Forza Motorsport 3 (X360):

[MisterNoisy]

So while I know everyone's caught up in Borderlands and/or Torchlight, but did anyone else pick FM3 up?

Based on a few hours with it yesterday, it's better than 2 in pretty much every way, from visuals to physics to the community stuff (everyone now has their own 'storefront' where they can sell vinyls/decals, paint jobs, cars and photos/videos taken in the replay mode). 

They also improved the painting/decal editor, primarily by giving you a blank canvas with gridlines to work on (meaning you no longer have to keep a Mini around just for its big flat roof).

[jakonovski]

It was released last Friday in Europe so I spent all weekend playing it. It's awesome, a real leap from F2 in terms of driving model. The only real world verification I could make was the Abarth 500, and its gear ratios were pretty close to the regular 500 in real life, so I was definitely impressed. My biggest beef these days is with engine sound though, and F3 is a curiously mixed bag. On one hand cars like the Alfa Romeo Brera emit a horrid din you'd expect from an AdLib era pc (all Alfas sound delicious in real life!), but on the other hand the Veyron is orgastic fun all the way.

[Yegolev]

It is on the list even though I did not make large strides in completing FM2.

I'd like a report of the painting tools.

[Cyrrex]

I pre-ordered it, which was an odd thing to do considering I, too, have a huge portion of FM2 to get through.  I haven't picked it up yet...not sure I even will.

[Pennilenko]

I LOVE THIS GAME!

Still caught up with the racing behind the wheel view, haven't played with car decorations yet. Will post more details if i can stop racing for a couple seconds to write more.

[SnakeCharmer]

I looked at buying this game today.  And a nice steering wheel set up since I hate racing games with a stick or d pad.  So I wandered around and found the Microsoft steering wheel, and not much else.  Is there a better one?  Something similar to the G27 for the PS3 but not quite 300 bucks?

[MisterNoisy]

The only other XBox 360 option is the new Fanatec Turbo S wheel, which is both pretty tough to come by and damnably expensive, though it's compatible with the PC and PS3 as well.

As for the paint/decal editor, it's pretty similar to the one from 2.  The biggest change is the addition of the aforementioned standalone canvas with gridlines that you can create decal groups on.

Edit:  I just finished my first car paint job (a version of the Bomberman-themed tC I used a bunch in FM2):





While I was putting this together, I found that they also made managing decal groups a lot easier as well, gathering them into a stack by default, though you can ungroup them easily as well.

[WayAbvPar]

I wish I was patient and artistic enough to do stuff like that. I still brag to people about the F13 car you made me for Forza2! 

[Yegolev]

I'm not immensely artistic either, but the standalone decal grid is a fantastic idea.

[MisterNoisy]

I wish I was patient and artistic enough to do stuff like that. I still brag to people about the F13 car you made me for Forza2!  

Woo!   

There'll be some F13 forum livery elements (similar to the stuff I put on your car, though some of the more iconic emotes will be there too) up within a day or two on my 'storefront' for anyone that's interested and has a copy of the game.  If I can give them away I will, otherwise they'll be priced as cheaply as possible or I will happily apply them to anyone's car and send it back if they gift it.

[Azazel]

Great work on that car livery! 

[ffc]

This game is excellent.  I started off on the easiest mode where all I worry about is steering and several races later I bumped myself up to being able to brake for myself.     The scalable difficulty settings are an excellent example of making a game accessible for everyone from novices to experts right from the start while allowing for growth.  It's the perfect mix of casual and hardcore controls, with waggle being at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Also, MisterNoisy, that car is awesome.

[Mosesandstick]

Is the Microsoft wheel the only wheel available? I'd prefer something cheaper, but my brother likes the cars and he might pony up the money. Nice car btw!

[OcellotJenkins]

Is there a way to adjust the Microsoft Wheel in the game?  My wheel seemed to have a dead zone in the demo and I had a hard time adjusting to it.  Didn't have the problem in Burnout so nothing is wrong with my wheel.

[jakonovski]

I didn't notice anything wrong with my MS wheel. Maybe I should play a bit tonight to see if there's really a dead zone.

[Cyrrex]

The MS wheel is expensive (as are all of fucking MS's peripherals), but it seems to be a pretty high quality piece of equipment.

[MisterNoisy]

If anyone wants the F13 logo from the top of the forum for their cars, it's on my storefront for free in both black and white versions.  Just do a search for 'F13' in the 'Vinyls' section of the store.

[Pennilenko]

If anyone wants the F13 logo from the top of the forum for their cars, it's on my storefront for free in both black and white versions.  Just do a search for 'F13' in the 'Vinyls' section of the store.

How did you get the blue on the car to transition to white smoothly?

[MisterNoisy]

How did you get the blue on the car to transition to white smoothly?

The base 'paint' color of the car is the lighter of the 2 shades of blue on the car.  2 white vinyl shapes were used on the sides and top of the car to create that effect - the square single-direction gradient and the square regular shape.

Place the gradient where you want the transition to take effect with the opaque side facing the rear of the car and stretch it as necessary to vary the 'rate' of the transition over distance between colors.  Copy the gradient you've placed, then paste it onto the top/roof of the car in the same orientation, making sure that the hard edge of the transition lines up with the one you put on the side.  Then size and place a solid white square on the top and side so that it just meets the hard edge of the gradient (any overlap will be really obvious).  'Copy all' onto the other side of the car when you're done and then just cover the back with a big enough solid square to cover it completely.

[MisterNoisy]

So is anyone else playing this/up for a F13 race night?

Also, new car - it's a work in progress, but I'm pretty happy with it so far:

[MisterNoisy]

So...

Am I the only one here that plays this game?  Anyone want to go racing?

[Pennilenko]

So...

Am I the only one here that plays this game?  Anyone want to go racing?

I play it but very very casually

[ffc]

Single player was the most fun I had in a non-Mario Kart racing game but multiplayer races had me longing for red shells, mushrooms, etc.  Shameful.

[Yegolev]

So...

Am I the only one here that plays this game?  Anyone want to go racing?

It's on the list but I don't have a lot of time.  Also hard to justify buying F3 considering my lack of progress in F2.