Forza 5

[DChaps]

Long Beach in Forza 5 - for free!

Man, I am really missing Forza 5. If the track ends up looking this good as in the trailer below, it may be the best real-life street course I have ever seen in a racing sim, console or PC. Nice addition with the Indycar and Prototype races coming up this weekend.

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

Starting April 10, the famed Long Beach circuit is coming to Forza Motorsport 5! Available for free as part of the latest Forza Motorsport 5 content update, Long Beach is a brand new track to the Forza Motorsport series, delivering tight turns and blindingly quick straights, all surrounded by the sun-drenched beauty of southern California. Long Beach in Forza Motorsport 5 is packed with stunning detail, with the entire track and surrounding area recreated with obsessive precision through laser scanning, thousands of photos, and hours of video. From the angles of each unique palm tree along Shoreline Drive to every nuance of the track’s surface, this circuit is a racing experience unlike any other.

The full eleven-turn, 1.97-mile course, home to this weekend’s 40th running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, is included, as well as two alternate ribbons: the slightly shorter East Loop and the half-mile West Loop, both of which are perfect for drifting or pushing your technical driving skills to their limits.

Like all track add-on content for Forza Motorsport 5, Long Beach has been fully integrated into every mode of the game. Once you download the content update, the Long Beach circuit becomes part of your Forza 5 world. You’ll find brand new events in Career mode, new Rivals and multiplayer lobbies to challenge your friends, and more. Download the latest update for Forza Motorsport 5 and experience this world-class track for the very first time in the Forza Motorsport series!

[XXXIV]

Very cool Don..... Still the only game out that I want for either new system. Just NOT enough.

[DChaps]

Very cool Don..... Still the only game out that I want for either new system. Just NOT enough.

That is exactly where I am as well. Nothing else really tempts me, but it's getting harder to resist Forza the more gets added to it.

[pk500]

Damn. I've worked the Long Beach race twice and have walked most of the circuit, and the digital depiction in Forza 5 is stunning! Makes me feel like I'm there.

[Rodster]

I got a 200+ MB update today and it aborted due to my crappy internet connection. I got it to restart and thought it installed LB. I can't find the track anywhere in the game. Did you guys get the track today ?

[J_Cauthen]

I got it and it's spectacular! It was part of an overall game update (not sure what else they changed in the game, if anything). It looks very faithful to the real thing though and I'm delighted to have it. I've read others say that they haven't seen where it's been added to their career modes though. I've only raced it a couple of time in "Free Race" mode.

BTW, I don't know how many have been following the story about the CronusMax controller adapter and its pending "official" support of Fanatec and Logitech current-gen wheels for The XB1, but I bought one this week for my Fanatec GT2 and it works even in its present state. The XB1 and Forza 5 sees it as a controller so it treats its inputs as such. It takes some creative adjusting to get it to where it's usable.

Here's what I posted about it in the CronusMax Racing Wheel Support sub-forum two days ago:

"Spent more time with my now functioning Fanatec GT2 in Forza 5 today. I spent as much time reading and trying different scripts to get rid of the understeer problem I'm having. The closest I've gotten now is using the Hemmicidal's XBox360 Force-Feedback Racing Wheel on XB1 Forza 5 script. I've got my GT2 set at the minimum sensitivity (90) and full linearity (0), with a deadzone of 0. In the Forza 5 controller menu, I've got the Inside Steering Deadzone set to 0 and the outside to 90. Even with this, the understeer is hard to compensate for. The control feels a bit sloppy as a result.

On a positive note, my lap times are showing huge improvements. The ability to precisely modulate the accelerator and brake, and to manually shift cleanly have made a huge difference. I'd love to get rid of this understeer, but that will come as I get more familiar with the scripts.

Finally, I've felt no hint of rumble or vibration in either of the two scripts I've tried that have commands for it. I think it was Picklock who reported getting some rumble on his Fanatec CSR using Hemmical's script. I need to find out why I'm not getting that. Every little morsel of handling feedback is precious when you're without force-feedback handling effects."

