Real Racing Physics Aren’t the Only Thing You’ll Find Under the Hood of Forza Motorsport

by Louis Bedigian

“The damage is immediate, and more than just cosmetic.  There is some cosmetic damage, like paint scrapes and the like when you nick a wall or another car, but there's also serious damage.”

Few people know that GameZone Online holds a yearly picnic for all of its reviewers.  We get together, reminisce about the good old days (I’ll never forget the first time I made Crash jump.  It was beautiful, just beautiful!).

It’s not really a big deal though, outside of the reenactments we do for our favorite moments in gaming.  I’ll never forget the Bloody Paintball Mess of 2002.  We had just gotten our hands on a shiny new Xbox and its enamoring launch title, Halo.  Needless to say we took home more than sore thumbs.

2003 would have been a little less painful had it not been for Michael Lafferty’s idea to reenact the wonders of EverQuest.  “It’ll be great!” the other reviewers said.  “It’ll be the best role-playing experience ever!”

And the most realistic.  Lucky for us it was nothing a few hundred stitches couldn’t fix.

Then came 2004.  Apparently we hadn’t gone far enough, so it was time for us to reach into our collection of swords and shields for one-on-one battles inspired by Soul Calibur.

Somehow we managed to survive.  Unfortunately, 2004 wasn’t so forgiving.  Our reenactment of Halo 2 had reviewers dropping faster than the cast of 24.  Some of them we’ve never heard from again.  Could one of ‘em pull a Tony and reappear in the near future?

Now that we’ve entered 2005, we can’t help but notice that the next Gran Turismo is just around the corner.  That made the choice for this year’s event easy: high-speed racing on a closed, undisclosed course!  (GameZone reviewers get special treatment from everyone we come in contact with.  Didn’t you know that?)

We were strapped into our vehicles and ready to go when a fellow reviewer brought something to mind.

“Hey Louis.”

“Yeah?”

“These cars are crash-resistant.  How come?”

“If they’re good enough for Polyphony Digital, they’re good enough for us.”

“Understood, but are you aware that Microsoft’s potential Gran Turismo-killer features real body damage?”

“What!?”

“Yep, it’s true, so I took the liberty of having our mechanics replace the crash-resistant with a standard body.  I hope you don’t mind.”

“Oh crap, I’m getting out of here!!”

I tried to get out, but my belt was stuck!  All I could do was race…and hope I lived to see the release of Forza Motorsport, the highly anticipated online racer from Microsoft Game Studios.

The following interview takes place between the time that you read it, and the time that you stop.  Answers do not occur in real time.

Forza Motorsport just might be the first racing game to include an online career mode.  Tell us all about it.

Dan Greenawalt, Lead Designer: We’ll be talking more about the online experience, especially the online career mode the closer we get to Forza’s release date. I promise, it’s going to be very cool.

Are there any other modes for online play?  Any tournaments or head-to-head races?

DG: Since Forza’s going to support the latest features of Xbox Live, you’ll be able to hold player-run tournaments, set up online matches and have your own racing club. Members of the club can share custom decals and liveries, so everyone on the team can have that awesome paint job that Joe, your import tuning buddy, spent two days designing.

Is split-screen play an option and will the system link be supported?

DG: Both features will be available, so you can take your game online, or enjoy it at a LAN party. For those LAN parties, Forza Motorsport will support up to eight consoles in System Link.

I could use one of those to fill that empty space in my garage.

Modern-day vehicles are a given, but will Forza Motorsport feature any classic or concept cars?

DG: Forza has an awesome lineup of more than 230 cars available from over 40 manufacturers. Players can race with everything from a classic ’67 Shelby Cobra or ’55 (James Dean) Porsche 550 Spyder to a concept Chrysler ME4-12 or TVR Cerbera Speed 12.

We know that Forza will include over 200 real-life production cars, but what about the track lineup?  What are the tracks going to be like, and how many do you hope to include?

