Volume 98 -- July 3, 2008

Change is Good...

By: Che Chou, Turn 10 Community Manager

Gather 'round, Forza friends and Forza fiends. It is now time for a short history of the Turn 10 Weekly Pitpass Report. It all started back in May of 2006, days before Forza Motorsport 2 was to make its on-stage debut with then-Xbox 360 czar Peter Moore. I still remember the somewhat incredulous reaction I got from Dan Greenawalt, game director here at Turn 10, when told them I wanted to write weekly updates on the development of Forza Motorsport 2. I didn't take it personally, of course, and I could easily see where he was coming from. Previous to Turn 10 actually hiring a community manager, Forzamotorsport.net (still rockin' the original FM1 skin, I might add), saw the rare community update (written by folks not on the dev team) once every few weeks, if the stars aligned and the website published said articles without incident. Then there was the potential problem of actually running out of content to write about week-after-week, especially given PR and marketing constraints on what I could talk about during any given time window.

2006 Ferrari FXX by mnkpro - Realistic Photo Thread

These and other factors combined triggered Dan's "spidey-sense" for failure. Still, in my previous occupation as a videogame journalist, I liked what my colleague Frankie O. was doing over at Bungie.net with his weekly updates and constant interaction with the Halo community. This -- I decided during my research to land a job at Turn 10 -- was the foundation I wanted for my community here at Forzaland. So I embarked on the very first Weekly Pitpass Report and published it during the kickoff 360 press conference of E3, when the initial FM2 CG video made its debut. Those were exciting times. Well, we've come a long way since E3 2006, but I see the approaching 100th Pitpass Report as merely an early milestone in the long road ahead. There's stuff being worked on here at Turn 10 that I simply can't talk about right now, but the progress we've made in the last six months has been absolutely incredible. The fact that we're working on our second game for Xbox 360 means our software architects have figured out ways to push the 360 in ways I didn't think were possible in terms of both visuals and performance.

1998 Subaru Impreza 22B by Aggressor01 - HLC Photo Contest

You'll pardon me if I sound a little excited, because, frankly, I'm frickin' psyched. We just got through a development sprint review meeting before the July 4th weekend -- think of it as a huge team-wide meeting where folks get to show off the stuff they've worked on for the past three weeks -- and some of the demos I just witnessed awakened that fanboy side of me that's been dormant for so very long. And as we approach the 100th Pitpass Report milestone, what I can say is that we have a very special edition of the WPR prepared for you in a couple weeks. Special how? Well, for starters, there'll be a good amount of community activities for you guys to get involved in (I'm brainstorming these with Landin and Fred right now); but beyond just contests and cool unicorn cars, the 100th Pitpass Report will come to FM.net in podcast form. That's right, the WPR is going podcast and it'll feature Landin, Fred, and the whole cast of developers and designers here at Turn 10.

2001 TVR Tuscan R by RoxxApexx - Realistic Photo Thread 

For our first podcast, we'll be hanging out with real-life pro racer Gunnar Jeannette, who's currently racing with Corsa Motorsport in the American LeMans Series, and doing extra credit with others in the FIA GT. Gunnar came through Turn 10 studios this week to hang tough with Dan Greenawalt and chat with us on our podcast, before he heads out to Northern Germany to compete at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben with a race-spec GT3-class Mustang. Also featured on the show will be Dan Greenawalt and yours truly, shootin' the breeze with Gunnar in our makeshift podcast recording closet (aka, "The Capture Station"). As to whether the Pitpass Report podcast will become a weekly occurence, the thought right now is to keep its frequency down to about once a month, and evolving the structure of the show until we're happy with it. After we've got the structure, style, and production on lockdown, I foresee all WPRs at some point to be podcasts and other multimedia type formats (maybe a video?).

Anyway, we hope you're as excited as we are about the Pitpass Report podcast. We'll have more to tell you in the next couple weeks. Before I bounce for the long weekend, I want to say thanks to all those who sent me excellent birthday greetings and gift cars last week -- it was much appreciated. Also, remember we're not having a Turn 10 Game w/ Devs this Friday since it's the Fourth and most folks will be eating cooked meats and other asssorted foods. Also, I checked in with ol' Fred "reDesign" Howell this week and he's making good progress on the next car in our Turn 10 unicorn series -- the official Too Human/Silicon Knights car. This sucker's gonna be one to watch out for. Not only will it be very limited on the Auction House, it's also going to feature some pretty exclusive artwork and signatures from Denis Dyack and other members of the Too Human dev team.

Alright then? Have a great Fourth of July and see you guys next week!

Team T10 Takes on the Forza Community...

By: Landin Williams, Turn 10 Community Lead

Yo! Welcome back to this week’s edition of the Turn 10 community update, your weekly source on everything you need to know about Forza 2 and its online community. As some of you may know, last Friday marked the debut performance of Turn 10’s all new racing division which was recently created in order to challenge the community to a weekly race on Forza 2. Each week the fastest developers from Turn 10 studios will be facing off against a new set of community challengers, in a 3-on-3 team race where the fastest team takes home the glory.

