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Forza Motorsport 2:

“` I have to say, Forza 2 seemed a bit “iffy” when I first played the demo prior to its release . . . It just ‘seemed’ a little like its predecessor, and the handling was somewhat ‘suss’ . . . Amazing how ones perspective changes once Full Game Code is loaded up, and several hours have passed playing a game

To date, I’ve clocked up almost 95 – 100 hours on the game, and have almost completed the entire game with the exception of 2 final races in the Professional Series, which will give me the All Gold Professional Achievement, and thus the All Gold In Game Achievement . . . leaving just a few more, which have to do with Live game play, and selling some cars in the Auction House.

More Personal Game Stats up tomorrow evening, Sydney time. But in the meantime, here’s three that I’ve had some fun with recently.

If you click on my Flickr site pics on the Home page, you’ll get a chance to see some of the custom rides I’ve made over the time I’ve had the game, with the latest being the Resident Evil 5 TVR Speed Twelve . . . Which isn’t quite finished paint-wise, but it’s almost there . . The Twelve just had that ‘thing’ about it that looked somewhat ‘Evil’ and wicked, so it suited the theme right down to the ground. Most of the other cars just didn’t suit the pain job as much as the Speed Twelve did.

Desert Storm Lambo

For those of you who do love the game, please feel free to drop some comments in, and I’m going to share some of my times and set-ups etc through this page. I’ll be doing a similar page for the up-coming Project Gotham Racing 4, as well as the older PGR3 . . . which in my eyes, was/is an excellent game . . . .

I drive ALL these semi-sims and top-level arcade racers in In-Car-View if it’s available, and personally find it gives a much better sensation of speed, and reaction to your movements. You have to judge the road much more cautiously than in the two 3rd person view-points, and has a sense of being in the car – naturally, rather than riding on some magic carpet, or flying high above some toy car attached to a stick that moves sideways etc . .

Desert Storm Lambo

The Lambo always has a ‘certain style’ about it, here’s the latest edition from the ’08 March Car Pack from MS XboxLive. I added a few little tweaks here and there, it now exceeds the normal HP range, yet still remains somewhat tractable in ‘most’ situation.

Decided on a KISS style of Kustom Paintwork on this one. Simple sunset in a desert effect on both sides, and a little one on the tail, just to let people know ‘who’s’ passing them . . (note the XboxOZ360 on the bootlid). The Lambo is perhaps one of the better cars from the stable as an all rounder. But you are limited to classes (S and U) as even in standard trim, it’s a higher level S Class vehicle . . So stick to small suspension tweaks and brakes to stay in the S Class . .

Then gut it out by installing a Racing Interior and rollcage to trim off some excess baggage and bump it up into U Class. It definitely can turn heads, and in the right angle, you can see the paintwork running into the front guards/fenders.

SEAT Conept Car (ex Box signed SEAT).

Then there’s the Xbox SEAT Concept Car . . . couldn’t stand the Xbox360 paint scheme given to it by MS Xbox-Div . . . so I cleaned it up with a full gloss black paint job and grey tail (standard), and just added a few ‘personal’ touch with my name and a simple pin-strip following the top line contours of the front quarter panels, and a Xbox360 numberplate. I tweaked it out further in the BHP department, and changed the tyres and wheels to something with more grip, and much lighter than the originals.

I’ll continue to add to this page, and as mentioned, please feel free to pass comments, pro or con, I’m open for any discussion, so long as it isn’t abusive etc.

My Stats For Forza 2: – as of April 25th ’08

• Career completed: 99%
• Distance traveled: 14,570:96 miles or 666.268 Km
• Number of hours: 148 hr 07min:14
• Winning %: – 100%
• Cars Owned: 346/312
• Total winnings to date: 31,294,649
• Total Value of Garage: 61,219,600 mil
• Repairs to date: 2,004,760 mil
• Acquired: 42/44 Achievements
• Reached Vehicle Level 5 in all manufactures at least once

New Rides:

Seat Leon Cupra ’07

Perhaps one of the most under rated cars around, The Seat looks great, and lends itself to a great deal of modification and has some nice lines to show off paintwork and various racing styles. Anything from factory liveries, to custom paintwork. This is something I put together to just show off some painting tricks using basic shapes and figures anyone can do in about 1 – 2 hours.

Nothing too elaborate and yet it makes the car stand out from the rest of the Factory stickered ones flying about, without taking hours and hours of detailed work. Using a SD-TV can be a pain, as the finer details are hard to get, as the close-ups are somewhat blured when working on a normal CRT SD-TV. SO forgive any slight errors in the artwork.

If anyone wants a copy, let me know,and I’ll drop any of my cars up on the Auction House so you can grab one.

2006 Audi RS 4

Here’s some new rides that I’ve played around with over the last few weeks . . . I was a bit sceptical about the 2006 Audi RS 4 to begin with, but after tweakingit, I can run it in “A” – “S” and “U” Classes without too many changes, mostly adding or reducing the weight, and a few engine mod add-ons or removals and pickup in other areas. This accelerates like no mans business, and I have trouble getting it into Top gear most of the time. Which gives it plenty of tourque for cornering and twisties etc.

Racing E Type

The EType on the other hand was simply a fun thing to make, and it handles like a heavy front engined british car shoul, even with suspension mods and engine tweaks to help move it along. Not a class winner, but a definite head turner,and still staying loyal to the 360 – naturally.

Nissan Failady Z

The Nissan on the other hand is simply a play in the “B” Class for a little fun. Nothing elaborate, just something to look the part on the track and you’ll hopefully notice the fogged candy paint effect changing from the front to the back on the base colour . . .