[BRUTAL64]

Originally Posted by Vettezuki

What the hell is a "Community Edition"?

I believe it is the featured vehicle you get to race at the first introductory race, it's red and black. I ran that vehicle at Le Mans.

[BRUTAL64]

I keep telling you guys, if you have an XBOX this is THE RACING game to have. I've done dozens of racing sims, this is the best.


The other is GR4.

[BRUTAL64]

I pretty much agree with what is written here.


Do you like cars? If so, Forza Motorsport 3 is the game for you. In fact, provided you don't hate cars, Forza Motorsport 3 is the game for you. Turn 10 Studios' latest racer is an ambitious game that tries to be a lot of different things for a lot of different people, and the great news is that it succeeds at just about every turn. It doesn't matter how good you are behind the wheel; you can find a difficulty level and a handling model to suit you. And while there are plenty of options available for those of you who enjoy painting or tuning your rides as much as you enjoy driving them, you don't have to devote any time to those features to reap their rewards. Forza Motorsport 3 is a bigger and better game than its predecessor in every way imaginable, and while it's not flawless, it's certainly way ahead of the competition.

The Ladera Test Track is among the first new circuits that you race on.

Your first race in Forza 3 is spent at the wheel of an Audi R8 loaner, and by default, there are several driving assists--including the series' familiar dynamic racing line--turned on that serve as your water wings as you're thrown in at the deep end. From there, you're free to take your career in whichever direction you choose, though with limited funds at your disposal your first car is more likely to be a Scion than a Shelby. Career mode is divided into seasons, and each season you compete in a world championship that spans several races. You don't get to choose which championships you're entered into, so you start with relatively slow showroom cars early on and must get some miles under your belt before competing in thoroughbred racecars later on. With that said, championship races are generally two or three weeks apart, and so after every race you're invited to choose another, shorter series of events to take part in. You can also ignore the calendar completely if you choose, and just compete in whichever events you want to at anytime. Either way, the options you're presented with are determined, at least in part, by the cars that you own, so if you manage to get your hands on an Enzo Ferrari or a Porsche Carrera GT early on, you don't have to wait around before putting them to work. You might even find that you can use one or two of your cars in events for which they far exceed the maximum performance restrictions, though this bug doesn't rear its competition-trivializing head very often.

Regardless of what you're driving, you're free to pick and choose which assists you want to use, and you have an opportunity to quickly alter your settings before every race. This is definitely a welcome feature, because while you might not feel the need for antilock brakes or stability control when you're driving something modest, you might not be nearly as confident climbing into a Bugatti Veyron supercar for the first time. It's tempting to make things easier by keeping all of the assists turned on, but there's a great incentive to turn them off, because every time you do so, your potential earnings increase. For example, turning off the autobrake (which you'll probably want to do right away) increases your winnings by 10 percent, and if you opt for "simulation" damage, fuel, and tire wear as opposed to "cosmetic" or "limited," you can add another 15 percent on top of that. This setup ensures that while anyone who picks up Forza 3 can spend their entire career feeling like a winner, better drivers will earn more money in the process, and rightly so. Similarly, you get to keep more of your winnings if you don't have to spend them paying for damage incurred during a race, so although it's possible to win some races by driving aggressively and using opponents or walls to slow you down for corners, you won't be doing yourself (or your opposition) any favors in the long run.


Ever wondered what the interior of a Ferrari FXX looks like?

That's especially true if your opponents are other online players or a friend that you're playing split-screen with, because retaliation is likely to cross their minds at some point. Forza 3's AI is more focused on the finish line than on forcing you off the track, which makes it superior to some of the players you're likely to meet online, but it's not an intelligence that's going to pose a threat to its human counterparts anytime soon. At times, AI drivers are superb: they jostle for position, they look for openings when other drivers falter, and they know when to back off if their attempt at an overtake starts looking perilous. Occasionally, though, these otherwise believable opponents will make such silly mistakes that you'll swear they must have fallen asleep at the wheel. At Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, for example, it's not nearly as uncommon as it should be to see opponents accelerate toward the Seat hairpin and fly off into the gravel without ever appearing to touch the brake pedal or the steering wheel, and it's not unheard of to see different opponents making the exact same error on consecutive laps. Race incidents like these aren't something you'll see often, especially if you're spending most of your time at the front of the pack, but if you're in a closely contested race, it's less satisfying to win as a result of an opponent's incompetence than it is to beat him out of a corner or slingshot past him on a straight.

