Forza2 Combine Preview

Posted by: MarkDolven

Written by Ryan "Solo" Terpstra, Lead Forza2 Feature Writer

Greetings CGS and Forza fans:

Today I will give you a preview of the Forza 2 Region 1 combine in Austin Texas at the South By Southwest Music and film festival March 7-9. You can check out the CGS combine by going to the screenburn arcade if you're in Austin for the festival or the combine.

This season will present some interesting developments for the General Managers at this years combine. With one brand new game and an updated version of FIFA there may be a lot of fresh faces gracing the stage when the 2008 CGS season fires up its engines. I will be breaking down the Forza Motorsport 2 combine for you and giving you some rather bold predictions.

In the 2007 season the Chicago Chimera took the world championships powered by the strong performances of R1R JaSoN X and R1R Ch0mpr. The Chimera GM made a bold play in the draft last year taking JaSoN X and Ch0mpr in the first 2 rounds. With the points available in the racing portion of the competition that strategy proved to be very successful and we are likely to see similar tactics by the other GM's this year.

With all 6 teams having named their franchise players from DOA and FIFA that leaves 4 protected players to be named on Saturday the 8th. Counterstrike is a game that relies heavily on team chemistry so look for most GM's to protect at least 3 of their Counterstrike players so they aren't building their team from scratch.

Powered by the success of its PGR players the Chicago Chimera may be the only team interested in protecting anyone from last years team for the racing competition. Forza hosted an online qualifier based on lap times 2 weeks ago and the only one CGS veteran managed to crack the top 10. That was R1R JaSoN X. R1R Ch0mpr made an outstanding showing as well as he was only one of 15 competitors to crack the 1:34 second barrier. Those two seem to have made the transition to Forza well. Look for the Chimera GM to protect his power house duo from the 2007 season while the other 5 GM's rebuild from scratch. Sadly many of the other CGS veterans either fared poorly in the online qualifier or did not give much of an effort. Gauging their strength in this new game will be a challenge for the GM's that I think will probably end up working against them in the long run.

Some of the new faces everyone should keep an eye on at this years combine are the top 2 finishers in the Nissan Sentra tournament ComeBackDan and WildChild906 (5th and 2nd in the online qualifier respectively). These two are the only Americans with LAN competition experience playing Forza and should be able to use that to their advantage even if the rules and style of play are completely different. No matter what the rules are the fastest racers always gravitate to the front of the pack. Another name to keep an eye out for is someone widely recognized as the #1 North American from Forza 1. Having only put a little bit of time into Forza 2 General E Live (GEL) quickly made his presence known by putting down the #1 time in the Online qualifier. The 4th name of some significance worth mentioning from the Online qualifier is the 4th place finisher TRC Smokinu. Traveling from Nova Scotia Smokinu will have the longest trip to Austin of anyone in attendance at this year's combine. Had Canadians been eligible for the Nissan tournament Smokinu would have qualified 2nd and what makes him a good candidate that CGS GM's should keep their eyes on is his fastest laps come when he's racing. Most people set their absolute best laps running alone against the clock but not Smokinu. I've been the unlucky recipient of his dust many a time as he posts top 5 times on the scoreboard in a 10 lap race.

My 2 sleeper picks though are going to be VVV miximup and sackamonjaro. sackamonjaro was consistently as fast as GEL and WildChild each week as we progressed through the Nissan tournament. If he can clear off the rust fast enough look for him to make a favorable impression on the General Managers. VVV miximup is a name I know little about… sadly it’s hard to learn much about someone while they’re busy trying to lap you.

The next group of “draft hopefuls” that I’d like to talk about is going to be the guys from R1R. Nearly all of the current pros are members of the R1R team. However there are a couple of newcomers from R1R with high expectations at the draft. One of the fastest racers so far in practice races has been R1R Muffinman. Muffinman was part of PPR in Forza 1 and definitely one of the fastest racers out there. Another current R1R member and Forza 1 veteran looking to make a strong showing at the CGS is Dark Storm. Do they have what it takes to steal a spot from their teammates? The CGS is win at all costs so we’ll see this weekend! As for those current pros I’ve had an opportunity to race with most of the current pros to this point and I think it’s going to be hard for the newcomers to dethrone the current pros. I consider GeeTeeOh, Phantom, JaSoN X, chavisan and ch0mpr to be locks this year. Since the racing is stock tuning current Dallas Venom member Chaos should fare well also. While he might not be the best tuner in the world when it comes to stock racing there are few better. That being said not all of the pros are making the transition as quickly as others so look for some definite turnover.

Sadly not all of the best Forza players in North America will be in attendance. Some just couldn’t make the time, and others are lucky enough to have a better job! The most notable absentee at this point is going to be Gatz83. Gatz83 was #3 in the online qualifier and just wrapped up the gamespot tournament last week to win the $700 Best Buy gift card. Also absent will be the #3 and #4 finishers from the Nissan Sentra tournament. BlademeisterTRC and “Wait 4 Me” simply decided to pass on the pro gaming scene. Perhaps the most unknown absentee though will be TRC Scooty. Scooty is currently on active military duty and is not able to participate as a result. Scooty surely would have earned a top 4 spot in the online qualifier as he is hands down the fastest active member of TRC. Perhaps next year after Scooty will have his chance.

From a global perspective there is 1 Forza racing team to keep an eye on. Team Dynamic Racing (TDR) will be sending more than 10 hopefuls to the combines worldwide. In Region 1 they had 2 drivers place in the top 10 for the online qualifier which was only exceeded by Time Racing Club (TRC). Current TDR and Sydney Underground member James Davey is recognized as one of the 3 fastest racers out there. TDR has recently added Picaso (United Kingdom) to their roster who with General E Live round out that top 3 I just referenced. Teams are formed to help improve each other. If that's the case and Picaso and Cam can help their North American teammates improve look for them to make their presence known not only at the Region 1 combine but world wide.

About The Author

---

Ryan "Solo" Terpstra
Lead Forza2 Feature Writer

Ryan has been involved with the Forza community since the launch of the game in May of 2007. He is a moderator over on the official FM2 forums at ForzaMotorSport.net and also provides valuable feedback to Turn 10 regarding some of the multiplayer competitions. Beyond that, he is an avid racer himself climbing to as high as #5 in the world on the main Time Trials leaderboard.