| Forza Motorsport 3 | |
| |
| Developer(s) | Turn 10 Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft Game Studios |
| Designer | |
| Engine | Proprietary |
| status | Status Missing |
| Release date | October 22, 2009 (JP) October 27, 2009 (NA) October 23, 2009 (EU) October 23, 2009 (AUS) |
| Genre | Genre Missing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Age rating(s) | ESRB: E OFLC: G PEGI: 3 |
| Platform(s) | Xbox 360 |
| Arcade system | Arcade System Missing |
| Media | 2 DVD-DL |
| Input | Gamepad, steering wheel controller |
| Requirements | |
| Credits | Soundtrack | Codes | Walkthrough | |
Forza Motorsport 3 is a racing video game developed for Xbox 360 by Turn 10 Studios. It was released in October 2009. It is the sequel to Forza Motorsport 2 and the third installment in the Forza Motorsport series. The game includes over 400 customizable cars (and another 5 in the bonus pack) from 50 manufacturers and over 100 race track variations with the ability to race up to 8 cars on track at a time.
Gameplay
New additions to the game include an in-car driving view, one button assisted driving, vehicle rollover with detailed undercarriages, real-simulation drifting, drag racing, and SUVs (Mostly Crossovers). Also new to the series is the addition of stock cars, albeit generic. Furthermore, the game also features the ability to paint race cars and upgrade race cars to a limit, whereas Forza Motorsport 2 only allowed for production and tuner cars to be painted or upgraded (although one downloadable Peugeot LMP could be painted). Also included is the ability to upgrade certain production and tuner cars to the race-class level, represented by the performance ratings R3, R2, and R1, whereas Forza Motorsport 2 did not. Also included was the ability to create in-game videos and upload them to the Forza Motorsport website. Forza Motorsport 3 is shipped on two discs, but only utilizes one for gameplay. The second disc serves as the "installation disc," which contains extra vehicle and track content, 1.9GB in total. Forza Motorsport 3 supports only two Force Feedback racing wheels: The Microsoft wireless racing wheel and the Porsche 911 Turbo S wheel made by Fanatec. The Logitech G25 and G27 racing wheels are not supported.
Dan Greenawalt unveiling Forza Motorsport 3 at E3 2009
A new single-player season mode puts the player through a completely personalized racing calendar that includes more than 200 different events, including circuit, oval, drag, drift, and timed events personalized to the player's tastes. Turn 10 Studios has also confirmed that Circuit de la Sarthe (famous as the course for the Le Mans 24 Hour Race) is included.
In addition, the online multiplayer mode gains an all-new game rules editor. New Xbox Live scoreboards display not only the greatest racers but also the most prolific car tuners, and painters in the community.
At the E3 2009 Microsoft Press Conference, Turn 10 mentioned a rewind feature (much like the "flashback" feature on Race Driver: Grid, Colin McRae's DiRT and DiRT 2), but did not divulge specifics. It was later revealed at the E3 2009 coverage council that the rewind feature allows players to turn back time to fix previous mistakes made on the track. The rewind feature has no limit on how many times it may be used or time between rewinds. It is one of the many assists in Forza Motorsport 3.
During another interview at E3 2009, game director Dan Greenawalt revealed that the updated physics engine will include tire deformation, and the ability to flip your car over. He also included that there is a "pressure" system in which the A.I., depending on how the difficulty is set, will make mistakes when under pressure. In addition to improvements to the A.I. and physics, the new Photo Mode features ten times more polygons in each car model, bump mapping, and texture resolutions four times higher than before. Also, it is confirmed that the game will run at 60 frames per second. The interview also revealed that there will be several scoreboards ranging from driver scoreboards to painting and tuner leaderboards. There will be a video editor feature available. Dan Greenawalt stated that Project Blackjack, the team that made an E3 trailer, used capture cards to make their videos. The video editor grants players more possibilities. Players will also be able to create their own race rules but only in private matches as public matches are held through a matchmaking system that has no customization for the player. The player instead has to choose from one of the hoppers provided which are A-R class races. Unlike its predecessors Forza Motorsport 3 doesn't support System Link.
Xbox Live
Forza Motorsport 3 includes a large variety of Xbox Live content and options available to online gamers. This is based around a completely redesigned "storefront". It allows gamers to create car designs, setup files, logos and sell them via the "storefront" to other gamers. Further flexibility is available, allowing players to select how many of each car design or logo will be available. The storefront feature is not available to Xbox Live Silver members. Xbox Live users are also able to buy and sell cars via the "auction house." Cars are put up for a certain amount of time and for a certain amount of in-game currency. Players can choose to out-bid each other in order to buy a car.