So far our internal crew of racers known simply as “Team T10” is progressing nicely, and while we are still working on perfecting our skills as a team, we have already had our first matchup against The Really Good Forza Drivers (RGFD). We were confident in our skills and as always were talking trash (or should I say I was talking trash). Team RGFD was unaffected by our attempts to intimidate them, and as Friday rolled around I decided on Team T10’s final roster and set-up the multiplayer lobby.

Check out RGFD's front runner "jimnran" passing Turn 10 Dev "BeerLimey" on the inside. Note the tires off the track...

Team T10 Takes a Commanding Lead...

Maple Valley was the stage, and as we prepared to complete our 8 lap battle with “grace, speed and style”, I actually became slightly nervous, something I haven’t felt in quite some time. There was a lot on the line for this inaugural challenge, and after talking so much trash there was no way that we could accept defeat. Representing the Forza 2 community, and racing for the blue squad was team RGFD, with driver’s X jimnran X, X204Fx JCotter, and NMRD Paradox. Representing Turn 10 studios, and racing for the red team was CamelRacer T10, BLKJ SIDEFX, and BeerLimey.

The flag dropped for the race, and although we set the grid order to random, Team T10 had a major advantage right from the get go starting 1, 2 and 3 on the grid. Knowing that CamelRacer T10 had the fastest qualification times, I left him pass and fell into second place, just in front of my fellow teammate BeerLimey. Team RGFD followed closely behind. I already regret saying this, but in the back of my mind I thought this race was in the bag right out of the gate, as I knew Camel wouldn’t let anyone catch up. I was thinking along the same lines.

The first lap went off without a hitch, however RDFD’s front runner X jimnran X, was putting some serious pressure on T10’s BeerLimey, who was desperately hanging on to third place. Not ready to let Camel and I run away with the race, jimnran made a gutsy pass (two tires barely off the track) on Limey who drifted wide on turn 2. Limey kept his composure, knowing that we still had first and second place locked down, and kept up a good pace for the rest of lap 2. RGFD knew they had to make some serious moves in order to win this race, and in an attempt to make up time, JCotter pushed it too far on the final corner, and secured himself a date with the wall. Dropping further and further away from the pack things weren’t looking good for Team RGFD, however it was my own small mistake on the first turn that gave jimnran a free ticket to second place. With around 5 seconds separating CamelRacer T10 from jimnran, and two dev’s in third and fourth, it was looking like Team T10 would take home the win.

After colliding with the wall on the final turn, RGFD's "Jcotter" barely misses teamate "Paradox" as he zooms down the front straight.

Disaster Strikes for Team T10...

At this point we are halfway through the race when it happened…the moment that turned the tide against Team T10. That final menacing corner on Maple Valley has already taken down one of the RGFD racers, and now it was time for T10 to feel the burn. BeerLimey, who was currently holding down 4th place (and 2 points), cut in too early and headed straight towards the wall, as NMRD Paradox squeezed by the wreckage and took 4th place. Still shaken from the crash, but desperate to regain 4th place, Limey fought a hard battle with Cotter and Paradox. Exchanging positions (and a little paint), the fight for 4th place was easily the closest and most intense racing in this challenge. With everything on the line, both teams pushed for every last position and after an amazing exit on the final turn, BeerLimey tried to pass on the inside of turn 1 with late braking, and ended up in the grass (and subsequently in last place).

So as it stood we have Camel (T10) in first, jimnran (RGFD) in second, BLKJ SIDEFX (T10) in third, Jcotter and Paradox (RGFD) in fourth and fifth, and BeerLimey (T10) in sixth. Team T10 was up by 3 points with only 2 laps to go…and it would take a miracle for jimnran to deplete the 5 second deficit to snag first place from Camel. At this point I was in third place, with a huge margin separating me from fourth, so in my eyes the race was pretty much over. Cruising through the back section on lap 6, I made my way down towards the final corner and spotted two cars almost side by side in the distance…the final corner had claimed its final victim.

The unthinkable had happened.  CamelRacer T10 had a huge margin, and in an effort to play it safe, let off the gas going into the final corner, a serious mistake that essentially cost us the race. That’s right folks--Team T10 has lost its inaugural battle against the Really Good Forza Drivers...and it all came down to this critical moment. The shock and amazement that was going through my head when I rounded the final corner has been echoed throughout the hallways here at Turn 10 studios, as the news of our loss spread like wild fire. Some players have even threatened to walk away from this, and I quote, “Micky Mouse Operation”. Team T10 will be back…better, faster, and stronger than before, however I must accept defeat and send a serious congratulations out to the drivers from RGFD. They never gave up hope and raced until the final lap was done, and for that Turn 10 commends you!

