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• Revenge of the Fifth: Forza Motorsport 5 Announcement Trailer Fires Volleys GT6’s Way [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 22 May 2013

  

  Last week, Sony and one of its video game developer subsidiaries, Polyphony Digital, pulled the wraps off Gran Turismo 6. And while it looks mighty, mighty pretty (as pretty much every installment in the Gran Turismo series has for its era), and it’s scheduled for a release this holiday season (though we’ll believe that when we’re softly caressing the case in our hands with the lights turned down low and some Kenny G on the stereo; don’t judge us…), it’s still going to be a Playstation 3 release. Granted, that’s good for us because we won’t have to maul our bank account for a Playstation 4, but being subject to the limitations of current-gen consoles might not be the hot ticket.

  Said ticket looks even colder in light of the news that Microsoft and its Polyphony Digital analogue, Turn 10 Studios, is releasing Forza Motorsport 5 on the new Xbox One (Bass-ackwards video game console naming chronology for the win?). And while this first teaser trailer doesn’t reveal much in terms of cars or tracks (Just the McLaren F1 and P1 on a fictional street circuit in Prague.), it looks good. Like banging-on-live-action’s-door good. And the vocal stylings of the highly-excitable John Hindhaugh are always a fine accompaniment to any motorsports action. Oh yes, E3 2013 is gonna be off the bleeping chain for racing game buffs.

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• Harlem Shake, Forza Motorsport 4 Style [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 4 March 2013

  

  In case you haven’t been in contact with the outside world for the last, oh, month or so, welcome back! We’ve missed you. Listen, before you start catching up on your emails, bills or even the posts on this site, there’s something you should know about. It’s a little something called the Harlem Shake and, in case you don’t want to read about all the gory details, basically it’s spawned a YouTube craze comprised of innumerable parodies. Basically, it’s this season’s Gangnam Style…except it isn’t.

  Anyway, this multimedia fad has spread to such a degree that even the online racing community has embraced it. This example, which comes to us courtesy of Xboxista domesticmango and friends, uses Forza Motorsport 4, the Top Gear Test Track, and a whole gaggle of customized vehicles, including a fairly convincing replica of Ken Block’s 2013 Ford Fiesta. And what’s up with that ending? All we can say is thank Nolan Bushnell for video games. As for the Harlem Shake, we say stand down, haters; it’ll peter out soon enough.

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• E3 2012: Top Racing Game Debuts [w/ Videos]

  In Video Games / By Tom Anderson / 8 June 2012

  

  The 2012 edition of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3 for short) wrapped up at the Los Angeles Convention Center yesterday, and there was plenty of monumental video game news being announced. There were numerous sequels to beloved adventure, first-person shooter and sports games, as well as some intriguing new properties like Watch Dogs, ZombiU and The Last of Us. There were also new services announced, such as Microsoft’s SmartGlass, which will allow smartphones and tablets to interface with the Xbox 360.

  Of course, there were also many new racing games that had their coming out parties at E3. And because racing games are the ones we cover most closely, they’ll be the only genre you’ll see highlighted here. You want info and insight on the likes of Assassin’s Creed III or Gears of War: Judgment? There are umpteen hundred other outlets that will give you that. Anyway, on with the games that will get your motor running.

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• 2013 SRT Viper Ignites a Transatlantic Family Feud [w/ Videos]

  In Auto News / By Tom Anderson / 6 April 2012

  

  The first two generations of the Dodge Viper (Some sources break those two generations into two further generations.) were brash, brutal and downright angry. These thundering 10-cylinder neo-Cobras, both open- and closed-top, routinely beat up on all manner of European supercars, not to mention crosstown rival Corvette. What’s more, these beating occurred on the street and on the track, the latter being where race-prepped Vipers scored numerous wins, including three consecutive GT class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the overall win at the 2000 24 Hours of Daytona.

  However, the Dodge Viper’s story came to an end on July 1, 2010, as the last example rolled out of the Conner Avenue Assembly plant in Detroit. Scarcely two months later, though, word came down that a new third (or fifth; take your pick) generation Viper would be coming in a couple years. Well, now it’s a couple years later, and the new Viper is indeed here. A lot has stayed the same with the new car, but a lot has changed, too.

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• Forza Motorsport 4’s April Car Pack Brings a Little of Everything [w/ Video]

  In Video Games / By Tom Anderson / 4 April 2012

  

  On top of the vast tuning and customization options, stout physics engine and comprehensive online play, Forza Motorsport 4 has a fascinating variety of vehicles from which to choose. Whether your proclivities lean toward mammoth SUVs, fire-breathing supercars, snappy hot hatches or out-and-out race cars, the latest installment of the Xbox 360’s flagship racing title has something for you.

  This is not to say, however, that the folks at Turn 10 included as many vehicles as they could have on the disc. To remedy this, the company has been releasing downloadable 10-car add-on packs for the last six months. Each one has added variety and depth to the already eclectic car roster, and the one for this month – the April Alpinestars Pack, which dropped yesterday – is no different.

