Forza 5

[Dave]

Terry, your Drivatar is a beast at Bathurst. For the first time I can remember, an AI car came back from being mired in traffic to pass me for the lead later in the race. It made a lot of sense when I saw your best time on the leaderboard afterwards!

[TCrouch]

Terry, your Drivatar is a beast at Bathurst. For the first time I can remember, an AI car came back from being mired in traffic to pass me for the lead later in the race. It made a lot of sense when I saw your best time on the leaderboard afterwards!

I wondered how that worked, since all the drivatars I know always seemed to start in the rear. That's really funny to hear, thanks for the laugh!

Go Go Digital Cousin!

I loooooooooooooooooove Bathurst. There's something so cool about that track. From the long straights to tight corners, to the rhythm section and elevation changes, the downhill technical sections. That is probably one of my favorite tracks for anything in the world.

Out of curiosity, what car was I driving in the race? I've wondered if people see your drivatar in "your" car you choose with the right livery, or if it just randomly grabs one each race.

[mixdj1]

Bottom line, the FF effects are absolutely top shelf. I don't know if it's the wheel, the XB1, or Forza 5 (or a combination of all 3). But it made the entire game come to life for me last night. I can't wait to hear what you think when you open it, Mix.

I've been able to spend a little bit of time with the wheel and so far I am definitely impressed. I have it mounted to a Wheel Stand Pro and the mounting plate holes lined up perfectly with the wheel so I was able to use a couple M6 screws instead of the clamp. The pedals unfortunately are just sitting on the stand so they shift around a bit right now.

The feel of the wheel and the FF effects are top notch just as you described. I can't really add much to what you said as I've been racing with a controller about 99% of the time over the last several years. The only negative I would have with the wheel so far is the default pedals that come with the system. Even after going into the game and turning off the dead zones I am seeing that the gas and especially the brake don't engage until about 10-20% of the pedal throw. This is causing me to miss some of my braking points that I've been able to nail while using the controller. I didn't realize how much I had started to rely on the new vibration motors in the triggers on the XB1 controller. I have been able to adjust to the pedals though as I was able to beat my best C-class time at Laguna Seca by a couple tenths after about 20 laps with the wheel.

I think with some more seat time I will be able to do much better with the wheel it is just taking a while to make the adjustment from the controller. I'll have to hook it up to my PC and give it a try with iRacing and Assetto Corsa to see how it works with them. Overall I am very happy with the purchase as it seems to have excellent build quality and the FF effects are great. It is worlds smoother and more precise than the last wheel I used (a Logitech MOMO).

[TCrouch]

Oh man, if you were using the old Red Momo that had the huge notchiness to it, then yeah--massive, massive difference.

The pedals could definitely be an issue if not mounted, yeah. I had them mounted in my stand and had no major problems with them, but when I could just throw my T500RS pedals in with the killer brake mod I have installed in it, it was a moot point.

That's one thing Thrustmaster did right. Make all of their crap work with all of their other crap. I could plug my T500 rim into the TX and drive with it if I didn't want to shift. I tried it just to see, and it worked. Driving GT cars with a huge rim like that was an entertaining experiment, but I gotta have my shifters. Once the TH8A comes out that plugs directly into the wheel, I'll be in heaven. Right now I alternate between using manual w/ clutch and just manual. Something about trying to clutch and paddle shift just feels funky to me, whereas using a stick is just perfectly natural to heel/toe the gas/brake and clutch it as I grab a gear. I keep missing the shifts when trying to clutch and downshift, oddly enough.

Either way, the wheel is absolutely amazing. The pedals--meh. But they had to skimp somewhere to try to get people to buy the TX pedal unit haha

[mixdj1]

Here is how it looks with my current setup:



I'm going to try to figure out something to hold the pedals in place. And once my oldest heads off to college her room becomes my gaming room and I can finally get some sort of racing cockpit. I don't think the wife would like a full cockpit sitting in the corner of the living room. At least the wheel stand pro folds down so I can store it when not in use.

