Volume 86 -- April 4, 2008

A Turn 10 Introduction...

By: Che Chou, Community Manager

Hey folks, welcome back to the Turn 10 Pitpass Report, the official weekly update from the makers of Forza Motorsport (accept no imitations!). As we spool up for spring '08, we edge ever closer to the one-year anniversary of Forza 2, which, some of you may remember, was released May of last year. There's plenty to celebrate, of course; since that time, Forza 2 has ended up in the hands of well over 3 million discerning Xbox 360 owners worldwide. On the community side, our Xbox Live numbers are healthy as Forza 2 continues to creep back into the top-10 most played online games for Xbox 360. Then all you need to do is spend five minutes here at Forzamotorsport.net to see some of the amazing user-generated content (aka kickass customized cars and paintjobs) being posted to our forums every day.

An intense battle by: DaggetDagnabbit - Forza Central Photo Comp.

So while we're already full-speed ahead on our next big project, a good portion of the team (especially Landin and I) have never taken our focus off last year's game that's gotten us to where we are today. So in anticipation for the upcoming one-year mark, we're preparing for a community-wide celebration. No specifics just yet, but after chatting with Landin about the possibilities today, we're pretty excited about trying to make the occasion something of a weeklong event. More on this as we brainstorm the details. As for our next big project, more on that at some point too.

A pair of Champion RS6's by: m00se79 - Official Audi Photomode Contest

What I can tell you, however, is that Turn 10's game director Dan Greenawalt has embarked as of this week on his one-month long maternity leave to get acquainted with his new baby twins, Soren and Wyatt. Not to shortchange the unique challenges both physical and psychological of child rearing, but it seems now that Dan has a bit of idle time on his hands, he's gotten the itch to mod/upgrade his Imola yellow 2000 Audi S4 once again. Those of you who have been reading Forzamotorsport.net since its rebirth in early 2006 may remember the saga of Dan and his S4 upgrades, which went from a stealthy Stage 1 to a not-so-modest Stage 2 thanks to the Deutsche Autos specialists Matrix Integrated in Portland, Oregon. Anyways, he emailed a couple times this week, presumably kickin' it on his couch, a baby cradled in each arm, to let me know that it's about to go down and also that he's going to blog about the process again. Sweet, I definitely look forward to his new mods. If memory serves correctly, Dan's S4 absolutely does not need anymore horsepower, so I believe he's going to work on the performance of the B5 platform for handling and balance.

Forum user Snowowl submitted this photo while exploring the shady underbelly of Hollywood, CA.

All this talk about Dan's S4 segues nicely into my next bullet point. It's become pretty clear to us that a good portion of you here at FM.net are hardcore about cars -- whether it's in the game or your own ride in real-life. It's almost as if the latter informs the former as you live out your vehicular fantasies in the game. Yet, you are what you drive. (Yo, that was our marketing mantra for Forza 1, remember?) So in the spirit of expressing who you are out there, we've brought new emphasis to the General Automotive Discussion forum at FM.net that's had its small group of devotees over the past year. Go check it out. Let us know what you drive in real life. Post some cool pics. Just like what we do now with your Forza cars, we're going to start celebrating your real-life cars as well, and admire all those sick/sweet/insane/ridiculous mods you've slapped onto your <insert car here>. Since the warranty on my own 2002 Audi S4 just ran up in March, I'm thinking along the same lines as Dan, although I may just chip the ECU and blow up my turbos first.

The 1971 3.0 CSL leading the pack by: Darin - Forza Central Photo Comp.

In case you don't frequent the front page of the site, I also want to drop a reminder here to be sure and check out our official Road America track guide, written by the community for the community. The effort was a collaboration between TRC Solo (our forum moderator and overall hotlap-obsessed speed demon) and another batch of clean and useful videos from Landin. If, after reading the Road America track guide, you think you can help us whip up something similar for any other Forza 2 track of your choice, please let us know and we'll hook it up. So far, feedback has been rather encouraging so I definitely want to keep this sort of content somewhat regular here. Also, with the exploding popularity of the Tuning Marketplace forum, we think some of you out there might be perfect for imparting some of that car tweaking/tuning wisdom for the masses. Let us know if you're interested in writing about tuning techniques and philosophies; even if it's something super specific like tuning for certain tracks, car classes, or racing styles.