It's also slightly less satisfying to cross the finish line first if you've felt the need to use Forza 3's new rewind feature during the race, but it's a great (if unoriginal) addition to the game regardless. If you consider yourself a purist, you might feel inclined to look down on this new feature and on anyone who uses it, and that's fine, because you don't have to use it if you don't want to, and nobody is ever going to have the option of using it while competing with you online. Furthermore, if you're from the no-rewind school of racing, your leaderboard times will always appear above those of drivers who have used the rewind to correct any number of their mistakes. The leaderboards also clearly display which assists drivers were using when they recorded their posted lap times, which might ultimately end up being a better incentive for you to turn them off than extra winnings are.

With so many cars to choose from you're sure to find some of your favorites.

As in Forza 2, your winnings in Forza 3 can be used to buy new cars (more than 400 different models are available at launch), either direct from manufacturers or from other players via an auction house. However, it seems unlikely that Forza 3's auction house will be the hive of activity that Forza 2's was, not because it has changed for the worse, but because unless you're looking for a bargain or want to offload a car that you've been awarded, there are few reasons to go there. In Forza 2, one of the main reasons to buy a car from the auction house was that it had a great custom paint job and/or because it had already had money spent on upgrading and tuning it. You can still buy and sell cars this way if you choose to, but in Forza 3 you can also deal in tuning setups, paint jobs, and individual vinyl designs without having to attach them to cars. For example, if you re-create a favorite video game character on the hood of a car and you want to earn some credits selling it, you now have two options. You can either sell it as a vinyl that other players will be free to paste onto any car that they choose (safe in the knowledge that they won't be permitted to resell it subsequently) or incorporate it into a design for a specific model of car so that players who own one of those cars can apply it to their vehicle. It's a vastly superior system to that in the last game, and because potential buyers can search for designs either by typing in keywords or by using presets like "retro," "anime," and "realistic," there's a good chance that players who are interested in the kinds of things you create will find their way to your in-game storefront.

Forza 3's car models look fantastic in their showroom and real-world race liveries, but it's the designs being created by the community that are really making them pop. That's no mean feat, because the tools that designers have to work with, while clearly powerful, don't make life easy. If you're familiar with the design tools in Forza 2, then you might be disappointed or at least surprised to learn that they haven't changed much in Forza 3. You still work primarily with geometric shapes and generic-looking icons, you still group large numbers of them together to create race team logos or photo-realistic images of your favorite Brazilian supermodels, and it still takes a lot of work to create something worthwhile. It's time well spent, though, and because there's now an option to create designs on a perfectly flat surface before applying them to a car, you no longer have to use the roof of a Mini Cooper for a canvas. Would this aspect of the game be better if you could import images from Photoshop or just scan them in? Absolutely not. Sure, it would be easier, but it wouldn't be as rewarding, and more importantly it wouldn't be fair for players without access to the necessary hardware or software. It's also unlikely that the end results would look significantly better. Spend some time checking out the top designs, as rated by other players, and you'll realize that just about anything is possible with Forza 3's design tools; you just have to get good with them.

The only problem with the cockpit view is that you don't get to check out your own paintjob.

If you're more inclined to spend your time racing than playing with geometric shapes, there's still no reason you can't have great-looking cars. Just make sure you win enough credits to buy all of the designs you want. Whether you're racing in your single-player career or online with up to seven opponents, all of your winnings go into the same pot, and so do your experience points. Leveling up in Forza 3 doesn't benefit you in the way that you might expect it to in other genres, but every time you reach a new level, you're awarded a new car, so it can be a strong incentive to keep playing long after you've told yourself "just one more race." This is especially true later in your career, because the cars you're given are among the most desirable in the game--assuming you haven't rushed out and bought them already.

Just as you would in real life, it's not a bad idea to test-drive cars before you buy them. None of the cars in Forza 3 handle poorly, and all are delivered to your garage with perfect bodywork and spotlessly clean, accurately re-created interiors. Inevitably, there will be cars that suit your driving style better than others, though, and if you don't know much about tuning, it can be tough to tame a car that's proving problematic for you--even if you take advantage of the new quick upgrade option that optimizes your car for the class of competition that you want to use it in. In Career mode you're only able to use cars that you own, but every car in the game (as well as those in your garage) is available to you from the outset for use in single races, hot lap events, and multiplayer.


