Forza4 Wednesday 9 pm Pacific (GMT-8)

Been doing some racing in between making the SoCal DVD and playing VF. Join in!

Current VFDC racers are Kobi, PhantomFHarlock, and me. My friend from high school, high-kv, is into it as well. Chief_Flash just bought a 370Z so I talked to him about getting into this action. He's a DC F355 Challenge type of guy.


Usual classes are C, B, A, and S. No restrictions - just build something you like.

Common tracks include Road America, Road Atlanta, Laguna Seca, and Mugello. We do other stuff, too. Usually a bunch of 4 lap races.

Sessions are around 90 minutes. Kobi (Waverusher kobi) hosts the races in Calgary (Canada). PhantomFHarlock (or anyone besides Kobi) hosts the Party.

Cosmetic Damage and Collisions are on. We've come to discover that clean passes are really tough to pull off. Use this racing etiquette:


Talk to people you're about to pass.

Don't try to pass inside of someone at turn-in or expect them to yield at track out.

If your car is light, outbraking is fine as long as you can pull it off.

Don't block on the straights.

If someone brakes earlier than you expect, it's your responsibility to avoid collisions. Cars got brake lights. Look for them.


It gets intense.

 

I been wanted to play but somebody stole my 120 gb hardrive with all my cars.. I get its in. Me and Denkai used to Do Fuji Kaido heats and Nuburgring in Formula 1's. After i lost my hardrive i lost all desire to play this game.. I get on it though just to get a few rides back and play with you guys..

 

Saw and played Forza 4. Awesome stuff... suffice to say I will join once 4 comes out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5jR8veljQY

 

Good to hear. You should start now, though.

 

do not own the game anymore

 

I really like Forza 3. I might try this out a few times but I am not that great of a driver (can't beat computer on Hard in most races). I'm also a bit chaotic and don't really understand how to race while avoiding bad etiquette, esp if the car is S class or higher. Is there like, a training wheels mode for online?

GT5 was incomplete at launch, but a lot of new features got rolled out afterward. Can't really decide which one I like better.

As for Forza 4, I'm skeptical of getting in on the ground floor with the game because of how much DLC Forza 3 had.

 

you don't reaaly need the DLC. As far as forza go i urge you to start your career to get a better hang of the controls.. when you start out at D class and go up you will feel the difference in how the cars advance goes little by little.. If you try to start with S you will only jerk yourself.. This is Like VF of Racing. Takes time to understand but when you do its very rewarding.

 

Easily fixed.

 

I agree to that.


I love playing this game. Once I started playing with Plague and the gang, my approach to racing online changed. I never understood how to properly tune my car, so I spent a lot of credits in the Storefront buying tuning setups that I couldn't edit.

Plague shared this link with me. This is a good start towards tuning a car you like.

Forza Traders - Car Setup Tool

It's good to make a lot of mistakes when you race. They're great learning experiences. I make a lot of them, but I'm thankful that Plague pushes me to become better.

Occasionally, we have moments like this:



That's me nearly toppling over. Good times.

 

Oh, I've made it decently far into the Career it's just that I play on Medium and generally have a very easy time.

 

what cars do u need? i don't really play 3 anymore i went back to play part 2.

 

Our weekly events are a ton of fun.


Last session we had a rematch of older style cars (1979 and earlier) tuned to A Class on Mazda Laguna Seca. Plague passed me on the outside with his 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 429 on the final turn for the win. Insane stuff.


This week we're planning some downhill runs on Fujimi Kaido with D Class cars. We'll shoot for both the New and Old Downhill. It'd be awesome if more people could take part.

 

Nissan Fairlady Z is the main one. I had lots of cars tuned for certin tracks. Im pissed i lost lost those cars.

 

I can give you that if needed anything else or u ok with that?

 

I would've joined im this session with you guys, but I'm in the same boat as Brisal73. I had Forza 3 and later sold it... although for different reasons than him.

See, I have mixed feelings of this game and the Forza series in general. Driving physics, graphics, sound are obviously top notch along with the inclusion of many different miscellaneous car-related features. However, judging Forza 3 solely as a racing game and rating what kind of overall racing experience it provides... I'll just say that this aspect of the game is very underwhelming to me, along with being flat-out boring to play for the most part.

And I'm leaning toward passing on Forza 4 unless a number of issues are addressed that I know would improve the racing experience for me.

