Open-World Racing Game CLUTCH From Former Forza Horizon Developer Launches Spring 2027
CLUTCH marks the first project from a studio built by key Forza Horizon veterans, and its dual-racing-world premise signals a deliberate attempt to differentiate from the arcade-open-world template that studio helped define.
Key Facts
- Maverick Games, founded in 2023 by former Forza Horizon creative director Mike Brown, announced its debut title CLUTCH at Summer Game Fest on June 6, 2026.
- CLUTCH launches in spring 2027 on PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
- The open-world driving game is set in the French Riviera and features two racing organizations: the professional R1K and the underground Midnight Collective.
- The announcement trailer showed a story-driven experience with police chases, a car jumping from an elevated road to shoot a wire at a helicopter, and dialogue between characters.
- The game uses Unreal Engine 5.
Reporting from 4 sources: 4Gamer.net, GAME Watch (Impress), Automaton, Game Spark.
Maverick Games, the UK studio co-founded by former Forza Horizon creative director Mike Brown, announced its debut title CLUTCH during Summer Game Fest 2026 on June 6. The open-world action driving game is set in the French Riviera and will launch in spring 2027 on PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. The announcement trailer showed a story-driven experience with two distinct racing scenes: the R1K, a professional racing series with a 100-year history, and the Midnight Collective, an underground group that races at night for passion rather than profit. The protagonist, one of a pair of sibling genius racers, gets drawn into the hidden side of the R1K after an early-game incident. The trailer also featured dialogue between characters, police chases on public roads, and an improbable sequence where a car jumps from an elevated road and shoots a wire toward a helicopter. The game uses Unreal Engine 5.
Maverick Games was founded in 2023 by Mike Brown, who served as creative director at Playground Games on the Forza Horizon series. Several other founding members also came from that franchise. The studio teased CLUTCH on June 3 before the full reveal at Summer Game Fest. The game's two racing organizations-the commercial R1K and the underground Midnight Collective-structure a narrative where the protagonist lives a double life as both a professional and a street racer. The trailer showed racing on circuits and public roads, the latter involving police chases. The helicopter scene at the end of the trailer is described by one source as unexpected for a racing game. All three cluster sources agree on the spring 2027 release window and the platform list, though one source omits the Epic Games Store mention. The official website opened alongside the trailer.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 4 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.