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• GAME REVIEW: Forza Motorsport 4 for Xbox 360

  In Video Games / By Tom Anderson / 13 October 2011

  

  The underlying mission statement of Forza Motorsport 4 – the latest iteration of Microsoft’s flagship racing sim franchise – is spelled out almost as soon as the game loads. A surgically-clean white building interior appears as none other than Jeremy Clarkson launches into a lament on the decline of gearhead-dom. He bemoans how the car enthusiast fringe is being pushed to the margins by the masses who either couldn’t care less about cars, or want to see cars become androgynous, self-guided, unicorn fart-powered transportation pods incapable of offending even the most hypersensitive people. Eventually, though, he says there is a place where people can let their car geek flags fly without fear of being ridiculed or shunned, and that “place” is Forza Motorsport 4.

  Of course, there are lots of other video games that make car buffs feel at home, and were made by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts. The one that’s probably likely to spring to mind first is Gran Turismo, the series that started before Forza and is its closest analogue (Both let you buy, customize and race hundreds of licensed cars, both are developed by studios controlled by their respective console-makers, and both are published by their respective console-makers.). But instead of making this article a straight-up comparison (and possibly igniting the Playstation fanboy/Xbox fanboy equivalent of the Crusades), we’ll take the high road and concentrate on telling you what Forza 4 has and let it stand on its own merits…though we might point out a few areas where one has a leg up on the other.

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• E3 Expo 2011: Forza Motorsport 4 Raises the Console Racing Sim Stakes [w/ Video]

  In Video Games / By Tom Anderson / 8 June 2011

  

  Since Gran Turismo 5 has been on store shelves for about half a year now, you had to know that sooner or later that info on the next installment in the Forza Motorsport franchise would drop. We got a taste of what to expect at last year’s E3 in the form of a tech demo utilizing the Kinect motion controller, but not much news after that.

  Fast forward to this year’s E3, though, and Forza developer Turn 10 has spilled a whole can’s worth of beans on Forza Motorsport 4. And it turns out there’s a lot more to it than being able to drive without a controller.

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• E3 Expo 2010: XBOX Forza Motorsport 3 VIP Preview Event Featuring Kinect

  In Video Games / By Ari Cox / 18 June 2010

  

  The ID Agency held a special VIP party for Microsoft XBOX and Forza Motorsport 3 on Wednesday to give folks a chance to try out the new Kinect system without standing in a line for 2 hours or battling through the hordes. Turn 10 Studios has been working with the magic of the new “Kinect” technology, combined with the power of the Forza Motorsport series, to explore how players can race and interact with their dream cars in the most immersive and realistic automotive experiences ever imagined. After 5 years of console racing excellence, Turn 10 has raised the bar once again. So now users are able to hop inside their dream cars and get closer to the racing action than ever before – without the use of a controller.

  While the Kinect system is not perfect, and is still in preliminary stages, the potential for games like Forza Motorsport 3 is outstanding. With Kinect, you are able to drive and race by simply by putting your hands in front of you at 10 and 2. You can move your head to look around the interior. You can even look into the corners as you turn. As you’d expect, this experience is running in beautiful HD at a seamless 60 fps.

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• E3 Expo 2010: Microsoft Debuts a Kinect-ed Version of Forza Motorsport 3 [w/Video]

  In Video Games / By Tom Anderson / 17 June 2010

  

  If there’s one thing Forza Motorsport 3 does really well (aside from racing action, car customization, online play…) , it’s presenting the gorgeous car models in gorgeous fashion. The painstakingly-rendered machines feature gobsmackingly-realistic detailing everywhere you look, be it the lights, the interior or, on some of the old race cars, the rivets on the body. But while you can rotate and zoom in on the cars while in the garage, you can’t really recreate the sensation of walking around them, looking at them up close and, most of all, opening the doors and hopping in.

  However, with the advent of the Xbox360’s new motion-based control system, Kinect (nee “Project Natal”), Microsoft’s flagship racing franchise has loads of new avenues for innovation open and ready to be taken.  As you’ll see in the video after the jump, you’ll be able to walk around cars, explore their features, and even “sit inside” them and look around. But that’s not all…

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• VIDEO: Forza Motorsport 3 Exotic Car Pack Brings the Eclectic Noise

  In Video Games / By Tom Anderson / 14 May 2010

  

  Historically, one of the criticisms leveled at Turn 10 Studios’ Forza Motorsport franchise has been that it didn’t give much love to the more obscure boutique automakers of the world relative to the big dogs. That’s been rectified with the downloadable Forza Motorsport 3 car pack for the month of May, which features 10 rare, unusual, and oh by the way, scorching fast supercars.

  Two of the ten cars – the Devon GTX and the Spada Codatronca TS – are polarizingly-styled coachbuilt specials based on ground-pounding American sports cars (the Dodge Viper and Chevrolet Corvette, respectively). The remaining eight are built from the ground up: the stylish Spyker C8 Laviolette LM85; the wild child Gumpert Apollo S; the twin-turbo and tail-happy Rossion Q1; the BMW M5-powered, neo-Austin-Healey Weismann GT MF5; the thunder from Down Under Joss JT1; the sleek American Mosler MT900S; the pigmy LMP1 racer Radical SR8; and the all-American Veyron-stomper, the SSC Ultimate Aero. How do these monsters look and sound in action? Make like any of these cars at the Nürburgring’s Pflanzgarten corner and jump!

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