Volume 81 -- Feb. 29, 2008

New Stuff On The Way...

By: Che Chou, Community Manager

Greetings Forza fans, and welcome to the Turn 10 Weekly Pitpass Report. Before I start into the updates this week, I just want everyone to pause and take a good look at the cover image. It's one of the entries in this week's altered-touched-up Forza 2 screenshot competition; a contest for the truly creative where Paintshop is your best friend. It's just another way folks are expressing themselves with the canvas that's Forza Motorsport 2. Sharing creative content is an every day occurence here in Forza Land, whether you're doing it on the track, in the Auction House, or here on FM.net. To that end, I've been looking at ways to evolve FM.net to reflect what folks love to do here on this site. It's been a fun process so far, and that's all I'll say at this point. When I've got more to share, you'll be the first to find out.

2003 Nissan Fairlady Z by: Cyrax71 - Drifting Pictures Gallery

Speaking of web features, we've got the scoreboard filters going live sometime next week. I'll drop a note in our blog when it goes live to discuss its release and read feedback from those who'll use the feature (i.e. you). It may not look like it from the outside, but it's been busy around here at Turn 10. First of all, there was athe flurry of storytelling and sharing of awesome personal blackmail material from those returning from the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco last week. Apparently, there were a few parties in the city by the bay and Turn 10 was on-hand at seemingly all of them.

1973 Porsche 911 RS by: DigitallyInsane - Realistic Photomode Gallery

Then there's the fact that we've been crunching hard to shut down work on our upcoming DLC. Nope, not going to say what that content actually is, but we've got some cool stuff coming up in support of our next DLC pack and, in typical fashion, Landin's been busy slaving away in front of the video console crafting a wicked little teaser to get the blood pumpin'. That's all I can say for now. We will likely have more to talk about next week, fingers-crossed. In the meantime, keep those DLC dreams alive.

A Pair of BMW M3 GTR's by: goingtoooofast - Ace Photomode Comp.

I'd also like to thank all of you who have sent in your resumes and cover letters for a position here at Turn 10. I have forwarded all your submissions to the various heads here at Turn 10 and will let them take it from there. If I have not personally responded to your entry, I apologize -- but you should definitely assume that your resume is at least in the email inbox of the right hiring managers here at Turn 10. That said, we're still looking for new talent here. If you're a passionate game developer who is looking to join the world-class team here at Turn 10, let us know!

A pack of R2's by: Mazda6 MPS - Racing Photomode Gallery 

We're also looking to hear from the top 30 finishers in last week's Championship Gaming Series hotlap challenge. Landin should already have sent all of those who are qualified to compete in the CGS Combine and Draft a personal message today over Xbox Live to your Gamertags. Here's the deal -- those of you whose names are listed below are basically invited to compete in the draft event and the CGS has already reserved a registration spot for you -- so hop to it if you haven't already contacted us! All the info we need from you guys is listed here in this post on the forum so go check it out.  

Check out Turn 10's Car of the Week on our latest blog entry. J. Mason spots the first Audi R8 in the parking lot of Turn 10 (and Microsoft Game Studios).

It appears that wasn't all the high-stakes competitive Forza racing happening this week. The results from Gamespot.com's own Forza 2 tournament have come in and it's pretty awesome. Four of the top six guys who won the tourney are big-time Forza community VIPs who have shown us week after week that they are some of the fastest Forza racers in the world. We were pretty sure the Forza community could dominate this tournament and these guys didn't let us down. Special congrats to Gatz83 (first place!) and the boys over at R2P (Conman, Flying Scot, and Blackbird) for some spectacular work. For all the latest info and final tally of who won and lost, check out this comprehensive post. Better yet, watch all the action in their recorded webcast here (highly recommended)!

Finally, for those of you who do check out the Gamespot match, you may have noticed that Buttkicker was giving away prizes for spectators over at Gamespot. Well, fret not, if you didn't win one there, you can still purchase one for your racing cockpit or chair at a nice discount courtesy of the folks at Buttkicker. Simply go to this link with the discount codes and you can pick up a Buttkicker for a pretty good price -- only for FM.net readers!

Finally, we're joined once again by our automotive writer J. Mason in the Turn 10 blog as he waxes about this edition of Turn 10's Car of the Week. And just so you know, it isn't just about how hot and bothered he is by the Audi R8 either -- J. Mason gives you some insight into how folks around here get all their DLC work done. Go check it out, and have a stupendous weekend!

1994 Nissan Fairlady Z Version S by: Hixxy78 - Drifting Pictures Gallery

The Forza Motorsport 2 Community Update

By: Landin Williams, Community Moderator

What’s up everyone! This week is all about photography, and how you can use tools like Adobe Photoshop to make some really cool looking pictures from Forza 2. The Photomode feature in Forza 2 allows you to do some really interesting things, and with a little bit of time and creativity you can take these pictures and make something entirely new and different. Of course you don’t need any extra tools to create great looking images of Forza 2 (I'm looking at you Mr. Questtt), but some of these images were so cool that I think they deserve some attention!

