Forza Motorsports 2 and the lavish encounter

by Jared Rea { Mar 6th 2007 at 4:55PM }

If Forza Motorsport 2 was merely the worlds foremost tire wear and friction monitoring simulation, it would be at the top of its class. Fortunately for those of us who play video games, you get to race around on those tires, though you'll end up obsessing over your tire pressure anyways. Equipped with an impressive four monitor setup (three in panorama and a cute travel monitor posing as a rear-view mirror), the developers at Turn 10 gave us a tour of everything Forza.

The content, however, is in place and looking remarkable. With just about every manufacturer imaginable, full damage modeling for all cars and the most in-depth customization and tuning options outside of greasing it up in your own garage, Forza looks to be a massive step up from its Xbox predecessor. Glossing over previously known details, the setup we played on was one that could only be recreated in some sort of country club league for spoiled youth. When we weren't sliding out of control, the response and feedback from the Microsoft racing wheel felt much better than previously experienced with Project Gotham Racing 3.

With only six weeks of work left, it still has a few layers of polish to go before it's ready for the races.

Gallery: Forza Motorsport 2

Tags: forza motorsports 2, ForzaMotorsports2, gdc07, turn 10, Turn10

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

steve17 @ Mar 6th 2007 5:03PM

SWEET! CAR DAMAGE! the one thing GT was always missing. sounds awesome

Jiffylush @ Mar 6th 2007 5:08PM

How would the multiple monitor thing work for us?

I am not sure how that would work with the 360, can one of you enlighten me?

seanatron @ Mar 6th 2007 5:14PM

Jiffy:

You run 3 (in this case 4) xbox 360s system-linked together, one runs for each monitor, there is a setting to enable multi-screen.

steve17 @ Mar 6th 2007 5:15PM

it wont work.

it was just a nice setup to showcase it. it even had a fourth as a rearwiew.

i want that setup

Gamer7 @ Mar 6th 2007 5:16PM

with all that money just go buy a car and run it into a wall.

Streets @ Mar 6th 2007 5:16PM

The multi-screen setup works by attaching a separate 360 to each screen, and then networking the systems together through 'system link'.

It's not really practical for home users since it requires multiple consoles and multiple copies of the game (1 for each screen).

Jake @ Mar 6th 2007 5:16PM

I am so looking forward to this game. Forza1 is so good and every indication is that Forza2 will be vastly superior.

Ken Seang @ Mar 6th 2007 5:21PM

If you listen to the 1up podcast and they spoke to the people at Forza and they said you can get up to 8 monitors running!!!!

AirIntake @ Mar 6th 2007 5:23PM

How many 360s and monitors do I need to create a dome around me? Now THAT would be immersive.

KineticOnline @ Mar 6th 2007 5:24PM

Isnt that just a big waste of dev time?? (the multi monitor thing)
Anyway i can wait to get my hands on my copy, and really get grips with the steering wheel

Matt @ Mar 6th 2007 5:29PM

This is a pretty cool use of the technology. Sure no body is going to have something like this hooked up full time. It'll be more of a 'get a bunch of friends to bring over their equipment on a Sat, just to see how it works' kind of thing.

Twist @ Mar 6th 2007 5:41PM

I am really hoping that this is a good game. The first one was decent but compared to GT4 it still felt somewhat like an arcade style racer. Hopefully they have tightened everything up and made it feel like the cars are actually touching the pavement. Still the first Forza is the best racing game available on the Xbox and pretty much the only one worth playing on the whole platform IMHO.

The four monitor setup looks pretty cool but I will just have to be content with a single 61 inch HDTV.

Jake @ Mar 6th 2007 5:42PM

@9

You would need an infinite number of infinitely small screens surrounding you to create a perfect dome.

Cletus @ Mar 6th 2007 5:46PM

Jake-

Don't be a tool.

jameshulsmann @ Mar 6th 2007 5:49PM

@12
Review scored say the opposite; F1>GT4. GT4 was a let down on many levels.

F2 is upping the anti considerably, and we all still have to wait probably till '08 for GT5.

I wonder what F2 will look like when they put all the final textures and lighting back in...

jameshulsmann @ Mar 6th 2007 5:51PM

@ 13 & 14

LOLOL!!!

AirIntake @ Mar 6th 2007 5:52PM

@KineticOnline

It uses the same technology that allows you to be a spectator in the game. Just in this case, you are spectating from inside the car looking a different direction. They already wanted to allow network players to be spectators, so this is just a free added bonus feature.

NATO_Duke @ Mar 6th 2007 5:53PM

Jake has a point with that dome makeup.

Anyway, I look forward to this one.

Am I the only one who is shocked there aren't more "it sux compared to GT5" comments here today?

Vidikron @ Mar 6th 2007 5:56PM

@13

Or 1 dome shaped screen. Much more plausible than an infinite number of infintely small screens I would think.

Jake @ Mar 6th 2007 5:56PM

12
"The four monitor setup looks pretty cool but I will just have to be content with a single 61 inch HDTV."

Oh, you poor thing. ;)

I loved Forza1 and every GT ever made. I had more fun with Forza1 last gen mostly because it was a little fresher. Nitrous, online, and damage were kinda nice, too.

