Hey Everyone

I DL and gve the Forza 2 game a try the other day and I had mixed feelings about it. I have already played the demo of "Dirt" and had a good time with it.
Granted there was only one track with Forza it still left me with a "Gran Turismo" feeling which is not bad in a way.

But "Dirt" seemed to have more with different types of cars and tracks. Almost like "Ralliesport 2" which was pretty good in itself. I'm holding off on Forza 2 for the time being but wanted input on the racing diehards on their thoughts.


Kenny J - Buzz Starhopper

Dirt I think has better graphics too. Forza besides the cars looks like a xbox game

Glad I'm not the only one. I wasn't impressed with the graphics in Forza 2. I'm leaning more towards Dirt now. I really like rally style racing better anyways.

Forza is taking all sorts of hits in the reviews for its graphics, which is weird since it's a first-party 360 game that's been in development for years and since driving games seem to be among the easiest games for developers to make look good; there's no people to animate or fancy effects to program. GT2 and GT4 are among the prettiest games of their generations.

Honestly at this point most games don't need to be about graphics. I think with this generation (or the very end of the last) we hit the plateau that we did with the SNES and 2D: This is as good as it needs to get.

I'm sure when we're playing games in ten years we will look back at graphics today and laugh but there are plenty of last-gen 3D games where the graphics don't need any improvement. I didn't know a Dirt demo was up, I will need to check it out.

I would tip my hat in Forza's direction because I've never been impressed by the Colin McRae Rally series. It always seemed very soulless compared to RalliSport 2, which is one of the best racing games. (That sentence was not missing a clause or specification.)

Here's another vote in favor of FM2.
I have to admit that I haven't played DIRT, however.
I enjoy the simulation type racer (but that's not to say that I didn't thoroughly enjoy Burnout Revenge which I still play once in a while).

I've played the full version for about 2 hours now and I can say this much about it:

- Fans of the previous game (FM on Xbox) will love this one. It has a similar structure to it's gameplay. I've noticed a little more customization posibilities as well.

- I've noticed that some of the courses from the first installment are back and you can tell that they've had some improvements to the overall appearance. More logos, banners, crowd cheering. Basically, the race tracks appear to have more detail.

- It's easier than ever to adjust difficulty level by using the sliders. Things like traction control, ABS, stability control, optimal brake line, optimal race line, etc.

- The physics engine is amazing. You can 'feel' the difference when driving one car compared to another.

Yes, graphics aren't really anything to brag about, but it's better than the first Forza which was nice anyway. I can tell the developers (Turn 10) opted for game stability over eye candy. I am happy they elected to do so. No hiccups. No drops in framerates. The game plays smoothly in 720p. Sure, I would have loved it if the graphics were better, but not if it means poor gameplay.

If you're into the sim-type racer, get this one. I just can't wait to unlock the Nurburgring.

Apples and Oranges IMO.

Forza is a road racing game and Dirt is a rally racing game. 2 Complete different experiences. I have Forza 2 and I have played the Dirt Demo. I think they are both excellent games. I actually prefer DIRT in terms of the in-car views and graphics are incredible. However Forza is much more realistic in terms of actual driving because its more SIM then Dirt. I like them both in different ways. I'll probably end up buying Dirt in addition to Forza. I think Forza 2 will have more active Xbox Live players if your in to that.

Granted it is two different styles of racing but F2 still left me wanting a bit more. I guess it boils down to not only racing style but that "Tracks and Cars" as well. For some the more cars the better. For me I'll take more tracks. For the heck I went back and gathered track and car info from GT3: A-Spec and compared it to F2 and Dirt.

GT3 : A-Spec (2001) - Cars: 140 - Tracks: 19 with variations making it 34
F2: - (2007) - Cars: 300 - Tracks: 12 with variations making it 47
Dirt: - (2007) - Cars/Trucks/Buggies: 45 - Tracks: 55

One thing for a fact is with the damge now being a part of the game it won't be as easy as GT3 by just mashing on the gas. I flipped over upside down a few times in Dirt and in F2 I lost body parts (bumpers and lights).

