A new Forza for PC?

So, no sooner do I kinda wrap things up with Forza 6 Apex, a new demo for the full game of Forza 3 Horizons is just about to come out for us poor PC gamers. Check it out here http://forzamotorsport.net/en-us/news/FH3_Demo_Announce

Some dreams will remain beyond my grasp; Audi R8

It is a rare and lucky moment when I can have a real life encounter with an automotive fantasy.

Many, many years ago now, my first experience with an Audi R8 was in the defunct game caleed Need for Speed World. The version at the time, 4.2 FSI Quattro had developed (and, rightly earned) a reputation for being a very slow to accurate and terrible driving car. I found this out first hand through using the Frequency Edition, available at and for limited times through the use of a redeemable code.

Despite all of the negative characteristics, I purchased with ingame currency, the soon-to-vanish Royal Purple Edition of the Audi and proceeded to make it my own, off and on for the next four years.

I proudly wore this as my signature, showing the forum community I was going to make this car work for me.

Throughout the game's life-cycle, there would be other variants of the 4.2 FSI, ranging from a Shift Edition (homage to the Need for Speed title of the same name), a Darius Edition (from the Carbon title) and a Seacrest County special (from Most Wanted). Nothing spectacular or any real improvement over the ingame model, just reselling the same car with a new livery package.

About a year after I started playing, the 5.2 FSI Quattro was introduced. I read and heard that it was a vast improvement over the Royal Purple model I was using, but it cost real world dollars (4600 Speedboost was around $10.00 to 20.00 USD, I think. I really can't remember and finding how much it was exactly is rather difficult these days). I just continued to make do with my "free" version.

Then, Electronic Arts brought in the ultimate Audi R8, the LMS Ultra.

In the real world, this race modified version would place first, second and fifth at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in 2012.

In Need for Speed World, this car would be a further improvement of the 5.2 FSI model already ingame. Coming in at 6800 SpeedBoost (talikng about $50.00 to $60.00 real world dollars here), I never parked one in my garage.

Not that long ago now, they pulled the plug on Need for Speed World and I would have to go elsewhere to feed my R8 appetite. 

I would acquire R8's in the portable Real Racing 3....

....next, I would park a few in Forza 6 Apex....

....and become the second car I owned when I received a copy of GRID Autosport.

In the real world, whenever I was presented with the opportunity to snap a picture of one, I would, like a tourist in some strange land. 

However, thanks in part to my slowly improving video editing skills, I was able to put together a project I have been wanting to do for some time, racing on Circuit de Spa Francorchamps (by far, my favorite track in a proper racing game) across three titles in an R8....

Finally, curiosity got the better of me, after all these years and I decided to have a look at just how much owning this dream would cost in the real world....

....it would seem that this dream will remain as it is, a dream.

Grinding my teeth on GRiD

Finding a few moments to play online, I connected up with my friend Scotty for some racing action on GRID Autosport. Little did I know that he was in the mood for a high end, endurance shootout.

Having just recently finished up the singleplayer portion of Forza 6 Apex, where the driving and physics mechanics are very similar, I was feeling pretty confident about how I could potentially perform in this match up.

It would seem, despite the good feeling I had at the time, my friend and the game had other plans for me....

The final run on Forza 6

Well, here it is, the final race on Forza 6. The actual singleplayer portion of the game was titled Tour of Motorsport and it has been a long road to get to this point. Between working a lot more in the real world and not able to spare the time to play, I could have gotten past this point long ago.

Nevertheless, the final race unlocks a car I just recently heard was being brought back. Drawing inspiration from the Ford GT40's from the Le Mans racing days of the 1960's, a new, semi-retro version was produced for the 2005 and 2006 model years. After 4038 vehicles were made, the production line stopped.

Now, for the 2017 model year, the Ford GT is scheduled to return, after an 11 year absence and some re-freshening. All of these new cars will be built by Multimatic, based out of Markham, Ontario.

Being the nostalgic type, I picked a livery that came close to the Gulf racing team's GT40's from those glorious days of old.

Once again, I put myself behind the wheel and ran the race, however, I missed out on performing a major operation before getting under way, turning of Windows GameBar. Check out the video of the first two laps of the race, but take a good look at the 1:20 minute mark....

For how bad the game was glitching, I am amazed I was able to park the car so gently! It was right there I Alt-Tab the game, shut it down and tried to salvage the situation for a win.

My moment had come, I completed the race on the first try, coming in first....

....and collecting the symbolic trophy for finishing the singleplayer portion of this experience.

Then, the game throws me a curve ball, introducing me to this Spotlight Series! Perhaps, I will check that out, at my leisure.

