So the crowds just dispersed from this afternoons team meeting that covered the progress on our next game, and I've never seen the team here at Turn 10 so pumped and excited. Things are really coming together and the proof lies in the fact that I (and many many others) are having a hard time not kicking back and playing the latest build for hours on end. Of course we have a mission to accomplish, so we control our urges, but it's always exciting to finally see a product reach this state of playability. Good times here at Turn 10.

2002 Nissan Skyline by ikon313 - Community Photo

So the big news in the Forza community this week is the launch of the Forza Motorsport 2 LIVE challenge that's currently the featured article on our front page. If you haven't already, have a look at that article to see what's going down. This is the big one...your chance to not only get your hands on some serious prizing, but also a shot at being among some of the first in the world to experience our next game. This is big, and you bet our community is in a frenzy trying to qualify.

2004 Volvo At-Speed S60 R by J Moelhave - Community Photo

So how do you qualify? Have a look at the tournaments section in-game for "Forza Motorsport 2 LIVE Challenge". This is where it all goes down. The top 9 racers from our qualifying leaderboard will be sent to NYC to check out Turn 10's next game and compete for some serious prizing. All the details can be found here, so have a look and get involved!

I just took a quick glance at the leaderboard and already our community is laying down some ridiculously fast times. Can't wait to see how high the bar get's near the middle of next week. Right now I'm seeing a lot of HLR and a few familiar faces from TRC holding it down. I also saw my main man BLKJ Evolution rocking 25th place as of a few minutes ago. Go Evo! Anyways it's always great to see familiar faces doing what they do best, but it's equally as impressive to see new faces moving up in the ranks. When it's all said and done we should have a serious group of racers heading off to NYC. Oh yeah and as Che mentioned in our official FM2 LIVE challenge thread we plan on doing these types of events for our European fanbase in the future. We love yall' so don't fret!

The statistics above used courtesy of Forzastats.com

This week in the Forza Motorsport 2 Community!

Major Nelson Photo Comp: The turnout for the Major Nelson NXE photo comp was tremendous, so much so we could not fit all the winners into this Community Update. A special gallery has been created to showcase all the winning entries. Check out all the great shots of the Major Nelson car here. If you see you shot featured make sure to send you choice of gift car to forzafb@microsoft.com.

Photo Mode: Benmastaw00t has offered a tutorial on how to take superb pictures in Forza 2. Benmastaw00t gives a number of of his editing tricks along with explanation of some standard practices within Photography. A bonus tutorial to help adjust your screen for Forza photography has been added by QuattroCrazy. If you are looking to improve your photography skill be sure to check out this thread.

Photo Mode: Now that it has been announced that GM will be eliminating the Pontiac brand, JediWise70 has decided to pay some tribute to the history of Pontiac. The comp is a stock only photo comp, no Photoshop allowed. The cars cannot have any aftermarket parts, as they must remain stock also. You can pay tribute to the Pontiac brand by submitting you photos here.

Fantasy Livery: oo Mr Fletch oo recently posted some WIP pictures of his latest project along with a short contest to guess the subject. The contest did not last that long as the images were a dead giveaway for the movie Batteries not Included. You can follow along with the creation of this design here.

Race/Replica: A recent collaboration between Nahos81 and Sternum1999 has resulted in a superb fictional race time attack car. The Bergenholtz Racing Mazda Familia combines the race design skills of Nahos with the Fantasy art from Sternum. There are no exact details on the release date but you can get the details when released from this thread.

Race/Replica: ABGRAPHICS recently found a source picture of the Top Secret Porsche. As he says this is one of his dream cars he could not resist doing this livery. As with most Top Secret cars the decals are inverted but ABGRAPHICS decided to use his artistic when doing the decals. You can check out his Top Secret Porsche Widebody here.

Drifting: SLP STORM has created a new sales thread for SLIPSTREAM Tune & Bodywerks shop. All the paints and tunes they have available are featured and the majority can be purchased by posting a request. Check out their garage here.

Photo Mode: Some of the photographers from the Photo Mode section recently got together for some online race action and have posted their incredible shots on the forums. Aggressor01 started it off with his shots from Tsukuba but FranticMunky and DScammell soon followed with their race shots. You can see all the amazing race shots here.

Tuning Marketplace: PBTurbo has two new Mitsubishi Evos available. The A850 Squid and the S998 Komodo will be available starting today. Both cars feature paintjobs done by FLUEX. The Squid features a tune by FTW InSaNiTy while the Komodo is tuned by FTW AintRite69. You can get all the information on both of these releases here.

Tuning Marketplace: MAD Tunerz has a new contest they are running to celebrate the release of their newest project. The release Golden Spoiler A850 Subaru STi will be released with a contest inspired by Willy Wonka. They are giving billions in prizes and many Limited Editions from their garage. The contest is simple just purchase one of the Wonka cars and remove the spoiler. If you have a golden spoiler you are a winner. All the details of the release and comp can be found here.

Alright it's been a long week for me and I'm ready to kick back and work on my ride this weekend. I've been making some decent progress, so look forward to more updates as we move forward. Thanks for playing and make sure to get involved with the FM2 LIVE Challenge!

Peace

Landin

2002 Ferrari Maranello by Hoccy - Community Photo

2003 Nissan Fairlady by XE FoxHound - Community Photo

 2006 Porsche Cayman by B Tender - Community Photo