[Official] Forza 3

[darthmahon]

Must say the game looks absolutely gorgeous compared to Forza 2 but my only concern will be the multiplayer aspect. I played quite a bit of Forza 2 online but it was very rare you got a decent race where people didn't want to pile into the back of you at turn 1. Haven't bought Forza 3 yet because of this, can anyone who owns it tell me if the same things are happening online?

[HawkMan]

Never mind the fact that your head shouldn't move anyway, in game that is. The monitor is your car, if you want the head to move, then move your head, most people tend to do that anyway when they play driving games.

Must say the game looks absolutely gorgeous compared to Forza 2 but my only concern will be the multiplayer aspect. I played quite a bit of Forza 2 online but it was very rare you got a decent race where people didn't want to pile into the back of you at turn 1. Haven't bought Forza 3 yet because of this, can anyone who owns it tell me if the same things are happening online?

I rarely had this problem in Forza 2, in fact the few times there where peopel who intentionally "bumped" they where quickly booted from the servers.

I haven't played any online yet, too busy with career, and I haven't bothered to hook up my wheel yet, don't think I'd dare go online with a pad :p

[darthmahon]

Never mind the fact that your head shouldn't move anyway, in game that is. The monitor is your car, if you want the head to move, then move your head, most people tend to do that anyway when they play driving games.

What camera angle are we talking about here? In cockpit camera should shake in my opinion as that is how it would be driving a car for real. Any exterior camera angles should be steady.

I rarely had this problem in Forza 2, in fact the few times there where peopel who intentionally "bumped" they where quickly booted from the servers.

I haven't played any online yet, too busy with career, and I haven't bothered to hook up my wheel yet, don't think I'd dare go online with a pad :p

lol I've thought about getting a wheel but can't convince myself that it is worth it. Yet. Does it make a big difference though? I'm guessing it does, because there is only so much feedback you can get from a stick.

[Ricardo Gil]

Never mind the fact that your head shouldn't move anyway, in game that is. The monitor is your car, if you want the head to move, then move your head, most people tend to do that anyway when they play driving games.

Exactly. Shift does all sorts of irritating effects, like blur, head movement, blindness after crashing... and the handling is arcade.

[darthmahon]

Exactly. Shift does all sorts of irritating effects, like blur, head movement, blindness after crashing... and the handling is arcade.

Again what camera angle does Shift do this in? Haven't played it myself but if it is in cockpit view I would expect that (if the game was meant to be realistic that is).

[HawkMan]

What camera angle are we talking about here? In cockpit camera should shake in my opinion as that is how it would be driving a car for real. Any exterior camera angles should be steady.

ummm, no, the car frame shouldn't be shaking and wobbling about around you.

If you set up one of those triple screen settings for example, it would make little sense for the camera to move about inside the car. the point is that you are your head, the tv and the frame it displays is the car. If one feels the need to lean over in corners, then by all means lean over.

Leave all the effects and crap to other games that need them to compensate for their lack of being a good racing sim.

And the wheel makes a huge difference, not so much for the feedback, but the much more accurate controls you get. sharp corners pads are ok, but on any track with longer high speed corners(pretty much anyone) a wheel will make you a 10x better driver.

[darthmahon]

ummm, no, the car frame shouldn't be shaking and wobbling about around you.

If you set up one of those triple screen settings for example, it would make little sense for the camera to move about inside the car. the point is that you are your head, the tv and the frame it displays is the car. If one feels the need to lean over in corners, then by all means lean over.

Leave all the effects and crap to other games that need them to compensate for their lack of being a good racing sim.

Maybe I need to see what effects you are talking about specifically but I think there should be some vibrations if you are in cockpit view and going down a really bumpy piece of track. I'm not saying the car should warp shape, that would be weird :)

And the wheel makes a huge difference, not so much for the feedback, but the much more accurate controls you get. sharp corners pads are ok, but on any track with longer high speed corners(pretty much anyone) a wheel will make you a 10x better driver.

Might have to get one then, any idea if they do bundles with Forza 3?

[-T- Member]

I suck so hard with the wheel, I just cant get the hang of it at all.

[ozgeek]

Go out and get in your car and drive around, observe your body movement as you drive along bumpy roads. when playing forza, I felt like my head is glued still to the seat. Cockpit shaking gives me a realism that I'm actually inside a moving car. I should have the freed to look around, not stuck to 180 degree view.

NFS shift shakes the HUD and the driver around like it should.

And the makers didn't care about Standard TV users. I couldn't make out the text on the menus. I had to squet (sp) to read it.

[HawkMan]

I suck so hard with the wheel, I just cant get the hang of it at all.

Make sure you use the inside or hood view with the wheel, you can't drive with a behind the car view when using a wheel.

and I recommend the hood view, clogging up 60% of the screen with a cockpit is ridiculous, especially when your tv (at least from where you're sitting) is smaller than the car windscreen anyway

[darthmahon]

Go out and get in your car and drive around, observe your body movement as you drive along bumpy roads. when playing forza, I felt like my head is glued still to the seat.

