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Forza Central Q&A with Dan Greenawalt – Lead Game Designer
I would like first to thank Dan Greenawalt for answering the questions we submitted, and would also like to thank our Microsoft PR contact for making it possible for us to do it.
FC> Could you give us a little more detail about the replay system? Will you have the option to save a replay in on/offline mode to the hard drive or mem card. Also will you be able to choose from different camera views?
Dan> As the creators of the Project Gotham Racing and Rallisport Challenge games, you can expect the same features seen in those great titles. However, Forza also features a Replay Telemetry system. This allows the player to look at the forces acting on the car in any replay. The player can look at suspension travel, load, camber, lateral and accelerative forces as well as tire pressure and temperature.
FC> In general, is there mechanical damage from poor or hard driving for example, overheating, stalling engine damage, clutch problems, etc?
Dan> When damage is set to full simulation, the car does wear and degrade.
FC> Will all cars and tracks eventually be available in each single region if you play long enough offline? Or do you have to start multiple profiles or go on Live in order to access all cars/tracks.
Will there also be a limited amount of cars that a driver can own at anyone time.
Dan> Yes, all cars and tracks are available to all regions if you play through the entire region. The player can have a garage of roughly 300 cars. 300 cars should be more than enough space to own all the cars in the game.
FC> Some previews have said that, in order to get cars like the Ford GT, Porsche Carrera GT, Mercedes SLR and the Ferrari Enzo, you have to build up some sort of 'relationship' with the Company. Can you tell us something more about that?
Dan> By winning races and building a name for yourself, you will automatically create relationships with manufacturers from other regions. When these relationships are built, you can buy all of the cars from that manufacturer. Occasionally, manufacturers will give you cars as part of high level relationships.
FC> PGR2 had some of the best controller feedback ever felt in a game and it gave you a real sense of what the car was doing and how it reacted to the ground. How much time has been spent on feedback threw the controller and what should we expect?
Dan> All four tires are fed into the rumble and 5.1 audio systems independently. As a result, the experienced player can tell which tires are on curbing, off the road or beyond peak friction simply by touch. Originally we had engine rumble hooked up to the controller as well. However, we abandoned that early because it masked the player from some of the tire feedback. As any real racer knows, tire feedback is the key to mastering a car.
FC> A very hot topic on the Forzacentral forums has been exterior modifications, some have made the point that there are exterior modifications available for Ferrari’s and Porsche’s. What do you think of this? What sort of modifications will be available?
Dan> Cars that are heavily modified in the real world with real world parts are heavily modifiable in Forza Motorsport. Therefore, cars like the Mazda RX7, Honda Integra, Ford Focus and VW Golf have tons of real world parts available. That extends the replay value of those cars. With very few exceptions, cars like a Porsche GT3 or Ferrari 360 Modena do not have many tuner parts available. As a result, they do not have tuner parts available for them in the game. Of course, there are still a host of aftermarket performance options for those cars. However, like in the real world, there are less performance parts available for a Ferrari Enzo than there are for a Mitsubishi Eclipse.
FC> Will pit stops be hand animated or motion captured some other upcoming games have went the route of hand animated pit crews could you tell us why you went the direction you did and what benefits you think it has over the other direction?
Dan> Forza Motorsport has professional Star Mazda and sportscar racers on the team. We also worked with professional drivers and crew chiefs from two ALMS prototype race teams. Crew animations are nice to watch for spectators, but that’s not what the crew chief and driver are watching during a pit stop. Pit stops in Forza Motorsport are focused around race strategy not the movements of a pit crew.
FC> Will there be a training system built into the game where players learn how to drive/tune their cars by earning licenses?
Dan> In Forza Motorsport, the player is the teacher. The player can teach Artificial Intelligence players how to drive. However, racing school is not a requirement to gain licenses and unlock racing leagues.
FC> Will Forza feature gasoline? If so, does the gasoline tank differ from car to car, or does every car have the same tank size? Does fuel weight add to fast/slow laps?
Dan> Forza features gasoline and cars burn though gas at different realistic rates. We standardized tank size to simulate homologated fuel cell sizes. This was done to help drivers stay focused in-game action.
FC> Can you replace broken parts during an Endurance race? If your front bumper comes off, are you able to go to the Pits and have your crew replace it?
Dan> Pit crews will perform limited repairs on performance systems, but bumpers, wings and other body components will not be replaced during the race
Thanks again to those that submitted questions and to Microsoft and especially Dan for taking the time out of his hectic schedule to answer them and for creating this awesome sim for the Xbox.
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