Forza Motorsports 2 demo now available for free on XBLM
The final version of Forza Motorsports 2 for the Xbox 360 has gone gold, which in video game parlance means its ready to be pressed into discs and shipped off to stores. While the release date for the 360's premier driving game is not until May 29th, early this morning at 5AM EST, publishers of the game released its first demo on the Xbox Live Marketplace for free. Yes, we've downloaded it and yes, we've played it. The demo offers you an assortment of about 24 cars in three different classes (think slow, fast and insane). We tried out a Ford GT in the fast class and a Maserati MC12 in the insane class. You're only able to race around one short track, which Forza faithful tell us is the Mugello short. How does it look? Probably great if it weren't for the 5-year-old, 27-inch TV our Xbox 360 is hooked up to. On a high-definition set it probably looks incredible, but on an old TV it looks like Gran Turismo 4, maybe a little sharper and more detailed, but not by much. 480 lines of interlaced resolution only go so far. Nevertheless, the choice of vehicles and tracks in the final version of the game will be impressive. Now we just have to scrounge up another $59.99 plus tax for another Xbox 360 game. Yeah, we can think of a few people who that's not going to go over too well with, but epic driving games on next-gen consoles don't come along every day.
Thanks for the tip, Matt!
[Source: Xbox360Fanboy]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Eriq 1:10PM (5/10/2007)
This has been the most anticipated driving game for a while. I downloaded Forza a couple of hours ago and fairly impressed. The game plays nice. However comparing the some of the features to Test Drive Unlimited, I miss the additional camera views and the ability to look around INSIDE the car when driving (it's nice to look at the interior details of the car sometimes). And I'm surprised the clouds don't move at all.
The mechanics are awesome, and the damage to cars is fairly realistic as well.
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Hamud 1:18PM (5/10/2007)
Damage is one of the main issues I have with Test Drive Unlimited. It all goes like real life till you hit a pole at 300 km/H and nothing happens to your car...
Does anyone have a list of all cars available in Forza 2??
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lol_internet 1:28PM (5/10/2007)
official car list
http://forzamotorsport.net/news/announcements/carlist.htm
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zaarin 1:43PM (5/10/2007)
Eriq:
When they were developing GT4, it took an individual artist upwards of a month to design the model for a single car. Considering there are hundreds of cars in the game, that meant over 100,000 man hours of time spent on modeling cars.
Assuming the selection of vehicles in Forza will be equally awe-inspiring and up-to-snuff, we have to assume that time spent modeling cars will also have been comparable. Can you imagine the level of difficulty and the amount of time it would take them to produce interiors for every car in the game? Keep in mind that interiors are far more detailed than body panels, and the developers wouldn't want to skimp on the quality of their interior models. Furthermore, as they're much more detailed than exteriors, to display a cockpit throughout a race would drink up system resources like mad, and a game like Forza that continuously loads graphical car and track data at high speeds needs all the resources it can get.
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David S. 2:41PM (5/10/2007)
If I'm not mistaken, the reason for the lack of cockpits is because they wanted to free up system resources for the physics engine, which updates something like 120+ times per second, even though the graphics engine only updates at 60 frames per second.
For consolation, there's a new "hood-cam" view, which is quite helpful for placing the car.
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HC 2:43PM (5/10/2007)
my first glance i thought it was a real pic.
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3cubedminus3squared 3:13PM (5/10/2007)
I have yet to pay 60 for a game. Forza will prob be the first since the only games I've got are Gears and NeedforSpeed
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Tom 4:40PM (5/10/2007)
Goddamn XBoxes - what's wrong with having it on a computer? Let me play at 1600x1200!
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The Other Bob 3:55PM (5/10/2007)
Its interested that there are very few 2006's and only one or two 2007 models.
I am not a gamer. Do they add these in later editions?
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Hamud 4:04PM (5/10/2007)
#4 Holy sh... Loot of cars...
I consider cockpit view a "must" when talking about race games.
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Tim 11:04AM (5/12/2007)
After playing it i have but one question. Why exactly, in the A group, is the 2006 Chevrolet ZO6 listed as 7.7 speed compared to 7.1 for a 05 Ford GT when, apon scrolling one more over, it lists the ford beats it in torque and horsepower by a significant margin..... Am i missing something or is this not retarded.
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bruno 8:06PM (5/10/2007)
Too bad I won't be playing Forza 2. Played Forza so much and gripped the xbox controler so tight that I damaged my right elbow. The game is a blast, much better than GT. I'm into my second cortisone treatment and surgery is likely. If you haven't tried it, go check out the Track Attack challenge at forzacentral.com. But I won't be there. Had to retire.
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TJ 5:53PM (5/10/2007)
I've already had the game on order for months and was staying up till 5 am here in Fl (actually came online around 5:30-6) to play it. Definitely worth it, and yeah the track in the demo is a short version of Mugello. I can't wait for Sebring myself, which has only been in one other game that I remember. And you gotta try it with FF wheel...you'll never go back to the controller. I can nitpick and find some small complaints, but overall, very very very impressive. I can't wait till the 29th.
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Mike 6:16PM (5/10/2007)
Tom,
It plays at 1920 × 1080. Hook one up to your monitor and enjoy. The xbox is a computer. Noobs.
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Hamud 6:33PM (5/10/2007)
#12 Yeahh, bring it to the PC. I don't want to buy an XBOX360 and a plasma HDTV to play...
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RITmusic2k 6:56PM (5/10/2007)
Then just buy an xbox and hook it up to your computer monitor :-p
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Parveen 8:09PM (5/10/2007)
The demo is not really free. You need an XBox Live Gold membership. About $60 per year.
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Rocket Punch 8:44PM (5/10/2007)
If only the Xbox360 have a steering like DFP or G25. I don't care how good the physics or damage model people say is and don't even call it a "sim" if that mean I have to drive it with a controller.
Hate GT4 or not, at least that game had a good 900deg FFB steering wheel, not to mention the G25 will be support for the GTHD.
Please prove me wrong, show me where I can buy a good xbox360 steering wheel under $300 and I will buy it tomorrow. Forza2 looks really good but I am not playing it on a controller. (by the way, that doesn't mean I am not good with controller, so you can save your "learn to drive with the controller man!" comment.)
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Vexorg 9:24PM (5/10/2007)
There's a first party Xbox360 steering wheel (complete with full force feedback and wireless) out there for $150.
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Mike Martinez 4:23AM (5/11/2007)
@parveen
The demo is free, all you need is an XBL silver account to download things off of the marketplace, not a gold one.
@autoblog
go out and buy the racing wheel and the VGA cable for the 360. Hook it up to your computer monitor capable of at least a 1280x1024 resolution, and bask in HD glory, while feathering the throttle on the exit and feeling the tires start to slip through the wheel. You'll thank yourself later, even though you'll be spending a pretty nice chunk of change for everything.
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