Hello Forza Fans! This is long, but if you're as excited as I am about FM3 you'll read on...
Last night, I completed Landin's "Top Secret Project" that he offered a couple of weeks ago for those that either live in Los Angeles or were willing to travel to the City of Angels. I am fortunate enough to live here and it turns out that the "Project" was a VIP party thrown by Turn 10 to celebrate the debut of their racing baby Forza Motorsport 3! In short, the night was fan-FREAKING-tastic! One regret I have is that I wasn’t able to shake Landin’s hand and thank him. He was still up north working. Che was there though, and he is veeery cool. Just...suave. Shaking Dan G's hand and telling him he's my hero was pretty awesome too.
Okay, where shall I start? The beginning is always good, so I'll start with the complimentary valet parking. I got out of my car and the first thing I notice is the loud music thumping out of the venue, supplied by the live DJ. The next thing I notice, aside from all the guests milling about, is the Forza racing line on the ground leading guests into the very large tent. Actually it was the braking line, a trail of red triangles signaling fans to slow down since they had arrived at their destination.
Upon entering the venue, the HOT red 2010 Audi R8V10 that accompanied Dan (The Man) Greenwalt onstage at the Press Conference was sitting front and center greeting each and every person as they entered. I was told later by Senior Game Lead Bill Giese that it was the only car of its kind in the United States and was flown in specifically for Turn 10 and would be heading back to Germany today. To sit in the car was heaven. I sat in the car right next to the president of Audi while he tried to turn on the LED lights that were installed in the engine bay to make that powerful V10 engine look even more ominous through the revealing rear window.
In addition to the Audi, there were about nine other beautiful sports cars in attendance; one of which was the very Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 that Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne used in "The Dark Knight." Not a car LIKE it...THEE car!
I know you want me to get to the game, so I'll just quickly say that a large buffet table was sitting outside on the deck, and there was a full bar inside. Much like Turn 10 not skimping on their latest masterpiece (more on this later), they did not skimp on this party either. Okay, onto the game...
The first person I met from the Turn 10 team was John Wendel, the Content Manager for FM3. He was super friendly and took a lot of time to tell us about the changes from FM2 to FM3 and why gamers are going to be happy peeps come October. When asked if it frustrates him when he and his team pour their blood, sweat and tears into a project only to have it picked apart in the forums, his response was "Not really. I mean look, at least they're talking about it which is a good thing. The one thing that does frustrate me is when some guys say that we're lazy because we didn't put this feature in, or that feature in." He went on to say that they work right up to the deadline and are just as disappointed when they can't get something in, or something has to be cut from a game.
John being interviewed:
This time, since they were more familiar with the Xbox 360, John talked about how they could really hit the ground running with FM3 and accomplish things that would have taken too long in FM2. Even though they did FM1 and had that experience under their belt, they had to pretty much start all over with the new 360 hardware which kind of stunted their freedom with what they could do. With FM3, it’s like shackles have been released or something. Many issues have been addressed and rectified.
John introduced me to Senior Game Lead Bill Giese and the first words out of his mouth were "Didn't I sit next to you in the Microsoft Press Briefing?" You see, the day prior to this shin-dig was the press conference. I was sitting between two guys I didn't know. During Dan G's Forza 3 presentation, I was cheering and yelling like a schoolgirl, not realizing that I was sitting right next to Forza's Senior Game Lead! I told him that I was actually holding some enthusiasm back so that I wouldn't appear like a madman. He said that it made him feel really good to see a true fan get that excited about their labor of love. Bill was telling me that he was largely responsible for the user interface which is a series of clean, white menus with orange and gray accents not unlike the revamped FM.net. He said that he looked to high-end automotive brochures and websites for inspiration which makes great sense to me since Turn 10 are all about "Car Lust."
Six64Four and Bill G:
I mentioned to Bill that one pet peeve I had in the first two games was the replay camera angles. He smiled and said "Those were all me." Oops! He explained that the reason the camera was so often in either first person view or zoomed in tight to the car is because when the camera was zoomed out too far, you would see too much pop-in and it frustrated him greatly! Finally time was up, and the game had to shift as is. He laughed and told me that when people were coming down on the replays in the forums, the rest of the team would jokingly tease him with "So yeah, Bill...what's up with those awful replays?" Bill was SO proud to show me the replays in Forza 3, and was I SO eager to let him! He informed me that they hired a guy from Blizzard (Unfortunately I don't remember his name) to help out with the replay cameras, and MAN is this a different game! All of the sweeping, helicopter views you could want. All the stationary cameras you could dream of...zooming in, zooming out, television style presentation is all represented here. With the new replay style you can better see cars dancing around on their springs as they head through chicanes.
While at the car selection screen I commented on how rapidly I was able to quickly shift through car choices. No more waiting for cars to load before they appear and start to rotate. Remember how Forza and Forza 2's car select screens were very similar? Well it's almost as if Turn 10 picked up that concept and chucked it out the window and started from scratch. I don't say that out of any disrespect for F1 and 2, but when you see what they have in store for you IN MOTION, you won't believe what they've done.
Selecting a Cadi:
"Launch? Where's Rarity?":
Once you pick your car from this screen, you pick the color of your car from a screen that shows off your car in an all new dynamic view that sadly I didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture of.
I realize that I sound like a star-struck fanboy, but seriously, the passion that you always read about in interviews "We want to make gamers into car enthusiasts, and car enthusiasts into gamers." etc., is true, true, true! I said no less than five times last night that Turn 10 has built my dream game.
Bill escorted us from the large HD flat screen 16:9 monitor to the famous triple screen set up complete with the new Fanatec wheel in a racing rig sitting on multi-directional hydraulics. I quickly turned all assists and driving line off as I do at home with Forza 2, picked a track called Camino Viejo: Montserrat (Actually, I might have just blended the name of two of the three tracks. I should have written this stuff down. I apologize!) I then picked a sexy Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series and attempted to impress Bill and all the onlookers with my incredible talent! Well...not so much. The power of the car, combined with my ignorance of the track resulted in my being all over the place! It was pretty embarrassing actually.
The guy what was working the "ride" talked me into trying to flip the car. Think about that. Turn 10 is continually pushing the envelope. Flip the car? Crazy. Unfortunately I was unsuccessful. To be fair, I only tried once. Once I got back to a single screen monitor with a controller in my hands I did much better with the turns and brake points and I was able to more aptly appreciate the cockpit view and the way the roofline and the A-frame lunge forward under heavy braking, and recede under acceleration. The sounds of the engines are more monstrous and atmospheric. The beautiful vistas are breathtaking. Graphically, FM3 is a package that will stoke the forum flame wars for years to come.
What got me even more excited were the things that the different developers DIDN'T tell me. Brian was the worst with his "Stay tuned" and "You'll see" with winking smiles. He assured me that what I was witnessing and praising at the party was but a tiny morsel of what we'll all get in October. I could go on, but like I said to Brian; it's hard to adequately articulate the beauty, excitement, and emotional response I was having to the beautiful monster that is Forza Motorsport 3. Brian simply gestured toward the red Audi R8 sitting about three feet from us and said "It's much like trying to describe this."
I agree.