A nostalgic Porsche Photoshop by: zero69r - Photoshop Competition

I have spent some time this week browsing through the Photomode and Video forum, and have noticed a “photoshopping” trend that has started to build up some steam and support. For those of you that don’t know the term “photoshopping” refers to a picture that has been edited with an external image editing program such as Adobe Photoshop. If you browse the internet at all you have surely seen some cool looking images from people who take a picture of a stock car and edit in upgrades, essentially transforming it into something entirely different. This is almost exactly what the Forza community is doing, except they are using images from Forza 2, and can do all the customization in-game. :)

One of the coolest things that has recently surfaced is a weekly Photoshop competition, where players are challenged to create the most interesting looking image from in-game pictures that they have uploaded. This competition is hosted by TVR_fan, and relies on user voting to determine the winners each week. You may have noticed some interesting looking images included in previous community updates, all pulled from this competition. The options and boundaries are endless, and as you can see from some of the entries, we have a lot of talented artists on our forums! So if you are looking to get involved with the photoshopping action, then make sure to check out this week’s competition thread here. Remember the boundaries and possibilities are endless, so get creative with your submissions, and maybe you will see your image included in next week’s update!

Check out this crazy panaramic shot by: Hashiriya

Along with the obvious and very stylized image editing done by the photoshoppers, we also have a few users who are making more subtle changes to their pictures to make them stand out from the crowd. For example some players are combining a whole slew of pictures to create one panoramic view of the surroundings. This is a technique used in real life that can apply to Forza 2 if you have the creativity and patience to pull it off.

Thanks to our forum user “goingtoooofast” (who found what I was looking for at lightning speed) I was able to get my hands on an old thread where “hashiriya” was posting and discussing his panoramic shots. You can check the thread out here, if you would like to know how this is accomplished. I have also included a few really cool panoramic images; however the impact is much stronger with full size images, so check the thread! All this got me thinking; what else could the community possibly do with images from Forza 2? Just I thought I had covered it all something else pops up on the radar that was totally unexpected, and this is exactly what “Hadoq” has done with his most recent experiments with HDR. Huh HDR? Keep reading and it will all make sense…maybe.

1999 Ferrari 360 Modena by: Hadoq - Forza 2 Meets HDR

Currently our resident photographer, painter and tuner Hadoq is experimenting with a new technique that is used in real life photography to create vibrant images with intense colors. This technique known as High Dynamic Range or HDR is the process of combining multiple layers of the same image to achieve a look that is essentially impossible to achieve with regular techniques. Now this all sounds pretty confusing, and trust me I am just as lost as some of you may be, but the cool part is that Hadoq has appropriated this technique and used it on his images from Forza 2. I have included a few images for everyone to check out, as well as a link to the thread where all of this is being discussed, so check it out for more information and details!

And finally while on the trail for some cool pictures to include in this week’s report I stumbled upon another user who can not only take some amazing pictures in Forza 2, but also some cool pictures in real life. Sphilli22 is one of the most active members in the Forza photography community and has won practically every single photomode competition at least once. It came to no surprise that this user also has some incredible pictures from real life, so I encourage everyone to go check them out here. Great work!

Another cool panoramic shot on Suzuka by: Hashiriya

Hotlap Series Week 5 – Season 2 Complete!

In other community events the final week in the Official Turn 10 Hotlap Series has been completed today, with some of the fastest Hotlappers known to man running at full potential. Currently we have not finalized the scoring and standings, but will be doing calculations over the weekend to officially determine who came out on top! Next Friday I will include a full breakdown of the season, as well as the final results from the series so stay tuned for all the details. For now here are the top 10 racers from this week’s challenge.

Hotlap Challenge Week 23 – Top 10
1 - R2P EnZo 
2 - R2P KimiMatt 
3 - AJ The Boy 
4 - VVV Daveyskills 
5 - SPDN KyBoOtEr 
6 - IPR Revolution 
7 - R2P Xray 
8 - XFNL Aktie 
9 - R2P CoNCepT 
10 - DONKEY PUNCHER1

Click here to see if you have been selected as one of the random 30 from week 23!

Once the official results are announced (sometime next week) I will be looking for e-mails from the winners to organize prize delivery. There are a lot of in-game rewards to be delivered, so make sure to e-mail us as soon as possible to obtain your prizing. Once again thank you to everyone who has participated in this event over the past 23 weeks! We have not yet decided when the third season will begin, and if any changes will be made, but hopefully next Friday we will have more details available!

1999 Pagani Zonda C12 by: Hadoq - Forza 2 Meets HDR

For this week we have set-up a by-week challenge that features R2 cars on Silverstone Grand Prix.  As always the top 10 along with a random selection of 30 racers will be eligible for a free gift car of choice, so even if you cant get in the top 10 you still have a chance to get your hands on one of the rare cars in Forza 2!

Before I take off for the weekend, I wanted to give a shout out to TRC GeorgiaDawg, who is currently ranked number 1 on both the Career and Exhibition rollup scoreboards! He is also ranked 11th on the hot lap boards and 45th on the time trials board, so congratulations going out to one of the most dedicated and consistently fast drivers around! Additionally a quick shout out to IPR BackONE AbS who was has finally taken the top spot on the overall Time Trials rollup, after a dominating run from Avesta F1! Good work (as usual) and let’s see if Avesta can shave off a few seconds and reclaim the top spot!  Hey Avesta if you are reading this and feel the need to reclaim your top spot then get it done before next Friday’s Pitpass and I will gift you a million credits. It’s only a few seconds, so get to it!

A stylish looking photoshop by: Bonfire - Photoshop Competition

Alright that’s it for this week’s update. Just as a quick reminder, the Cyber Racing World Championship has recently released its third broadcast, featuring intense racing action on Suzuka West.  You can check out the video on the official website here!

Speaking of videos I am currently working on another project here that is progressing very nicley.  From capturing to editing, this video will be produced completely in-house and with everything that has been said this week I expect you all to speculate regarding the subject matter. :)

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading!

Peace

Landin