Forza 4 Demo is out now! ( pics and vid )
 

I've been eagerly awaiting the release of Forza 4 which comes 10 / 11 / 2011.

The Demo came out yesterday and it has confirmed that pretty much everything in Forza 3 has been improved and with several new additions it looks like Forza 4 will set the bar for all console driving games. While the demo is short and doesn't contain any of the features implemented with the kinect ( head tracking and interacting with parked cars ) it does show an increase in graphics quality, sound and the improvement in car handling physics.

There is a rivals mode which pits you against another player on the leader board who's car is a ghost and you try and beat their time as you navigate through AI cars on the track Beat their time and you move up the leader board and on to a new rival. It is a lot of fun. :thumbsup

There are four cars to try in the demo. Each one is a very different driving experience. If you like driving games I highly recommend downloading the demo and giving this a try and you'll be hooked like me. I pre ordered the Limited Collectors Edition which comes with extra cars and goodies.

Here's a few shots of my race rig I built myself for driving games and someone else's video of the Pagani Zonda Cinque in the rivals mode demo and a video of a car in the Autovista feature thats in the full game but not in the demo.




Overview of my rig I built from scratch

http://www.julie-clarke.com/public_h.../Race_Rig1.jpg

The Butt Kicker mounts under the seat and is a transducer that takes low frequency sounds from the game and turns it
into vibrations so the chair shakes when I go off road or hit the curbs or rev the engine :)

http://www.julie-clarke.com/public_h.../Race_Rig2.jpg

Shot of the total setup with surround sound speakers behind me. Might seem like a bit of overkill but the immersion
factor brings the experience to a different level.

http://www.julie-clarke.com/public_h.../Race_Rig3.jpg


The Zonda Cinque in rivals mode without the AI cars




The Autovista feature

The ONE game that makes me wish i had 360 rather than PS3.

Looks incredible!!




Edit: awesome set-up btw!

Going to pick up the demo today. Been waiting for this since E4 Expo. I picked up the Battlefield 3 demo and that thing is buggy.

good stuff :thumbsup

Nice setup!

Thanks!

You won't like Forza 4 since they were unable to secure the rights to use Porsche in the game :winkwink:


Seriously though if you like driving games and as good as this game promises to be, you would get your money's worth out of the cost of a 360 and this game. Steering wheel is not a must but it does add a lot to the experience.

Great setup you have there!

The Autovista feature looks stunning, I can already see myself walking in my virtual garage and look at all the exotics. It was one of the cool features of PGR3 in my opinion only this looks 1000x better :)

Did you build that out of 3/4" MDF?

Never tried it,must be crazy ride:)

Thanks!

I believe the Autovista features 26 cars to start and there will probably be more in future DLC. The Autovista is where Clarkson comments on the cars. I think but haven't been able to confirm that we will be able to inspect every car on our own. It really is a great feature especially with the step up in visual quality. It was one of the things missing from Forza 3. Here's an unofficial list of Autovista cars.

2010 Ferrari 458 Italia
2005 Ford Ford GT
2010 Lexus LF-A
2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
2010 Aston Martin One-77
2009 Bugatti Veyron 16.4
1982 DeLorean DMC-12
1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa
2011 Ferrari 599 GTO
2009 Ferrari California
2002 Ferrari Enzo Ferrari
1995 Ferrari F50
2010 Gumpert Apollo S
2006 Hummer H1 Alpha
2006 Koenigsegg CCX
2008 Lamborghini Reventon
1993 McLaren F1
2005 Mercedes-Benz SLR
2010 Morgan Aero SuperSports
2009 Pagani Zonda Cinque Roadster
2009 #9 Peugeot Sport Total 908
2010 C8 Laviolette LM85
2005 TVR Sagaris

Additional unlockable vehicles:
2554 AMG Transport Dynamics M12 Warthog FAV ("Halo" Warthog)
1931 Bentley 8 Litre



I'm not sure what the material is called. Looks like highly compressed, fine sawdust if that makes sense. Easy to cut and sand. I made it out of one 3/4 " X 4' X 8 " sheet from Home depot for about $40. The black piece is normally used for finished shelving

Here's a few more pics of the build.




Easy wood to cut and sand so I took the time to bevel the edges.

http://www.julie-clarke.com/public_h.../Race_Rig4.jpg

Put together to see if it works and is in a comfortable position before finishing.

http://www.julie-clarke.com/public_h.../Race_Rig5.jpg

To keep the pedal base from sliding around I made this and even padded it.

http://www.julie-clarke.com/public_h.../Race_Rig7.jpg

I filled the seams in with wood putty and painted.

http://www.julie-clarke.com/public_h.../Race_Rig6.jpg

I got some carbon fiber looking contact paper and covered the sides and used some pin stipe tape to finish it off with
some color to go with the seat cover I bought for my leather recliner and keep with the Forza theme.

http://www.julie-clarke.com/public_h.../Race_Rig8.jpg

On the bottom I put those sliders you put on furniture legs so I could easily move it around on the carpet. I also bought a black, twin size fitted bed sheet which covers it perfectly. Just slide it over in the corner of the game room when its not being used :)

http://www.julie-clarke.com/public_h.../Race_Rig9.jpg

Nice construction photos, thanks.