Kenny J - Buzz Starhopper

I really loved the demo for Dirt and I definitely will get this game when it comes out. The in car views are very cool also usually I don't like the in cars, but I will probably play them in this games. It made me think about how much fun the rally modes in turismo, and also rallycross on playstation 1 were.

Well I played both demos again last night to try the camera views and do some damage on purpose to see which had the most effect. Just some points I did notice:

Camera Viewing: Has all the normal views but no inside. The Free View cam is a nice touch but hard to use while driving at 120+mph. Dirt had not only more but the realism was just great. The two different ones from inside was about as real as it can get. It really changed how you had to drive.

Damage: Both had pretty strong effects as to "showing" damage. But in terms of how it effected the driving again Dirt won hands down. No matter how hard I hit the wall or poles in Forza 2 performance hardly took a hit. I was still able to get the same out of the car as "before" damage. Again the damage visuals were pretty darn good. I did lose body parts.
Now with Dirt it was not only was very visible but performance took a big hit. You could hear it in the engine and in body parts but driving was harder as well. When using the inside view to drive it's not easy looking thru a broken windshield. You can also flip a car very easy which I couldn't do in Forza 2 no matter how hard I tried.

One thing I noticed to was how the AI competed. In Forza it seemed more fluid and constant. I tried to bump cars and put them in a spin but I couldn't pull it off. But it was no problem getting me off the road. I was also hoping to see a bit more spins and bumps from the AI's cars.
On the Dirt demo with the buggies it was all over place. Crashes and hits in front, behind, with me and without me. I got the impression of other players present and not the AI.

Graphics/ Visuals: No doubt about it the cars in Forza 2 look fantastic and polished but outside of that the rest seemed above average. More of an upgraded GT4 version without all the jaggies. Tire skids and asphalt looked very good.
With Dirt the cars, tracks, sky, grass, trees, hills, and even the dirt looked great. Not only looked great but how stuff reacted after taking a hit like a stack of tires on the railing goes flying in the air. One nice little touch was shadows and lighting when using the on dash cam. As you drove the lighting and shadows reflected off the hood where the sun was. If you wrecked you could see the dents and damged based on shadows and lighting. Pretty cool!

I think both games will have a following. With Forza 2 if you're into lots of cars, speed and lots of tuning it's for you. If you're for for rally timed racing, asphalt to dirt, from cars to trucks to buggies, and probably a bit more realism then it's Dirt. Forza 2 will have the edge on MP and Live.

Kenny J. - Buzz Starhopper

Wait a second, did you just say Dirt was more realistic than Forza?

Also, Forza also has a "realistic damage" mode that is turned off for the demo. In that mode you can actually severely damage you engine before the light even turns green. Hitting a single wall will also more than likely take you out of the race.

I couldn't get into DIRT, I thought the floaty feel is not helping, and for a rally game, it was very tough to drift. It should be easier than what the demo shows. I still play (and love) Colin McRae 2005, so it is not like I don't play Rally racers.

I picked up Forza last night, and am having tons of fun with it. There's so much depth to this game. I love the leveling aspect, and I'm going to start messing with the Livery Editor this weekend. It looks insanely difficult to master, but I've seen some really awesome paintjobs on other forums.

Sorry about that, I stand corrected. I didn't see it mentioned to much in the reviews about the "damage performance" hit. If that's the case then that's great so you can't do that "Maxium HP" tune like in GT series and just smash the pedal. I'd still like to hear more on how the AI competes and plays in the game. In other words does the AI knock itsself out or is it just you that takes the damage?

On the subject of "damge" and realism I can't say on Forza 2 since I don't have the game but gameplay footage from Dirt is simply impressive.

http://xboxmovies.teamxbox.com/xbox-...lay-Trailer-1/


Kenny J. - Buzz Starhopper

I liked the fact in GT that you could, for example, bring any FWD car into a FWD race. It this how F2 works, or all of the AI cars chosen to be comparable?

