagging?

[CaptainCook]

Because it's prerecorded. She wasn't actually playing it

[timotim]

If it were pre recorded as you say...why would they purposefully add lag to a video??? 🤔🤨 some of you guys don't think before posting...

[thexmanone]

You have a link, Because you seem too have the facts.

[SamPao]

@timotim its her mind and hands that are lagging, somehow you did not think before posting

[ILostMyMind]

Because... streaming.

[81BX]

She is hott. Also its laggy AF

[SkippyPaccino]

Wow! This ain't ready for prime time...

[thexmanone]

They know that, he said it in the video

[staticall]

Microsoft and Power of the Cloud™ again, huh? Wonder what's gonna happen this time.

[mark_parch]

I think this is really impressive but after the whole cloud destruction thing I will wait till it's actually out in the wild for people to try before passing judgement.

[Sirk7x]

Same thing that's going to happen with Google and Amazon. They're going to invest heavily into the technology, people are going to use it, and it's going to change business models across the world. Lots of people denied digital distribution in the recent past, and still do, but look at how well it's done.

[djl3485]

I will get Xbox Pass if this comes to Switch.

[Sophisticated_Chap]

Wow, was she ever annoying or what? Get a real gamer on camera for Pete's sake!

[william_cade]

gotta sell that streaming service

[thexmanone]

Just like Sony with PSNOW, Thats how they make money

[jairusmonillas]

Wow that latency is horrible.

[Xaevi]

If it were laggy wouldn't the image blurr? Cause when remote play is lagging out it looks super pixelated on my VITA screen. Looks fake tbh, which wouldn't be surprising as MS has faked demos in the past

[PoSTedUP]

probably to keep their investors happy. they want exposure of it now, even though it isnt ready. its just a glimpse of whats to come. we all know its coming.

[StormSnooper]

I thought they already have this on PlayStation. They’re just not making a big deal out of it.

[rainslacker]

Lag and bandwidth aren't the same thing. They probably did this over local networks, and they probably didn't have a crappy network set up, so bandwidth wouldn't be an issue. Granted, the camera images of the screen aren't what you see when you record a video screen, so it's more likely simulated for the video. That said, MS service, like most streaming services, will downgrade the video if the bandwidth drops. Lag is going to happen no matter what, even on the best connections, so it's more about minimizing it's occurrences, which is not always controllable by the streaming service, or making it so there are redundancies so it's not as perceptible....something MS claims to be working on.

[RaptgamersUnited]

London Underground...Right With No Reception?... Nice one

[FanboySpotter]

I bet that when we get to try this out - the same people calling it fake won't try it and still believe it's fake or worse than google's streaming

[Sirk7x]

Project Stream worked incredibly well. It was pretty amazing.

[rainslacker]

And I bet the same people who said it was going to work great without a single shred of proof beyond MS word, will say it works great. What's your point?

It's a steaming service. We're all aware of what limitations that can bring, and for some people, it's not going to be a good experience.

[shaenoide]

Fake like the star wars kinect

[sprinterboy]

I used my xperia z2 with a holding adapter for my ps4 about 3 years and I tried driveclub, trust me small phone screens do work well with racers.
My latancy was relatively low but the speed to small screen ratio is too hard, platform games, indie games etc are more suited to small screens I even tried arkam and that didn't feel great either.
Tbh I think phone streaming is gonna be shite but tablets and laptops plus TV streaming will be OK.

[lazyboyblue]

So I don't really need whatever box they sell next time, just my tablet or smartphone? I guess the next box now moves to being a luxury item instead of essential. This means less cash lay out buying into next gen - just a ps5.
Nice one Microsoft.

[ILostMyMind]

XBO is already irrelevant now.

[ILostMyMind]

@fyiir23
I'm leaving a comment because I want to and I can. I do not need your permission.

Does this comment have your approval?

[rainslacker]

You don't need the console to leave a comment either. So, Xbox is irrelevant to the participation in forums as well.

