Hey everyone, I’m happy to report that the latest Forza Motorsport 3 patch (codenamed TU4) has just cleared Xbox 360 certification and will be going live sometime in the nether hours this morning (3/9) – anywhere between 2AM to 4AM PST. The obvious question you guys are anxious to have answered is what the patch addresses and adds to FM3. Before we continue, we’ll be monitoring the comments section for trolling and unconstructive comments, including the repeated request for public multiplayer lobbies. We are currently not working on bringing back public lobbies. Thanks!

Below is a list of features improved/added and affected with the TU4 patch:

New multiplayer matchmaking game modes! Over the next few weeks, we’ll be introducing a bunch of new hoppers to multiplayer, including:

Week 1 (3/9) – Rolling out at 5:00PM PST

In the new Team Playground Category:

• Cat and Mouse
• Team Tag (Keep the It)
• Team Multi-Class Racing
• Team Last Car Standing
• Team Stock Car (yes, the oval kind)

In the Playground category:

• Tag (Virus) on Benchmark High Speed Ring

In the Circuit Racing category:

• A Class (Including DLC tracks)

Week 2 (3/16) – Rolling out at 5:00PM PST

In the new Team Circuit Racing category:

• Team R1 Class
• Team R2 Class
• Team R3 Class
• Team S Class
• Team A Class
• Team B Class
• Team C Class
• Team D Class
• Team E Class
• Team F Class

In the Drift category:

• Team Drift (Any Class)

Week 3 (3/23) – Rolling out at 5:00PM PST

In the new Multi-Class Circuit Racing category:

• R1 and A Class
• R2 and B Class
• R3 and C Class
• S and D Class
• A and E Class
• B and F Class
• R1 and F Class

Also added with the patch: 

• Team balancing on team multiplayer modes in hoppers, including the addition of AI to smaller teams.
  
• Stickier drag strips in drag mode, including the inclusion of peak tire temperatures at the beginning of race.
  
• Ability for Turn 10’s community team to control XP reward payout on a hopper basis via server settings. Yes, now you may be able to get a lot more XP points for playing a certain style of multiplayer game.
  
• Engine rev control added to the 3-2-1 pre-race moment for players using manual-with-clutch transmission in Drag mode only.
  
• Ability for Turn 10’s community team to turn off TruSkill display in lobbies to avoid being kicked for your TruSkill rank. This is a per hopper setting.
  
• Fixed a couple bugs, including the 6th gear shift and the transmission swap gear ratio exploits. A partial Leaderboard wipe will come week of 3/15 – those of you caught using this exploit starting from 2/26 will be permanently banned from all features of Forza Motorsport 3 online.
  
• We’ve also fixed a handful of minor issues including occasional shadow popping in multiple car heats, a controller layout (#11) that had gas and brakes reversed on the triggers, etc.

Someone wanted to know whether there will be changes to the current hoppers that are live in order to make room for the new hoppers coming online. Very good question, and the answer is yes. This will be a 2 part process. First of all, we will make some immediate changes to hoppers by downsizing.

• Circuit RWD will be consolidated into just A Class RWD and will be moved into Playground. The category just does not have the numbers to sustain itself as a 5 hopper system.
  
• A Class Expert moves from Playground to Circuit category.
  
• On a weekly basis, we will be looking at all hopper numbers. Those that do not maintain a decent number of players during peak primetime gaming hours will get killed.
  
• We will narrow down our set of hoppers until we have a core number of hoppers that are sustainable and the community are interested in (by voting with their game time).

Thanks for your patience and support!