[TCrouch]

Yeah, that's why I have a pair of those XL21 wheel stands. No cockpit in the center of the room, and the pedals bolt right up to it, no sliding no matter how much I try to drive like a gorilla

[Dave]

I loooooooooooooooooove Bathurst. There's something so cool about that track. From the long straights to tight corners, to the rhythm section and elevation changes, the downhill technical sections. That is probably one of my favorite tracks for anything in the world.

Out of curiosity, what car was I driving in the race? I've wondered if people see your drivatar in "your" car you choose with the right livery, or if it just randomly grabs one each race.

I agree completely about Bathurst, it is an amazing track. When you hit that rhythm section right, it is awesome.

You were driving an MR-2, I was in one of the late 80s/90s sports car races. I was driving the Eagle Talon against MR-2s, Neon SRT-4s, Eclipses, etc.

[TCrouch]

If that was a green and black Monster Energy MR-2, then that was mine. That's even cooler than I thought. For some reason I thought they just chose random liveries and cars, but it would make sense if you synchronized your drivatar with a specific car that they'd use it.

[Sudz]

Forza worth $39?

[Dave]

If that was a green and black Monster Energy MR-2, then that was mine. That's even cooler than I thought. For some reason I thought they just chose random liveries and cars, but it would make sense if you synchronized your drivatar with a specific car that they'd use it.

Yep, that was the car. Very cool.

And yes, this game is easily worth $39 if you like driving games at all.

[Danimal]

This game is awesome. I usually tire of driving games quickly but this is a lot of fun. I think the drivitars add to that. I suck, best I have been able to do is finish 5th so far and I don't like having to sit through those descriptions on cars without being able to skip but what a good game and probably one of the best looking next gen games.

[Jimmydeicide]

A little on how they are doing the drivatar.
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/10/h ... arning-ai/

[Bakes]

Just picked up Forza (my first Forza game) and have some dumb noob questions if someone wouldn't mind helping me out as I'm pretty clueless so far. On start up it had me run a test lap and then pick a car to start with. I did that and completed the first race (second place. So far so good. Now some questions -

- Now when I go into the game it has me set to start the next race in my career. Is there no way to go to a main menu or something like that? I would like to just mess around and do some practice runs if possible. There doesn't seem to be a way for me to do anything other than go to the next career race. I assume I must be missing something obvious.

- Next I would like my son to have his own career/save. This seems to be working when I quit the game and restart when logged into his profile. Is there an easier way to jump into his save without having to quit the entire game and relaunch?

- Finally, curious on some good settings to start with? Under the "assists" option I just chose medium to start with which seems to have quite a bit of hand holding. Also, camera? Do most use the cockpit view?

Thanks in advance for any help. From what little I've played I'm really intrigued with the game.

[Zeppo]

For assists, I'd suggest traction control and ABS, but not stability control. The driving line is really handy.

To just run laps, you can go into the place where you can buy and add upgrades and adjust and save setups, and in there you can select Test Drive which puts you on a track of your choice. Within that mode, you can adjust your setup on the fly if that's something your interested in messing around with. But anyway, as far as I now that Test Drive is the only way to just tool around and drive without being in a career race.

[Bakes]

nm, found it

[Sudz]

Got this game via Digital Download and like it so far...though I'm already starting to hold grudges against some of you for cutting me off!!

[TCrouch]

Not sure what you found, as "nm, found it" wasn't very descriptive--but you cannot do any free play or messing around until you finish the first career league. As soon as you finish the first 5 or 6 races, I think it is, then you can go back to the garage, go to options, etc.

Assists is really just personal preference. You'll get more credits with them off, but the car is harder to control. The only thing I'd definitely NOT recommend with a controller is simulation steering, as the car is way too tough to drive with a gamepad like that. Everything else can be turned off if you feel sparky.

