Learning Forza2 - The Fundamentals

Posted by: MarkDolven

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

Greetings Gamers, Professional Gaming fans, and Forza fans:

Our first Forza feature will put down some of the foundations for the fundamentals of what makes Forza Motorsport 2 so successful and a great choice for the Championship Gaming Series for their 2008 season. In the coming weeks we will flesh out the different aspects of Forza to get everyone up to speed on Forza 2 and ready for the 2008 CGS season. Then, throughout the season we will keep you up to date on the progress of your favorite team the Carolina Core.

Forza Motorsport 2 is a game developed by Turn 10 studios a division of Microsoft Gaming. It is the definitive simulation racer on the XBox 360. With over 330 cars and 52 different tracks (depending on how you count) there's a little something for everyone in Forza 2. In 2007 Forza Motorsport 2 was named racing game of the year by Gamespot.com, 1UP.com, IGN.com, Gamespy.com, TeamXBox.com, and Yahoo Games and those are just the big ones.

Forza 2 features three primary game modes. They are Arcade, Career, and Multiplayer. In the arcade game mode you can choose from three different options. The first option is to run in 1 of 16 different exhibition races. The races primarily feature real world tracks from Forza 2 and need to be run in order. You are able to pick any class (defined later in the article) you wish to run when completing the exhibition races. For those who get gold medals in all of the exhibition races 75 achievement points await. (35 for all gold 25 for all silver and 15 for all bronze)

The second mode of competition in arcade is the Forza 2 Time Trials. For anyone who likes to see how they stack up on a scoreboard this is a good place to start. There are 30 different time trials (5 on DLC tracks) all with a specific car you need to run. Most cars can have their settings adjusted, but the car of choice is restricted. If you’re one of the 10 best overall you can get your name on the scoreboard featured on the front page of forzamotorsport.net. For those who beat the ridiculously easy target time in all of the time trials 40 achievement points await.

The third game mode available in arcade is free run. If you’re looking to post some lap times to the scoreboard and just want to go out and run on your own this is the place to be. You can choose any car from your garage or any car from the arcade garage, which you’ve just unlocked by completing exhibition and time trials. Other than downloadable content all tracks are immediately available when you put the game in your system. This is the best place to be if you want to see how your car and time stacks up against the best in the world.


Check out the newb at #11 over on the ForzaMotorsport.net Main Scoreboard
Like any racing game, Forza 2 is not without a career mode. This game mode features races that will force you to use a specific car or your car will need to meet certain criteria. The races all vary in length but are all run against 7 AI drivers. The AI is pretty good as long as you don’t hit them… but you’ll find they like to take revenge if you are a little clumsy navigating around them. This is the best place to go for credits unless you’ve got a touch for the paint shop.

Multiplayer racing in Forza is one of the things that make this game great. There are 3 different game modes in multiplayer. Exhibition is primarily used for testing and goofing off as there are no rewards for racing here. Career races online reward you with credits based on the length of the race and number of racers. This is where the people obsessing over achievements will want to go in order to earn that 1 million online credit achievement. Racers not only are rewarded with credits based on where they finish, but their online ranking fluctuates up and down based on who you beat or who beat you. The last game mode in multiplayer is the tournament game mode. Qualifying is usually open for 48 hours after which the people fast enough to qualify for the event are put into a bracketed competition. The races run on a pre-determined schedule and the top 4 advance each round. Are you fast enough to qualify against Forza’s fastest in the world?

For those of you who are new to the Forza community there are some basic things you'll want to know before pulling the safety straps tight and putting the pedal down online. Like Project Gotham Racing Forza is composed of a class system to help define the cars and what other cars yours will be competitive against. There are 10 different classes within Forza. There are six production car classes and four race production car classes inspired primarily by the LeMans series.

The lowest of the production classes is D-class. Many of the cars that start in this class are sadly the cars you and I can afford. Cars like the Honda Civic, Hyundai Tuscani, Nissan Altima, and many more. The production car class system progresses from D to C, B, A, then S, and U. The CGS will be featuring cars stock cars from both S and U class. S-class cars are defined as super cars. Many of the cars found here are cars most of us would love to see in person let alone own. The CGS will be featuring 2 cars from the S-class the Saleen S7 and the McLaren F1 GT (short tail). U-class is considered to be "unlimited class." In U-class there is no limit to the upgrades you can put on your car… only what the car can handle. The U-class car the CGS will be featuring in their races this season is the beastly Tuscan TVR Speed12 with 800hp. For all of the production cars in Forza most are not able to be tuned without first adding race platform and handling upgrades. However, all of them can be upgraded with better engine parts, tires, aero, and more. The different upgrades you add to the car will change what class it is classified in. Unlike Project Gotham Racing just because a car starts in D-class doesn't mean it's stuck there. You'll find many people have upgraded the Lotus Elise 135R to be competitive in 4 different classes.

The "R-class cars" range from R4 all the way to R1, with R1 being the fastest class. An R-class car is essentially a production car designed for racing. One example of such is LeMans series Ferrari F430 sponsored by this very game and driven by Mika Salo, and Jamie Melo. The Risi Competizione Forza Motorsport 2 Ferrari F430 falls into the R3 class. For people newer to the Forza series the R1 cars will feel more like Project Gotham Racing than any other class in the game. The sense of speed most closely resembles PGR and there is a significant handling advantage in that class not seen in any other class in the game. All of the R-class cars come with full tuning capabilities, but parts and upgrades are unavailable on all R-class cars.


Mika Salo (left) and Jaime Melo (right) from Team Risi Competizione
Source - ForzaMotorSport.net
One other note worth mentioning all R-class cars come with custom paint jobs representative of the cars they represent in the LeMans series. All of the CGS racers will be getting their own custom paint jobs once the teams have been drafted. Each month the Carolina Core will feature their own challenge for a chance to win your own personalized Carolina Core paint job with your name or gamertag and number featured on the side.

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.