DG: Forza Motorsport includes 17 environments with over 50 tracks. 

• 3 Real-world city environments (Rio, Tokyo, New York)

• 6 Real-world track environments (Tsukuba, Nurburgring, Road Atlanta, Road America, Laguna Seca and 1 not yet announced)

• 5 Fictitious track environments

• 2 Point to Point environments divided into multiple stages

• 1 Autocross environment divided into 10 cone layouts    

Terrain, weather effects and road hazards: will any of these play a role in Forza Motorsport?

DG: We wanted to focus on realism as much as possible with Forza, and so we spent a huge amount of development time on the physics. Tire compounds were modeled after their real world counterparts, and we spent quite a bit of time testing the grip qualities of each tire in the game. Thus, the terrain will definitely affect handling and physics, and road hazards, well; you don’t want to slam into anything on the track, as it’s going to damage your vehicle. Our damage engine takes into account the location and severity of the collision, and maps damage accordingly. And that damage can affect handling and performance, just as real damage would. As far as weather, we haven’t included things like rain because we’d rather offer gamers the chance to race great cars on realistic tracks, and not have to deal with rain and snow.  

Forza Motorsport could leave the competition in the dust.

Will players notice a significant difference in the way each car handles?  Is each one being fine-tuned to match their real-life counterparts?

DG: Every car is mapped closely to its real-world counterpart, so players will notice handling differences. Because of the sophistication of the simulation engine, trailing throttle oversteer, load based understeer, and other car characteristics happen naturally.  Also, as players add more aftermarket parts to the car, handling and performance will be affected in a realistic manner. Putting really (high downforce) wing on a car, for example, will cause it to grip better, but lose a lot of speed.

What's involved in the single-player offline career mode?  How much racing/upgrading/customizing will players get the chance to do?

DG: In the career mode, you’ll be able to buy and customize cars to your heart’s content. Tires, hoods, wings, skirts, engines, etc. will all be available for modification. Well, I should say it’s “modification within reason,” since certain vehicles in the real world might not allow for much modding or tuning, and so in-game they will likewise be limited.

The career mode lets you jump into any race type and track you like, and start earning cash. Unlike other career modes, this one doesn’t follow a linear progression, so you’re not forced to race tracks A, B and C in that order, you can jump around, and change the race type. Maybe you want to lap race or do a full circuit, either way, it’s open to you. Also, you can earn more money from a race by making it more challenging – turn off ABS or other assists (try driving in manual!) and you’ll bump up the prize value of a race.

How does Forza's vehicle customization system differ from other simulation racers?

DG: The customization system uses real aftermarket parts from dozens of actual manufacturers, which you just don’t see in most other racing sims. Also, when you damage an aftermarket part, you’ll either have to race with it broken, or buy a replacement.

 

I believe they call this gran turismo (“grand touring”).

Can your vehicle be damaged, and if so, does it have to be repaired after the race?

DG: One of the core design goals for Forza was to have a realistic damage model. While we are big fans of the Gran Turismo series, we didn’t like how you could bump a wall or another car and come away unscathed. Too often, that’ll lead to “bumping matches” in multiplayer, with players using one another as ways to regain control or lose speed when they need to by bumping one another.

With Forza, the damage is immediate, and more than just cosmetic. Well, actually, there is some cosmetic damage, like paint scrapes and the like when you nick a wall or another car, but there’s also serious damage. If you hit another car or a wall doing 75 MPH, the effect is pretty dramatic, as you’ll damage the body and other appropriate parts, such as the axle. Try driving with a heavily damaged axle, and you’ll quickly learn to be more careful from then on.  This damage does have to be repaired at the end of the race.  Lots of damage will be felt immediately in the career bank account. 

When will you begin dispersing the exclusive downloadable content via Xbox Live?

DG: We haven’t set any dates for downloadable content.

 

Thank you for your time.