On February 7th, Turn 10 studios will be releasing the newest car pack for Forza Motorsports. This "ALMS Pack" offers some of the coolest -- and dumbest -- cars in the game.
Here's what you get for $7:
1991 Mazda #55 Team Mazdaspeed 787B
2011 #2 Audi Sport North America R18 TDI
1986 #2 Audi Sport quattro S1 (mmm, Group B)
2011 Panoz #0505 Panoz Racin Abruzzi
1992 Alfa Romeo 155 Q4
1995 Ford Mustang Cobra R
2011 Holden HSV GTS
2011 Volkswagen Polo GTI (yawn)
Those are the cool/reasonable car, here are the stupid ones...
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Categories: Miscellaneous,Video Games,Videos
This is not the first time we've seen French comedian / rabble-rouser Remi Gaillard. Previously his real-life Mario Kart has us shopping for used karts. Unrelated to cars he's also done real-life Pac Man and a Rocky tribute.
Our new favorite, though has to be this one wherein Remi plays human traffic camera snapping photos of trains, planes, cars and, yes, a cop. That last one doesn't go so well.
(*link replaced with embedded video)
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Categories: Miscellaneous,Video Games
As much as I respect real off roading, the kind that involves rocks and cliffs and skill and planning and thinking ahead, mud-bogging is more my thing. I like hobbies where the solution to problems is more throttle. Mud bogging is also Mark Wattam's thing. Mark Wattm is from Cato New York and wants to open up a mud bogging facility because that's what you do in a town with 2,000 people.
Well, as things often go in small towns, the people are complaining. And unlike normal city council meetings and public forums, this one reads more like an episode of Parks and Recreation. When asked about the environmental impact, Wattam replied "It's all hard fill. We aint a nuclear plant. He followed up with "I don't want to die with $10 in my pocket. I'm trying to build an empire."
Besides being a fun local car-related story, this is a thin excuse for me to post some mud bogging videos!
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Categories: Trucks,Video Games
I'll let you in on a little secret about the video game players in our office: Playing Forza 4 with Mark and Kurt is no fun. They try far too hard and get far too competitive. Sure, the competition is fun, but when we're hanging around the Takahashi homestead the minute the controllers come out the anger level rises.
That's why I'm excited about Dirt Showdown the new arcade-style racer from Codemasteres: Gymkhana + demolition derby + arcade gameplay = Wheeeee.
Codemasters calls the setting a "theater of racing" with a festival atmosphere, pyrotechnics and an arena soundtrack. Game modes include Smash Hunters, Trick Rush, Head 2 Head, Lap Attack, Eliminator, Domination, and three demolition events.
It won't be realistic, but it should be fun.
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Categories: Video Games,Videos
$7 to race a Ford SVT Raptor in Forza 4? Deal. Though I'm going to be seriously disappointed when they don't modify the game physics to just let me run amok through the infield.
In addition to the Raptor, you also get that nifty little Suzuki pictured above. The one made famous by Monster Tajima when he smashed the 10-minute barrier on Pikes Peak on the final year there would be any dirt.
These two are the only reasons I have any interest in this content, but the full list of cars and a video of the new cars is posted after the jump.
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Categories: Ford,Suzuki,Video Games
In the buildup for racing games like Gran Turismo 5 and Forza 4 we heard a lot about physics modeling, track mapping and vehicle scanning in order for them to provide near-perfect gameplay.
In the buildup for Need for Speed: The Run we've seen Sports Illustrated Swimsuit models and now a trailer directed by Michael Bay.
Explosion-filled, big-budget trailer after the jump complete with some behind-the-scenes footage with Bay. Where was the BTS with the swimsuit models?
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Categories: Video Games,Videos
Everyone's favorite vaguely car related video game, Grand Theft Auto, is back. Or at least, it will be sometime next summer. We got our last taste of a new GTA in the spring of 2008 and spent, oh, three years running through that city with every vehicle we could steal.
The new version, Grand Theft Auto V, is set in LA which everyone knows is the epicenter of car culture. True to the LA landscape, we see some pretty rad cars here just waiting to be stolen: an R8 clone, an Alfa 8C lookin' thing, this blue Saab(?) and a Range Rover. The lack of 911s and Continental GTs and not a Vineland sign replacing the Hollywood one is what really makes this stand out as a parody of LA and not the real city.
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Categories: Miscellaneous,Video Games,Videos
I've been passed along a .gif of a Focus being obliterated during a crash test at least a dozen times in the last week. As just a gif, though, it wasn't good for anything more than a quick "whoa" and then moving along, and then the video surfaced.
Turns out it was a test by Fifth Gear to see exactly what happens when a car goes from 120 mph to 0 in 68 milliseconds due to an unmovable wall. Most of us can already guess how this one ends.
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Categories: Ford,Miscellaneous,Video Games
The Forza Motorsport series has always excelled in areas where Gran Turismo hasn't. Forza was the first to have the driving line, damage modeling and auction house. It also got rid of those pesky license tests.(*1) Forza Motorsport's philosophy has always been to put gameplay first. It had fewer cars in its games compared to GT, but they were the cars most people cared about -- not obscure econoboxes or 10 versions of the Nissan Skyline.
You might make an argument that GT5 is a better simulation. Maybe the placement of fog lights may be missing from one car you are intimately familiar with, or perhaps the sound of the Corvette C6R might not sound right to you ("You can't even hear the straight-cut gears in this game!" said one FM4 player comparing it to GT5.). But then again, it doesn't take Turn 10 Studios five years to make a game.
It's been two years since Forza Motorsport 3, and we've just had our hands on Forza Motorsport 4. How is it?