Even if you don't win, using custom car designs in online races is sure to set you apart from the opposition.

Online play was one of Forza 2's greatest strengths, and the same is true of Forza 3. It doesn't matter if you're looking to enjoy a private session with friends or hop into a race with random opponents--getting your car onto the starting grid couldn't be easier, and it's hard to imagine how the subsequent races could be any better. Even in multiplayer, detailed environments from all over the world fly by at speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour without ever posing a threat to the frame rate, and the game is very smart about knowing when to "ghost" players who have tried to take shortcuts or are in the mischievous minority who think it's hilarious to drive the wrong way and try to crash into other racers. In addition to regular races, online options include Drag and Drift events, as well as three different Tag variants, Elimination races, and team-based Cat and Mouse competitions. As the host of a session, the options that you have to customize these game types number in the dozens, and you can even force players to turn off certain assists or use a specific camera angle.

Those camera options include all of the usual suspects: bumper, hood, cockpit, chase near, and chase far. Another great feature of Forza 3, which will be familiar if you played the previous game, is that at any point during a single-player race or during a replay of a multiplayer race, you can pause the action to take a photograph. The in-game camera has more settings for you to tinker with than the cameras that most of us use in real life, and if you're good at photography (or even if you're not) it's possible to create some impressive images. This is especially true at new tracks like Italy's Amalfi Coast, Japan's Fujimo Kaido, and the United States' Sedona Raceway, which are great additions to the sizeable roster not only because they offer very different and enjoyable driving experiences, but also because they're set in some quite beautiful locations. If you choose to share photos by uploading them to your storefront they'll also appear on the official Forza Website, from which you can download them for posting in forums and the like.


The new tracks offer some very distinct driving experiences.

Other than some load screens that stick around long enough to outstay their welcome before each race, the quality of Forza 3's presentation is uniformly excellent across every aspect of the game. The menus are clean and intuitive, the in-game visuals never fail to impress, and the default audio options prioritize the satisfying roars of the cars' respective engines over the 30-plus licensed tunes playing in the background. Artists on the soundtrack include The Hives, The Fratellis, Fall From Grace, Alkaline Trio, The Qemists, DJ Drunken Master, Logistics, and many more. Regardless of whether or not they're to your liking, there's no denying that the vast majority of the songs on the playlist make good driving tunes.

There's also no denying that Forza Motorsport 3 is a truly special racing game. Not only does it make simulation-style racing accessible to anyone with the inclination to give it a try, but it looks and sounds superb doing it and manages to foster an unusually strong sense of community along the way. If you have any interest whatsoever in racing games, even if you've never played one before, you'd do well to pay a visit to your local video game showroom and become a member of the Forza Motorsport 3 owners' club at your earliest convenience.

[BRUTAL64]

Heres's another one.

Racing games have sure come a long way.

From the Monaco Grand Prix days on my Commodore 64, car games have always been a favourite of mine. Back then, racing was a top down, scrolling screen affair, with no actual corners, just an 8-bit background with different angles.

I'd have to say Forza 3 has improved on the graphics somewhat since then. And perhaps I'll even begrudgingly admit the physics and sound are a tad better than back in my day. But the real question - indeed, the only question worth anything whatsoever to me - would have to be: is it as exciting, or as fun, as those early gaming session where 80% of the experience was left up to the imagination?

Thing is, I loved Gran Turismo. It blew me away with the graphics, the number of cars, the tuning - all the features were so far beyond other racing games of the day. The sequel was great. Then came GT3 on PlayStation 2, and wow, I was again amazed at the advancement.

But by GT4 something had gone. There just wasn't the soul. Technically brilliant, and an amazing feature list. But it just wasn't as much fun. Something had been lost.

Forza Motorsport on the original Xbox came on the scene and revitalised the genre somewhat, mainly with the online features Xbox Live allowed. A sense of community changed the gameplay with syndicates and seasons, and racing against real people, over a console, was far better than playing the AI.

Forza 2 of course on Xbox 360 brought more of everything, with an update in physics and graphics, improved online modes, but it still lacked something. I found that after getting maybe three quarters of the way through, I just lost interest.

