FORZA 2 impressions thread

mixdj1 · Post by **mixdj1** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 11:57 am

Although I really like driving with the wheel I don't think it's that important to the enjoyment of Forza. They did a really good job of programming for the controller so that you can be really smooth with it. I occasionally still play with the controller if I just have a few minutes to race and don't want to go through the 5 minute unpacking/setup of the wheel.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 12:04 pm

I am lucky to have a semi-decent setup for my wheel too. I just sit on my couch (with a small pillow behind the arch of my back) and have a todler table that seems to be a decent height. I tried the sponge thing behind the brake pedal but it keeps slipping out (need to find a different sponge I guess).

My key with the wheel setup and getting used to it was finally finding the right touch to apply to both the brake and throttle. Also, meesing a bit with the "saturation" settings in the options for the wheel help a bit.

You have to be VERY careful with acceleration on any class higher than a 'B' and I have yet to perfect braking too, but am getting better. I am either braking very nicely but slowing down a bit too early or locking the tires up slightly but staying in control.

My times are definitely getting better but I cannot even compare them to any controller times as I have yet to try the game with the controller.

You may want to change the throttle saturation settings (or deadzone) to 0-100%. This makes the gas peddle a tad less sensitive since it uses the entire extension (I think). But I keep the starting deadzone of the brake pedal at like 5 or 10% so I don't brake too hard right away.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:45 pm

btmmayor wrote: This is actually a huge problem for me. In the offline portion of this game I am finding no racing and its killing my enjoyment of the game. If the AI is on medium I kill them. If its on hard I lose until I upgrade my car and then I kill them.

I think I'm starting to remember why I dumped the original Forza about a week after I bought it.

Same here. This game is insanely boring to me offline. I am not into car collecting or painting or upgrading. Just the racing. This gets compounded online due to the fact that most people are ungrading and tuning their cars for online races. The point caps help, but I'm just not "feeling" this game the way I thought I would. I am not giving up on it yet, but the game isn't "calling me" to play it, like other games are.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 2:32 pm

I'm still in the early stages with the game, so I haven't gotten annoyed yet. But I don't like that other cars don't class up when you go into a challenge. It's no fun upgrading your Mini to B class and mopping up a field of D level cars. For now, I think I'm going to only make upgrades that keep a car in its original class. I struggle a bit that way, but it forces me to race instead of just overpowering opponents.

Fshguy · Post by **Fshguy** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 2:56 pm

JRod wrote:I thought the Corvette had the engine in the back. Maybe it's just mid.

That's the only car I cannot drive.

I thought it was a matter of too much power and not enough weight on the wheels...

Kruza · Post by **Kruza** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 3:12 pm

Fshguy wrote:
JRod wrote:I thought the Corvette had the engine in the back. Maybe it's just mid.

That's the only car I cannot drive.
I thought it was a matter of too much power and not enough weight on the wheels...

Yeah, this is correct. Corvettes are front-engine RWD cars.

But if you all think it's tough enough to race in the Corvettes, just wait until you have to race in the TVRs. There's even lesser weight over the rear axle of these cars with same amount of horsepower, if not more (Cerbera Speed 12). The Corvettes are easy to tame in comparsion to these lightweight beasts.

Kruza

jondiehl · Post by **jondiehl** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 3:28 pm

Kruza wrote:
Fshguy wrote:
JRod wrote:I thought the Corvette had the engine in the back. Maybe it's just mid.

That's the only car I cannot drive.
I thought it was a matter of too much power and not enough weight on the wheels...

Yeah, this is correct. Corvettes are front-engine RWD cars.

But if you all think it's tough enough to race in the Corvettes, just wait until you have to race in the TVRs. There's even lesser weight over the rear axle of these cars with same amount of horsepower, if not more (Cerbera Speed 12). The Corvettes are easy to tame in comparsion to these lightweight beasts.

Kruza

I just maxed out a Dodge Charger to U class (999) with over 1000HP for fun. I needed a car to finish off the heavyweight challenge and went overboard with every single upgrade. That thing, even with all of the weight (2 tons) is still a handful with 1000HP at my fingers. Fun on the NY circuit though, it's a like a freight train going into the hairpin section and spins it's wheels like the roadrunner on the starting grid.

Kruza · Post by **Kruza** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 4:04 pm

jondiehl wrote:I just maxed out a Dodge Charger to U class (999) with over 1000HP for fun. I needed a car to finish off the heavyweight challenge and went overboard with every single upgrade. That thing, even with all of the weight (2 tons) is still a handful with 1000HP at my fingers. Fun on the NY circuit though, it's a like a freight train going into the hairpin section and spins it's wheels like the roadrunner on the starting grid.

LOL! That's insane. I bet those brakes do a lot of whining near the end of those long straightaways.

Kruza

btmmayor · Post by **btmmayor** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 4:49 pm

JackB1 wrote:This game is insanely boring to me offline. I am not into car collecting or painting or upgrading. Just the racing. This gets compounded online due to the fact that most people are ungrading and tuning their cars for online races. The point caps help, but I'm just not "feeling" this game the way I thought I would. I am not giving up on it yet, but the game isn't "calling me" to play it, like other games are.

I can get into the collecting and painting if there is some fun racing to go with it. Unfortunately I've found very little of that, both offline and on. I'm going to stick with it for a little while longer, but F1 for the PS3 just showed up in my mail today and judging from comments from Leebo and Jcalvert my Forza time might be coming to an end.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 4:59 pm

btmmayor wrote: I can get into the collecting and painting if there is some fun racing to go with it. Unfortunately I've found very little of that, both offline and on. I'm going to stick with it for a little while longer, but F1 for the PS3 just showed up in my mail today and judging from comments from Leebo and Jcalvert my Forza time might be coming to an end.