[agent4532]

Hopefully better than PlayStation Now

[thexmanone]

Wait, Sony`s has a streaming service?

[agent4532]

Yes is called Playstation Now which can be used on Sony tvs, PS4 and.at one time the PS Vita. Sony has failed to improve the service or lower the price for it. Sony instead has concentrated on the PS4 with PS Now abandon

[SamPao]

its obviously not haha

[DJStotty]

Funny how a lot of Sony fans are interested in this announcement video, and scrutinizing every inch to debunk. Did you watch the announcement on inside xbox?

[rainslacker]

Isn't that fair given that Sony had the same scrutiny over PSNow when they first started showing it?

[DJStotty]

We aren't in a playground. You don't take your ball in when your getting beat.

[THC CELL]

I can play on my phone with remote play. Xperia and ps4 or 3 controller

[thexmanone]

good for you

[THC CELL]

Thanks I no its awesome

[XiNatsuDragnel]

What the heck is with that fake af gameplay. Major latency and delay on input to speed is real. Right now it's in a SAD state

[InMyOpinion]

Why would anyone want to play a game like FH on their phone instead of on a large screen? I don't see the benefit. Perhaps they should've shown off a better suited type of game, like a strategy game or something?

[TargusX]

An even better way to take games out of the owners hands, after Game Pass. Why bother owning anything??

[IRetrouk]

Ok so I've just tried playing horizon 4 the way she just did in the video..... my car reacts much different to hers, that vid is fake af.

[Raiden]

Just wait for the public trials and judge for yourselves

[sprinterboy]

Just asked my non gaming mate to watch the video and he said the cars not moving with her hands reactions, he couldn't give too shits about technology, MS, Sony or anything related to phones, tablets etc as he's clueless with tech.

[Prince-Ali]

oh wow.. this looks CRAZYYYYY fake!! looool the inputs dont match and if THAT'S how bad the input latency is then i dont know HOW any of you fanboys in these comments are defending this! when it's LITERALLY supposed to be putting your best foot forward when it comes to showing off this tech.. AND shes not even holding down the accelerator button but shes maintaining a constant speed! This is fake as helllllll!!!

[Wyleray]

This already exists. It's called Shadow. Flawlessly play games on any device, depending on your connection of course. Works fine at very low internet speeds though. I've played it at 10Mbps and it worked fine.

[Ratchet75]

Stream works pre

[Vetgamer]

It might work, when everyone has super fast broadband, I had 75mb, and still couldn't have netflix in one room and psnow in another. Not forgetting its microsoft who cant even get the power of the cloud to work in one game.

[Ratchet75]

Stream works pretty well at home on a very good internet bandwidth but playing outside it's just a framerate nightmare imo.
Ps4 had remote play for years now and while it is great to play your games on your smartphone, most games are not designed to be played on a small screen. Yes it's playable but it removes you from the experience and atmosphere that can only be express through a big screen.
It's like watching avengers infinity wars on a smartphone compared to a theatre.
That is why Nintendo has always been better at handhelds than any other manufacturers.
They knew they could not just take a home console game and re release it on a portable one. That is exactly why psp struggled for some times until they started crafting games for the psp in mind instead of just copy pasting ps2 games on it.

[darthv72]

psp / psv remote play was cool. this could be too.

[rainslacker]

I get pretty good remote play now that I have better internet at home to upload, and we have really good internet and networks at work. Other places it can be really spotty though. At home it always works well, but I have a rather good wireless router. PSNow worked OK for me in much the same way when I tried it. But, the video itself could easily degrade if too much lag happened, and if it was bad enough, I had times where it would just disconnect. That was usually only on really bad connections though, and when I had crappy internet at my house. When it worked, it worked just fine. I'm sure MS solution will probably face the same issues, even if MS has some sort of way to reduce latency, because most latency is induced outside of MS control.

[averagejoe26]

It this fake or terrible latency?

Either way, not a good look.