by XboxOZ360

©2009 Grant Smythe – OXCGN.com

Yeah mate – you read it bloody well right!

Australian cars are featured in Forza 3 this year. Plus there’s a high likelihood that it will also feature several Australian race tracks as well. You beauty!

Our Affiliate in LA, OzBoxLive had an interesting interview today with  Korey Krauskof Group Program Manager -from Turn 10, asking several important questions related to this great new follow-up of the franchise.

To his surprise, when asking if Forza 3 will feature Australian cars, the answer back was that Aussies cars would be included, and that drivers from Down Under would be happy with what cars are chosen. Of course he couldn’t elaborate on that naturally, nor could he confirm or deny that there would be the Australian tracks featured in Forza 3.

The usual “we can’t comment on that at the moment” of course covers his backside from being kicked around the floor. However, even in NOT answering the question, but confirming that Australian cars WILL be included, leads one to suspect that the likelihood of them being featured is ‘extremely high’.

• Aussie Cars ! Aussie Track? Oi Oi Oi!  Live Interview From LA With OzBoxLive

While we have no idea what vehicles will be included or how many, just knowing that there will be some high-end machines mixing it in Forza 3 is enough to keep me extremely happy indeed. Of course that’s not to mention the many Australian fans that have been requesting them throughout the huge Forza 3 Wish List and Update pages here on OXCGN.

We feel very proud that you have made us one of the most hit Forza 3 pages on the net over the last 8 months. So thanks for dropping by.

But the good news doesn’t stop there.

Our Affiliate from OzBoxLive, Mark Libman, knowing full well how much I love the Paint Editor, asked Korey had it been changed for Forza 3?

Forza 3 will include a great amount of flexibility in the paint editor section. And while again he couldn’t go into specifics, it was clear that Turn 10 were suitably impressed by the amount of work that many Forza 2 fans put into their creations.

In fact, Turn 10 spent the first 2 weeks of Forza 2 release time downloading the HUGE amount of fan art that was being created on the cars. They simply were not expecting anything like what they did see and experience.

So naturally, they have opened it up even more. How that will look we’re not certain yet, but rest assured, OXCGN will not relax until we find out as many details as we can regarding the Aussie cars, tracks and the Paint Editor.

What about a wheel I hear you say, well fear not, the guys at Fantec have been working with Turn 10 to up the scope on their high-end line of wheels for Forza 3. And they look sweet-as.

It’s their Porsche® 911 Turbo S Racing Wheels build especially the for Xbox® 360™, which are offered in three different versions (911 Turbo S Edition, Clubsport Edition, and Pure Edition), and of course will be fully supported by Microsoft for the soon to be released Forza Motorsport 3.

From what I have seen so far, the game exceeds my expectations in many areas.

The detail on the cars has been increased ten-fold. So have the track specifics, details and how the vehicles look. Not only on the outside, but in the fully featured interiors as well. The game has had its engine rebuilt from the ground up.

The physics engine now incorporates a much more detailed “interaction” with not only fixed objects, but other moving objects as well. Meaning that glancing off a moving car next to you will have a completely different reaction that skimming the barrier rails.

Simulation plays a huge part in Forza 3.

Colliding with another car will naturally have a different effect on the vehicle as well. So the collision and damage engine has been reworked to allow a deterioration of the vehicle, not only in tyres (tires to you North Americans), fuel and suspension, but in the other areas that make a difference to how a car handles and performs on the track.

Yes, the game will run at a solid 60fps. And I’m sure GT5 fans will find fault with this naturally in some way, it would be unsporting of them if they don’t (jk btw ppl). Personally I have never had an issue with the game at 30fps, and by keeping the game at that rate, Turn 10 have been able to really tweak out both the physics and collision engines, as well as use the visual assets on the cars and the surroundings to a greater extent.

Turn 10 have now remodeled EVERY car, which now exceeds 400 from 50 manufactures, along with all their interiors modeled to perfection. No assets from the previous iteration are in use here. You’re basically getting a completely NEW game from the ground up. It’ll be a rock solid, barrier bending, snarly racing simulator that far exceeds anything on the market today.

A bold statement I know, and one that will be tested and knocked down by many a Sony fan I’m sure, but the point is we’re talking about a simulator that has been built now, that has got extremely detailed collision damage and vehicle physics, and that will  be delivered before the holiday season in 2009.  How many E3s have we seen GT 5 now with no release date announced?  (The answer is apparently four).

“my guess would be the last week of October, making it the 29th October”

No “exact date” in 2009 has been announced for Forza 3, but my guess would be the last week of October, making it the 29th October, or at the very latest, the 22nd of November. It will also apparently ship on only 2 very full discs.  It will be a worldwide rollout, which means we Aussies will be ‘fanging’ around the tracks in our Aussie cars and (probably) on our Aussie tracks a good 17-18 hours ahead of our North American cousins.

Sorry guys, we can’t change when the day starts in the world; it just so happens it occurs near New Zealand, who get it 2 hours ahead of us. So if anyone is laughing, it’s all our New Zealander racing nuts in the land of the Long White Cloud.

Stay tuned to OXCGN as we dig further into Forza 3, as well as all the other great games mentioned at E3 this year. It has been a stellar year for Microsoft and also looks to end well this holidays. Anyone that tries to argue that Microsoft’s presentation and delivery was not impressive is biased to the highest degree.

We’re Xbox fans here at OXCGN but we also love the games that appear on the PS3, and many of us are very excited about their upcoming games. Still, we do believe MS have excelled themselves this year and lifted themselves up from the slight slump that was E3 ‘08.

So make sure you DO stay tuned, as there is plenty more to come on Forza 3 here at OXCGN.com.

As promised, here’s some more news on Forza 3 which is due to ship in October 09.

For starters, if you listen carefully to the interview, you will hear the Project Manager clearly state that the game will/is running at 30fps.

• E3 Forza 3 Developers Demo

Yet, as we also heard at the Keynote, the game will be running a full 1080p and 60fps.

Well it seems that thegame runs bopth 30fps and 60fps at the present moment. All interior, menue and navigation view are in 30fps, which the 3rd person, no-bonnet views are at 60fps.

For those Forza fans out there that have been clammering for a clutch, well – we finally have a working clutch. This can be enabled through the Fantec Prsche 911 wheels that will be available, or simply leave it in non-clutch selective manual, or fully automatic.

Plus, not forgetting the Arcade-sissy-boys who have difficulty steering, let along braking, then Fora 3 has a feet-off Auto-Brake that will take care of that for you. Not that I’ll even be using the feature, but I’m sure many will thatfind doing 2 or 3 things at once a challenge.

Here’s a great E3 On-Floor Developers Demo showing tha game at its best, and also showing the great Fantec Steering wheel and pedal assembly.

©2009 Grant Smythe – OXCGN.com

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