Volume 47 -- May 18, 2007
By: Che Chou
Forza Motorsport 2 is Big in Japan
Welcome back to the Turn 10 Pitpass Report, your weekly fix from Turn 10 covering the world of Forza Motorsport 2. We are now officially less than two weeks away from the retail release of the game and -- just think about this -- by the time we hit WPR #50, all of you will have had in your hands a copy of the game for days. You will have stayed up for nights playing the stuffings out of career mode and qualified for your first tournaments -- maybe even sold or bid on your first cars in the auction house. Two weeks from today, you'll have snapped photos of your car collection on and off the track, posted them onto our (no wait, they're just as equally your) forums, all of this using Forzamotorsport.net as your hub of Forza 2 activity. You will have bags under your eyes and maybe missed a day or two of work. But it'll be good. And you'll look back on the past six months of agonizing waits and rumor mongering with a kind of fondness you certainly don't feel like you could muster up now as you read these words. But mark my words, it will happen. And we can't wait for the curtains to lift and this calm before the storm to pass.
Forza Motorsport 2 Takes Tokyo
And what a calm it is at the moment here at Turn 10. I think I saw a tumbleweed earlier while walking through the halls. Although it's not quite a ghost town, it is uncharacteristically quiet here as many of the team are taking well-deserved breaks (although I have a feeling equally as many of them are reading WPRs and lurking on the forums with as much anxiety as the rest of you). Those that are still in the office are monitoring the buzz around the game. This week, many of you may have noticed that Japan was the Forza 2 hotspot as our Japanese marketing team turned up the heat over there with a successful hands-on event featuring professional JGTC racers and hordes of eager fans and curious onlookers.
Although I understand not many of you out there who frequent the WPRs can read or speak Japanese, I've compiled for you a summary of coverage coming out of Japanese media over the past week. If you clicky-click on the links, you'll see plenty of pics that tell a whole story in and of themselves. The entire setup was very impressive and probably close to something we at Turn 10 would have done ourselves if we were planning an event of this nature. The fact that they had four triple-screen cockpits and two big plasmas to show off the race from the spectator's view was sweet. Even more awesome was the fact that they were able to nab pro racers from Japan for some wheel-to-wheel action. I wish I could have seen the replay movie. Now that I think about it... I hope somebody saved it!
Forza Motorsport 2 Coverage in Japan this Week:
Of the coverage above, it's great to see blog entries from folks like Naoki Hattori and Manabu Orido on their experience with the game and the event. It seems to echo what we've found so far too, that professional racers have a far easier time with Forza 2 than any other racing game ever created. Once they get dialed in with the feel of the wheel, they have no problems churning out laptimes which are very simlar to those of their real-life counterparts. We saw this with Gunnar Jeannette when he playtested the game and helped us tune car physics, and saw it again with ALMS drivers Mika Salo and Jaime Melo from Risi Competizione.
Along the same lines, a buddy of mine named Cormac (currently living in Tokyo and probably until the end of time) found a recent Q&A with a former Japanese GT racer and has kindly translated the whole thing for this week's WPR.
Take it away, Cormacaroni!
"Here’s a recent interview with former GT racer Takeshi Tsuchiya from the official Japanese Xbox site. I thought it was quite fun (if obviously a bit of a puff piece) so I translated the Q&A section to kill a slow afternoon at work. The intro deals mainly with the details of his background and play session (on an April build of Forza 2 on the triple-screen set-up, with wheel, cockpit, etc). He chose the car he raced professionally on Suzuka, the Eclipse Advan Supra, and after tweaking his settings and doing a number of trial laps, managed to pretty much nail his real life time, posting a best lap of 1.58.395."
Q: So, how was it?
Takeshi Tsuchiya: I was quite impressed at how realistic the earlier versions felt, but this new version is a considerable step up, both the graphics and the handling. They’ve nailed the feeling of actually driving a GT 500 car. There’s practically no difference between the way it feels to hit or release the gas, the braking, or shifting. Although you don’t get much feedback on physical forces like G, there’s enough to let you know when you might be headed for trouble. Apart from all that, I just loved racing around in a game in a car that I’d actually driven. Not only is the Eclipse Advan Supra a really cool-looking car, its handling is real sharp – I love it.
Q: You adjusted your settings a lot – how was that aspect of it?
