Forza 3: Marketing, Semantics, and My Generation...

I hate to start out my relationship with BitMob on a sour note, but certain things have to be said: the trailer for Forza 3 makes me sad. Honestly, I shouldn’t care: I haven’t played any of the Forza games, I have a somewhat flippant relationship with Gran Turismo, and my favorite racing game of all time is Need for Speed Underground. And yet I found myself slack-jawed in disbelief (and not in the good way like you want) while watching Forza 3’s trailer during the Microsoft press conference and even more-so when the gaming community seemed to embrace Turn 10’s offering with open arms.

My main concern stems from Dan Greenawalt describing the game as “the definitive racing game of this generation.” It’s a very interesting statement. At first, I took it (as most did) as a declaration of victory for racing games in the seventh-generation of console gaming. That alone is bad enough, and I’ll tell you why: when paired with the trailer, it immediately made the statement ridiculous. Watch it again:

"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HglaUEGweQ"

features 800 unique cars… at this point, can the “definitive racing game” claim really hold water? And while Turn 10 may have created the definitive car culture game, by taking the focus so far off of racing it’s hard to swallow that it will ever define the sport.

On the other hand, maybe he’s right… maybe this is exactly what my generation wants out of a racing game. That’s scary as hell to me.

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Derek Lavigne

June 09, 2009

Colin,first of thanks for taking the time to write a well thought out article. I do want to point out one thing though being that the first video you showed isn't any type of official game play demo, but a fan video put together solely for the purpose of showing the movie editing features being included.

Patrick Bonk

I thin Turn 10's track record speaks for itself. They are the leader, others are playing catch up. It will be an interesting season with all the new racers vying for consumers dollars, especially in this new economy we live in.

Colin Creasy

Derek, that first video was part of the official Forza 3 conference rollout... I believe it was intended to show off the video editing features of Forza 3. It can be seen again (in higher quality) here: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-forza-motorsport/50000

Believe me, that conference is burned into my brain, so I wouldn't confuse seeing something on YouTube with something I saw live.

The first comment on that page is pretty much the response I expected to come out of the gaming press: "wait is it still a sim? im confused." When a game is being touted as "definitive" of the racing genre, I do not expect to see cars behaving the way they do in that trailer. I would, however, expect that from a game like Burnout or Midnight Club, which are as much about style as they are substance.

I think what has happened is that Forza and PGR have become blurred, and Microsoft is attempting to satisfy everyone... but I have my doubts.

@Colin: I never said it was not part of the press conference, but I did mention that it was solely for the purpose of showing off the video editing, but it also was stated during the conference that it was put together by the Forza community.

Derek, sorry, you had me confused with your first reply.

While that is a product of the Forza community (however that's defined... a can of worms I won't attempt to get into), it's still being used as an example of one of the key aspects of the game. I suppose I should be more clear when I explain my problem with the Forza demonstration: two of the three sections focused on creation (car painting and video editing), with only one section being devoted to racing proper.

My argument lies with the use of the words "definitive" and "racing", because if the focus is not on these, then it is a game about the love of cars. And that's fine, but there is a company out there who loves cars, but loves even more so the realistic racing aspect inherent in those cars: Polyphony Digital.

I was having a conversation with a friend about this, and I explained to him that my favorite racing games of all time are Need for Speed Underground and Mario Kart. And that's all fine and good. But if someone were to ask me what I thought the definitive racing game of all time was... well, I'd have to go with (barring GT4:P) Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec, because it's 100% committed to delivering the most complete (definitive) racing experience available. I think a lot of that has to do with Polyphony Digital not getting distracted by other aspects of car culture... for better or worse.

Is it weird or obsessive to get hung up on one sentence? I suppose you could make that claim... but Communication theorists do it all the time. It's important to analyze the information that's being conveyed to us and question that information when it is misrepresenting reality. I can only comment on what I've seen and heard, but I believe that the problems that arrise from this scattershot approach to game design, especially in this kind of niche genre, is compounded by misrepresenting the game through PR-speak.

But I could be wrong and have been in the past... Forza 3 could be the combination of everything from Gran Turismo 4 plus a very impressive (and that's the truth) car customization tool and video editor. However, I doubt it.

Ugh... that face should have been a colon followed by a capital P, for ": Prologue"