Volume 44 -- April 26, 2007
By: Che Chou
It's Like King Kong vs. Godzilla...
A Turn 10 Pitpass Report on a Thursday? Now you've surely seen it all. Welcome one and all to another weekly update covering console racing's first (and best) next-gen racing sim, Forza Motorsport 2. We've been doing these WPRs for quite a while now but in case you're new in Forza town, go and read up on some of the past WPRs to see what we've been up to. In fact, I encourage you to go and read the past 5 or 6 reports if you're looking for some cool info on Forza 2 (which comes out May 29th in North America). As with last week, there will be no drawn out overtures before we kick things off because we've got some exciting stuff to show and tell in this week's WPR. Before we get into it, one quick word about the impending Forza Motorsport 2 Xbox Live Marketplace demo -- it is coming soon but we haven't been told a date and Turn 10 doesn't set the dates. In other words, I don't know when the demo is coming so please stop asking. :) I know you guys absolutely can't wait to get your hands on the demo but there's a marketing timeline, and even though it may not make a lot of sense now, trust me, there's a rhyme and reason at work here. Have faith!
Here at Turn 10, we're closing down the project and playing lots and lots of Forza 2. We officially kicked off our automated (but controlled) tournament system for the game on a closed circuit network (available only to Microsoft devs and the press), giving us a small taste of how tourneys may play out over Xbox Live. Here's a quick recap of how the online tournament feature works in our game. Each week, we're setting up tournaments on Xbox Live in each of the classes (D-R1). Qualifying for these tourneys is as easy as logging a hotlap session and posting your fastest time -- after which you'll be seeded in the tournament, ranked on how well your did in your qualifying time. If you qualified high, you'll find yourself scheduled to race in a heat on the bracket with 3 or less other contestants. If you didn't do so well qualifying, you end up in a heat with 7 other players. The idea here is that those who qualified high get an automatic pass to move past the initial round because to move to the next round, you'll need to place 4th place or higher in a race. Qualifying for each tournament is typically open for 2 days, after which you can browse the brackets and see which heat you've been assigned. We'll have much more detail on the tournament system in an upcoming WPR, including a weekly schedule.
But tournaments have completely consumed us here at Turn 10. Most of us who spent most of our time playing single-player have now gotten completely distracted as we constantly try to outdo each other's qualifying times, perfect our car setups for an upcoming heat, and watch and obsess over saved replay files to see who griefed who.
In fact, here now with a first-hand account of tournament madness here is Rob Fulwell, software development engineer at Turn 10:
"We finally have some time to take a breath and enjoy the game so naturally the first thing we do is build tension by setting up tournaments to mimic what Xbox Live will look like once we launch. The first tourney on Monday was restricted to class C and I spent some time yesterday looking around for a suitable car. At first I tried out the slightly modified ’69 Fairlady Z I received as a gift during Career play. While that car is fairly fast for the class, I couldn’t help feeling that I wasn’t in the fastest car for this event. Thinking a bit more about it, the suspension on that car is still a little bit loosey-goosey and it could prove challenging to maintain consistency for the 10 laps at Mugello short that is first round of the tourney.
"Next up, I evaluated my 1973 911 Carrera RS (also at the top of the C class). On paper, I like this car but I have not found a combination of upgrades that really gets the most out of it in terms of top end so I dismissed this one fairly quickly despite the fact that it is a very pretty car. Yesterday, I also checked out the 914/6 with upgrades à la “chespace” but I was still solidly 2 seconds off the fastest qualifying pace. Not acceptable!
"Today, I reveled in the lack of meetings and the fact that I was not buried in last-minute work for our impending release. However, I was still unsatisfied with my choices for the C class tourny and while my trusty B Class Camaro SS proved to be a good pick-me-up (that car is pure fun!) the lack of a good choice for the afternoon’s event nagged at the back of my mind. In desperation, I tried a couple more cars in a couple of different upgrade configurations. The most valuable piece of information that I learned (which, on reflection I should have known at the outset) is that body kits and aero pieces are almost completely superfluous on C class cars. The principle effect those bits had on my custom Mazdaspeed Roadster was to slow it down with all the extra drag!
"At this point, time is growing short. With less than 45 minutes until the flag drops on my heat, other tournament participants are already racing and I still haven’t found the car. While in the process of tuning up a newly streamlined configuration on my Mazda, I looked over at Che’s screen where he was watching other folks just starting their heats, featured on ForzaTV. At the moment of the start I realized that I didn’t care so much about the qualifying time as much as getting a great launch and getting out in front of the pack. As long as I raced consistently and nobody found a car that could totally outclass mine, I would be okay.