TT: I just can’t race smoothly or enjoyably without the car being set up properly. In an actual race, I make little adjustments on every lap. You have to use your head in exactly the same way as you would in real life – you might want to set it up so that you don’t lose it on the curves, but if you overdo it, you might not be able to turn fast enough, things like that. Today, I just did enough tuning to be able to take the last corner at full throttle, but it was very close to the set-up I actually use in practice with the real car. I’m sure if I spent more time on it, I could get a better time with some fine-tuning.
Q: Any tips for us?
TT: It’s just as difficult to drive in the game as it is in real life, so the best advice is probably to practice in a real car ;) Joking aside, if you want to play as I do with the assists (ABS, TCS) etc. off, the first tuning adjustment you should make is to make sure the rear tires don’t spin when you hit the throttle. Next, I’d set it up to make it easier to take the turns. Everyone has their own driving style, so they should practice a lot and make their own adjustments. Prepare for the race with the same concentration as you would use if you were getting ready to race on a circuit in a GT car.
Q: This time you went for a Time Trial, but what other modes are you interested in?
TT: Since FM2 reproduces car characteristics so accurately, what I want to do most are virtual test-drives, where I take cars I could never afford out on the circuit to see what they’re like and how they handle. Also, racing against other players looks fun. If I did it, I’m sorry but I’d have to go all-out – I don’t think anyone would have a chance at taking me on Suzuka with the Eclipse Advan Supra, no matter how good a gamer they are!
Q: Finally, a message for the fans eagerly awaiting Forza Motorsport 2 please!
TT: I think it really goes beyond what you expect from a game. I think it’s probably the first racing game that a real life race driver like myself can actually win at ;) Only race drivers ever get the chance to drive a race car. This game is the only one that can give you a glimpse of the real world of the circuit as seen from the cockpit of a race car. I really want you to play this, so you can realize that it’s pretty freaking tough being a race driver! ;)
Forza Motorsport 2 Given Platinum Award by Famitsu Magazine!
Last, but certainly not least, Forza Motorsport 2 was reviewed this week by Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu and garned a rare platinum award for a score of 36/40 (the game scored 9, 9, 9, 9 across all four reviewers).
Here to put into perspective what a big deal this is, especially for a Western game on Xbox 360, is our main man in Japan, Taro Hakodate:
"Why is scoring a Platinum Award such a big deal in Famitsu? Well, to answer that question, we need to go back. Way Back to the era of the Nintendo Entertainment System. In the U.S., you guys know this system as the “NES”, but it’s original Japanese name is “Nintendo Family Computer”. And in typical Japanese fashion, we like to abbreviate names of all types -- hence, Family Computer became "Famicom". Just like its fate in the States, the Famicom became a hugely successful and popular home video game system, to the point where the word Famicom began to refer to any game console back in the glorious '80s. So it was during the Famicom era that Japan had its first home video game magazine called “Famicom Tsushin”. The word “Tsushin” means “Press” or “News Service”.
"Like I said, the Japanese love to abbreviate and the title “Famicom Tsushin” was still much too long to say with any sort of grace, so with yet another abbreviation, the name of the magazine was shortened to “Fami-Tsu”. Famitsu's first issue was published 21 years ago. Although the mag started out featuring Nintendo only coverage, they soon began covering other game consoles from the likes of Sega, then Sony then Microsoft. Yet, because it's now an institution in the gaming world in Japan, the magazine has retained its Famitsu title.
"The reputation of Famitsu was quickly built and largely characterized by its (at the time) unique review articles. The magazine features a weekly “Cross Review” -- in each issue, without fail, rain or shine, four editors write a fairly short review of the week's releases with a score out of 10. If the total reviewer scores add up to over 30 points, then the title gets a “Silver Hall of Fame” award; games with over 32 points gets a “Gold Hall of Fame” award, while games with over 35 points get the coveted “Platinum Hall of Fame” award. Last year, among the thousands of game titles released in Japan, only 30 games were granted Platinum awards -- that's maybe less than 5% of all games published in 2006.
"Since Eastern and Western games often get lost in translation, it's often very challenging for American-made Xbox 360 games to get high scores with the Japanese press. As Microsoft Game Studios, we’ve gotten Platinum awards in only three prior instances: Fable (35 pts), Blue Dragon (37 pts), and of course, Gears of War (37 pts) -- I'm thrilled now to add Forza 2 as the studio's fourth Platinum title with an incredible score of 36 out of 40! Congratulations, Turn 10!"
