The online racing simulator
Leaderboards and hotlapping now live.

My current times, all proper laps without the warning signal (for crashing, going off etc), no aids, manual trans without clutch....

Audi R8 : 1.06.463
Mini Cooper JCW : 1.15.381
i did a decent lap with the evo(around 1.13.xxxx
Quote from kamkorPL :Have played the demo for 4-5 hours.

Graphics are great, especially the einvroments.

Incar view is great, but things feel too smooth in it. Driving from hood feels better, but I'm slowly getting used to the incar.

The physics are great, definitely improved over the f2. The tires feel grippy. In long hairpins when overspeeding at mid corner the result is understeer, which is same as real life. Drifting in ferrari feels great especially on 2nd gear in "car parking" next to the pit area. Especially when clutch kicking. But things may feel too smooth and forgivable at higher speeds, I'm not sure though as the pad steering is a big aid. But then in live for speed drifting is harder than real life, in gt5p it is way too snappy, in fm2 it's way too twitchy with pad, and in fm3 it seems too calm. It's a great fun non the less.

Also one thing I remembered about physics. In real life in corners that are "straightway to 90 degree or sharper (hairpins, long hairpins)" I've had a problem with initiating a nice early drift entry before the apex without a handbrake. I never had a problem with it in live for speed, forza 2 or other games (as in other games it's easier to break the traction and keep the drift going). But in forza 3 demo I feel the same issue. So it's a plus for the physics.

More about the steering - there is too much steering help, it makes drift control smooth, but I'd like to be able to turn faster sometimes. For example try doing a slalom or a tight chicane. I'd like to be able to do fast flicks as well for sideways, kinda hard with slowish steering (feels like stock e30 steering - 1440 degrees ftw :P). I hope they allow us to fine tune the settings ourselves.

Sounds are very good. You can even hear a pop sometimes in a ferrari (at first i thought it's car bottoming out, but I changed my mind when I heard it when standing still and reving up).

Overall, Fm3 demo is a blast, the car reacts just as I would expect it too and it's a great fun to drive. Getting full fm3 lce on pre-order. I can't wait.

edit:

AI is good, but it could be less agressive sometimes.

Thanks for saving me the time of writing a long post. Perfectly described... great minds think alike... lol.

I fully agree with your post and you pretty much described all the things i wanted to mention, good and bad. Really nothing more to add from what i've experienced from the demo.

Also from a real life point of view, i agree it feels very good in some areas (like the "straight to 90 degree" corner you mentioned). I think sometimes we have gotten wrong ideas of how cars should behave from all those computer games, and then people don't notice when something is actually good. I think what we see in the Forza 3 demo is really good compared to real life car handling (apart from the new "safe for kids aswell" steering input feeling (control is there nevertheless, that's why i say feeling)). Now don't take this too serious... it's not real life either, it's a "game" like every other piece of software, but it does certain things right.

I think all you guys who say it's hard to lose traction or to spin out, you are not pushing it hard enough. And pushing hard doesn't mean full steering lock and full throttle (see above, forza does certain things right compared to real life). Be more precise with steering inputs. Think of it, if you take a car in real life, and you are already driving a corner at rapid speed... if you turn the steering wheel way too much and push the pedal to the metal, it will most likely start understeering, and depending on power eventually start to step out it's tail (depends on type of corner and elevation). I've noticed that Forza 3 doesn't seem as forgiving in this regard like Forza 2 is. Overshoot a corner, enter a tad too fast... then steer too much and slam the throttle... say hello to understeer (happens in real life too).

Maybe it's too much overall... a little too much grip, too much understeer at certain points. But it's minor... it's a game...

The Ferrari is great, but if people are looking for an obvious example, the Porsche is the best of the cars i think. It is so easy to drift with this car, and in the 2nd lap at the latest (when tires are hot), it's easy to tell that nothing much changed about the good old Forza 2 physics. They are there, very familiar feeling, and if anything, improved.

Also, think back and remember how the Forza 2 demo was. Stock cars also felt more grippy and harder to step the tail out. What i'm trying to say is... wait for the final game. You'll be able to upgrade and tune your cars suspension and tires (pressure, compound, size). Again, with the porsche you can clearly feel it... it's Forza all over. The rest is just tuning and setups. The only gripe i have is the new controller settings for the analogue stick... but it's not a big deal, and hopefully adjustable in the final game.

And now i've written a wall of text aswell.

Forza 3 will be pure win, mark my words.
I'm really starting to like this track especially that bump before the last corner.

My times are way off some of you guys, but I found the drift point's system and I'm in the top 30, Hmm may I need to be a lot smoother and stop using the ai as break markers
Quote from KurtG85 :I don't believe toca 2, enthusia, or gt3 had this 'smoothified' steering going on. Its just the latest 'fad' to make more racing games accessible to sim newbies.

The one marked red is not by any means a game for casual fags its very sim like and casual unfriendly.

Its The best console simulation racing game to date as in stil the most realistic.

