trace

Holy crap, that was a surprisingly good first night. Despite annoying voice chat issues, hopefully most of you are interested in sticking with us in the weeks and months to come. A full 24-player lobby for these races would be amazing, especially as we look into the viability of certain series.

If anyone has some good footage or pictures to share, please do! We need more of that cool stuff now that we're back to proper Forza Motorsport Race Night. Until then...I think it's time to bring back an old friend to recap out-of-context bits and pieces from the 306th edition of Giant Bomb Forza Race Night.

CUE THE CAT.

• If you're going to join us, turn off damage in your assists. It shouldn't matter, but just trust me.
• REMINDER: THERE IS A CHICANE ON THE BACKSTRAIGHT OF THE DAYTONA 24 LAYOUT. IT DOES NOT HAVE PROPER BRAKING MARKERS. PLEASE BE EXPECTING IT.
• If you play the Check Mark Game in the lobby, you are playing a dangerous game of Russian Roulette. Just ask Jugnutts.
• Speaking of a dangerous game of Russian Roulette, maybe don't pick cars without headlights for a night race at the Nurburgring Nordschleife. This includes the Formula E car. Seriously.
• We experienced flying Gurkas in Italy! Maybe don't ask too many questions.
• IndyCars stall. ALL THE TIME. I may have to opt for auto clutch again, as much as I hate the idea.
• Fun Fact: Our lobby was worth at least $1500 for most of the night. Thank you, Cult of Greenawalt.
• The weather forecast in-game is actually Poopkins. I didn't actually know that was a person -- I thought it was a term of endearment or something -- but OK!
• Formula E races are pretty good, y'all. High-quality stuff.
• Sonoma: Thatfuckingkerbshot.jpg
• To the person who left tires all over the track: You may want to go see a doctor, you may be very ill
• I was Gurka'd at Sonoma. It did not feel good. No, I'm not the one with the tire illness issue.
• Modern F1 cars are TOUGH without assists. Criminy.
• Virus tag is still mostly broken. I'm as disappointed as you are.

Thanks again to everyone who attended! Only a few more weeks until we're officially six years old. The streak continues...

Not typically, Forza Motorsport's always been on Thursdays. We might experiment with Friday or Saturday nights in the distant future, but I imagine that'll be a separate race night for another game like Forza Horizon 3 next year or some other title that explodes onto the scene.

Sorry to hear the timing doesn't work out for you! It's always hard to nail down a time that suits everybody. We've been pretty lucky in how well Thursday nights have worked for us over the years.

Super Series III Preparation: Stage 1

Test the Pro Class Vehicles

Your assignment is to take one of the following vans, and upgrade it to C class:

• 1983 GMC Vandura G-1500
• 2011 Ford Transit SuperSportVan

The Terradyne Gurhka is also a valid choice, but it will not be competitive. We are going to test competitiveness with the Ford and GMC in the weeks to come, to ensure they are an even match for each other.

Once the Pro class is settled, we will test cars for the Elite class. There are currently two cars under consideration there. Both are tiny.

Super Series Team Status

• Gerst Manufacturing (Jeff's Team): READY!
• Vincar/VinnCo (Vinny's Team): READY!
• SHMKR (Brad's Team): New logo needing conversion, old logo available
• Dresca Technologies (Drew's Team): READY!
• Gasta Team Eire (Danny's Team): Logo awaiting replication
• (Alex's Team): Official Name and Logo Pending
• (Dan's Team): Official Name and Logo Pending, Unofficial Prototype Logo Created
• (Jason's Team): Official Name and Logo Pending
• (Austin's Team): Official Name and Logo Pending
• (Matt's Team): Unnannounced, Awaiting Funding

Giant Bomb Forza Race Night

Starts every Thursday at 9:30 PM ET (6:30 PT)

Runs until people get tired (usually 12 AM - 1 AM ET, 9 PM – 10 PM PT)

Since November 2009, we’ve been running a combination of silly and serious races using one of the most accessible racing sims available. Every Thursday night, it’s not about crushing rivals or being a dominant force of motorsport; rather, it’s about enjoying races that are unexpected, challenging, and just plain fun.

It’s worked for almost six years without fail, so I think we’ve got something special here.

Do you like racing cars? Do you like doing silly stuff with cars? Do you want to do any or all of that with the Giant Bomb community? If so, you should join us.

Hosted by Trace (Peace Egg on Xbox Live).

How to Join

This section is subject to change dramatically based on any improvements made to the Xbox One.