You shouldn't have to quit the game to switch profiles. Just press the Home button, say sign out, and then sign into your son's profile. The game will go back to the starting screen and you won't have to relaunch it. You just 'Press A to Start'. I use Cockpit most of the time, but the windows can crack when madmen like Hogz and DB get near me and start annihilating my car, so sometimes I switch to hood cam. I find the external views too tough to use, because the visuals you see on screen are a little late. By the time you see the car shifting its weight, it's too late to do anything about it. I greatly prefer the cockpit view unless I've got a cracked windshield.

[Bakes]

Thanks guys - by "found it" I meant the Test Drive mode that Zeppo referred to. Googling around I found out how to go back to the main menu to get into Free Play. I imagine most have figured it out but here it is if anyone cares -

Q: How do I get out of Career event mode and into other parts of the game?
Issue: The first three races of the game are mandatory in order to establish your Drivatar. After that, the game continues Career mode with no apparent Exit to Main Menu option.
Solution:

There's no menu option before the race, but you can Start Race, then press the controller's Menu button (the one on the right with three parallel lines - used as Pause for the game), then choose the Quit menu option on the top right of the screen. From there you are placed into your Career garage screen. Press B or the Pause Menu button again to get to the game's main menu screen for access to Multiplayer, Rivals, Free Play, Profile, etc.

For assists I ended up taking Zeppo's advice and really like the way the game plays. I've never been into racing games but I definitely had that "just one more race" feeling. Switching to ABS from the assisted braking option was the hardest change to get used to but I like having more control. Felt like too much hand holding with that on.

I'll try switching profiles again later but last night when I was trying that I'd go back to the game and I would keep getting a message that the controller was disconnected. The game wouldn't restart unless I manually quit the game (go to home screen, select window and pick quit) and restarted.

[TCrouch]

That's why you have to log out of that profile.

Then log into the other profile. You can't just "choose this person" or the other profile is still logged in and needs an active controller.

[Bakes]

Ah gotcha, thanks

[DChaps]

Forza Motorsport 5 January IGN Car Pack Released

Turn 10 and IGN have again teamed up to unveil a new batch of post-release Forza DLC: the Forza Motorsport 5 IGN Car Pack. The IGN Car Pack, the first bundle of rides available since the initial pack arrived on launch, will feature 10 cars including brand new models like the 2013 Caterham Superlight R500 and 2013 Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG making their series debut. They'll be joined by some updated favourites like the 1977 Ford Escort RS1800 and 1964 Chevrolet Impala SS 409.

The pack will be available today via the usual channels, although if you’re looking to (eventually) purchase more than just one pack over the next few months the Car Pass is still the way to go. At USD$49.99/£39.99/AUD$64.95 it represents an 18 per cent discount compared with purchasing them individually.

That said, IGN Prime members will have a shot at scoring a pack for free as the crew at Turn 10 didn’t just give us the chance to put our name on the pack, they lobbed us 500 codes to hand out to you lot as well. Check back here in a few hours for details on how you could nab a free code but, in the meantime, see below for a round-up of the vehicles.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/01/07/ ... k-revealed

The full car list is:

2013 Caterham Superlight RS500 (new to Forza series)
2013 Mercedes Benz A45 AMG (new to Forza series)
2008 Lamborghini Reventón
2002 Ferrari 575M Maranello
1997 Ford Escort RS 1800
1984 Peugot 205 T16
1969 Nissan Fairlady Z 432
1964 Chevy Impala SS 409
1961 Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage (Only availiable if purchasing the full pack) (new to Forza series)
1957 Ferrari 250 California

I can't believe how good this game looks in videos. I am jealous of you lot that have it, particularly the ones with wheels.

[Dave]

I hate Yas Marina...the races really need to be 3 laps long there. There just isn't enough time to get through the field if you don't make it far enough up the order prior to the hairpins on the first lap. I lose so much time either getting rammed or trying to avoid the other cars.

