Quote from glyphon :

i wasn't all that keen on it before i got it, but i knew that i wanted a wheel, and wanted actual ffb and not just rumble, so it was the only choice, and i have to say, for the most part i've been happy with it.

its contoured so that it rests on your lap while playing, but really it needs to be clamped down. i'm still working on that part because i need to find a solution that has a high WAF (wife acceptance factor)

I just put mine on a folding card table, and sit with my desk chair behind it, it works pretty well, and it's pretty cheap.

I got the demo and what I saw was pretty good. The selection of cars and tracks sounds great, but what I'm really interested in is (as some of you might be able to guess) the custom paint jobs. Not only making them, but the idea of being able to sell them appeals to my more mercenary side

But at the same time, I refuse to pay the money for a new wheel when the one I have for my PC works with Microsoft software already. If the MS one had even got 3 pedals I would have thought about it. But since my Cheap-o-Matic 440 has 2 pedals and cost less, I won't be getting a new one.

So that brings me to my question - does it work alright with a standard pad? I had trouble with the pad at first, but when I started treating it a little more like a proper sim I improved vastly. Would I be alright taking my game online with the standard Xbox joypad (I normally have stabilisation turned on, but no ABS/TC) or would I be wasting my time?

I've only been using the pad, but i'm not exactly slow, dont have any driving aids on and its still a lot of fun. I would still like to try it with the wheel, but i dont see the point in paying out for another, especially when i know it won't be as good as the DFP.

Yay. Got my Xbox bundled with Crackdown and of course bought Forza as planned! Only few hours done, having fun, does feel good to drive even with a pad. Got to take my evil Corrado for a spin at the Nurburing tomorrow, did 1 lap with the slow weird looking Porsche they gave me as a price, it was only doing 180 km/h on the straights so it was a bit boring. :P

I don't understand why didn't they put full FSAA on the photomode? Looks quite horrid. Honestly, people could do better job with Photoshop in 15 mins, and even get more realistic blur that way

Quote from VALE 46 :

I've only been using the pad, but i'm not exactly slow, dont have any driving aids on and its still a lot of fun. I would still like to try it with the wheel, but i dont see the point in paying out for another, especially when i know it won't be as good as the DFP.

How did you do the panoramic? Is it a setting or one pic by one?

I have two queries for the owners of this game

The F1 tracks are included? (Suzuka, Monza, Indianapolis etc)

Is there an F1-like car available?

@RoCkBiGdAvE - take about 4 pics, slightly overlapping each other, upload to the forza site and then stitch them together on PC

@KMSpeed - The only real tracks on the game are, Laguna Seca, Suzuka, Tsukuba, Nordschlieffe, Road Atlanta, Sebring, and Mugello. There aren't any F1 cars or open wheelers, but there are Prototype race cars

A quick Google will get you the full track list

Mugello (Grand Prix & Short)
Laguna Seca
Maple Valley (Raceway & Short)
New York
Nurburgring (Nordschleife)
Road Atlanta (Grand Prix & Short)
Sebring (International, Short & Club)
Silverstone (Grand Prix, International & National)
Sunset Peninsula (Infield, Infield Short & Nissan Speedway)
Suzuka (Grand Prix, East & West)
Tsukuba (Circuit & Short)
and 9 variations of the Test Track.

Some of those options are also available in Reverse too.

But no F1 cars, they're all production/performance/prototypes. It does have my lovely 69 Camaro in there, but no Viper RT10 (stupid SRT10 of course, bleh).

Well impressed with the game so far, although the upgrade system isn't as detailed or complex as I'd hoped (I was hoping for something more akin to Motor City Online's Auction House). Obviously the sim part isn't LFS, but I think it's about as close as a console title is ever likely to see

Quote from VALE 46 :

@KMSpeed - The only real tracks on the game are, Laguna Seca, Suzuka, Tsukuba, Nordschlieffe, Road Atlanta, Sebring, and Mugello. There aren't any F1 cars or open wheelers, but there are Prototype race cars

you left out silverstone

edit: dajmin beat me

Been playing the last six hours since I got home from work. Got on the real proper race tracks off the proving grounds, and I absolutely love them. They tracks are great, and now when I've learned the controls it's amazing how well you can feel the car trough the pad. Awww...I wish I could play all night, but have to get up early. Oh well, I hope to drive a Ferrari tomorrow. And maybe, just maybe have a lap around Nurb in my super duper M3.


Oh btw, do you need Live Gold to upload pictures to t3h Interweb?

You only need Silver, i heard that you can use the auction house with just Silver now as well, but haven't tried it yet.

I just got the wheel today and its pretty decent. Just came across a new track config in career mode:
http://img165.imageshack.us/my ... za2handler451a37fbmr3.jpg
http://img154.imageshack.us/my ... za2handler4519a2a1zx5.jpg

^ I knew it had super realistic physics.

But the question is, did you make the next turn?

Picked up both forza and a wireless wheel yesterday. Its ok enough, but the difference from forza 1 isnt that big imo. It screams for AA and the physics is still semi-realistic. No big surprise however, considering its console-audience.

Anyway, while no simulator and lacking in the racing part, its still good fun.

I've had Forza 2 for about a week now, and tbh I'm not that impressed.
It's fun and does have it's merits (the physics are actually quite good), but I'm disappointed in the lack of polish in some areas (mainly graphical) considering the budget they had.