Agreed.

[-T- Member]

I always use the nose/bumper camera. I cant get in a car n drive though as that'd be illegal as I've never learned to drive

[Ricardo Gil]

Go out and get in your car and drive around, observe your body movement as you drive along bumpy roads. when playing forza, I felt like my head is glued still to the seat. Cockpit shaking gives me a realism that I'm actually inside a moving car. I should have the freed to look around, not stuck to 180 degree view.

NFS shift shakes the HUD and the driver around like it should.

And the makers didn't care about Standard TV users. I couldn't make out the text on the menus. I had to squet (sp) to read it.

Actually in Shift it works the other way around. You're standing still in your couch, but the Apocalypse is coming, the earth is shaking mad. I'll do the shaking and leaning thank you very much.

[darthmahon]

Actually in Shift it works the other way around. You're standing still in your couch, but the Apocalypse is coming, the earth is shaking mad. I'll do the shaking and leaning thank you very much.

I think I need to go and watch a video of this. Sounds awesomely bad!

[darthmahon]

Shift Cockput View Video

Hmm I can see what they are doing and it is kinda clever and realistic in a way but the main thing that makes me feel weird is the zooming in/out which I'm guessing they are doing for sudden changes in speed? I've never driven a car fast enough to make my head go back that quickly so I'm not sure.

[.KICK]

I don't see any major improvement on the load times, there probably is limited speed but nothing noticeable.

Yeah its a shame :( I would've liked it to improve it considering there is two loading sections before you race! :(

[HawkMan]

It's not actually realistic, it just makes you think it's realistic because you expect the car to shake on roads and whatever and thus you trick the brain into thinkin that's a cool realistic effect when any race driver who's actually driven a race, locked down in his 5 point harness would say... well that's just stupid.

as for radial blur and zooms and such, they're the same thing. effect created to simulate real world effect liek tunnel vision. The thin is tunnel vision is nothin like that, or well it us, but you don't need the radial blur to do it, and it's not realistic since the usual FOV on a game is 70, sometimes less. The reason you get tunnel vision is because we have 180 degree vision and the further you get from the center of the vision, the faster things will essentially move, but you get this effect naturally so you don't need to simulate it. of course when the screen only covers a 70 degree FOV, it won't be there until you reach really high speeds, and even then it's still in the zone where you won't see this effect much anyway.

However, if you where rich and could afford the triple screen setup, then you'd clearly notice it because they could go up to 180 degree FOV, though few would set it up like that, and you'd clearly get the effect that the farther thing got from the center screen, the faster they'd move and your eye/brain wouldn't be able to keep up and thus, blurring.

Radial blur is a great tool to make it appear as you're going fast, but realistic it's not, not combine that with inflated car speed to make everything seem even faster again, like when your speedo says 100, the car in the game would actually be doing 150 while still controlling as it was doing 100, all so you get a better sense of speed, and to make everythign seem really fast.

[Remysaus]

I'm loving this car.. a lot :D

[LetUsGame]

Is anybody else using the Force Feedback Steering Wheel with Forza 3? I went out and bought it at lunchtime... can't wait to get home in a bit.

[darthmahon]

Is anybody else using the Force Feedback Steering Wheel with Forza 3? I went out and bought it at lunchtime... can't wait to get home in a bit.

Haven't got one yet but thinking of picking one up, how much did you pay for it if you don't mind me asking?

[NoLiMiT06]

Been using with Forza 2 as well and love it, makes drifting a lot more difficult but more fun :) God tomorrow can't get here soon enough, then I have to wait til work is over too :argh:

[LetUsGame]

Haven't got one yet but thinking of picking one up, how much did you pay for it if you don't mind me asking?

I paid ?69.99 for it at my local Currys. I don't normally buy such things on the high street, but seeing as it's the same on Amazon, nothing gained, nothing lost.

I spent about two hours on Forza 3 with this last night - very, very good. Although I found it best using a sturdy chair as opposed to the sofa - back started hurting after a while.

[Ricardo Gil]

Ars review

Forza 3 has one purpose: to become the best racing game on the market. Without a copy of Gran Turismo 5 at our desk it's hard to know if it succeeded, but if anything is better than this we're in for a great season of racing games. This is an amazing achievement in graphics, flexibility, and design.

Verdict: Buy

Full review

[Strawmouth Pete]

i like the little fun facts in the load screens

[darthmahon]

I paid ?69.99 for it at my local Currys. I don't normally buy such things on the high street, but seeing as it's the same on Amazon, nothing gained, nothing lost.

I spent about two hours on Forza 3 with this last night - very, very good. Although I found it best using a sturdy chair as opposed to the sofa - back started hurting after a while.

Yea that's my concern as well with the sofa, not sure if I can put a chair where my sofa is without the Mrs raising eyebrows:))