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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Log in to comment