Lady in Red

In this modern age, the internet is truly a wonderful and marvelous thing. 

Between social media sites like Facebook, MySpace and other similar services, people have found and even reconnected with long lost friends and family. However, it's those search engines like Google, Bing, Altavista and many more, where the past can come to life....to a degree.

Take this obscure moment from own life, for example.  

It was sometime in the mid to late 80's and I was at the doctor's office. I don't think it was something too serious, probably another routine checkup. In the waiting area, scattered across the top of a table in the center of the room was an assorted collection of magazines. Many were missing their covers, enticing people to pick them up and flip through the first few pages to discover the remaining content and decide to continue reading. Like everyone else sitting there that day, I fell into that trap too.

I got lucky and scored a car magazine, Car and Driver. Once I made it past the first few pages of advertisements, I was welcomed by glorious pictures of vehicles I will never own in real life. It wasn't until I opened up the section I have reposted here, that things entered a slow motion phase.

I have never been a big fan of red cars, despite owning a few over the years. However, this car, both then and now, is one of those exceptions. It was in that doctor's office, reading through that article and starring at the pictures that triggered a moment of awakening. Cars were not only just cool looking machines that moved people around, they could be things of beauty, admired both from within and from the outside.

I remember the actual visit with the doctor was a turn the head, cough and answer a few questions type of affair. I remember leaving and returning home with my mother and once I reached my bedroom, realized I was still clutching the cover less magazine. I swear, I didn't mean it, it just happened!

Over the years, what was left of the magazine fell apart. The staples couldn't hold the well read and worn pages together anymore and eventually it had to be thrown out. However, those images would forever be burned into my mind's eye and memory.

Fast forward a generation, to a world where technology can almost fulfill any dream. Perhaps, even retrieve a long lost experience nearly erased with time. I was sitting at my computer when this episode from my past just burst into my consciousness. I put Red Porsche Test Drive in Goggle. Nothing. Then, I added in 1986. It showed up as the sixth result down. The postings I have here can be retrieved from http://media.caranddriver.com/files/porsche-911-turbo1986-porsche-911-turbo.pdf

It's funny, how a machine of information can connect to a memory of a machine of beauty, with so many years in between.

The curious case of a Euro-Cat

An odd encounter in the real world I wanted to share with you. 

Today, my family and I went out for a belated Birthday lunner (a late afternoon lunch/early evening dinner) and I took notice of a car parked near the restaurant I had chosen. Now, I am familiar with Jaguars, including the XJ series, but this car struck me as something....different.

We parked our car, entered the restaurant and after a short wait, place our meal and beverage order. While that was getting sorted by our server and the kitchen, I ducked out to take a closer look at the Jag. At first, I thought I was looking at a restorable convertible, needing some minor to moderate attention, but upon closer examination, things weren't adding up for me.

One of the things that was throwing me off was the framed windows on the doors. Then, I also noticed that same frame continued, capturing the rear quarter panel windows as well. The fabric roof was puzzling me further, since it appeared to come apart in two distinct sections.

I asked myself, "What am I looking at here?"

It seems that back in 1983, Jaguar Cars released this version of the XJS called the XJ-SC. Not a true convertible, but a removable, sectioned roof coupe that retained the window frames and a "sport bar" for rigidity and rollover protection. First offered with a inline six cylinder engine, it was joined by a V12 for 1985.

By 1988, Jaguar Cars discover they could manufacturer a full convertible version that would satisfy the international safety standards imposed on this type of automobile and discontinued the XJ-SC. One source claims 1130 six cylinder and 3862 V12 equipped of these Landaulet-like vehicles were made. 

Although I am not interested in making a deal to try and acquire the Jag I saw, I am curious to know what (if any) are the plans for it.

Francorchamps frustrations on Forza 6 Apex

It's been some time since I last played Forza 6 Apex (more like, I just really didn't have a good chunk of spare time) and I was itching to get back into the mix of things. With only two events before I can claim I finished the game (on the bare minimum, but completed is still completed), I wanted to recapture the feeling of the experience, before the to full transition to GRID Autosports.

So, a Le Mans Peugeot....

....and a track I have played on across a few other games.

My first attempt at not only trying to run a race from behind the wheel, but also capture it for a video, was a disaster. I have suffered through the problems of using Windows Gamebar before, but this experience overtaxed my system beyond it's limits. I tried for a second time after completing this video and produced the same results.

I switched things up and went for an exterior movie here. However, same end product as the first rehearsal. Eventually, I just gave up trying to capture the gameplay, as it happened and settled on using a replay.

Not to bore people by watching all three laps, only the first was saved....

 ....since it clinched the final result.

Just one more event to go and I can say I finished this game!