"With this in mind I returned to my garage and found the utilitarian but nimble Lancia Delta Integrale. This is an AWD car I’ve enjoyed since V1 days when a certain downhill course first started taking shape. Now a few modest power and suspension upgrades along with slightly improved tires allowed me to bring the up to the very peak of the C class. After a slight change to allow me to modify the final drive ratio a quick trip into Test Drive helped get the gearing just right for that all-important launch. With at least four or five minutes to spare (!), I joined the lobby and hooked up my headset. I have to admit that despite the fact that I have done this countless times, I was a bit nervous about this first tournament. After the effort picking and setting up the car I really wanted to put in a good showing. One of my colleagues apparently thought similarly to me and he joined me at the front of the grid (we were ordered by Performance Index) with *his* customized Integrale. I was a bit worried about the competition as we both sprinted away from the pack off the start but luckily for me, he blew turn one and I just had to race cleanly to build a slight lead and circulate to the finish -- leading wire to wire."
And now, onto this week's official Forza Motorsport 2 video...
American Muscle vs. JDM
Yes, that's right. You've read countless forum threads on the hypotheticals -- American muscle or Japanese tech, blah blah blah. You've staged the fantasy raced in your mind. You may have even done this very match-up in Forza Motorsport on Xbox. But you've never seen or heard a battle of East meets West quite like the race we captured and pieced together from a couple of replay perspectives earlier this week. The event itself is fairly straightforward. I'm driving the Toyota second-gen MR2 while my office mate Rob commandeers a mean 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS in a field of JDM favorites at Suzuka Circuit, Japan. There's actually a third guy from Turn 10 in the race (driving the R34 Skyline) but he pretty much gets left in the dust early on (sorry Mike!) -- still, he rules because he wrote and performed the Forza 2 theme song. For some random challenge, we threw in a few AI racers in there to keep the roads somewhat crowded.
We wanted a race with two drastically different types of cars in terms of power and handling, but two cars that would be highly competitive nonetheless. In the end, we settled on a B class limitation. Rob managed to squeeze his car up to a B700, while I was one point off at B699.
Here's the tale of the tape:
1995 Toyota MR2 GT
Driver: chespace
Power: 254 hp
Torque: 239 lb-ft
Weight: 2,134 lbs
Front: 42%
Origin: Japan
Modifications: AEM Asia street intake; HKS street exhaust; Endless race brakes; JIC Magic race springs and dampers; Tanabe race anti-roll bars; TRD race transmission; Ogura race clutch; Toda race flywheel; TRD race driveline; Cusco race differential; Bride stage III weight reduction; Michelin sport tire compound; Front tire width: 205/40R17; Rear tire width: 235/35R17; Yokohama Series X rims; Bomex street rear wing kit.
1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS
Driver: robful
Power: 449 hp
Torque: 496 lb-ft
Weight: 3,104 lbs
Front: 56%
Origin: The U S of A
Modifications: AEM sport intake; Borla USA race exhaust; Champion street ignition upgrade; Magnuson Magnacharger street positive displacement supercharger; Wilwood race brakes; Koni USA race springs and dampers; Addco race anti-roll bars; GM performance division sport transmission; Tilton race clutch; Fidanza sport flywheel; GM performance division race driveline; Eaton Posi race differential; Sparco Europe stage II weight reduction; BF Goodrich sport tires with stock rims.
As you can see for yourself, the race itself is pretty straightforward. My MR2 got off to a pretty good start, but lost some time playing in the dirt. Towards the end of the first lap, Rob is bearing down on me with his beastly V8 growl like a lion pouncing on his prey. As I tried to maintain my lead with a slower, albeit lighter and more agile car, I could feel the pressure and literally hear his approach. On turn 1 for laps 2 and 3, we swap places a couple times -- the MR2 was excellent at outbraking anything he could throw at me but in the end it came down to the final back straight. I tried to block his approach but didn't want to race dirty, particularly because if I had tried to make any contact with his car, it would have been a guaranteed punt for my smaller MR2.
Finally, after the race, he does a couple donuts for his little victory dance. Those of you more astute will note that during the end sequence, his car lacks an aftermarket wing in the back. That's right, we took that footage at a separate time and editeded that into the video for fun, so please excuse that inconsistency. I know you can do it. Finally, I want to give a shout out to Colin Mclough, who spent a good deal of time this week hacking together a bunch of footage I gave him. Thanks a bunch.
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