1. Follow my gamertag, Peace Egg. You should be able to do this without needing my permission on the Xbox One. It will also make my Drivatar more likely to join your career races. I apologize in advance.
2. Post your gamertag in this thread (if you're not already a regular attendee). This way, I can follow you back to send game invites and make it easier for you to jump straight into my lobbies. ONLY POST YOUR GAMERTAG IN THIS THREAD IF YOU WANT TO JOIN US ON THURSDAY NIGHTS. I don't want to be mean about this, but this thread isn't intended as a gamertag exchange, so posting your gamertag without intending to join only makes it harder for me to find and invite people on Thursdays. You're obviously free to follow me anyways if you want my awful Drivatar to make a mess of your races.
3. When I start up the private lobby for Race Night just before 9:30 PM, I'll go through my list of followers and invite anyone playing Forza Motorsport 6 into my game. This would be a good time to be playing Forza. If my friends list says you're in-game, I'm hitting you with an invite. If you can join my lobby before that invite, then feel free to be proactive! You won't be disturbing any natural order.
4. We'll race. You'll have fun, hopefully.

Two additional notes to keep in mind:

• Occasionally I might be out of town, so someone else will host during those weeks. We’ll try to keep track of that in this thread, but it may slip through the cracks at times.
• If you aren’t joining right at 9:30, there may be a delay inviting you in. You can send me a message to alert me you want in, but please be patient, as we’re probably in the middle of a 5-10 minute race.

What To Expect

While we mostly race during Race Night – hence the name – we do have a few other game modes we've created over the years that are fun.

Some of these games include:

• JELLY RACING: SushiXXX tends to make legit pro setups that handle super well, if it weren’t for the suspension bouncing the car around perpetually. Inevitably, we will race and tame these beasts.
• CLUNKER PUSHING: Requires teams of two, so only in smaller lobbies. One person is a clunker, an already-slow car with 75% of their horsepower and some of their grip taken away. The other person is a pusher, a faster vehicle with no such handicaps. First clunker to make it to the finish wins. It's like Cat & Mouse, except more awesome. Typically done on a track with big hills, because there’s a sick comedy in tiny cars rolling back down large hills they couldn’t ascend.
• VIRUS TAG: One person starts as 'it'. When another person is tagged, he or she also becomes it. Repeat until everyone has been tagged and we all curse over whomever we “let” win. Hopefully heats work properly in Forza 6; otherwise, this mode’s going to suck.
• FLAGPOLE RACING: One person is a flagpole. Everyone else is racing. Every time you encounter the flagpole, regardless of where it is on the track, you have to drive a circle around it before continuing on. The flagpole may move between laps.
• HATEFEST: Don’t ask. It’s better you discover the terror yourself.
• CAR SOCCER: Someday we’ll figure out how to get this back. Rocket League can’t replicate what we had perfectly.

In addition, expect the following special series over the course of the next two years:

• Formula Duder: The iRacing-born series will make its debut in Forza 6! Expect stock open-wheel battles over a series of tracks. Very likely to use the Formula E to start, unless the Formula 2000 becomes available shortly after launch.
• Giant Bomb Super Series: Multi-class racing mayhem with weird bonus points and team warfare that relies heavily on social media. It’s not only the dumbest series we’ve ever run, it’s the best series we’ve ever run. #GBSuperSeries
• Giant Bomb GT: There sure are a lot of touring cars and GT3 machines in Forza 6. We're going to make good use of them and bring this series back from a long exile.

Expect the unexpected. I am always willing to try new things out, provided there's a good way for determining a winner in-game.

The Rules

Our standards are pretty simple, much like Giant Bomb's rules: Don't be a dick. So far, we haven't had any major issues with this, but allow me to elaborate with suggestions that will greatly help everyone's experience:

Don't intentionally crash others during races.

Forza Motorsport 6 is not nearly as full-contact as Forza Horizon 2. Accidents will happen with high speeds and limited space, but please don’t slam into other players, and be mindful to give appropriate space when battling.

This rule doesn’t apply to any of the weird event ideas we come up with, like clunker pushing or flagpole racing. Generally, though, if a race isn’t designed to involve contact and we haven’t explicitly stated the race is full-contact, please avoid hitting other cars.

If you do end up blatantly taking someone out by accident and advance your position as a result, it's considered good manners to give them the spot back. This doesn't always mean stopping on track, which we've learned can be rather dangerous, but if you see the person you crashed in your rear-view mirror driving at speed again, slowing down and letting them pass is a nice gesture.

Calling ‘Gran Turismo’ before using somebody’s car to make a turn may be FIA regulations, but it’s not cool in Forza Motorsport. Don’t do it.

Be mindful of the voice chat.

With up to 24 people, there’s a potential for a frightening amount of voice chat, and I don’t think party chat works with those numbers. Do keep in mind that sometimes I'll ask for race suggestions or someone will try to explain game modes to newbies in the lobby. Chattering over this sort of stuff only delays the fun times and gets annoying. Don't delay the fun times!

In addition, if someone's headset is acting up, most especially with echoes or high-pitched squeals, we may ask you to try and fix it ASAP, since that almost completely prevents us from communicating with one another. It's highly frustrating. Usually, unplugging or muting the headset until you can deal with it is a good temporary fix if you're in the midst of racing when this crops up.

Oh, and don't snap in TV if it's going to blare through your headset. That's just annoying.

Other Things You Should Know

If you want to join, JOIN.