So that brings us to Forza 3, touted as the best racing game of its generation. I was curious during the E3 event this year to hear the carefully worded qualifier 'of its generation' used several times during the introduction. What it means is a bit unclear.

If I'm honest, I felt it sort of implied that everyone knows Gran Turismo 5 is on the horizon, and that everyone believes it will be the mother of all racing games. But so what. GT5, Forza's "elephant in the room", is nothing but code on a developers PC somewhere within the depths of Sony. So far, it has been delayed within two months of its then-announced Christmas release date. Sure, odds are GT5 will be awesome, but it's not here yet.
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So lets get the comparisons off the board because regardless of what the competition will bring, and whenever they actually bring it, right now there's nothing. Forza 3 is the best racing game out this year. It'll be the best racing game out for at least the next six months. End of argument as far as I'm concerned.

400 cars. 200 events. Over 100 tracks. Amazing physics. Wicked graphics. A god-awful soundtrack you'll hate within 48 hours. Sounds like a recipe for a successful racing game to me. But more importantly, it's fun.

OK - maybe the fact I first got to play it on the ginormous Xtreme Screen at Hoyts Sylvia Park had something to do with it. I think any game that's presented at 30 metres by 12 metres is going to sell itself to you. Along with various other game reviewers I got about three hours hands-on with the game. Seems like I'm not the most typical player out there.

Rather than choose an Evo IV and go for time attack glory, I jumped in the Land Rover Sport and dropped the tyre pressure to 14psi before smashing my way to victory on a tarmac rally track. 4WD SUV drifting is the new craze if you ask me.

Career mode is back, but a little different. There is also a 'free play' event list, letting you quickly pick whatever event (and car) you wish to participate in without fuss. The meat of the game though is still career mode.

You are first given the choice of a number of terrible hatchbacks. I chose a Honda Fit, because, well, there wasn't much for choice. As is genre formula now, you start in a low rent car on some small tracks and some fairly easy competition.

After a few races you can upgrade your car to make it more competitive. As you progress in your career, you'll win different cars more suited to various events further down the track. You are encouraged to keep each car for as long as possible, with cars gaining experience and prize cars selling for virtually nothing, making selling them a waste of time.

Eventually you will find yourself in the big leagues, racing V8 Supercars, Le Mans racers, and GT cars on the world's famous circuits. Taking a 962 for a blat around the Nurburgring is both enormous fun and slightly frightening. For me though, the best part of the game isn't the hardcore race cars. I like to tinker with the rubbish cheap cars, tweaking and adjusting them to outrun cars worth four times as much.

One of the great things about Forza is the tuning system. Sure you could race against V8 Supercars in another V8 Supercar. Or, if you are like me, you could build your own Frankenstein machine to take racing. There's something about a twin turbo V6 Skyline that appeals, and the ability to add turbos, swap engines, or drivetrains, along with the minute adjustments you can make to tyre pressure, diff ratios and aerodynamics make for a tweakers dream.

Of course you can get it all horribly wrong. Given complete tuning freedom, a novice is just as likely to ruin a car's driveability as they are to improve it. However there is now a 'quick upgrade' option which will automatically upgrade bits of your car to the current race class, providing you have the credits.

The changes you make are also immediately translated into the game physics. You can feel the effects of stickier tyres, or stiffer suspension as soon as you embark on your next race. The game even simulates tyre deformation, both mathematically and visually. Coupled with this is the livery editor. You can paint your car any colour you like, design decals and pictures to stick on it, and take it racing online.

Having a distinct car is a lot of fun, making you stand out from the crowds. Of course, being from Hamilton, most of my cars are matte black and V8's. The first thing I did in the game was a massive burnout, because, well, that's what we do down here.

The AI in Forza 3 is hard to rate. Whilst way too easy on easy and medium settings, hard provides a real challenge. It is neat to see the AI behaving in a rather human fashion, if over acted somewhat. In the early races you can force errors by sitting right on another driver's tail. The AI will sometimes corner too hot and leave the track, or tap another driver. They will also shunt you back if you knock them too many times.

Regardless, if you are sick of the AI, jump online. Whilst it's a bit hard to gauge given the limited number of players on live as the game is only released today, multiplayer looks to be as good as always. One of the outstanding features of the Forza series, and one that has decimated GT's efforts has been Forza's online racing. With an online auction house, individual store fronts, custom paint jobs and decals, a huge number of customization options for races, it's hard to fault.

