Forza Motorsport 5 confirmed as Xbox One launch title
Forza Motorsport 5 has been confirmed as a launch title for the Xbox One console. The news was part of the Xbox One reveal event, which featured a short trailer of the game. Here’s what we know from that glimpse.
- Forza Motorsport 5 will be available as a launch title. No date has been revealed. Or prices of either the console of the game.
- The trailer featured a street racing circuit. It didn’t look like Rally di Positano from Forza Motorsport 4, but did feature the same cobbled street surface.
- Two supercars were featured.
- Some race commentary was featured in the trailer, which may just be to add excitement to the video. Hopefully it’s not recorded in-game commentary. If there is a commentary feature, we can only hope it’s part of an ability to commentate on live streamed racing.
Other non-racing news included the fact that Xbox 360 currently runs on around 15,000 servers, but the Xbox One platform is scheduled to have 300,000 servers available – there’s no indication of how many of these will be dedicated to gaming rather than the endless parade of TV and sports tie-ins which were being publicised.
Obviously there’s likely to be much more news on the actual games over the coming weeks, particularly during and after the E3 event, so we’ll keep you posted.
NASCAR iRacing.com World Championship to be streamed live
The 2013 NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship will begin on Tuesday, March 12 with the first round at Daytona International Speedway, and the entire series will be broadcast live on both iRacing.com and the Motor Racing Network.
The 18 race series will use the new Generation-6 stock cars as drivers will compete for more than $16,000 in prize money. Two-time champion Ray Alfalla will attempt to beat 2012 challenger Michael Conti, 2011 runner-up John Gorlinsky and 47 other qualifiers for the championship.
The action kicks off at 9pm, EDT, which is 1am GMT on Wednesday March 13th.
F1 2012: Patch 5 and Patch 6 follow in quick succession
Here we are – a return to F1 2012 and Codemasters offer another group of changes. Get yer Steam on, guys! On with the show, here’s today’s details for the latest couple of additions to the now sextet of patch releases.
For details of the previous F1 2012 Patch Releases, see: Patches 1 and 2, Patch 3, Patch 4
F1 2012 Patch #5 Details:
- Reduced the likelihood of the player getting a penalty when involved in a collision with an AI car
- Further reduced the chance of rain for all tracks and greatly reduced it for Sakhir (Bahrain)
- Fixed Catalunya so that it’s no longer possible to cut corners to gain an advantage. The PC Catalunya Time Trial Leaderboard will be reset after the patch goes live, this will either be done Friday evening or Monday morning (UK time)
- Fixed an issue where the engine could be damaged or destroyed when using a flashback
- Reverted the changes to the force feedback from Patch #4. While this improved some wheels, it was to the detriment of others
- Added an option to delete profiles
F1 2012 Patch #6 Details:
- Made Pro level AI quicker so that the time gap to Legendary AI is smaller. We’re keen to get community feedback on this change
- Fixed the weather system so that cars will no longer start the race on the wrong tyres
- Cars will need to change to intermediate tyres when it has been raining with sufficient intensity
- Fixed a crash in Co-op when disconnecting on the results screens
- Fixed an issue where the point’s totals on the Constructors Championship table were incorrectly doubled
- Medals awarded in season challenge now update the player statistics correctly
So the last week ended and a new one started with a commendable response from the team in a pair of game updates. When connecting the recent series of changes to feedback on forums, it gives the clear impression that Codemasters are trying to fix reported problems and in the most obvious reaction, somehow find a balance to players’ desires during play. Some out there inevitably and at times, even fairly hold opinions that might argue that there’s a way to go on several fronts. We’ve seen that recent changes don’t appear to be working for everybody and some have said that bugs and features should have been seen to and settled on respectively ahead of release – but a recognition of the support with F1 2012 shouldn’t be lost under the frustrations. The attention and communication is a big contrast with the two previous releases and a change from the company that’s worth acknowledging, even valuing. It isn’t all about eliminating bugs either. Away from the technical fixes, there can’t be a better way to balance, say, AI difficulty than when having access to such a large number of players. Altering that chasm between Pro and Legendary levels will change the game for many of us. It’s a positive turn!
Do remember to add feedback or reports of any problems via the usual Codemasters forum.
Again, updates for the console editions of F1 2012 are in production and the PC updates released so far reflect revisions that will also be made to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 releases.
Amazing datalogger puts your ghost in Gran Turismo
If you’ve ever wanted to compare your real performance around a track with your talent in Gran Turismo, then you’ll probably want to consider a new datalogger.
The CAN-Gateway ECU (Controller Area Network-Gateway Electronic Control Unit) has been developed by Polyphony Digital, Denso and Toyota to log a huge list on car data as you take on a track. This then allows you to recreated your performance in Gran Turismo, and race against yourself if the track is in the game.
Even if you’re not in a position to use the data-logger, it’s likely to be used to record celebrity laps which can then be featured in the game.
Tracking includes vehicle speed, engine RPM, accelerator pedal stroke, steering angle, brake signals and vehicle position, which you can transfer to your Playstation 3 via a USB drive. It’s taken five years to develop and should go on sale in 2012, with a price yet to be announced.
Watch the Gran Turismo datalogger in action:
This video from Polyphony Digital shows the system at work with a real in-car shot compared to external in-car and external views from a Toyota GT86 at Fuji Speedway in Japan. The car happens to be driven by Polyphony Digital boss and part-time racer Kazunori Yamauchi.
New Forza Horizon UK packshots
A new set of Forza Horizon box images have been released, showing you what you’ll need to find on the shelves of your friendly software retailer when the game is released. The only additional information is confirmation of the age rating for the game, which can be seen as 12 in the photos. So good news is you’re 13 and older.
As obsessive as we are, even we thought just one box art pic would do.