I guess mass market console games live Forza are the polar opposite in terms of development when compared to LFS even if you put aside physics:

Forza - A gazillion licenced cars, real tracks, bloom and other next gen effects.
LFS - Simpler graphics but rock solid and almost bug free.

You can really see areas in Forza that have been rushed to meet deadlines. Little bits that are rough around the edges. Whereas LFS just oozes evidence of it's lengthy and continuing development. And you can just sense the love more.

Give me LFS any day.

Quote from Dajmin :

So that brings me to my question - does it work alright with a standard pad? I had trouble with the pad at first, but when I started treating it a little more like a proper sim I improved vastly. Would I be alright taking my game online with the standard Xbox joypad (I normally have stabilisation turned on, but no ABS/TC) or would I be wasting my time?

coming form a vet LFS gamepad user, yes...played it for the first time last night in my mates, hes playing this past mont and i wiped the floor with him haha he could'nt believe i was so good...tearing around corners, weaving in and out of others...awsome game except for the loading times and the general shitness of the gui.

Quote from Wenom :

Grrr atleast I tried! :sppalpati

Can you put some of those up for sale on the Auction House? LFS liveries on all cars, FTW!

Quote from farcar :

I've had Forza 2 for about a week now, and tbh I'm not that impressed.
It's fun and does have it's merits (the physics are actually quite good), but I'm disappointed in the lack of polish in some areas (mainly graphical) considering the budget they had.

I guess mass market console games live Forza are the polar opposite in terms of development when compared to LFS even if you put aside physics:

Forza - A gazillion licenced cars, real tracks, bloom and other next gen effects.
LFS - Simpler graphics but rock solid and almost bug free.

You can really see areas in Forza that have been rushed to meet deadlines. Little bits that are rough around the edges. Whereas LFS just oozes evidence of it's lengthy and continuing development. And you can just sense the love more.

Give me LFS any day.

They had a great opportunity, but took the lots of marketing ($$$$$^1e50) dollars instead of solid design and implementation.

If it was a first iteration, it still would be bad for all the some serious holes and rough edges, but being a sequel and one that has fewer features than the first, it's truly pathetic or clear in it's apathy. Thy cut the in game car clubs, no more Point to Point/ Drag Racing/ Hillclimb / Down hill events. Still only 8 cars in a game. No upward expansion/challenge for more serious racers wanting realism. They added a horribly buggy auction house, which is causing more grief than good, cut out many other little things, and added finally a somewhat decent set of filters for setting up an online race ( car power/weight, etc. ) but still no practicing, qualifying or false starts. Not even an easy way to look at others cars outside of starting a race and asking everyone to *NOT* race.

There are so many blatantly boneheaded moves in the UI and overall game. Unpolished is an understatement to this sequelitis.

LFS's core elements with strong improvements and patches, understanding of good flow to maximize the play time and community aspects that encourage gathering, whether tuning and sharing tunes easily with others, or tracking all the cool stats of race events truly should send a message to most every studio/group of developers, that there are good examples out there, and they can still be followed and improved upon. No need to reinvent the wheel and end up with a tank tread.

You guys have the rest of the forum to talk about LFS, and I don't think any of us need any convincing as to LFS's merits.

Maybe I'm just showing my anti-fanboyism here, but I've been really enjoying Forza 2 since I got it. Now I've only been playing with the pad (the MS wheel is too expensive and essentially the same as my PC wheel so there's not much point), but with all of the assists off I think the car control feels fairly natural. It behaves the way I'd expect it to under any situation.
I can feel the difference between getting pulled round by FWD, the danger of understeering in RWD and the full on grip (and occasional understeer) of AWD. I can feel the weight of the older cars and by upgrading engines without aero mods they feel like they could pretty much take off. I can feel the difference that tyre compound changes / wheel size and width make, as well as any changes to engine/power curve.

The selection of cars is great (it has my 69 Camaro, but sadly no 94 Viper), and although it could've used more than 4xAA, the constant 60FPS makes up for the occasional jaggies. I'd have liked to see more tuning options (it only uses symmetrical setups, so same camber/pressure/suspension options on each side) but the ability to tweak the cars to suit your driving style is nice. I still prefer the D/C/B class cars to the more powerful ones. Maybe that's just because the faster ones are harder to control with the pad, but meh.

All of that said, it's probably more like an introduction to sims rather than the full-on hardcore sim they're selling it as. It's not LFS by a long shot, but it's not bad. And if it's inspiring more console racers to become sims rather than NFS-em-ups then that can't be a bad thing.

Quote from Dajmin :

And if it's inspiring more console racers to become sims rather than NFS-em-ups then that can't be a bad thing.

I doubt that... for them, it's the most realistic sim ever. Next game they'll be playing is Forza 3.

Quote from deggis :

I doubt that... for them, it's the most realistic sim ever. Next game they'll be playing is Forza 3.

nah, project gotham racing 4 will be out before forza 3

Quote from Wenom :

Grrr atleast I tried! :sppalpati

I need to but some of these from you on the auction house! Unlocked so I can put that logo on lots of cars! Can you do the logo with your "signature" on it somewhere so it can be used over and over?

Lift Off oversteer to unsettle the chassis and help get a car to rotate would have been nice to help keep it realistic in the physics dept FWIW.