Forza 3 Discussion...

Just like there are individuals and groups whose only interaction with Forza is to create custom paint jobs, now for tuners there are more upgrades on offer and tuner files can be downloaded. If you want your Ford GT optimized for Laguna Seca, you can hop on Xbox Live and download the file that will turn your car into a Corkscrew killer. If you want to turn your Honda into a Ferrari, there's a tuner out there that can do that, who knows how to reinforce the chassis and change every number and part necessary to go from red "H" to black horse. "You have to know tuning," Greenwalt said, "but we want to call those guys out as the best tuners."

Turn 10 also availed itself of one of the world's heavyweights in the arena of car technology. McLaren F1 makes a standardized electronics component for all the cars on the F1 grid called the black box. Microsoft is associated with McLaren in the development of that black box software, and that led to Greenwalt going to McLaren's Technology Center and crunching numbers on the same aero simulator built for McLaren F1 driver Lewis Hamilton. Even though there are no F1 cars in Forza 3, the lessons Greenwalt learned about aerodynamics in one of its highest temples have been used to improve the gameplay for the guy in Topeka. "We learned things about aero that mean you get a multimillion dollar simulator for $60."

Still, he admitted, "Eventually you run out of things to simulate."

While Audi's R8 V10 is the marquee car and Turn 10 had near total access in order to recreate it, the dedication to verisimilitude runs throughout. It was said that 9,000 data points were used to model the vehicles. The Audi R8 V10 car, in real life, has twelve vents running down both side of the engine cover, together representing the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The engine centerline is slightly to the left of the centerline of the car in order to package the quattro system most efficiently. The car's two inboard headlights are bracketed by curved bits of metal that take their inspiration from the sail forms of the Sydney Opera House. The LED strips underneath the headlights each have 24 LEDs in them, also in celebration of Le Mans. The dash information display contains a lap timing function that can display three laps at a time. The car's top speed is 196 mph.

All of those features have been recreated on the R8 V10 in the game.

Xbox and Audi also announced they will host an exciting and exceptionally unique AXF-24 Audi-Forza Challenge, which will take place June 13-14 at the Audi Forum in New York City. Xbox has selected nine of its top North American Forza competitors as determined by rankings on Xbox Live to converge on New York to compete in a 24-hour endurance competition in “Forza Motorsport 3” running concurrent to the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France. The gamers will be split into three teams of three drivers, just like Le Mans racing teams on a yet to be announced track debuting in game upon release in October. The winning team at the end of the 24 hours on Sunday morning will win an all-expenses paid trip for them and a guest to the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans race where they will be hosted by Audi.

Besides the consistent line of showgoers wanting to try their hand at this rare spectacle, we also had quite a few celebrities come through to play the Forza 3 ride-of-show cockpit. The list is as surreal to me now as it was when I saw (some of) them with my own eyes: Steven Spielberg, Victoria Beckham (with her little boy), Incubus drummer Jose Pasillas, DJ and Turntablist Chris Killmore, folks from LA Galaxy, Aisha Tyler, some dude who came by to shoot a segment for the Jimmy Fallon Late Night Show, and more.

Perhaps the most surprising to me was when a couple developers from Gran Turismo makers Polyphony Digital came by to personally get hands-on with Forza 3, all the while taking careful notes, examining our UI system, shooting photos, and directly asking us some pretty interesting questions. The reason I say I was personally surprised was because PD aren’t generally known as a studio to acknowledge that there are racing games that exist beyond their own.

So what can we expect now that E3 is behind us? To begin, we’re about to embark on a long summer where each week we’ll be discussing new Forza 3 cars, tracks, and features in our Pitpass Reports. There are some surprises down the road and of course, a regular cadence of gorgeous, mouth-watering screenshots for your daily, weekly, and monthly consumption.

We'll be trickling out features, cars, tracks, etc. from June to Oct. Every couple weeks we drop something more substantial. In between those weeks we dive deeper.

It is a bit busy here in Le Mans at the moment so did not had the time to post it yesterday. Anyway now its here. I tried to get the OK for at least a single shot but no way.

Originally planned as a DLC track for FM2 it pretty soon became obvious that this would never happen so it moved directly into the list of tracks for FM3.
The Catalunya Circuit is a welcome addition to the ever growing range of real race tracks in the FM series. You will love it.

Microsoft has announced that the Le Mans Le Sarthe and Bugatti circuits will feature in Forza Motosport 3.

Interestingly they'll be joined in a multi-class racing series in the game so real GT racing can be more accurately simulated.

All we need now is an announcement of 1960s era Formula 1 cars and I'll be in hog heaven.

You can see 15 new screens from Le Mans right here.

Here's the full press release:

LONDON, 12 JUNE 2009 – This weekend in Le Mans, Sarthe, France, the world’s best drivers and their finely tuned race cars will compete in the oldest and most prestigious endurance race in the world, at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

To celebrate the 77th 24 Hours of Le Mans, Xbox 360 has partnered with Peugeot Sport to host a press event at the Le Mans circuit together with Peugeot Sport’s top driver, Stéphane Sarrazin. The event, held in Peugeot Sport’s Hospitality at Le Raccordement announces the debut of the famed Le Mans Le Sarthe and Bugatti circuits as well as a new multi-class racing mode, all to be included in “Forza Motorsport 3”, when the game launches exclusively on Xbox 360 in October. A consultant to developer Turn 10 on the re-creation of the track for Forza Motorsport 3, Stéphane took some laps on the in-game version of LeMans with press prior to joining his Peugeot 908 teammates to prepare for Saturday’s race.

In the true spirit of motorsport, no “Forza Motorsport 3” experience is complete without the inclusion of the finely tuned and highly engineered racing machines designed by the world’s most prestigious racing teams. To that end, Xbox 360 also announces at Le Mans the first set of more than 100 race cars that will be featured in the game. For the first time in Forza Motorsport history, fans will be able to get into the cockpit of some of the world’s most famous race cars including the Peugeot Sport 908, the Audi FSI Champion Racing R8 and the Ferrari MOMO Doran Racing F333 SP. With the best graphics and most realistically performing cars in gaming, “Forza Motorsport 3’ will let racing fans worldwide live out their love of motorsport like never before.

In the U.S. this weekend, Xbox 360 and Audi North America invite motorsport fans and media to the Audi Forum New York City for a host of activities celebrating Le Mans. Among them, Xbox 360 and Audi North America are hosting the AXF-24 Audi-Forza Challenge where nine of North America’s top “Forza” drivers as determined by rankings on Xbox LIVE will compete in a simulated 24-hour endurance competition complete with regular pit stops to refuel and replenish as that challenge themselves and each other on the just debuted Le Mans Le Sarthe circuit in "Forza Motorsport 3." The competition runs concurrent to the actual race in France with gamers being split into three teams of three drivers, just like Le Mans racing teams then compete to win an all-expenses paid trip for them and a guest to the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans race hosted by Audi. Other activities for media and guests include taking their own turns on Lemans in the Forza Motorsport 3 racing pod, witness pit stop demonstrations featuring the real-world Audi R8 and R10 Le Mans race cars as well as view a live broadcast of the race from France. For more info or to register to attend the events taking place at the Audi Forum New York in Manhattan, visit http://audiexp.com/axf24.html