But i have to say this demo feels good i think its the same as it was with forza 2 the physics are slightly dulled down.
I hope this wwil not be the same physics as the full game.
Hotlapping is awesome!

Although I am off by quite some time. Got myself in the top 1% in a R8 with a 1.06.2 which lists me as 346th

I raced the ghost of the current WR and cant figure out how he gets a time faster 3secs than me. I even sometimes pass him on the corners, however, come a straight, he shoots by past me Ah well....
Our dear forum member kamkorPL is holding 1st place in the drift point rankings.
Quote from jibber :Our dear forum member kamkorPL is holding 1st place in the drift point rankings.

i wish the demo had multiplayer
Quote from jibber :Our dear forum member kamkorPL is holding 1st place in the drift point rankings.

Second now.

Drift scoring system is good, but it doesn't suit my drifting style very much.

And I hope that in full game we will be able to increase steering lock in some cars.
Drifting mode? What am I missing?

Edit: Got it but now kamkors 5th
More time spent with it, and to summirize......

Great game all round, however, the physics do not live up to the hype.

Current hotlaps...

Evo - 1.11.297
Mini - 1.15.381
R8 - 1.06.463
Ferrari - 1.08.243
I didn't get to post my views of this last night but thoguht i would before I start work in a few mins lol.

Overall - I am really impressed. Yes there are a few faults with the graphics and some jaggies here and there but a big improvement in my eyes to FM2. Physics wise - I think there is an improvement. The way the cars gain grin feels alot more real to me as in FM2 under certain conditions (maybe a bug?) it seemed to take a long time to gain grip back. Though I found that even the ferrari seems unwilling to oversteer or drift, that could be down to set up though. The main improvement I have noticed over FM2 is the tracks seem alot more inolving with the bumps with the cars bottoming out, the hump that throws you off at the end of the lap. I suppose you could say it as the tracks just seem more alive which I always felt in FM2 that they were a little sterile.

Overall, there is still some things I think they could of done and maybe will be fixed in full game. Either way it is an improvement and I wont be cancelling my pre ordered copy.
Just pre-ordered the limited edition.

@Danowat
Nice times! I tried hotlapping the Ferrari yesterday and all i could achieve was 01:10:XXX. I'll try some more tonight tho... just realised there's a hotlap mode where you can run as many laps as you want with no other cars on the track... :doh:
Quote from jibber :Just pre-ordered the limited edition.

@Danowat
Nice times! I tried hotlapping the Ferrari yesterday and all i could achieve was 01:10:XXX. I'll try some more tonight tho... just realised there's a hotlap mode where you can run as many laps as you want with no other cars on the track... :doh:

Yeah, you can also compare with your friends
I did a few run and then accidentally deleted the bloody demo instead of loading it. Sometimes my trigger finger is quicker than my brain

I enjoyed it. The cockpit view might well be harder than the bonnet cam, but it's definitely a lot more fun and immersive. Obviously that's the view I'd choose. I wasn't trying to break anything, and I only did runs in the Evo and the California, but I felt that my pad controls were actually having an effect, unlike the way I felt with Grid and Dirt.

Will re-download it at some point to join in with the hotlap challenge. Although with the unrestricted rewind, time trials might get a little frustrating Didn't notice the hoptlap mode though - how do you get to that?
Quote from danowat :Yeah, you can also compare with your friends

Yeah i've noticed that yesterday already. But i was running my hotlaps with all the other cars around me, and two laps each race (where the 1st is useless anyway because of standing start).
Before you select the track, press Y, the press A, if you press A on one of the top 100 times, you'll race that ghost.

As for the rewind, never used it TBH, also, it will uncertify a hotlap if you use it, my daughter liked the rewind function though!!!.
Quote from Dajmin :Didn't notice the hoptlap mode though - how do you get to that?

Track selection screen, press Y to go to leaderboards, then press A to start a hotlap session (from what i've read today).

EDIT: Too slow...
Echo....echo....echo
Ah, so it's a ghost session not a dedicated hotlap mode. That makes sense
How's the physics in open-diff fwd cars?
Does the JCW's mini have an open diff?
My opinion of the demo...

...weaksauce. After seeing all the awesome 720p picture/video that was said to be 'in game' and all the other visual candy...the demo doesn't really present that. At all...unless I'm blind? I'm playing on a 52" LCD via HDMI. It still looks better than Forza 2...

Instead of basing my opinion on the demo, I'm going to wait for the full game...I'm going to purchase it because I love Forza 2 but the demo did a bad job of presenting the game, in my opinion.

I think what it comes down too is the track choice was poor...I think they should of picked a real track or a track that you could compare to Forza 2 so you can see the contrast between the two versions.

Another thing that probably made it seem dull was I'm used to flying around the track in Forza 2 inside of cars that are borderline uncontrollable and have no problem getting sideways. Every car in the demo was boring...and it made the physics seem dumber than Forza 2, even with all the assists off the steering input was dull and add that to the track they picked and it made for a very boring experience. I played the demo for 15 min and then went right back to Forza 2....

So...now I want for the release...

Forza Motorsports 3
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