Last year, a select few users from Giant Bomb's Forza 3 community got together on the evening of New Year's Day and took part in a series of lengthy endurance races known as the GB100 Grand Prix. The tracks, as chosen by the community, were Silverstone and Le Mans (old Mulsanne), and so we ended up racing 72 laps around Silverstone and 13 laps around old Le Mans, starting with A class and working our way up to R1.
This year, we'll be taking on this challenge again, and we want the Giant Bomb community to choose our fate! We've narrowed down our potential selections to the following five lineups:
- Fujimi Kaido/Nurburgring: 10 laps of Fujimi Kaido and 8 laps of Nurburgring (100 miles each), divided between the five races.
- Fujimi Kaido/Rally di Positano: 10 laps of Fujimi Kaido and 14 laps of Rally di Positano reverse (100 miles each), divided between the five races.
- New York: 100 laps total, using both the chicane and "old" chicane-free layouts.
- Road Atlanta/Road America: 100 laps total, using the full versions of both these circuits.
- Sunset Peninsula: 100 laps total, using both the full road course and oval layouts.
In addition, we cut the R2 race from last year's GB100 from 24 to 9 laps to avoid killing FlipperDesert, who was British and staying up ungodly late (while very ill) to race with us. We will finish these 15 laps in R2 on Old Le Mans regardless of this year's poll selection, and finally fulfill our 100 lap promise from last year.
Here's a little bit of additional detail on the five potential choices:
Fujimi Kaido/Nurburgring
Fujimi Kaido is a fantasy course on a Japanese mountain, with numerous trecherous hairpins and an aggressively fast downhill section. We've had numerous battles on this track, and its difficult nature usually ensures these battles are close and tense. In this choice, it's paired with Nurburgring Nordschliefe, the famous German track known for being one of the most difficult circuits in the world.
Because Fujimi Kaido has no pit lanes, cosmetic damage would be used for any of its races.
Fujimi Kaido/Rally di Positano
In this choice, Fujimi Kaido is instead paired with Rally di Positano, another fantasy track based on tight, winding roads on the Italian coast. Several parts of the track are cobblestone, putting grip at a premium, and there are several sections with drastic elevation changes. In our case, that means lots of exciting jumps.
New York
New York is basically two drag strips separated by sharp turns and a roundabout. It's very simple, but missing a braking point often means sailing into a concrete barrier and sustaining incredible amounts of damage. Forza 3 added a variation to New York that put two chicanes on both the front and back straightaway to reduce speed. While they're relatively effective, they're also very good at punishing aggressive driving, and it's extremely common for accidents to happen within these chicanes.
Road Atlanta/Road America
Road Atlanta's a fast course with a long back straight that's interrupted by a chicane in the modern era. Otherwise, it's a great test of handling fast turns at high speed. Road America's a good companion track, and not just by name, as it features several lengthy straightaways divided by sharp, slow turns. Making it through the Kink without letting off the accelerator or braking is a true test of a driver's courage, and both Canada Corner and turn 5 will test a driver's common sense in regards to braking.
Sunset Peninsula
A fantasy superspeedway, Sunset Peninsula offers both high speed and a competitive infield road course. The road course features a few slight chicanes with wide turns, making side-by-side racing very possible throughout the course. Also, if this is picked, we're totally taking the old NASCAR stock cars to the oval for our R3 race.
The choice is yours, Giant Bomb community. Where do you want us to torture ourselves for honor and prizes come New Year's Day?
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