Sydney Motorshow: Forza: Horizon Competition Recap

Posted on 31 October, 2012 by GrathiusXR

Sydney Motorshow: Forza: Horizon Competition Recap

A Heart-Stopping Event

by Arthur Kotsopoulos

©2012 Arthur Kotsopoulos

To usher in Playground Games/Turn 10‘s latest installment in the Forza franchise, Xbox Australia in conjunction with the Sydney Motorshow decide to put on a little journalist and reader competition where the winning team had the opportunity to drive around a Lexus GS 350 F Sport.

Reaching out to our Facebook fans for this amazing chance, we managed to worm through the few entrants we had (on a very late notice mind you) to invite Noel Wheatley (or better known as FurySixSeven on Twitter) to join in for a day of racing down the sunny mountain side of Colorado.

To the horizon

The competition consisted of 3 heats with 4 teams of 2 in each race vowing for the chance to battle it out in the final race to be crowned champion.

In our heat Team OXCGN came in 3rd and a valiant 4th, but it was not without its moments. During the first corner both Noel and myself were taken out in stunning fashion with a massive pile up. It would seem that when you’re competing for a Lexus, good sportsmanship isn’t everyone’s best intentions.

If you’ve ever watched Last Action Hero for roughly 7 seconds I was racing on 2 wheels somehow still coming third and gaining ground on the racers in front of me. Noel came in 4th which, come finals time, secured us a change to drive around that shiny new Lexus.

I as much as the next person love competition but the brute force during the first two turns of both races I was in was appalling. I had started in 8th during my heat and slipped past the competition after the first crash because it seemed that no one was familiar with the brake feature that cars apparently have.

It’s really frustrating when you’re trying to enjoy an event like this but that enjoyment is tarnished by others that don’t seem to know how to drive a virtual car or brake to turn a corner.

In the deciding race I started in 2nd position and somehow managed to escape the pile up once again even though I was rammed in the back and almost skid out of control.

The competition was fierce with teams from GameArena, IGN, and LevelUpTimes all in the final race against Team OXCGN. Much like the heats prior, each race started with 8 Lanborghinis, and each racer once again came to a stunning smash during that first corner.

Jackie, GameArnea’s reader, came out in first place after the crash with me a close second. Throughout the 3 laps it was a tight race with Jackie eventually winning it for GameArena.

There was a single moment during the last lap where Jackie managed to bump the barrier and allow me to be directly behind his bumper, however rather than barge him off the road to win a car I ultimately wouldn’t be able to drive, I decided it was best to slow down and not be that dirty player everyone hates.

Jackie won the race for GameArena with myself coming in a close second. With such a big prize up for grabs, my heart was literally thumping out of my chest.

Horizon line

I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent socializing with other journalists and community during the 2 hours at the Forza booth. It was a great chance engage in some healthy competition and launch a flurry of banter back and forth.

Community readers showed the upper tier of the gaming industry and overall, I feel everyone enjoyed that time off work to partake in such an amazing competition.

As an added bonus, everyone’s Sydney Motorshow pass allowed them to walk the floor a day before its opening to witness the amazing cars on display.

If you didn’t get the chance to attend the Motorshow check out our extensive gallery of exotic cars courtesy of photographer extraordinaire, Noel Wheatley.

Thanks again to Xbox Australia and Sydney Motorshow for hosting the event and ushering in the launch of Forza: Horizon in fashion.

Look for our Forza: Horizon review soon!

Special thank you to Noel Wheatley for the pics.