Forza 3 Discussion...

A short race round the superb Suzuka F1 circuit.

Hot lapping, building heat in the tyres, finding the limit an sometimes crossing it before hooking up a decent lap

give us your top 10 driving songs by posting it in the comments section of this blog entry and not only will you be entered into a drawing for the grand prize, you’ll also receive this customized Zune HD Audi A4 Touring car as a gift in Forza 3 just for participating! All you need to do is post a comment to this blog with your top 10 driving songs and wait for your sexy Audi A4 to arrive when Forza 3 ships this October.

The contest closes on 10/12/09, at which point we will no longer accept entries into the grand prize drawing. The winner will be announced on 10/27/09, right here on the Turn 10 Studio Blog. Now get out there and help us find the ultimate driving songs of all time!

With the help of your suggestions the folks at Zune will be creating massive playlists featuring the best driving songs of all time to help get your adrenaline pumping as you prepare to get behind the wheel of your favorite cars in Forza 3. Every person who picks up a copy of FM3 will receive an invitation to listen to these killer driving playlists free for 14 days.

Microsoft said this morning that Forza 3 will get a “free Game Add-on car and track pack, available exclusively by way of a one-time-use token card included in every new copy” of the game.

The Turn 10 racer releases on October 27.

Your free cars are:

• ’65 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA
• ’64 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage
• ’81 BMW M1
• ’60 Chevrolet Corvette
• ’69 Dodge Charger
• ’57 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa
• ’80 Fiat 131 Abarth
• ’67 Lamborghini Miura P400
• ’71 Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R
• ’65 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe

Forza Motorsport 3 Eyes the Finish Line with Full Car and Track Lists plus Free Launch Day Add-ons

LONDON – 7 October 2009 – Racing fans and car lovers the world over are counting down the days until the much anticipated release of “Forza Motorsport 3” on Oct. 23, exclusively for Xbox 360. With the finish line in sight, Turn 10 and Microsoft are looking toward the winner’s circle as they officially release the game’s full list of cars and tracks on Forzamotorsport.net. On launch day, that list will grow even larger with the release of a free Game Add-on car and track pack, available exclusively by way of a one-time-use token card included in every new copy of “Forza Motorsport 3.” To celebrate these announcements, the team has also released the game’s official online trailer, featuring never-before-seen gameplay footage.

Putting the speculation amongst the buzzing Forza community to rest, Turn 10 has lifted the curtain on the more than 400 cars and 100 tracks to be featured in “Forza Motorsport 3.” The garage roster includes 30 Ferraris, 28 iconic Porsches, as well as cars not previously available in any racing game, such as the new Aston Martin DBS, Dodge Viper SRT-10 ACR, and the 2009 Acura ARX ALMS race car. “Forza Motorsport 3” players will be the first to fully paint, customize, and tune these incredible cars and more.

Additionally, the Motorsports Legends Car Pack gives players another great reason to be excited about picking up “Forza Motorsport 3” on launch day, delivering 10 classic race cars and roadsters, on top of two extra tracks: the brand new Benchmark High Speed Ring and the returning circuit Sidewinder Proving Grounds. On Oct. 27, this pack will be exclusively available via a one-time-use token card included in every new copy of “Forza Motorsport 3.”

The Benchmark High Speed Ring is best described as an old airfield and hangar converted into a race track and automotive playground, perfect for all manner of creative “Forza Motorsport” hoonage and multiplayer mayhem. The track is characterized by 3.96 miles of rough surfaces and huge open areas, featuring a massive oval, an 8-lane drag strip, and an airplane hangar that players can drive (or drift) through.

Chevy, Dodge, Ford Stock Cars

Pick your favorite Big Three manufacturer and go big time circle track racing. Forza 3’s intense physics model will allow you to also play the role of crew chief as you manipulate tire pressures, swap springs, adjust shock performance and add sway bars to these Monte Carlo SS; Dodge Charger and Ford Fusion stock cars then evaluate the changes at speed on the track. Test the changes at oval or oval-based circuits like Sedona, Sunset Peninsula and Twin Ring Motegi or go the road racing route at exotic venues such as Le Mans, the Nurburgring and Silverstone. With a common starting point truly talented tuners will rise to the top. Further these naked racers are screaming for lively liveries, making them prime targets for painters.

The Benchmark High Speed Ring is best described as an old airfield and hangar converted into a race track and automotive playground, perfect for all manner of creative “Forza Motorsport” hoonage and multiplayer mayhem. The track is characterized by 3.96 miles of rough surfaces and huge open areas, featuring a massive oval, an 8-lane drag strip, and an airplane hangar that players can drive (or drift) through.

Multiplayer in sim racing games has generally been vanilla. It's usually wheel-to-wheel circuit racing with one or two variants. Forza 3 pretty much destroys the norm, offering one of the most customizable multiplayer options I've seen for any game genre.

Developer Turn 10 has created some multiplayer game templates that they feel everyone will gravitate towards. This includes standard lap races, but also elimination races (last driver to cross the finish of each lap is knocked out), cat and mouse, and a few others. These can also be further altered if you like. But there's a near limitless set of game types you can personally create and save. The amount of options is impressive.

The pre-made templates (again, all editable) are: Single Race, Timed Race, Point-to-Point, Drag, Drift, Multi-class, Tag (Pass the IT), Tag (Keep the IT), Tag (Virus), Cat and Mouse, and Elimination.

If you decide to create your own game type from scratch, there are plenty of options. You can choose the track, of course, the number of AI drivers (yes, you can play multiplayer alone if you're a loser), number of teams and more. And that's just in the basic rules section.

In the advanced rules, you can really get into the nitty gritty. The most important choice is the Scoring Type. This is how Forza 3 determines who wins a match. You can choose time-based, time spent in group, drift points, distance traveled, and keep it clean. For each of these, you can choose if "bigger is better." That means that you could create a "distance traveled" match where bigger is not better. This means that the car that travels the least distance wins. Imagine teams trying to push the opponent's car further down the track. Weird? Yes. But possible.

There are plenty of other options in the advanced rules. Choose the conditions that end a race (number of laps, for example), how the starting grid is ordered, and even a roll out delay from the starting gate. You can assign some of these elements to specific teams, allowing you to have specific players leave the gate early. You can even use stock cars and create your own NASCAR-style race.

Once you have the game type set, you can go even further. Determine whether or not people can use autobrake or stability control. You can even force everyone to use manual transmission. If you're playing a team game, you can set specific conditions for each team, including the body style and car types. Want Asian cars vs. US? It can be done.

Forza 3 has an awesome array of multiplayer options, more than I've ever seen in a racing game before. Probably more than I've seen in any console game before in any genre. So if you like racing online, dust off your racing wheel. Forza 3 is going to rev your engine.

Not a track I've ever been very good at but a clean lap at least, the GT1 handles well but understeers at high speed, so I lacked a bit of confidence and went for a few lifts. With tuning this car will be a beast around this circuit.