Downloadable content
A redeemable code was packaged with new copies of the game for a free DLC known as the "Motorsports Legends Car Pack", which includes 10 classic cars (such as the 1960 Chevrolet Corvette, 1964 Aston Martin DB5, and the Shelby Daytona) and two extra tracks. A special Hyundai Genesis Coupe DLC pack was released for free on November 17, 2009, containing three versions of the car. The first paid downloadable content for Forza Motorsport 3 was made available on December 8, 2009. It is known as the "Hot Holidays" pack and includes the 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia and 2010 Nissan GTR SpecV. Turn 10 has announced that they are attempting to keep to a monthly release schedule for DLC.
Retail versions
The contents of the Limited Edition
Two editions of Forza Motorsport 3 have been released: Standard and Limited. The Limited Edition consists of a Forza branded USB stick; a Forza branded key chain, a VIP Membership for use on the online Auction House and Community Storefront; an exclusive car pack of five cars and a Forza Motorsport 3 theme for the Xbox 360 dashboard.
In September 2009, Microsoft announced a special limited edition Xbox 360 console for Forza Motorsport 3. The unit includes a 250GB hard drive, two wireless controllers, a wired headset, and the standard edition version of the game.
Soundtrack
In December 2009, the Forza 3 soundtrack composed by Lance Hayes (known as DJ Drunken Master) was made available at retail and as a digital download from Sumthing Digital and iTunes. Featuring cuts from the primarily ambient electronica score; a selection of 12 tracks with over an hour of music. The version used in-game contains 18 tracks and over 90 minutes of music, together with a different play order.
| Track listing | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Riding the Rail" | 4:54 | |||||||
| 2. | "Visual Installation" | 5:39 | |||||||
| 3. | "Japanese Four Star" | 4:50 | |||||||
| 4. | "Base Telemetry" | 5:35 | |||||||
| 5. | "Additional Controller" | 5:22 | |||||||
| 6. | "Superleggera" | 5:32 | |||||||
| 7. | "Dialed-In" | 5:42 | |||||||
| 8. | "Elapsed Time" | 5:29 | |||||||
| 9. | "Van Air" | 5:29 | |||||||
| 10. | "Road Side" | 5:13 | |||||||
| 11. | "This Final Lap" | 5:34 | |||||||
| 12. | "X Track" | 6:34 | |||||||
Total length: |
65:53 | ||||||||
Reception
| Reception |
|---|
Forza 3 was highly praised by critics. On GameRankings, the game has an overall score of 91.98% based out of 63 reviews, while on Metacritic, the game has an overall score of 92 out of 100, based out of 87 reviews. IGN called it 'One of the best racing games of this generation'. Criticism mainly stemmed from the grid being much smaller than rival games (only 8 cars), the cockpit view being displayed too close to the steering wheel, the inability for users to tune their vehicles during public multiplayer racing, and the inability to create custom public multiplayer races. Turn 10 however is adding more modes to the online lobbies in an attempt to counter this problem, such as the Playground lobby which lets users play Tag Mode online in public races but custom public lobbies are currently unavailable.
Forza 3 has won numerous awards. At the Spike Video Game Awards, it was named the Best Driving Game of 2009. Gamespot awarded it the Driving Game of the Year award, and also received a nomination for Best Xbox 360 Game of the Year. G4TV also awarded it the Best Driving Game of 2009, while IGN named it the Best Xbox 360 Driving Game of the Year.
Awards
- At the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards, Forza 3 was named the Best Driving Game.
- Forza 3 was given Gamespot's Driving Game of the Year award for 2009.
- Forza 3 rated a 9.5/10 and was one of Gamespot's 2009 editors' choice awards.
- Forza 3 received a Recommended Award at IT Reviews.
- Forza 3 was awarded Best Xbox 360 Racing Game of the Year by IGN.
- Forza 3 was given G4TV's Best Racing Game of 2009 award.
- Forza 3 was named CNNTech's Best Racing Game of 2009.
- Forza 3 was nominated for the Best Xbox 360 Game of the Year by GameSpot.
- Forza 3 received the 2009 Crystal Award for Driving Game of the Year.
- Forza 3 was given the Best Racing Game of 2009 award by GameTrailers.
See also
- Sim racing