J. Mason ponders the Lotus syndrome in this edition of the Turn 10 Car of the Week.

Before you call it a week (or weekend), be sure to check out two more FM.net staples. First, we ran a Forza 2 March Car Pack "graphic design" contest last week where we asked our photomode masters to create mock ads that you might see in the pages of magazines or websites to promote said DLC. You can head over this thread to check out all the fun submissions (and yes, they are fun and creative). We said we were going to announce the grand prize winner this week so here it is below. Congrats to long-time FM.net member RoxxApexx for his classy reinterpretation of a Porsche magazine ad. There were plenty of other excellent finalists (10 of them, in fact) that we ended up choosing 2nd and 3rd place winners. We're going to show all runners-up winners and finalists on Monday so look for that on the ol' Turn 10 blog.

And finally, be sure to check out this week's edition of the Turn 10 Car of the Week. Turn 10's J. Mason returns to discuss the pros and cons of the venerable Lotus Elise and Exige family of roadsters. What is the Lotus syndrome? Find out here. Ciao!

Congratulations to RoxxApexx for winning our first ever graphic design contest!

The Forza Motorsport 2 Community Update

By: Landin Williams, Community Moderator

It has been a very interesting week in the community, and I’m back again for the weekly shakedown.  As always the community is changing, evolving and innovating new ways to experience and enjoy Forza Motorsport 2. Honestly, it never ceases to amaze me.  I load up the forums, take a gander at the various sections, and find an endless supply of cool things to write about on Friday’s. This week is no different.

We had some serious activity on our Time Trial scoreboards and have also been graced with an all new ranking system courtesy of the IFCA.  Personally I am really excited about this new system, and I think it will create a huge amount of competition between some of the fastest drivers in the game.  All the juicy details will be divulged later, because first I want to talk about a local event here in Washington that almost inspired me to pick up a beautiful 300ZX Twin Turbo at a price almost too good to be true.  Of course I didn’t act, but the point of the story is I was very close to buying this car, and really close to learning how to drift with the help of the SCCA’s Drift School.

The S-Line will never follow by: Munky - Official Audi Photomode Contest

Now when you read the word “school” you might not get excited, but when you put the word “Drift” in front of it, everything changes.  All of a sudden my thoughts of sitting in a classroom are transformed into feelings of excitement and danger, as I push my trusty 300ZX past the limits of grip and traction, into an elegant slide that can only be described as “the best moment in my life”.  I then snap back to reality and remember that I have to harass Che for a ride home tonight, so that I don’t have to take the bus...but for that moment I was living my dream.

As you can imagine being able to drift in real life is something that is extremely high on my “Lifelong To-Do List”, and I know I’m not alone.  As a matter of fact the whole reason why I will be attending this Saturday’s SCCA sanctioned Drift event, is because of a local Forza 2 drifting fan that brought it to my attention.  If you don’t already know about “Tatakai” then you should check out his Forza 2 drifting video that was promoted in one of the previous community updates.  If you do know about him, then you probably also know that he has been hard at work on his RX-7 (FC), making all the necessary preparations for its drifting debut, in this weekend’s SCCA Drift School event. I, along with my trusty sidekick Adam, will be there to bring home the story of the Forza drifter gone real.

1971 BMW 3.0 CSL by: brandonp51 - Forza Central Photo Comp. 

This is a unique story of someone who has been involved with drifting on many levels, but has yet to take that final step into the realm of real life drifting.  This Saturday will be the true test, as Tatakai will unleash his beloved RX-7 into the drifting abyss…and we will be there to cover every exciting moment!  So as I look forward to waking up at 6 AM on a Saturday to make the drive up to Bremerton Motorsports Park, you can all look forward to an action packed article, showcasing Tatakai’s first time drifting experience, as well as the SCCA’s Drift School.  I would send out the call to anyone in the area willing to stop by and kick it, but unfortunately spectators are not allowed at the event (sorry folks).  Well, at least you can read all about the details in next week’s Community Update, so stay tuned.

This Evo X is ready to jump through the screen by: RoxxApexx

So while I was daydreaming about the lost opportunity on that beautiful 300ZX that’s already been sold (it's okay, I’d rather have an S14 anyway) our racing community has been fighting for the top spot on the IFCA’s rankings of the world’s fastest Forza 2 drivers.  TDR GTDon from the IFCA has been hard at work, crunching numbers and making calculations all in an attempt to rank the top drivers in the game, and I have to say the results have been pretty exciting.  So what’s this all about you ask?  Here is how it works. 

The International Forza Club Association (IFCA) has organized a list of 80 racers, who are hands down some of the fastest Forza 2 racers on the planet.  Each drive’s skill has been assessed based on everything from their overall Hotlap and Time Trial rank, to their performance in not only IFCA sanctioned events, but also CGS events.  They have even gone through the trouble of discussing and arguing with the community, regarding who should and should not be included.