More than 830,000 enter GT Academy online
A whopping 830,000+ people downloaded and played the online qualifying demo for the Nissan PlayStation GT Academy 2012 by the time entries closed last week. The UK headed the nations entering, with over 161,000 hopefuls taking part followed by France and Spain as drivers attempted to record the fastest one lap time trail in a Nissan 370Z around the new version of the Twin Ring Motegi Circuit.
The 16 fastest online gamers from the UK and Ireland will join 16 Live Event Wild Card winners to take part in a National Final event at Silverstone Circuit on July 17-18, 2012), with the challenge of both Gran Turismo 5 challenges and driving tests in a real Nissan 370Z. The 6 best from the 32 finalists will then be selected for the International GT Academy Race Camp which takes place in August.
If you haven’t seen previous competitions, the overall winner will end up being trained to international race licence standard to prepare for a drive in the Dubai 24 Hour race in January 2013 in a full race-space Nissan 370Z GT4 car.
Previous winners Lucas Ordonez (Spain, 2008/2009) and Jordan Tresson (France, 2010) both competed at the Le Mans 24 Hours race in Nissan-powered prototypes this year, whilst Jann Mardenborough (UK, 2011) has gone on to win a round of the British GT Championship in the GT Academy Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 car.
Following the success of previous years, 2012 saw the GT Academy expand to include separate competitions for Europe, Germany, USA and Russia, with each Race Camp winner from each region getting the opportunity to compete in a Nissan car at a national level race.
Little Big Planet Karting on the way
This could be one of the more interesting racing games of 2012 as the customisable world of Little Big Planet comes to racing with Little Big Planet Karting announced for the PlayStation 3.
If you’re not familiar with the franchise, it’s a platformer starring characters Sackboy and Sackgirl and became hugely popular for the wealth of creation tools for user designed levels. And that’s continued by the racing game with a range of existing and new tools for anyone to design tracks – the platform world already has 6 million user-generated levels!
Plus you can make your own game rules for the 3D environments, which can also be shared. But as standard you get classic karting action and a mix of other game modes including arena battles, adventurous objective-based missions and mini-games. Multiplayer options include split-screen gaming along with online modes, and it’s developed by United Front Games in conjunction with LBP creators Media Molecule.
Porsches back in Forza 4 with the Porsche Expansion Pack in May
Porsche fans will be celebrating as the Porsche Expansion Pack has been announced for Forza Motorsport 4, with 30 models from the German sportscar maker, 20 new Porsche-centric events and 10 new Xbox Live Achievements worth 250 extra Gamercore points.
It seems as if Turn 10 Studios and Electronic Arts may have buried the hatchet, with seven new Porsches for the Forza franchise in the mixure of 30 new and classic models. So far the 2010 Porsche 911 Sport Classic and the 2010 Porsche Boxter S have been official confirmed with more car details in the coming weeks. And it won’t just be humans enjoying the rear-engined fun as the AI drivers will also have access to the new cars.
Obviously the release will coincide with some Porsche-theme Rivals Mode events and new dedicated multiplayer hoppers. The Forza Motorsport 4 Porsche Expanison Pack will be available on May 22, 2012 and costs 160 MS Points ($19.99).
Are you excited Porsche are back in Forza?
So are you one of the many people who were upset to find there were no Porsche models in Forza Motorsport 4 at release? Or have you managed just fine without them? Let us know in the comments…
Forza Horizon ‘tone trailer’ leaks – should we be worried?
If you’ve heard a rumour of the forthcoming Forza Horizon, then the leaked trailer embedded below will only increase your anticipation and questions. Crediting both Turn 10 and Playground Games, the ‘Tone Trailer’ has apparently been leaked by the latter company. It appears to have escaped from the recent Xbox Spring Showcase, and looks to be the game formerly rumoured as ‘Forza World’, which was bubbling under for E3 2011 as an open-world game, which was reported as being developed at Playground back in May 2011.
The LinkedIn Details for Playground, which is an independent UK studio formed in 2009, mentions development of a first title in partnership with a major publisher. It’s also made of ex-Codemasters, Bizarre Creations and BigBen employees – and obviously Bizarre and Project Gotham Racing have shared roots with Turn10 and Forza Motorsport since the first Project Gotham game appeared for the Xbox.
So an open-world Forza racing game with loads of cars and modifications (Judging my the modified machinery in the tone trailer), crowds of onlooks and barrelling down desert highways in Lamborghinis?
Two points to note, one of which has escaped the non-racing obsessive games press.
1. Ex-Bizarre/Codies staff gives us some hope, but there’s a worry it could end up turning Forza into Need For Speed: The Run, or Test Drive Unlimited.
2. Did anyone else spot some Porsches in that trailer? Now, it’s only a tone trailer, so we can’t get too excited, but it may mean that the licence to use the brand was obtained before Electronic Arts refused it for Forza Motorsport 4, or they’ve since relented – we can only hope.
No other details have come to light besides a Fall 2012 release date. So this could be a full boxed game, XBLA or the automotive equivalent of Minecraft for all we know! But we’ll be keeping a very close eye on it as either an amazing addition to the Forza franchise, or possibly the moment when it jumps the shark and goes horribly wrong.
New update patch for Gran Turismo 5 due for release on Tuesday
The next patch release for Gran Turismo 5 will be on Tuesday, February 7th, as confirmed by Kazunori Yamauchi via Twitter. It should arrive after the online service maintenance period, which is currently scheduled between 03:00 and 04:00 GMT, during which time you won’t be able to connect to any of the online services – likely to affect U.S gamers more than the UK we’d imagine!
There’s no confirmation on exactly what is included in the patch, which should be version 2.04, besides one minor bug with drift trial replays will be solved.