Feel like having a drift competition with your friends? Check a few options, and away you go. Feel like racing only Remuera Tractors? A starting grid chock full of Range Rovers and Cayennes is within your reach. You can even specify the level of difficulty for a multiplayer race by limiting the driving aids you can use.

These aids are really how Forza lets you adjust the challenge of the game. ABS, Traction control, Damage are all adjustable, to make the game more realistic, or easier if you prefer. In addition you can have a racing line showing at all times, turn the AI difficulty down, or use stability management to keep things under control. I prefer to use only the ABS driving aid, as I am a chronic brake stomper in these games.

Everything else is off, allowing for some glorious Clarkson-esque powerslides. It also allows some spectacular crashes that even booze fuelled kiwi teenagers would be hard pressed to beat.

Perhaps the most controversial addition to the driving aids is the rewind feature. At almost any point during a race, you can hit the rewind button and go back a few seconds, or more if required, and try that corner again.

Or avoid that car again. Or perfect that drift. A feature already presented in games like Grid, Forza goes a step further and removes any limitations on the number of times you can use it.

Luckily for multiplayer, all times are ranked both on lap times and driving aids. Those who are good enough to race with no assists will still fare better in the leaderboards than those who have assists on.

At first I was against the idea of an unlimited undo button. Having now played a good number of hours in the game, it is in fact a useful feature. Especially in endurance races, where after 3 hours of racing a mistake would mean re-racing another 3 hours. Instead, you hit rewind and try that corner again. Rewind does have two limitations. You can't use it too close to the finish line on your last lap, and it can be turned off completely for multiplayer.

Of course, it's the first glance that sells a game, and visually Forza is stunning. It doesn't have all the post processing effects of Need For Speed SHIFT, rather going for a clean, crisp, detailed approach. This approach works, and the cars and tracks are full of little things that add to the overall picture. Heat haze, shaking bonnets and paint scuffs all make things that little bit more realistic.

The new tracks look fantastic, with detailed backgrounds adding to the experience. This is both good and bad, as some of the typical race tracks do in fact look slightly dull compared to the city circuits and mountain ranges.

The game now also sports full rendered interiors for cars, adding a level of realism and difficulty. In-car can be a challenge, especially in very low race cars as you lose the ability to see as far ahead. Throw in the fact it runs at 60fps, at 1080p, and if nothing else sells you, the sensation of speed will.

The game engine has had some tweaks of course, and now feels even better. Cars drive very well compared to their real world counterparts. Yes, I'll admit I don't own a McLaren F1 so have no point of reference. But the cars I have owned or driven in my lifetime do feel very accurate in-game. Lift off oversteer in an MR2? Check. Excessive wheelspin in a V8 Commodore? Check. The tinny sound of a Honda CRX with a massive exhaust? Check.

One of the other features Forza is known for is car damage. Insert jab at Gran Turismo here, but so far, only Forza has had decent damage modelling. Smashed tail lights, bumpers falling off, stuffed suspension causing your car to veer left, it's all here. Even rolling your car is possible, thanks to updates to the physics engine.

Is it all perfection? Well, no. There doesn't seem to be an R35 GTR. My Honda Jazz 1.3 shakes when revved just as much as my V8 Hemi Charger. The load times are a little long. It comes on two DVD's, one of which must be installed on the hard drive to use.

Sure GT2 had two discs too, but still, having to have a hard drive means those with the Arcade version of the console may not get the same experience. You also cannot yet get a wheel that compares to the epic Logitech G25 in NZ for Xbox.

But then again, those are all minor issues. Considering there's even more Forza 3 on the way with a holiday DLC pack containing new cars and tracks, it's a game that keeps on giving.

Definitely the racing game of the moment. Best experienced with a wheel, especially if you are willing to drop the coin on importing a Fanatec Porsche model. Get some 5.1 sound, turn the sub up to eleven and drop the hammer.

Yes GT5 is around the corner, but if you are a racing game fan at all, you'd be silly to wait until next year for it when Forza 3 is here right now, and damned good fun at that. Besides, that game could still be delayed again, or even, dare I say, not as good as it's hyped up to be. As a racing fan I hope it is everything I've ever wanted. But today, Forza is certainly close enough.

Get both - I will. Flame on.