That stuff is MDF. Medium Density Fiberboard. Same thing I built my arcade cabinet out of a few years ago.

Just wish you could use the Logitech wheels on the Xbox. I have the Ms wheel and don't care for it.

Have you tried it with forza?

I find the wheel is fuckin' horrible with most games, but great for forza and shift 1.
It was developed alongside forza, so it works great for me...

how old are you player1 :upsidedow

I haven't played Forza for quite some time but I'd love to pickup 4. I want to get a full setup like you have built before though. I've actually been playing Gran Turismo for PS3 a lot lately but still enjoy Forza a bit more. Maybe it's time for me to get building! :thumbsup

Honestly, the reason I took the time to post the build picks was to inspire those on the fence to get busy and build or buy something for themselves. Its such a fun game that yields hours and hours of fun with no additional cost other than the Xbox Live subscription.

A quick search will bring up all kinds of home made rigs from simple lap designs made of PVC to super elaborate 3 monitor setups. It must function but the design comes from creativity. I'm no carpenter so it was a lot of fun to come up with an idea and actually build it :)

I can't wait to see how well they have integrated the Kinect into Forza 4.

Having the wheel stand has added so much to the experience I think I'm going to improve it even more and get one of these new Fanatec Wheels and pedal sets for about $500

http://www.fanatec.com


http://www.fanatec.de/img/home2.jpg

Looks fun!

Looking forward to this game another 8 days and it will be out here.

Am in the midst of building something and not sure why you went so big for something so simple.

What makes you think I went so big? :)

When I bought my MS wheel I knew I didn't want to play it off my lap like I did my wheel from the last gen xbox. I looked around at what other people had built and there was a very wide spread of designs that ranged from a simple four post dinner tray style made of PVC that you placed over your lap while sitting on a sofa to some guy that actually jack hammered his concrete floor and built a pit that held his race rig and with a remote control he could make it come up to floor level to play or disappear below and be covered with chairs for his home theater.

Half the fun for me was building it and I really am interested in other people's concepts and ideas so I'm interested to hear what your approach is. Conversely, I'd be happy to tell you why I did this way if you have any questions.

Here's a couple quick vids. I looked for the rig that dropped below the floor but couldn't find it.

It looks like a fairly large table to hold a wheel and pedals is what I was getting at.

Mine will be made out of some box tube and looking to fit a couple of actuators or elec motors to it. Will post images of it here when done.

EDIT

Not a pissing match at all, was interested to see the butt kicker attachment, never heard of that until this thread.

No pissing here. I'm truly interested in your comments and ideas :thumbsup

When I decided to build my own rig I already had a chair I was going to use. Its a leather chair on a metal pedestal that also reclines. The metal frame was perfect for mounting the Butt Kicker to and getting maximum performance out of it. The fact the chair also swivels makes it easier to get up from.

Since I have the chair I sat in it and took measurements for reach to the pedals and clearance over my lap and knees. One thing I didn't want was a center post design that I would have to straddle and swing my leg around.

The other thing to take into consideration is I'm 6' 7 " tall. I made it as small as I could and still sit in and drive comfortably. So with the height determined by the chair height plus leg clearance and the length determined by leg reach to the pedals I pretty much had a set size for my optimal driving position.

Another plus for having the chair seperate from the table is anyone can sit in it and just pull it however close they need to reach the wheel and pedals. If I had made it all one unit my size and setting would have kept others from using it.

I highly reccommend getting a Butt Kicker. It adds another level to the experience and the Forza 4 developers said they have actually taken the Butt Kicker into consideration when doing the sound design. I was playing the demo earlier tonight and I could feel the different road surfaces through my chair and it feels like you are riding in a car. Get in one of the muscle cars and the whole rig vibrates in sync with the acceleration of the engine. :)

Whatever you do, make it comfortable and remember the more immersive the experience the more fun you will have.

For those that are on the fence IGN just gave Forza 4 a 9.5 rating with a nice review.

ttp://xbox360.ign.com/articles/119/1198556p1.html



xboxer360 had this to say about the Kinect functionality.

http://www.xboxer360.com/reviews/rev...-motorsport-4/


summary on the kinect points:

kinect-only mode is where the game handles the acceleration and braking and you steer with your arms. it can have 2-player splitscreen mode. you can initiate manual braking in addition to automatic braking if you stick your leg forward

kinect navigation via hand is not good. kinect navigation via voice is awesome. with voice, you can directly jump into any mode or menu at any time without having to press A, A, A, etc. or go thru nested menus. luckily, you don't have to memorize voice commands as they show on the screen.

he preferred the interactivity in Autovista with the Kinect versus the controller. to unlock autovista cars, using the Kinect to complete challenges made unlocking them easier (b/c the Kinect mode is easier to play?)

headtracking was awesome. you can adjust sensitivity as well as manually remove objects behind you that could interfere with the tracking. feels like being in a real car and is especially helping for high speed drifts.