24 Hours of Forza Motorsport 3

I was invited to a swanky VIP cocktail party Saturday night at the Audi Forum in New York City to come and check out Forza Motorsport 3, but that's not all that was going on there. At the time of the event on Saturday night, the 24 Hours of Le Mans was going on in France, and the AXF-24 challenge was underway as well. After competing online, Nine of the fastest Forza 2 contestants won the opportunity to travel to Manhattan and compete in a virtual recreation on the Le Mans track which is faithfully reproduced in Forza 3. The competition consisted of 24 stints of 50 minutes each, with three drivers on each team.

When I arrived at the party, I was able to witness an actual pit crew demonstration on a race car right in front of me — those guys move fast! Then I watched the guys competing, but watching someone play a racing game can get pretty boring after a while. So I felt for the folks sitting there having to monitor both the real and virtual Le Mans. Awesomely, the only way to get your hands on Forza 3 was to try it out in a simulator that had three screens to surround you and a seat that rocked back and forth as you raced. I can safely tell you that it reacted violently when I careened back and forth off of the walls and crashed repeatedly. Good thing the game was set for cockpit view, because otherwise I would've been able to see just how wrecked the car was getting now that they've incorporated damage modeling. The game looks fantastic, but I can't really tell you how well it played, because I didn't get to use a controller. I'd lke to say that I would've played better with a controller, but maybe that's just wishful thinking. I also didn't get a chance to really test out the settings that allow expert racers to have full control of their cars for a simulation experience, and the newbies to have automatic braking and visual steering clues. Guess which way I roll?

Oh, yeah, when I left, the competition was still going strong, as it didn't end until 7;30 on Sunday morning. But in the end, Team 3 proved victorious, with just a couple short minutes between them and the second place finishers. And there was only a split second of difference between them and the third place team! And what did Peter Fitzsimmons, Darren Guiao and Eric Earley win? An all-expense paid trip for them and a guest to the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans competition as a VIP guest of Audi. Not bad for 24 hours of gaming!