Don't mull over whether you're good enough or not. Our fields are full of people with widely varying skills, and as long as you're willing to understand that racing's not always about finishing first, but finishing well, you should have a great time with us. You won’t be cast out because you’re placing last all the time. On the contrary! We want you to practice and learn. Mastering this racing stuff is a pretty amazing feeling.

If you're worried about crashing one of us accidentally, let me just say that we're all used to how online racing typically goes. We can avoid your spinning car with brakes aflame, so don't worry about that either.

We don't mind if you're late.

As long as we have open spots (and we will have open spots with lobbies of this size), we're looking for people until the end of Race Night. If you can only make it to Race Night an hour in, then you're good. Get in here.

You don’t need a racing wheel.

Seriously, Vinny, it’s cool. This isn’t iRacing, so controllers are supported very well. I’ve always used a controller for Forza, and it’s worked fine thus far. Not having a wheel won’t put you at a horrendous disadvantage, trust me.

You don't need any cars or DLC, but having a car for each class would be nice.

The car suggestion is for your own enjoyment, as earning less money from rental cars is rarely fun.

Have fun! That's what we're here for.

You might hear some of the long-time regulars make reference to things like Stanica the Danica Fanica or the Lamborghini Pizza Club, but don’t worry about that. You’ll catch on soon enough.

Seriously, just enjoy yourself.

I think it's worth emphasizing that there's a lot about Forza Motorsport 5 that simply wasn't great compared to Forza 4, most notably in the lack of variety and features. I'm not certain Forza 6 will alleviate that enough to be the best in the series, but from what I've seen it's a step in the right direction.

To your points:

Camera view: There's nothing wrong with using an chase camera, but it's not going to feel beneficial in the same way it would in arcade racers. Forza isn't doing much to compensate in the controls or camera shifts for using that view, and what you're feeling is a lack of connection to the steering/pedal input. I personally prefer the hood camera, as it gives me that connection and a good field of vision ahead that isn't obscured by in-car stuff I wouldn't have any focus on in real life.

Tracks: Forza 6, like with Forza 5, seems to be moving further away from fantasy tracks and silly game modes. Car soccer might return, but I honestly doubt it, and given the only fantasy track announced was the showcase Rio track, I think the hopes for wild courses like Fujimi Kaido and Rally di Positano returning are slim as well. As for the tracks...that's auto racing anywhere. It's memorizing turns and braking points, adjusting for the car in play, and attempting to put together the best race possible amongst a field of drivers looking to do the same. If the repetition is something that dissuades you, Horizon might be the safer bet, although I'd argue Horizon actually has more repetitive courses. They're just a little more freeform in how they can be tackled.

Gameplay: From what I've tried so far, the cars in Forza 6 seem to be a little more connected to the road than in 5, where they felt rather loose under all kinds of braking and acceleration. That's what I gleaned from some short demos, so no clue if what I've noticed in handling is true. The real key is this, all improvements aside: What would you want to do in Forza 6? If you don't have a good answer for that, it might be best to wait until you see something that does appeal to you in footage or gameplay. If you don't have that urge to jump in with Motorsport, it's OK! You're not necessarily missing out. It just might not be what you're looking for, and that's totally fine.

As for me, there's a bunch of reasons since I'm a huge racing fan, but it's mainly the variety of tracks, cars, and rules I can set in multiplayer. I've been throwing together dumb, evil, and potentially entertaining races for over 300 weeks. It would be silly to stop now.

Not to sound too creepy, but I am watching this tournament very closely to see how well it goes. I have a couple of league ideas in mind, but I want to wait until this is over before moving on any of them.

While I think that animation in banners is terribly lazy and a waste of the creator's time, I don't stand behind whatever this silly rambling is about.

The best banner we've ever had wasn't animated. It's highly unlikely that will change. Put your creativity behind something really stylish or hilarious, and you'll have my vote.

I haven't had any problems, but a suggestion: When creating events, always make sure the start time's somewhere in the future. If you take the default start time it gives you on the site, it'll be in the past by the time you save the season settings, and it'll fail to save anything as a result. Kind of sucks.

Anyways, my apologies for the delay in setting up season 3 -- bit behind the ball this week due to a business trip. This one's back to evil stuff. Be careful out there.

Speaking of retries, I'm going to go ahead and put this out there, so nobody feels shafted for not knowing when they still have time to run.

Aurahack discovered on his stream earlier that using "Save and Quit" in the middle of a bad run on a stage will allow you to repeat that stage without consequence. That definitely shouldn't be the case; if anything, it should force you onto the next stage with the maximum time applied to the stage that was quit out on.

So yeah, unless this is a consequence of allowing event restarts (doubtful), sounds like we have unlimited stage retries until Codemasters fixes this. Go nuts, y'all.

Yeah, I'm running that whole deal by accident. A thread's not a bad idea, so here it is.

I look forward to cries of anguish. Remember: It's my fault. I choose every stage by hand. I do this to hurt you. I'm tearing at your soul through digital rally.