The whirlwind that was March has finally come to a close. It’s been a wild 31 days with a lot of new events, hoppers and additions introduced to the Forza 3 universe. It was an interesting few weeks, last month had a little bit of everything, the Jalopnik DLC contests were a blast (with more coming next week as well), the addition of new team hoppers to the lobby system and a very special month for Forza painters that saw 3 liveries go from the Forza editor to a real world machine. Next week the Road & Track car pack contests will begin, if you were around for the Jalopnik contest you know what to expect. Every day two had photos are posted of a mystery car. The first three to guess the car correctly walk away with a copy of the DLC, first place winners will also receive a copy of Forza Motorsport 3. The fun starts Monday morning at RoadandTrack.com/Forza.
Yesterday was filled with shenanigans all across the inter, April Fool’s day shenanigans which we are guilty of contributing to. If you checked the time trials yesterday you may have noticed a new Hot Lap challenge titled “Gone in seconds”. I have to say this is quite possibly the most grueling time trial we have every rolled out. With “Gone in seconds” we wanted to take aim at pushing your stamina, focus and skill as a virtual race car driver to the limits. A track and car pairing so brutal, we almost had second thoughts on releasing it. How any one was able to make it through it once, let alone multiple times as they hot lapped is beyond us.
Image by Chron0sZer0 - See this and more in the Community Gallery.
Ok, so we yea played a little prank on you. It wasn’t a grueling challenge, it was a 7 second oval lap (which I am sure came out of left field to many of you), but it was all in good fun. I’m glad to see a lot of you guys had fun with it on the boards and we hope you guys got a little laugh out of that one. If you want to see what the fuss was about check out the replays for the top times on the leaderboard, pretty funny stuff ( the lines some of the confused racers took are worth a look). We’ll have a little surprise today for the people who were able to participate in this time trial, but that’s still a secret. Make sure you check the discussion thread here which will have more information on the time trial prizes. Happy April Fools!
Update: The time trial accidentally closed earlier than planned and has been re-opened until 4pm PDT.
With that silliness behind us, let's talk about a new addition to the hopper system. Two weeks ago we rolled out a new set of hoppers titled Multi-Class racing, a lot of Forza players have taken to it already and I strongly suggest checking it out because there is a great quality in the level of racer’s hitting the hopper. We’ve spent a lot of free time this week ourselves in Multi-class lobby, highly recommend it. If you haven’t had the opportunity to try it out and are confused as to what it is, Multi-Class racing is a mode in which the room is split into two groups, not teams. Each group is split into a class (which class depends on the room you join). For example if you join the B/F class lobby you will be assigned either a B or F class group. From there you pick your car and then you are set to race against your group only. This creates a scenario where you are essentially running two different races, on the same track, at the same time. It’s a really fun way to race, the traffic this creates leads to some very intense runs and passing maneuvers. It’s a very unique experience to be racing neck and neck with an Integra, and then have an A-Class Ferrari zoom past you as you race to the finish. The lap times are around 3-5 laps so if you are looking for a nice change of pace from circuit racing but are still in a competitive mood make sure to give the multi class hoppers a shot, there are a couple of us here that are hooked on it at the moment, I’ll be in classes A/E and B/F this weekend if anyone is up for a race. See you guys online!
Image by Tifosi78 - See this and more in the Community Gallery.
I wanted to take some time out this week again to clarify some concerns gamers had over the course of this week. As many of you know the leaderboard wipes began on Monday morning with the goal of clearing dirty times off the leaderboards, with the first wave taking out a lot of times that were using the 6th gear glitch. While it caught a lot of times, we are aware that there are some stragglers left behind and we are going to continue to do scan’s until we get the remaining times off of the boards. I also want ease the minds of gamers who fear a ban might be coming their for having used a glitch tuned accidentally. When bans are handed out they will not be done lightly, they will be given to people who continue to intentionally pursue unfair methods to gain an advantage. If you know of times you feel we should be taking a look at, that you felt we have missed feel free to send me a private message on the forums (username: Ayo Jube) so we can look into it.
Last week’s car battle had the Mitsubishi HKS Time Attack Evolution flexing its muscle over the BMW #3 Prototype beating it out by 20%. Mitsubishi secures its’ first win in the VIP battles. After the poll was closed our fearless hot lappers then took to the time trial once again to fight for top position on the leaderboards. The Mitsubishi Game Room themed evolution will go out later today, and due to the MS Game Room being a free download we will be sending out the standard time trial prizes to this week’s winners.
Image by evomunk- See this and more in the Community Gallery.
That’s it for me this week! Stay tuned next week (its going to be a busy one) as it is going to be packed with lots of contests and updates on both the upcoming DLC, as well as Takata driver James Elterman who recently had his 2004 time attack Impreza wrapped with a Forza painters in-game livery. Look for the story on James Elterman and more information on our April car pack next week.
Oh, one last thing. We want to thank everyone who has followed us on Twitter to date, we have reached the 7,000 followers milestone. Almost on our way to 10,000! While we can't answer all of your PM's and @turn10 replies do know that we are reading them. If you are a Twitter user be sure to follow us on twitter! It’s a great way to stay up to date while at work or on the road.
Featured Video: R&N Tuning - S2000
Week 14 – F40 down the Coast
What: Official Turn 10 Featured Time Trial Challenge
When: Now until Friday April 9th at 12:00PM PDT
Where: Time Trials in Forza Motorsport 3.
Track and Car: Amalfi Coast – 1987 Ferrari F40
How: Navigate to the “Leaderboards” menu and scroll down to “Time Trial”. Scroll down to F40 down the Coast and “Press A to Start Race” at the top of the leaderboard. Set your best possible lap time!
Image by Dragnet- See this and more in the Community Gallery.
Hall of Fame Gallery
I highly recommend giving this section a look if you have not stopped by the Hall of Fame forums yet. Talented Official contest winners like Me Monkey 8 me, Blueprint and many more have their galleries on display, it’s a great source of inspiration and motivation. Definitely worth a look.
Pagani Zonda World Challenge
The Forza racing league has launched signups for their Pagani Zonda World Challenge. Sign-ups are free and the competition for this challenge looks to be on another level. If you feel you have what it takes to come out of this victorious be sure to give them a visit. Awesome rewards are available with real world and in-game prizes being given out which include Microsoft points, xbox live time, Forza 3 standees, unicorn cars and more!
FERRARI 250 GTO RESTORATION PROJECT
Cpt N Algren recently restored a virtual Ferrari detailing the steps he took to get it from a from Junkyard gem to showroom showcase status. A very neat thread you can check out here.
Image by jediwise70- See this and more in the Community Gallery.
Little Vixen goes Sci-fi
Little Vixen just released a set of four incredible Mass Effect 2 themed fantasy liveries which are available on Vixens storefront. Check it out Little Vixens Mass Effect thread here.
{*PBTuning*} Tuning Comp Speed Challenge
FTW Aintrite is hosting a speed tune competition focused on going fast. The prize pool is up to 7 million credits already with a lot of respected names signed up to participate. Give it a look here.
A painters work in progress -
Firsthotlap is at it again with an incredibly detailed caricature of the multi-talented Ron Howard, currently a work in progress. You can check it out here.
Also, we would like to congratulate someone you guys all know who is having a very awesome week, Che Chou, who had a healthy baby on Wednesday. Congratulations Che!