Now...I’m not one to make excuses, however this just needs to be said. When team RGFD showed up to the race, with color coordinated rides and matching liveries, Team T10 was intimidated. We had the speed and at times we had the grace, but it is very obvious that we were lacking the style. Style gives you the confidence to succeed even when faced with insurmountable odds and Team T10 needs the communities help. So as I mentioned briefly last week we need a cool livery to give us the confidence to perform under pressure, and as a result have created a livery design contest.  Each week we will be holding a different livery design contest for our latest challenge, and since the cars will change every week, we won’t be able to re-use past liveries.

Our next challenge is set for Friday the 11th of July, and will feature racing with the 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII MR. The specifics of the race have not been determined yet, but we have selected this car for the event in order to give the painters a head start on creating a livery. We are looking for something sleek, sexy, and of course stylish, so check out the “Design a livery for Team T10” contest thread here, and help us beat the pants off of our next challenger with grace, speed, and style!

In addition to this we have already created the challenge thread for next Friday the 11th of July, so gather your friends and sign up here to take part in our second team challenge!

2006 Dodge Charger SRT8 by SRT8 - Photoshopped Comp

100th Pitpass Report – Forza Trivia Contest: As Che was mentioning earlier we have a lot planned to celebrate our 100th Pitpass Report, a serious milestone that I have been ranting to Che about for quite some time. So as a way to celebrate we are going to be putting together a Forza Motorsport trivia quiz that will test not only your knowledge of Forza culture, but also the games themselves. All the questions will be posted on the week of the 100th Pitpass Report, so make sure to get caught up on your Forza history before then if you hope to stand a chance. Gift cars will be awarded to anyone who e-mails in the correct answers by the given deadline, so it’s a great chance for anyone to get their hands on one of the unicorn cars. In addition to the trivia challenge we will also be putting together a graphic design contest for the 100th cover image, as well as a picture submission thread for the images within the article. All the details regarding these contests will be posted in the near future so stay tuned!

Building the Takata Time Attack Impreza STi: This week I was able to check in with amateur racer and friend of Forza, James Elterman, who is currently in the process of building a car for the 2008 Time Attack Season. The livery design for his car was designed by a member of our very own Forza 2 community here at Forzamotorsport.net, so it holds a very special place in our hearts. Along with a breakdown of his project, the blog also includes news of Elterman’s latest sponsor Seibon Carbon, who has joined forces with Takata to give Elterman’s Impreza a serious diet. For all the details check out our latest blog entry here!

Turn 10 “Design A Unicorn” Livery Contest: This one is a concoction from none other than our community moderator/livery guru, Fred “redesign” Howell. Here’s the deal. We are going to be hosting plenty of competitions and contest in the near future, and are looking for some cool cars to give away as prizing. So we are hosting a contest for both fantasy artists and replica artists, where the winner will have their design applied to the corresponding unicorn car. Of course these cars cannot be gifted or sold under regular circumstances; however we will be gifting them out as prizes for a variety of contests. So check out the fantasy contest thread here, and the race/replica contest thread here to get involved with the festivities!

Malayan Krait by tooLegit - Forzacentral

Hotlap Challenge Season 4: The latest season in our official Hotlap Challenge is currently underway, and the results from week 1 have been calculated. The returning champions, Team V12, came out strong in week one, but a great performance from Team GSR puts them in contention for the top spot. The battle for 3rd is already heating up, as R2P and TRC are separated by a small margin that could be depleted easily at the end of week 2. The individual leaderboard is much more diversified after this week of competition compared to last season, as it seems other players are stepping up to challenge the domination of Team V12. For all the latest on Season 4, make sure to visit the week 2 discussion thread here and the official standings thread here. Week 2 is already underway and is set to be completed at the end of the day on Friday, so expect to see the results sometime next week. For now here are the standings as of week 1!

Team Standings

Individual Standings

The Finnish Drift Alliance tears up Silverstone. Photo by: Jupe-San

And finally before we wrap things up for the long weekend, we had a few great videos submitted over the past week that deserver some mention. First up is the Forza 2 drift video contest that was recently hosted by marine192 in our drift techniques section. The first place video from S7 Speed is currently featured on our Official Turn 10 Youtube channel, so stop by and check out some great drifting!

If you sympathize with the racing portion of the community then you should check out the latest competition videos from the IFCA Spec Racing Series 3. The folks from the IFCA run a handful of competitive racing events and the following videos showcase spec racing on Silverstone International, and Sunset Infield Reverse. Check them out and get ready for some great wheel to wheel racing. In addition to these videos, you should also check out the latest production from the Cyber Racing World Championship by visiting their website here.

Alright that’s it for this edition of the community update! I hope you all have a safe and fun Independence Day on this 4th of July weekend, and once again thanks for reading!

Peace

Landin