I would add to the above that with the Fanatec GT2's onboard settings, I've dialed up a spring force of 3 and left the damping at 0, while using 90% for force-feedback. While there are no force-feedback handling effects being communicated to the GT2, the spring force at least gives the wheel some proportional resistance to turning. It would feel broken without this... I've tried it with a spring force of 0 and it was an absolute buzz-kill.

I've got some custom control scripts to play with and I hope at least get rid of my understeer problem eventually by using one of them with some variable tweaks. Some Fanatec CSR users are getting rumble and vibration translated to their wheels by remapping the accelerator and brake vibrations to their steering wheel vibration, but I've had no success with this.

[Rodster]

Yeah, i'm not seeing LB even in free mode and that's the first place I looked. Is there a way to clear cache on the X1 so it can trigger to re-download the update in F5?

[dbdynsty25]

Yeah, i'm not seeing LB even in free mode and that's the first place I looked. Is there a way to clear cache on the X1 so it can trigger to re-download the update in F5?

Didn't you get the pop up when you started Forza that the track was now available in all modes? If not, you probably didn't even get the update at all.

[Rodster]

Yeah, i'm not seeing LB even in free mode and that's the first place I looked. Is there a way to clear cache on the X1 so it can trigger to re-download the update in F5?

Didn't you get the pop up when you started Forza that the track was now available in all modes? If not, you probably didn't even get the update at all.

I got a pop up message for a 200 MB+ update and that was it even after several soft reboots. So I unplugged the X1, waited 30 minutes and when I got back to the dashboard and restarted F5, that's when I got a 1.8GB update. So yeah I now have LB and it's pretty awesome.

[MizzouRah]

I'm getting this game very soon, looks excellent!

[J_Cauthen]

I'm getting this game very soon, looks excellent!

It's really a surprising treat; I'm still enamored with it two weeks into my XBox One Ownership and it's only gotten better now that I'm getting closer to optimum settings for my GT2 wheel. Still, when Controller Max releases the full Fanatec support update, this game will be elevated to another dimension!

[Gangrel]

Yeah, I love this game, but am stuck with a controller. I wish there were some cheap wheels out for the One. I hear TM ?? is putting out one for around $100, but it will have no FFB.

The fancy one I think is $399+ here in Canada.......

A wheel would make this game sublime.

[MizzouRah]

I'm getting this game very soon, looks excellent!

It's really a surprising treat; I'm still enamored with it two weeks into my XBox One Ownership and it's only gotten better now that I'm getting closer to optimum settings for my GT2 wheel. Still, when Controller Max releases the full Fanatec support update, this game will be elevated to another dimension!

Next ref check I get, it's mine!

[Pete1210]

Nürburgring is now available as free DLC.

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/06/09/forz ... ing-video/

[Dave]

They have added some interesting race cars over the last couple months, including some I've never driven in a game before like the 1977 Foyt Coyote Indycar, Indy Lights Dallara, 1967 Brabham F1 car, and the incredibly cool Audi Quattro IMSA GTO monster.

The tracks they've added have all been welcome additions since a lack of tracks was one of the knocks on the game, especially since they are also added to the career mode.

Can you see how many minutes have been spent with each game you play on the Xbox One? I've probably spent more time with Forza than I have with all other games combined.

[TCrouch]

Not sure, but you're dave2eleven, right?

Your drivatar keeps obliterating me!

I gotta say, even after 7 or 8 months, I keep coming back to Forza periodically and have an incredible time. Played it again this past weekend for another few hours and thoroughly enjoyed it.

[dbdynsty25]

Not sure, but you're dave2eleven, right?

Your drivatar keeps obliterating me!

I gotta say, even after 7 or 8 months, I keep coming back to Forza periodically and have an incredible time. Played it again this past weekend for another few hours and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Yeah it's definitely the only game I go back to on the XB1...it really is a system seller.