I like taking a car in GT, and improving it and running the races again and again, to see how the modifications helped.

Isn't Dirt the game where online racing is akin to just being able to talk to other racers and comparing times, not actually seeing them in-game?

You mean like real rally racing?

Yes, that's the game.

I played the Dirt demo and it seemed like all other Colin McRae Rally games: soulless. I don't know what it lacked, but it just wasn't "fun" ... I'll give it another shot but it really didn't impress me.

That doesn't make it a bad game, just not a terribly fun one.

Forza 2 is amazing. Total must-buy. The game itself is much more fun than the demo, in fact it's like digital crack. I haven't tried DIRT yet but you can't go wrong with Forza 2.

Forza 2 is one of the best games ever.

Forza 2 has a 91% average rank on www.gamerankings.com

OK, I've probably invested over 20 hours now with FM2.
A few other things I would like to add:

- The damage physics is incredible in this game. Among the parts to damage are: body, suspension, brakes, motor, driveshaft, clutch, and there may be one other I'm forgetting. Damage is also graded in percentage meaning a part can be damaged but not completely and you can feel the affects on the car as you drive. This aspect of the game feels more polished compared to FM1.

- Tire wear is pretty cool which you'll notice during endurance races. Once your tires are worn you'll notice how it affects turning, braking, and accelaration...you'll hear the tires screech more too.

- I'm really liking the real courses included in this game. They've done a faithful reproduction of Mugello, Suzuka, Silverstone, Laguna Seca, Sebring, and Nurburgring.

Forza is one of the best games I have ever played in my life. It's awesome! When I get tired of racing, I mess around with the livery maker. So much fun!

I agree. I loved the 1st one and this one is 10x better. Aside from the career mode, which is all you could ask for, the community aspect is what will really give it longevity. The auction house and the paint jobs were put in the game and then they let us, the players take care of the rest.

I think Forza 2 should have it's own thread.

I went ahead and picked this up based on the numerous great reviews. This is a great game so far. The graphics seem better than the demo. It could use a little more life to it like leafs or debris though. The car damage is cool. so far.

Damn, would I like to have a setup like this.



VRX Design and Development is in the final stages of developing the most advanced racing hardware on the planet! May,29 2007 we launch the first ever universal Triple Screen Racing and Entertainment Simulator for use with Xbox 360.

Turn-key setup includes:

* 4 Xbox 360 Elites (while quantity's last)
* 4 Copy's Forza Motorsport2
* Xbox 360 HD DVD player
* Xbox 360 camera
* Xbox 360 wireless headset
* Microsoft Zune
* Microsoft Force Feedback Steering wheel.
* 3 Sharp Aquos 37" LC-D62U 1080p HD LCD displays
*
Adjustable rear view Power Acoustik (PTM 750) 7" LCD display.
*
Bose Acoustimass 10 series surround sound system.
*
Harmon Kardon AVR-144 Surround Sound receiver
*
1500 Watt Tactile Vibration Feedback System.
*
1900 watt tactile power amplifier.
*
1" CNC machined polished aluminunm foot assembly that connects to the front of the VRX
*
Universal triple screen aluminium mounting bracket that excepts LCD displays from 20" to 40"
*
Adjustable aluminium and tinted acrylic component shelves
*
On board power bar and unique wire way system conceals cables.
* Polished chrome chassis with powder coated wheel mount, pedal mount and seat wings.
* Front and rear non-slip aluminium vibration dampeners.
* 3M automotive chrome trim concealed edges.
* Italian Sparco Monza racing seat (choice of Red/Black or Black/Silver)
* Sparco automotive seat slider.
* Suspension seat base.
* 3/D epoxy coated graphics.
* Velcro and machined rubber grip blocks "prevents wheel and pedal movement".
* 10" diagonal and 8" horizontal wheel adjustments.
* Polished Aluminium Speaker Mounts.
* LED Lighting effects.
* Beverage Holder

For ordering information please contact: [email protected]

For general enquires or comments about the VRX Triple Screen contact: [email protected]