Kruza

 

If you don't mind, please describe those issues. I haven't played a lot of driving games (Just GT1-5 and Forza 2 and 3).

 

No problem.

The Forza games can improve on the actual racing experience a great deal because I think the actual races in those games fall well short of acceptable considering what features have already been added to each edition of the series to date. Turn 10 has done everything to make a car handle realistically as possible and that's fine. I also like the inclusion of punishing penalty/red time for whenever a car goes off track, though I admit the penalty lap time system could be lenient whenever a tire or two goes over the curbing. Now Turn 10 needs to redirect that focus to improve what would make the racing better and more fun to compete in. Here's a start:

First off, include the option to have a free practice session, qualifying sessions, or both prior to starting an offline or an online race. Include all types of race flags during a race -- even the blue ones that comes out to signal lap traffic to move aside for drivers on the lead lap to go by. Include pit stops. Give the option to make specific changes to the car during a pit stop similar to what the vintage TOCA Race Driver games have. Make it possible to save and load a certain number of car setups for online races.

The level of attention to detail of all the cars in the Forza goes without saying. But how about paying more attention to the actual track that the race is taking place on. The look of the track stays the same on every Forza game to date, no matter what. There could be black rubber traces coming from car tires that create higher-grip level paths on the track for the duration of a dry weather endurance race. Race cars participating in endurance races over damp tracks would create dry paths instead of black trails. Why this issue hasn't been addressed is beyond me when one considers how detailed the background, trackside objects and everything else except for the track surface itself looks on this game. And this issue somewhat relates to my next point...

Add possible random weather changes between sessions. For instance, it could be sunny or cloudy/overcast during an early free practice session then pouring rain during the following qualifying practice session at the same race weekend. This issue would make one completely change the approach of how he/she would drive the car and make frequent pit stops to modify the car setup (wet/intermediate tires, etc.) to accommodate for the wet road among other things. Include probable wet/damp track situations as a result of a major downpour that has moved on. Or maybe there's a scenario during a race weekend where the weather doesn't change and thus the track gets soaked all weekend long. Now I'm not stressing that weather changes have to be dynamic to the point where changes can actually occur during a race (though it would be absolutely incredible to witness something like that), but changes between various sessions shouldn't be tough to ask for.

Make it possible to have the car severely damaged to the point where it's not functional during any free pracitice and qualifying sessions. For instance, if the driver's car suffers a high speed head-on collision to a trackside guard rail on a street circuit during a free practice session, then chances are that car would not fixed to the point where it would be ready to go when it's race time. This would make a driver think twice about pushing a car too much and basically driving recklessly during a pre-race session when trying to experiment with a new/upgraded component that's been added to the car.

The AI for CPU cars in Forza 3 is lacking and makes races even more dull. Specifically, it's lack of aggression that's the primary reason why the AI in the CPU cars in Forza games are dull to me. They drive and stay on that predetermined path during the course of a race all the time no matter what goes on. If a CPU car is close enough behind you to attempt a pass, they will still never try to outbrake you while entering a corner no matter how early you brake and how slowly your car goes as it approaches the apex. They never line you up or do inside or outside fakes. They never try to dart outside at the apex to try a pass attempt at the corner exit if the lead car is late on the power. What I'm getting at is... in the scenario when the lead car is just ahead of a CPU, that CPU car will not put pressure you to make any kind of mistakes to try and make things uncomfortable for the driver of the car in the leading position. This is a big part to what makes racing exciting to me. And this element of racing just doesn't exist in Forza games up to now.

The crew at Turn 10 need to look at and copy how CPU cars race and behave in Race Pro. They're aggressive yet fair. They will pass you up if you're too slow coming out of an exit and did not hold an inside/defensive line tight enough. And they're not beyond making mistakes that makes them go off track on occasion.

Improve on these issues, and then I will think differently about the Forza series as racing games. I'm not interested in playing long, drawn out CarPGs.

Kruza

 

ok so 4 in one more week. I am guessing this will still be going?

 

Good question. Yes, it will!

I'll be posting challenges for races on a private Facebook page. If you'd like to be a part of what goes on Wednesday nights, shoot me a message. I'll be sure to add you to our Facebook group.

 

Damn Kruza you want a pure Simulation... I suggest you suit up for Nascar buddy lol!!! Forza treated me just fine. I just want to race and feel the excited of the grind. The qualified race sounds good but my only gripe that i wanted in forza was Night races/ weather changes and more exotic locale tracks.