The other thing that's bringing me down is the lack of variety in the tracks. There are so many tracks that look and feel the same to me.
There just isn't anything interesting to me about the offline part of this game. If the DSP/XBL crowd move on to another game, I am done.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:27 pm

JackB1 wrote:The other thing that's bringing me down is the lack of variety in the tracks. There are so many tracks that look and feel the same to me.
There just isn't anything interesting to me about the offline part of this game. If the DSP/XBL crowd move on to another game, I am done.

Well, NCAA 08 drops July 17. So you can set your farewell to Forza 2 on that day.

And then you can return to NR 2003 where you belong, you f*cker.

Take care,
PK

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:31 pm

pk500 wrote:
JackB1 wrote:The other thing that's bringing me down is the lack of variety in the tracks. There are so many tracks that look and feel the same to me.
There just isn't anything interesting to me about the offline part of this game. If the DSP/XBL crowd move on to another game, I am done.
Well, NCAA 08 drops July 17. So you can set your farewell to Forza 2 on that day.

And then you can return to NR 2003 where you belong, you f*cker.

Take care,
PK

Racing just not the same without PK screaming, "You f***er" every 10 seconds.

wpw721 · Post by **wpw721** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 11:12 pm

Racing against randoms online is going downhill fast for me. The constant wrecking, tuner cars and myriad of forced on and off options are really making the racing frustrating.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 10:08 am

I am having a ton of fun just doing the Arcade mode stuff! I love the Time Trials and trying to be the target time. The exhibition races are decent too.

I am having a hell of a time trying to beat one of the time trial races though...

Anyone have any suggestions on how to beat the target time on Tsukuba? I think that is the track (it's a red car adn the track is two or so before the NY track). The target time is 55 and some odd seconds but I cannot seem to get under 57. I downloaded TC's ghost and raced against it but there are two turns he just flies out of that I cannot for the life of me get the same traction on!

Do you guys who have beaten that track use custom car setups or just the default ones? I am using the default setup. If TC is using the default setup then it must be the difference in Auto vs. Manual transmission becasue while he is a much better driver than I, I am hitting the almost exact same line on this one section and he just shoots out like a slingshot and when I try that I cannot stay on the track.

Help!?!?

Kruza · Post by **Kruza** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 12:29 pm

The tight hairpin corners at Tsukuba are banked, so it's possible to be more aggressive steering the car while approaching the apex at turn-in point without losing control of the rear end of the car. If the car enters the corner aggressively with the car sort of "tucked in" at the apex, then it can power past the apex and out the exit with that same kind of aggressiveness with the steering. I imagine that's how TCrouch handled these corners in his replay ghost.

Conversely, if the car enters these banked hairpin corners passively and/or treat it as a normal unbanked corner (i.e. the car is not "tucked in" at the apex), then it won't be in good position to aggressively power and steer out of the exit.

Kruza

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 1:09 pm

At Tsukuba, like Kruza was saying, you can really drop the hammer if you hit those hairpins right. The trick is to brake just enough to hit the corner but not too much to where you lose momentum. When I talk about having more control with a manual transmission, Tsukuba is the textbook definition of that. I can drop the car to 2nd gear which keeps the RPM's high and is the perfect speed for those corners. Near the apex I can practically floor the throttle again due to the banking and the stress the car is already under...its weight balance is already shifted and planting the throttle to the floor doesn't upset the weight balance much. So the trick is getting into a gear that holds the corner well and then literally planting your foot on the floor on exit. I haven't spent more than a couple laps on any given time trial but Tsukuba is a great track for learning a manual transmission...you have the 2nd gear hairpins, the 3rd gear doglegs, and the 4th gear large sweeper near the end.

jondiehl · Post by **jondiehl** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 3:07 pm

Yeah, I finally switched to manual transmission as well, and Tsubuka is perfect for learning to shift correctly.

However, when I did time trials (1st or 2nd day the game was out), I had auto shifting on, so it can be beating w/ assists.

I'll add that setup can make a big difference too, especially the gearing and downforce. On some of the time trials, they are stock production cars so there is nothing to set up. But later on, you'll get race cars that you can tweak. What I did on those time trials is first goto the scoreboard and download one of the setups from a top 10 time, along with their ghost. Then, hit the time trial. You'll get the setup they used for that top 10 lap, along with their ghost to follow. Of course, at the flying start, they'll blow past you since they're lap time was probably set on lap 2 or later, but for each lap after the 1st one, you'll have a chance to keep pace with a top 10 time (as well as your best lap's ghost) and just slowly try and take off a second at a time until you beat the target time.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 4:24 pm

Thanks for the tips guys!!!

Leadfoot5 · Post by **Leadfoot5** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 4:42 pm

I haven't been able to beat that TT either, and the thought of having to go to a MT doesn't thrill me. I don't think that I can keep a deft touch on the throttle and brake, steer, and upshift/downshift shift with my right thumb all at the same time... Still, I may have to give it a shot...

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 2:16 pm

I know I joked about it in one of our poker nights but I ended up getting the wheel. When my wife said I couldn't be dorkier in her eyes I had her get it for me for my birthday.

After spending some quality time with this game and the wheel I am nowhere near as frustrated with it. It is much more natural straightening out and staying on the road with the wheel. I'm no Johnny Rutherford but at least I'm on the asphalt more than the grass now. Now I just need a good table setup to mount it on.