Here are my Forza 3 Suggestions
You need to work on the menus. Use the message board to find some dedicated users, watch what they do, then make that easier. The menus are a tree when they need to be more of a web. For example, make it easier to jump from career races to free run so that you can practice before you race.
The Career needs lots of work
Set the career up so that it draws casual users deeper into the game
Use the career to encourage users to adopt behaviors and habits that will make them better. Allow races with no suggested line, or allow suggested line only in practice.
Set up races with no assists.
Set up races with no automatics.
Think about setting up new seasons as DLC that make use of new tracks and new cars. It woud be a great way to market DLC.
The named AI thing in Forza 2 did not work.
There was no change in driver, the strong driver got the best car, so you were racing the same guy over and over with some others to fill out the pack. Mix it up a bit. Create a tree so you actually care about your standings relative to other racers.
Tuning
I would like to be able to hire racers in test drive mode. That way you can pull up the telemetry and observe changes without having to concentrate on driving. This also provides a very consistent drive so you can better see the results of changes in tuning.
I would also like to make it much easier and faster to move between test drive and tuning so you can better fine tune results based on test driving.
This may be a lame gimick, but I think a crew chief advisor, with some voice acting would be cool. He could advise you on set up and upgrades and provide the tutorial, maybe even critique your driving in career. I like the way Madden takes it out on you when you blow a play. That might be cool (as long as I can turn it off)
A couple of changes to the livery editor
- Make it easier to mirror from one side to another.
- Allow users to create a design on a plane and then drape the car on all sides.
- Matching patterns at the edges is a pain and seems to never get quite right.
- Get pre-made decals from sanctioning bodies like SOVREN or SCCA and flags or other full color non-manufacturer decals.
- Engineer the ability to add decals as DLC.
- Allow users who create a group of shapes to convert it to a single shape to use like a decal.
As far as cars and tracks, do what you do. Its all good. (but do we really need that many snakes?)
You might want to be able to update car stats an abiliteis with a game update. This can help you deal with the lotus elan crx problem. You will never get the stat calibration right the first time. Something will always be amiss somewhere. With leaderboards, it is inevitable that users will find an exploit any car with a tuning issue. Finding a graceful way for you to calibarate this on the fly will help a lot.