It's hard to compare with others, because of the lack of force feedback wheel. but damage seems pretty good it doesn't seem to affect handling as much as it could, but it does. going off the grass seems to set something off and maybe it'll affect traction(need to play more to realize).

drifting seems a lot easier to control with steering than TXRD2. counter steer doesnt need to be as precise.
You can play full manual w/ clutch, but it doesnt seem like theres a clutch button. it just seems to shift slower. I seem to misshift all the time because i'm not used to the 360 controller and shift down instead of brake, and or shift up instead of down.

ofc its easier than TXRD2 lol, TXRD2 is harder than everything.

pure powersliding doesnt seem possible for some reason. everytime i drift it's from feinting, e-brake, or braking in turns. maybe it's because of the set up, maybe it's because it's a early demo with bugs not fixed.

maybe i'll test the brakes later, without steering. hehe.

I got Forza 3 myself yesterday.

It's pretty much Forza 2, except with more tracks and more cars. That's to be expected though. This is typically the main draw with new releases of Forza and Gran Turismo.

There are a few new improvements though.

My favorite is that every car has its own unique cockpit view, although it's not as good as Need For Speed Shift's treatment. When you compare the two side by side, you can tell that Forza 3 had to cut back on detail due to the much higher volume of cars. Still...having 400 unique cockpit views is quite impressive, and I drive in cockpit view all the time now.

Also, instead of taking on events in a checklist-like manner (although you can still race that way if you like), you race by calendar. When you decide to go racing, your crewchief presents you with a couple of events that would be ideal for the car you've chosen. He's even nice enough to omit events where your car wouldn't stand a chance of winning anyway.

I did see drag racing events, although they're not unlocked from the start of the game...so I don't know what those would be like yet. Strangely, I haven't seen any drifting events in the event listings. Makes me wonder if those were kept in. You do see cars drifting in the game's intro, so it makes you think there'd be official events for it...

You can flip over your car too now, although I haven't gotten any cars fast enough to actually do this yet XD. Maybe I'll try it when the game gives me an SUV.

I'd also like to give a special shout out to the course selection.

That Japanese touge course from Forza 1 is back now...and there's even a ten mile variant of it where you race up the mountain on one pass...then you race the second pass back down. It's amazing to look at.

I also like the new Sedona International Speedway a lot, which is a gigantic desert race course. It's a high-speed course with lots of long oval-like turns and long straights through tunnels and over desert flats. Not to mention the vistas are very impressive.

The New York course has also changed. The old course basically consisted of two very long straights, with a sharp turnaround at each end that required heavy braking. So basically, if your car didn't have a lot of power and couldn't brake well, you would always lose. In the new version, barricades have been thrown up that break up the long straights into chichanes that force everyone to slow down and keep on their toes. This was a really great idea, since it gives weaker cars more of a chance to keep up and it breaks up the monotony of pretty much just hard gas and hard brake.

You start off with a pretty slow car...I began with a Nissan Versa. But in just three hours of playing I had a Fiat 500 Abrath, a Vauxhall VX220, an Alfa Romeo Brera, a Ford Focus RS, a VW Scirroco GT, and of course a Pontiac G8 GXP...since I have a G8 in real life XD Oh, and I have $209,000 even after spending $40,000 on the G8. The rest were all prize cars.

You really do acquire money pretty fast in this game, especially if you don't mind turning up the difficulty. Harder difficulty means more money and you level up faster too, which means more prize cars and more part discounts. It's one thing I've always liked about Forza...they reward you for pushing yourself harder.

i so owned that game. lol i was playing it at eb, it was on hard difficulty or some shit. i won in a ford focus and was versing like Ford Mustangs lol

it was on Tsukuba btw

Well, you were on Tsukuba...there's your answer. Tight little course perfect for tight little cars like the Focus XD Which kind of Focus was it? The RS?

yeah i got the game the other day, as i got a 360 for my bday.

those bastards at eb gave me a faulty disk, so now i have to go back and get it exchanged

yeah it was a focus rs

but it was on hard lol