Forza 3 Gamespot E3 Impressions

Isengard

Isengard

No Hobbits Allowed
During Microsoft’s E3 press conference, Turn 10’s Dan Greenwald took to the stage--accompanied by Audi's slick R8 V10--to show off a few new features from the latest in the Forza series of racing games, Forza Motorsport 3. Greenwald made sure to emphasize that Forza 3 is the definitive racing game of this generation and then proceeded to show a video of an in-game R8 taking some laps through a track surrounded by lush greenery. We then get a glimpse of an impressive cockpit view where the driver takes a few seconds to look over to his right and left. Shortly thereafter, one of the other cars in the race collides into the guardrail and careens into other driver, including the Audi, which then causes the R8 to flip over on its roof and skid for a few feet. That poor Audi's not so pretty no more.

After the brief video, Greenwald went onto explain that Forza 3 features a brand new engine that lets the game run at 60fps. Additionally, he said that the game will have up to 400 cars from 50 different manufacturers. Some other new features were briefly touched upon, such as the new one-button driving assist and the gameplay rewind, which would seem to indicate that you might be able to enact a mulligan in case you're involved in a major collision out on the track, but that's purely speculative. As far as Forza 3's Xbox Live interaction is concerned, customizing and modding cars will be just as prominent as it was in previous games--a video showed how various people have made a hobby of creating a variety of visual designs for their cars. And, of course, people will still be able to share these cars with each other as well as HD videos of Forza 3 races.

The presentation closed with another video showcasing what's possible with Forza 3's video editor. We got to see some pretty amazing drifting (which also shows off some of the nice driving physics in the game) as well as some spectacular stunt driving that looked as though it came straight from a Michael Bay-directed racing sequence. One scene showed two cars sliding into place and another drifting in-between them for an especially impressive bit of driving. Overall, it was decent top level demonstration of features in Forza 3, but we're eager to see it up close and person as soon as possible. Forza Motorsport 3 ships this October.
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Linkage

Looks neat.
 
E3 Forza Screenshots (I uploaded it to local Links)

Graphics Improved Substantially over the second one

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some more screenies

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Graphics. Beyond the simulation of physics is the simulation of the physical vehicle, now a headlining event in Forza 3. While Audi's R8 V10 is the marquee car and Turn 10 had near total access in order to recreate it, the dedication to verisimilitude runs throughout. It was said that 9,000 data points were used to model the vehicles. The Audi R8 V10 car, in real life, has twelve vents running down both side of the engine cover, together representing the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The engine centerline is slightly to the left of the centerline of the car in order to package the quattro system most efficiently. The car's two inboard headlights are bracketed by curved bits of metal that take their inspiration from the sail forms of the Sydney Opera House. The LED strips underneath the headlights each have 24 LEDs in them, also in celebration of Le Mans. The dash information display contains a lap timing function that can display three laps at a time. The car's top speed is 196 mph.

All of those features have been recreated on the R8 V10 in the game.

In fact, said Chas Murphy, the product manager for Audi sports cars, "I've had this car on the track. Even the sound of the car coming to the start line and braking is perfectly captured."

And the game contains 399 other cars, all with the same level of detail.
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Is all of this enough to make Forza Motorsport 3 the bees knees? Not having played it (yet!), we don't know. But the philosophy behind it and the look of it on screen is all most encouraging. Showing his console and game competitor due deference, Greenwalt allowed, "I have full respect for GT. Playing that game is what got me into this business." Still, as far as he was concerned, he had already crossed the finish line first – not least because GT5 is still, literally, waiting to finish. "Compared to GT our physics are better, our graphics are now as good, we have more cars, we have damage, rollover, and user generated content. No racing game can beat it."

If what he says is true, it could be good that the game is coming out in Q4 – you'll need the holiday breaks to get your playing fix in. And Greenwalt knows it. "My goal," he said, "is to ruin work days."
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