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Categories: Video Games
I'm out of things to say about insanely dangerous driving-related craziness. So, uhm, here's some kids who built a bandstand on a trike and then went tooling around on public roads.
Next time, drift it.
(Also, made it alll the way through without saying Rock and Roll.)
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Categories: Miscellaneous,Video Games
We're looking at something like 8 days until Forza Motorsport 4 hits the shelves. Xbox Live Gold members can download the demo today while normal members will have to wait until Friday for their first taste at the new driving sim.
And as you'd likely expect, the good people at Forza are ramping up for this with a serious PR push and that includes this new live-action fantasy video narrated by Jeremy Clarkson. Like so many Clarkson productions, this ad is about more than just a car or a game. It's about a lifestyle that's slipping away.
If you've ever had a day where stealing an Aston Martin and ripping through a city trying to evade police seemed like a good idea, this one's for you.
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Categories: Video Games
I don't fully understand what Sports Illustrated Swimsuit models Irina Shayk and Chrissy Teigen have to do with the new EA racing game Need For Speed The Run and the "illicit cross-country race from San Francisco to New York" that happens in it.
I'm okay with that. So here's a video that shows some racing (including an Aventador, Challenger, a couple of 911s, and some swimsuit models both digitized and IRL.
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Categories: Miscellaneous,Video Games
Turn 10 studios announced today that they will offer a "season pass" for its upcoming Forza Motorsport 4. This season pass will cost 2,400 Microsoft points ($24.99 $29.99) and will be available when the game launches on October 11. This season pass will cover the next six downloadable add-on packs that will be released over the coming months. The idea being that if you pay upfront for the add-ons, you will save about 30 percent over getting them as they are released for regular price. When all is said and done, the season pass will add about 60 cars (10 per add-on pack).
As an incentive to pick this up on day one, the season pass will give you immediate access to the "American Muscle Car Pack" which includes the following:
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Categories: Miscellaneous,Video Games
This game, Need for Speed: The Run, is why you won't get to drive Porsches in Forza. Let's let the description take it from here:
Who wouldn't want to drive this year's most highly anticipated car? The 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera S has been officially unveiled and Need for Speed The Run is giving you exclusive access. Experience the raw power and pinpoint handling that 500 horsepower and 800 lbs of torque have to offer as you fly past rivals and slip past obstacles on your way to New York.
500 Horsepower? 800 pounds of torque? Thats close to the car's disclosed power rating of 394 horsepower. Fans of racing sims rarely notice that kind of stuff, though.
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Categories: Porsche,Video Games
So there's a bit of thing happening now in the racing sim world. EA holds the exclusive rights to Porsche in video games and have been subletting the rights to Microsoft so that cool race and street cars can be in Forza. Now, however, EA is trying to get all serious in the racing sim world with Shift, and has blocked Forza from using Porsches in Forza 4. Lame.
Microsoft, for what it's worth, holds exclusive licensing arrangements with Ferraris but allows their use across the other racing games -- including the EA ones.
The game will, however, have the Warthog from the Halo series. Except instead of being able to drive it, you get an interactive walkaround narrated by Jeremy Clarkson. Seems like a fair trade.
(IGN)
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Categories: Porsche,Video Games
According to Riswick's wife, there's nothing more unattractive to females than hearing guys talk about video games. Pffffft, whatever. This thing had me cooing at my desk like a 30-mph Corvette in sixth gear. Thrustmaster (the most optimistically named nerdware company) will be selling this Ferrari 458 Italia wheel and pedal combo just in time for Forza 4's October 11 release date.
I'm assuming by now, there isn't a single female that is reading this.
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Categories: Video Games
Last year's Call of Duty Black Ops inspired Jeep threw on a few decals and gun metal wheels and called it a day. But it was a huge hit at auto shows and it looks as though Chrysler sold enough to take the second version a bit more serious. The guys at Sidequesting spotted the 2012 Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Jeep, at the Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit.
This special edition Jeep has an updated grille, mesh hood vents, new flat black wheels with a full size spare mounted on the rear and Call of Duty MW3 badges on the fenders. No word yet on pricing or availability, but we may find out more in a few weeks at the Call of Duty XP convention in Los Angeles.
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Categories: Jeep,Video Games
The boys over at Turn 10 are serious about delivering the ultimate racing experience. So much so that they traveled to the Swiss Alps in order to render and design the ultimate race track.
And since they don't have to worry for a second about danger, safety or the logistics of building it, they could produce the coolest, fastest track possible. This is that story.
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Categories: Video Games
iRacing stands head and shoulders above the other racing sims out there. It's not a casual game you pop in once in a while, earn some credits and then lay aside for the newest Tom Clancy game; it's a serious hobby bording on obsession.
And as of August, there will be iRacing 2.0 featuring upgraded graphics, tweaked aerodynamics and tire modeling and new heat racing. It's not quite iRacing 2, but it should be enough to get a number of people upgrading thier computers post haste.
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Categories: Video Games
During the Forza Motorsport 4 event we attended, we were able to get some hands on time with the Xbox 360 Wireless Speed Wheel. Our first thought was that this wheel was no different from the plastic wheel that came with Mario Kart Wii. But after a few races with the Wireless Speed Wheel, it exceeded our expectations.
For starters, this is an actual controller, rather than a shell like the Wii Wheel. It has triggers on both ends of the wheel and also has haptic feedback with rumble. You accelerate and brake with the triggers and turn by holding your arms out and mimicking a turning gesture. You're already doing that with the controller, right? It's like doing that, but effective. Kind of.
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Categories: Video Games