But Forza was the highest critically acclaimed racer with wheels last gen for a lot of valid reasons. All indications are that Forza2 will be great as well, and it is less than a month away. The videos look nice, the level of customization is great, the online options are cool. The game looks bomb.

I only hope that it has a few more tracks than the last edition. Nobody expects or wants Forza2 to be drastically different from 1. If you didn't like Forza1, then you probably shouldn't like Forza2, because that would mean the devs changed it significantly. I think the success of the game will hinge around how much they are able to improve the experience all around, without really changing it too much.

Most people will want to judge this game against Gran Turismo, or the lack thereof. This game should be judged by its own merits. Remember, Gran Turismo is a long ways away. But, the two franchises are quite similar and are exclusives to competing consoles, so the comparisons are inevitable.

BadVermin @ Mar 6th 2007 6:00PM

You can use up to 8 monitors to create a complete panoramic view.

If you've got the money to blow. :)

Jake @ Mar 6th 2007 6:08PM

@19

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree, then.

mike @ Mar 6th 2007 6:12PM

Well myself and my mates will most likely try out three at once as we all own 360's and screens :-)

Looks silky smooth the gameplay though, definitely benefits from the 60pfs instead of 30fps

Some of the stuff turn10 are doing with website/tournments/auctions integration is exactly what microsoft gets right and will build a great forza2 community :-)

Pixelantes Anonymous @ Mar 6th 2007 6:34PM

Why must you tease us so?????? Tell us more!!!

Yes. I'm excited about this game. Please excuse me.

REUYL @ Mar 6th 2007 6:39PM

So I can't run dual monitors on just one 360?

Karttikeya @ Mar 6th 2007 6:45PM

Adding that one feature, sold Microsoft at least 8 Xbox 360's and a racing wheel. Because there will be that ONE guy who uses that feature to its full potential.

REUYL @ Mar 6th 2007 7:00PM

@ #26:

And I'll be the guy to mug him!

Rod Oracheski @ Mar 6th 2007 7:13PM

"it wont work.

it was just a nice setup to showcase it. it even had a fourth as a rearwiew.

i want that setup"

It will work, as others have pointed out. You could do it with the original Forza, on the original Xbox.

I set up three 52" screens for the original, I plan on doing the same for Forza 2. It might not, in the long run, be worth the effort - but it's neat for a day.

why not the LS2LS7? @ Mar 6th 2007 11:30PM

Jake:
The level of customization of the cars looks great? What have you seen I haven't? All I see is paint jobs.

When you're driving the car, you're inside it, the paint job doesn't matter. Forza 1 didn't even have adjustable downforce on full-race spec cars with visible adjustable diveplanes on the car models.

So until proven otherwise, I'm going to guess the customization of Forza 2 is as flawed as Forza 1.

I hope otherwise, but until I see otherwise, that's all I have.

ill trooper @ Mar 7th 2007 3:21AM

GT and Forza are both awesome, I only wish I enjoyed them more... This is my problem, not problems with the games - when I finally get a brutal car, all the AI has brutal cars as well, and there's not a lot of 'kicking ass' as I never really play the games enough to get really good. Also, I was never able to get enough friends near the same skill level for multi-player. The most fun I had with either game was setting up a firewire network for 6-person multiplayer on the PS2... Although the rally races could only handle 2 people. But that was a good weekend. I hope there's more multiplayer rally-racing in either one of these games...

I look forward to the online features, and the HiDef visuals, but I'll still thinking I'll enjoy Burnout more. Again, my problem here, nothing with Forza or GT. I like guns and destruction in my games.

Burnt Meatloaf @ Mar 7th 2007 5:04AM

The physics in the Gran Turismo series have always struck me as weak. Not just dumbed-down for arcade players, but outright wrong. One look at this video tells me the Forza people know what they are doing.

Damn, when are the new 360's going to come out?

Rob Price @ Mar 7th 2007 7:28AM

Is it possible to import your own gfx into the 360 (via Live etc), or would you have to build your own paint jobs from the ground-up. I'm still sitting on the fence about picking an x360 up (well, actually waiting until they announce the HDMI version) and was just curious about if it's possible to import content into the game?

kman79 @ Mar 7th 2007 2:44PM

This game looks definately promising.

Comparing Forza with GT, I couldn't tell you which I preffered more hands down, both had there pluses and minuses. My main annoyance with Forza, at least in the graphical aspect, was the car never looked like it was planted to the pavement. Controls and physics weren't too bad. My annoyance with GT was the lack of online multiplayer support and damage. In my opinion, GT seemed to have more realistic controls than forza did. Audio/Sound definately went to Forza, but if you had GT hooked up to a decent surround sound, there are some details in engine notes that you could distinctly hear, and with that setup, I liked GT better.

I'm looking forward to both, and already have Forza reserved. This video is the first time I've seen actualy game footage and it does look good. Before this video I would have confidently said that at least GT:HD download for the PS3 looked better, but I can't say that confidently now. I hope to see a demo of Forza soon. One thing that can hurt the game in terms of realism, if this is true, is that I heard the Wheel for the 360 does not simulate full lock to lock steering. If that is true, that would be a dissapointment.