[TCrouch]

Big time. My brother has been down a lot the last few months, and he's played tons of PS4 with me on weekends. So much so that he decided to buy a console, but he's a huge racing buff. It was really tough for him to decide which one to get, but since he's also a huge baseball fan, he went with the PS4 for The Show. The hardest part was not being able to play Forza for him at his house, but we figured there would be other racing games on PS4 like Project Cars. There won't be The Show on XB1, so that was the final straw.

But it's pretty much the only reason I turn on my XB1 at this point--and as horrible as it is to say, it's worth the entire price tag I paid for it, which is embarrassing when I think about it. XB1 console, the Thrustmaster TX racing wheel, Forza, and the car pass.

For essentially one game.

[XXXIV]

I am tempted to just get it over with and get the Forza bundle as its still the only game I want next gen but its not time yet.

Too many wafflers like me out there

[Dave]

Not sure, but you're dave2eleven, right?

Your drivatar keeps obliterating me!

I gotta say, even after 7 or 8 months, I keep coming back to Forza periodically and have an incredible time. Played it again this past weekend for another few hours and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Haha, yes that is me. Sorry about that...

Without Forza, I would have traded in the Xbox One for a PS4, no doubt about it. Horizon 2 on the way helps, too.

[Inuyasha]

there's really not much on PS4 either. Maybe The Show if you're into that. Wishing we had a decent car racing game on PS4. But don't want to buy XBO just for one Forza game.

Anyone on the fence stay on, nothing I see this summer to make the move.


Maybe wait for Black Friday deals if you really want to get one.

[Gangrel]

Anyone know of any force feedback wheels on the horizon for the One that don't cost $400 ?

[TCrouch]

Nope. I've heard that there are adapters to make last-gen wheels work that are still being developed, though.

[DChaps]

They have added some interesting race cars over the last couple months, including some I've never driven in a game before like the 1977 Foyt Coyote Indycar, Indy Lights Dallara, 1967 Brabham F1 car, and the incredibly cool Audi Quattro IMSA GTO monster.

Wow, I totally missed these new cars, especially the 1977 Foyt Coyote Indycar, one of my favorite Indycars of all time. With the release of Road America, Long Beach, and now the Nurburgring, it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to hold off on the Xbox One.

Main thing that is holding me back is my need for a good force feedback steering wheel for it. I actually finally got to try Forza 5 at a Micrsoft kiosk, and found it pretty unplayable with the controller and I tried many configurations and simulation settings. It could be that I just suck that bad that I need a steering wheel.

[Aristo]

I pretty much play Forza 5 more like PGR. I keep the settings very forgiving and use my controller. I've been waiting on a better fit for what I like in a racer, and FH2 seems to be exactly it.

I'm just worried I will still hate the open world nature of choosing what race to do. I get that you accumulate XP as you cross the map on your way to the location of the starting line, but after awhile in FH, I just wanted a menu to pick races from when I wasn't just cruising around. Plus, I hope running over signs and buzzing close to oncoming traffic are not sources of XP again.

But mostly, I think the drivatars from my friends list are going to be 100% more fun in FH2, since it is not really about precision driving, including finding paths off road. In Forza 5, the drivatars certainly created realistic driving that resulted in slower times for you to beat, but it was also pretty rough at lower difficulty levels. If you moved up to the higher ones you would get less of your friends in the race and better driving overall, but they were also hard as hell to beat.

In that way, Forza 5, if you raced against the best drivatars, was a fantastic sim. The cars still drove like a human, but they also did not suffer from the AI rubber banding. If you caught up, it was because the driver made a mistake, and it was programmed to make that mistake about as often as the real driver would.

I think FH2 will make racing your buddies' drivatar more fun, as you bounce through off-roads, rub paint off, and barrel through the course more aggressively. I think in that way, the games will compliment each other, but different gamers will be attracted to each game. I'm really hoping that FH2 will finally scratch that PGR itch.