The hype for "Forza Motorsport 3," the highly anticipated next edition of the driving simulator series for the Xbox 360 game console， reached a new high this week when developers invited select media to a launch party at the CEC Wheels showroom in Century City， Calif.

We were among the throng that got a taste of what's to come when the game drops on October 27. The shindig was also attended by drifters Rhys Millen， Stephan Verdier and Ryan Tuerck， as well as ex-F1 and Le Mans driver Stefan Johansson， who spent some of the evening driving his virtual Le Mans car (with his helmet on， no less) on one of several consoles available to attendees. An open bar and live DJ kept the pace of the festivities up.

The game itself is engaging and dramatic but we went beyond the buzz to see what makes it tick. Dan Greenawalt is game director at Turn 10 Studios， a division of Microsoft Game Studios， and is not only in charge of developing the tracks and cars， but most importantly how they relate to each other. Interestingly， just like in the real world， the contact patch is an all-important part of the driving experience equation.

"Tires are the absolute heart of any driving simulator，" says Greenawalt. "You have to get the tires right. If the tires aren't right， the simulation is worth nothing. Suspension is extremely easy to do frankly. It's a three-point architecture or four-point architecture - it's just straight up math， spring rates， dampening and unsprung weight."

The game's physics model provides that magical translation of mathematical algorithms into feelings and feedback players get from the cars. The Forza 3 physics engine is so advanced it can sense tire flexion， heat build-up inside and outside the tire and the weight transfer of the car as well as the traction capability of the surface based on its overall grip and smoothness. Cars from different eras feel much different on the track and drivers can experience the handling of an individual car fading when it's pushed too hard and recover as the tires cool off.

"At any point you can use the D-pad button to call up the telemetry and see how the tires are actually being used. You can see friction and when you're beyond peak grip. You can see when the car is understeering because the front tires go red before the rear. You can also monitor and tune tire pressure and the suspension. This is all real-time as the car is on the track."

The cars of Forza 3 are supremely tunable and one of the hardest hitting mods is upgrading tire compound because more grip equals less slip， even in Turn 10's take on reality. The tires and suspensions can both be upgraded and tuned so you can swap to a Plus 2 wheel/tire upgrade and fine-tune the air pressure in each tire. Suspensions can be upgraded from lowering springs to competition coilovers.

"Things like caster are actually going to affect the response of the tire and how it actually rolls over when it's pushed，" says Greenawalt. "If you miss the mark the tire will super heat and grip will fall off. Consequentially it will do what it should， so if you're a drifter you'd add some toe in on the front and a little toe out on the back its going to make that front tire bite a little more quickly and it will have a better angle of attack. And it's going to make the back swing out more quickly because of the toe out."

Power freaks unite; engine mods are definitely a big part of Forza 3's deep tuning garage， encompassing cam upgrades， turbo kits， engine swaps and more.

Each of the 400 cars offered in Forza 3 are categorized by their performance. The rating system goes from a lowly F to high-performance A for production cars and S and R3， R2 and R1 for race cars. As players race in the game they earn credits which can be used to buy better cars， cool paint schemes and more performance. Parts can be bought individually or as packages in Forza 3's Quick Upgrade menu that selects the level of modification based on a target class of cars.

Using a 2000 Integra Type R as an example， the car， which costs 8，000 credits， starts life with an E-273 rating. The accompanying charts illustrate the Integra Type R‘s impressive tuning potential via Quick Upgrade.

Integra Type R Quick Upgrade

Rating Target Class
D-350 VW Scirocco GT， Ibiza Cupra
C-425 Evo X， Impreza WRX STI
B-500 Mustang GT， Camaro SS
A-600 Lamborghini Murcielago LP640， Audi A8
S-700 Saleen S7， Maserati MC12

Integra Type R Performance
Class HP Lat G Curb Weight (lbs)
Stock 197 .945 2，639
D-350 225 .971 2，584
C-425 262 .984 2，577
B-500 297 1.058 2，434
A-600 384 1.189 2，315
S-700 450 1.190 2，277

The Evo bashing C-425 level of performance costs 37，400 credits while the S-700 array of mods costs a hefty 154，900 credits. The cars can be painted and decaled in Forza's， Livery Editor and tuning schemes and graphic treatments can be bought and sold in Forza's marketplace. The game is backed by an enthusiastic legion of players and their support is a click away at forzamotorsport.net.

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