A pair of Audi R10's by: MaxAttack - Official Audi Photomode Contest

After researching a bit more into this list of “Elite Racers” I stumbled across a few statements from GTDon that really summarize what the IFCA is trying to accomplish.  “The idea is to have a ladder that everyone can be a part of” he says “a ladder that really means something.”  So is this list perfect you ask?  Well according to Don the list if far from perfect at this early stage, but as challenges are made and more and more drivers participate, the list will become more accurate and will have a greater meaning within the community.

So how do you get involved?  Well first of all you need to consider the fact that the list is always changing, and names are moving around.  Why? Because at any time a driver can challenge someone with a higher rank to a one-on-one battle.  So basically if you win you move up, and if you lose you move down.  Now of course this is a very basic explanation and there are many specific rules and regulations, but overall this is how it works.   One special rule that is worth mentioning is that if you are an “Unranked” driver then you are only allowed to challenge drivers who are ranked below 70 on the list.  The list will not be updated on a daily basis however, but all results will be tracked, and used to change the rankings when they are updated (3 month stints I think).

So you want to issue a challenge and start working your way to the top?  Then head on over to the World Rankings thread and post a challenge.  The arguments and discussions have already begun so get ta’ steppin’!  Oh and by the way; if you’re thinking of deliberately taking someone out during a challenge, then you better think again, as the IFCA will be monitoring all of these challenges for dirty driving!  With Race Officials watching for deliberate contact, and a head to head challenge ladder, the IFCA is working really hard to spark some competition in the community…and guess what? Competition is exactly what we got.

Two SEAT Leon Supercups by: Sigfried Ander - Racing Pictures Gallery

The top racers on the overall Time Trial’s rollup board have been fighting for position all week, and I have to assume that these drivers were trying to improve their IFCA ranking.  Either way we saw the number one position switch hands twice already this week, with BackONE fending off his title from R2P KimiMatt, who snagged the title earlier this week by only a few hundredths of a second!  Also worth mentioning is the mysterious clan tag that has appeared in front of BackONE’s gamertag -- V12? Very interesting.  We also saw Avesta F1 drop off the podium, as xxD4RK SP33Dxx moved up to occupy the 3rd position on the overall leaderboard.  All in all you could say it was a very exciting week in the world of Time Trials and personally I am hoping that things will just get better with...well time!

A vintage looking shot by: cello50 - Official Audi Photomode Contest

This week we have yet another Hotlap challenge for all you racers out there.  It’s hard to believe that this will be our 29th challenge already, and were still going strong!  Additionally we are planning on launching Season 3 of our Official Hotlap Series next week, so if you are looking to participate, make sure to read the rules and register in the official thread here.  Any news and/or updates will be posted in that thread so make sure to check back regularly if you hope to get involved with the competition.  For Week 29 we have created an R1 challenge on Road America to celebrate the release of our most recent Track Guide as Che has already mentioned.  So check out the guide, find your line and braking points, and see how you stack up against the rest of the community in our Hotlap Challenge!

And that's not all! As a special bonus I have added another recurring tournament to the weekly roster.  As some of you know I recently asked the community to provide feedback regarding what sorts of tournaments they would like to see, and as a result I have officially launched the Turn 10 Sunday Challenge, a tournament that will start and finish in the same day.  Qualifications will start in the morning, and will run up until the first round.  Each round will be separated by a 60 minute break period to give everyone a chance to practice, relax or grab some food. The tournament has 3 tiers of 64 racers each, who will battle through four rounds of intense racing action.  If you have a tournament to request, or would like to discuss the Sunday Challenge, check out this thread and post your thoughts!

This M3 E30's engine bay was too sexy to remain undiscovered...

Currently the schedule is set to cater to the North American crowd; however after I confirm that the settings are correct, I will be creating a duplicate tournament geared towards the European crowd.  Another great thing about this tournament is that the settings will rotate every week to keep things fresh.  There are five different track combinations (DLC included), so you won’t find yourself running the same tracks every week!  This is only the first step towards revitalizing our current tournament system, and if all goes well I will continue to roll out custom tournaments to spice things up!

...and so is the front!  So clean. So fresh.  So check the rest.

And with that said, I am off in a cloud of dust.  If you like the pictures of that beautiful red E30 M3 up there, with one of the cleanest engine bays I’ve ever seen, then check out our newly positioned automotive discussion forum and post up your favorite car.  Additionally if you run a Forza 2 based community site then make sure to stop by this thread, where forum user “bigbluesd” is trying to collect a list of all the Forza 2 community sites in existence.  One good reason to stop by and post your website/forum is because I am looking to create a fansite link's page here on FM.net, so this thread will help me find the sites that should be included.

Alright thanks again for tuning in to our weekly community update.  I hope you enjoyed the read, and from everyone here at Turn 10 enjoy your weekend!

Peace

Landin