Clutch is an open-world driving game from the Forza Horizon 5 creative director

Maverick Games – the studio founded three years ago by former Forza Horizon 5 creative director Mike Brown – has revealed its first game: Clutch. It's set in the south of France, covering Monaco and the French Riviera, and features licensed cars from Porsche, Aston Martin, BMW, Land Rover, and Renault, among others.

The game follows siblings Theo and Cass Martial, two car-obsessed young adults scraping by as vigilante couriers for shady clients. A journalist who saw an early demo describes the story's tone and spirit as reminiscent of the Brad Pitt blockbuster F1 – not in specific plot beats, but in overall energy. Gameplay sits close to the Forza Horizon formula – racing, drifting, open world – but with more cinematic set pieces. One demo mission tasks players with extracting a rare Aston Martin Valhalla from a wealthy owner's penthouse, which goes about as chaotically as you'd expect. Six tools unlock across the campaign; the only one shown so far is a harpoon you can fire at any object in the world – including lampposts on corners to slingshot around turns, Tim Burton Batmobile-style. A rewind button, a feature Forza Motorsport pioneered in racing games, is also confirmed.

Clutch isn't a sim – it's grounded but clearly arcade-leaning. The bigger distinction from Forza Horizon is the focus: where Horizon is built around a festival fantasy, Clutch leans hard into a single-player narrative with named characters and a proper story arc, which the studio is treating as a major selling point.

No release date has been announced yet, but the game is already shaping up as a strong pick for Forza Horizon fans who also want something with a bit more story behind the wheel.