Famitsu's Reviews Translated
Those of you curious to see what Famitsu's reviewers actually wrote, a forum member named Sugaki over at NeoGAF has kindly translated and posted each of the short reviews. Here they are in their entirety -- and of course, a special thanks to Sugaki for his translation. Cheers.
"Kamikaze" Nagata: As it stands now, the ultimate racing game. No complaints about the variety of car types offered. Can micromanage the different assists, and it's good how that impacts your race bonus. Even beginners can get into the races. A lot of features aside from Xbox Live. 9/10
Yamamoto "Benki": Career mode lets you swap cars and mod them, which is very satisfying. There's plenty of options for cars, parts and settings. In the beginning it can be intimidating since the races are more in the realm of simulation, but as in real life, you can improve the handling to get a smoother ride. It's a game that I really want to thoroughly play through. 9/10
Yoshiike Maria: You can simply pick up and play the game, or really get nitty gritty with all the intricate settings. Depending on the car, some races are a bit challenging with normal tires, but once you get over that you can enjoy driving the car for awhile. [Something about her being straightly impressed with the sounds of the tires... some letters are obscuring her review]. 9/10
Dealy Matsuo: With all the options to change assists, it has depth that can be appreciated as both a simulator and a game. No complaints about the variety of cars and car mods. Although there's no tutorial, the game is easy to play with all of the assists. Loading times before races are neither slow nor fast. 9/10
Forza Motorsport 2 Demo Hotlap Contest Winners
Congrats to everyone a job well done! There were some incredibly fast laptimes in there... in fact, some were a little, ahem, too fast (and they have since been called out and disqualified). Those of you who did make it as one of the top three winners in each class, consider yourselves winners! If you were in the top three in multiple classes, we removed you from the other classes to give others a chance.
So what do you have to do now to claim your Forza Motorsport 2 Xbox 360 faceplate and license plate frame? Simply email forzafb@microsoft.com with the subject header "FM2 Demo Hotlap Winner" and include your real name, mailing address, forum nickname, and gamertag. I'll get the stuff sent out on Monday. Remember, if you're not a resident of the United States, you are ineligble for prizes. Congrats to the winners once again, and a special thanks to FM.net forum moderator Chewbacca IV for helping me run the contest.
R2 Class Winners:
1. Crosswind - 00:49.306
2. TRC Dark Storm - 00:49.374
3. Magzm8 - 00:49.574
A Class Winners:
1. D2C Ch0mpr - 00:56.575
2. Nation World - 00:56.651
3. VVV Snake - 00:56.899
C Class Winners:
1. TRC sx240 - 01:02.612
2. PpR Greeksniper - 01:02.813
3. Skywalker - 01:02.837
FM2 Replay Theater: Mercedes vs. BMW Motorsport
It just wouldn't be a WPR these days without a video to end the week. With the game release just around the corner, this video will be one of our last for a while. It might be back by popular demand, but with the game in the public's hands, I trust all of you to make much more exciting movies, especially since you'll be unshackled by the chains of our licensing agreements. This week, we've got yet another epic match-up between two legendary manufacturers from Deutschland.
Here's the premise: It's Mercedes vs. BMW Motorsport in a six lap skirmish at Silverstone in the UK. The video was captured using a multiplayer replay we captured earlier this week. The lobby was setup with team match rules, with three pairs of cars across three different classes. At the top of the class for both Mercedes and Bimmer are burly monstrously powerful cars. Representing Mercedes is the venerable CLK GTR, while BMW Motorsport brings its track-worthy E46 M3 GTR. While the CLK has about 115 more hp than the M3, it also weighs nearly 1,000 lbs more.
As you'll see in the video, my CLK GTR has got the legs on the straights, but I lose lots of time around every corner -- and it only takes the M3 less than a lap to get fully caught up, even while the car was caught early on in unfriendly traffic. And I suppose in a multiclass race, that's what the slower cars are supposed to do. My roommate Rob Fulwell is rockin' the M3 GTR while I'm trying to fend him off with the CLK. We got into a pretty tense battle and... well, I won't give it away.
Enjoy the video, play the demo, and have a great weekend. Note that screenshots are not clickable this week. It saves me time and it seems most folks would rather just watch the video anyway and that makes sense. Also, I apologize ahead of time for having not gotten back to some of you with your private messages -- I'll try to get through these one day. Additionally, I'll be out most of next week for a Canadian press tour but will be checking in often on the forums. Y'all be good now, hear?
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