[TCrouch]

I kinda like Yas Marina, because that section where you hit the sequence of hard lefts and rights is where I make up a ton of time. The CPU cars are scared of those, and I can gain massive amounts of time through there. In the hairpins and stuff, yeah--you're going to get cornholed if you have cars behind you. But I sort of got used to where I could make up ground, I guess. I don't have the loathing you do for the place

[DChaps]

Minor Forza 5 update today:

http://forums.forzamotorsport.net/forum ... 30791.aspx

Hi All,

When you play Forza Motorsport 5 today, you will be prompted to download an update for the game. This update includes a number of improvements to Forza 5, including:

-Cars available in DLC Car Packs can now be used as Rental Cars in Freeplay and Multiplayer modes
-Adjustment of the windshield damage threshold
-Players can now perform engine swaps for cars from the LaFerrari Car Pack and the IGN Car Pack
-Graphical fixes for the 2013 Caterham Superlight R500
-Cockpit brightness has been adjusted for the 1960 Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage
-Engine audio for the 1964 Chevrolet Impala SS 409 has been improved when using clutch

Thanks for your patience and we’ll see you online!

Brian Ekberg
Turn 10 Community Manager

[DChaps]

Road America released as Free Add-On along with 5 car Booster Pack (Car Pass Owners)

http://www.forzamotorsport.net/en-us/ne ... k_announce

Brian Ekberg
Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Forza Fans, the first track add-on for Forza Motorsport 5 has arrived: Road America is here! With today’s add-on update, you can now drive on one of the premier road tracks in the world for free if you own or buy Forza Motorsport 5. Longtime home to a host of racing series, Road America is legendary for its high-speed straights and its huge variety of challenging turns, all of which have been brought to life in spectacular detail on Xbox One. In fact, the only things you might miss from the famed Wisconsin-based circuit are the Johnsonville Sausages and some cheese curds.

Road America in Forza 5 will feature the main four-mile, 14-turn main circuit. For the first time in a Forza Motorsport, Road America will also feature four alternate ribbons that will test the limits of each player’s skill. In addition, the circuit has been integrated throughout the Career in Forza Motorsport 5. Players will be able to take part in races on the circuit in both the main Career events as well as Career bonus events which are available after a Mini-Career series is complete. In celebration of the track’s launch, players will also find new Road America-themed events in Rivals Mode and in the multiplayer lobbies.

One of the oldest and most distinguished of all the tracks in North America, Road America is a road course situated near Elkhart Lake in the scenic woodlands of Wisconsin. Much like Laguna Seca, Road America was conceived during a time when racing on public roads was becoming too dangerous to justify. Pressure from race organizers and government officials led to the abandonment of racing on the roads near Elkhart Lake, and ultimately to the construction of Road America in the span of just five months. The course opened in 1955, and the first race was won by legendary driver Phil Hill in a Ferrari Monza, after a hair-raising final lap that was a duel of nerves with fellow racer Sherwood Johnston’s Jaguar D-type — an auspicious sign of the exciting racing that would unfold over the years at the track.

Unlike virtually every course of its age, Road America has managed to maintain its original four-mile, 14-turn layout (except for the addition of a bend used during modern AMA races, which is now playable in Forza 5). Despite a major renovation of the track facilities in 1992, all of the elevation changes and sharp turns have been preserved, making Road America a course that must be carefully studied to master. Highlights includes Turn 6, located under the Corvette Bridge, where a small hill obstructs the view to the blind left-hander beyond, and the steep climb up the final straight that makes overtaking through speed alone a formidable struggle. Road America is host to many different race series, including the Trans-Am series, challenging drivers of a variety of cars and motorcycles with its sharp turns and hilly terrain.

Also releasing today is the Road America Booster Pack, featuring five cars to collect, drive and customize in Forza Motorsport 5. The five cars include the 2006 #2 Audi Sport North America R8, 1995 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1, 1968 Ferrari 365 GTB/4, 1971 Ford Mustang Mach 1, and the 2009 Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG Black Series. This five-car pack will be available at no additional charge to Forza Motorsport 5 Car Pass owners. This bonus pack is available to Car Pass owners in addition to the six monthly DLC packs that Car Pass owners will receive through May 2014.