Well, I'm a bit partial to split-screen, but that's influenced by playing past Motorsport titles with family/friends.  I don't want to overstate the importance of these few features akin to Infinite's Forge/Co-op ordeal.  It's just getting annoying to see these little pre-release interviews where they talk about some older staple that won't be there at launch.  

but the best game by Rare isn't even in that

Funny thought I just had is that if we were still waiting for split-screen to release Infinite, the game still wouldn't be released, Lmao.

That's fair, that you personally enjoy it and will be disappointed by its removal, but it's worth bearing in mind all the new features they've added too, when these articles get made about the 3 missing features, they often miss out the dozens of new features that have been added, people often are drawn to the negatives.

It sort of misses out that two of the missing features are missing only in the new multiplayer mode, featured multiplayer not having AI but private lobbies will, featured multiple not having spectator but private lobbies will, spectator mode is only really important for eSports so as long as it's available in private lobbies which is where eSports are hosted, it's fine, Imo. AI not being in featured multiplayer is fine given the design reasons for it, Imo.

No split-screen sucks for those who wanted it, but I wouldn't agree that it would deserve delaying over it.

It's worth listening to the entire video, this was a little 1-minute segment in an over hour long video going into their multiplayer, where they briefly touched on a few features that wouldn't be in their new featured multiplayer. The little 1 minute segment in an hour long video is going to provide more clicks though because negativity is good for clicks, Lol.

The only alternative to avoiding this marketing negativity is they don't mention at all what won't be in for launch, Lol.

Personally, I do think not having split screen in Forza is a pretty lame tbh. I very frequently played some rounds of Forza with a buddy coming over to my place, or vice versa, and I would imagine that it's probably one of the games in general where split screen would see that kind of use. Like, are there a lot of people who are gonna split screen a whole 100 hour game like Baldur's Gate 3? No. Are there at least a decent amount of people who would wanna be able to sit down with a buddy, or family member, and play a match of Forza, or a couple hours of Halo campaign or something? Absolutely.

I understand it's not a feature that's gonna be a big priority for most devs moving forward, but it's really a shame to see it go in so many franchises where it makes so much sense.

Honestly I don't think it is worth delaying the game to get any of those 3 in at launch, as all 3 are features that are used by only a tiny subset of fans. Take for instance splitscreen, it's used by less than 10% of modern gamers (it's why I was annoyed that splitscreen of all things was what cost us Baldur's Gate 3 at launch). Why is splitscreen usage so rare these days? Well, back in the day, for instance when I was a kid in the 90's, many people only had one tv and video game console in their house, so siblings had to share, and friends would come over to your house and play splitscreen as well. But these days many parents have not only a living room tv with a game console, but a smaller, cheaper tv in each of their kids' rooms, often with a console attached to each, so siblings don't really need to share as often when playing games these days, and of course kids/teens rarely have their friends over to their house these days, preferring instead of talk or play games together online. And I would imagine that adult splitscreen usage, for instance with a husband and wife who both game, or an adult having friends over to game, is even rarer than kids/teens using splitscreen in this day and age, if a husband and wife both game they probably both have their own gaming rig for instance, be it a gaming PC and a living room tv with a console, or two tv's each with a console, etc.

Splitscreen just isn't used by that many people these days, and it's not really worth it to delay a game for everyone over a feature so few people will use, it's just easier to delay features like splitscreen or spectator mode and release them post-launch.

Just to show what ISN'T missing

• 20 Tracks - Completely Rebuilt, Multiple Track Layouts, 5 Never-Before-Seen Tracks. 10x More Detail Than Previous Tracks.
• Fully Dynamic Time of Day & Weather on Every Track. Living 3D Crowds.
• 4K / 60 FPS on Xbox Series X; and at 1080p / 60 FPS on Xbox Series S.
• Real-Time Ray-Tracing on Every Track.
• New Featured Multiplayer (Live Real-World Time-Based Mode of Pre-Defined Live Events). Competitive Racing, Full Racing Weekends (Open Practice, Qualifying, Race, Strategy). Spec Series (Even Playing Field) and Open Series (Classic Forza Class-Based).
• Private & Rivals Still Available.
• Overhauled and Hugely Improved AI Using Machine Learning.
• Overhauled Physics Systems, Much Improved Tire Physics. Reaction to Temperature Changes.
• Completely New Car Models.
• New Pitting Features.
• Forza Race Regulations Overhauled with Machine Learning - Identifies Track Cutting, Purposeful Collisions, Dirty Driving. Identifying Hundreds in FM7 to Thousands in FM. Penalties and Disqualifications Based on Severity of Incidents.
• New Safety & Skill Rating Systems for Clean Racing and a Competitive Driver Racing.
• All New Career Mode.
• 500+ Cars, More Than 800 Unique Upgrades.

AI in Featured Multiplayer is disabled due to the Player Rating System/Race Regulations which matches you with other drivers and their driving style. AI may be largely improved but it still isn't human and can be unpredictable. It will never match a human. AI negatively harming your driver rating isn't ideal. Spectator Mode is missing in Featured Multiplayer due to it taking an extra slot.

Sounds like these two features will still be available in Private Matches though.

Forza Motorsport Promotes Social and Competitive Online Racing - Forza & Forza Motorsport’s New AI and Physics Make Every Race Competitive

Based on a lot of these changes it looks as though they're doubling down on targeting the sim crowd, a long-held criticism that Motorsport isn't "sim" enough despite them having the "arcadey" Forza Horizon. They may be less tracks and cars than some other Motorsport titles but they're way more detailed and technologically improved. I still think it's "enough" tracks and cars for launch though.

I don't have anything to add about Split-Screen other than it sucks but I don't think it's worth delaying it over.

Everyone seems to have a friend who has played or is playing Starfield lately

Especially one idiot who I refuse to post, LOL.

You mean Sea of Thieves?

Not into MP only games (mainly because dont have anyone to play the game with lol)...but Banjo Kazooie/Tooie alone make the collection worth it - speaking of which need to play them myself lol.

The original Gears of War I could play Shotgun only Raven Down matches all day every day.