''Forza Motorsport 2'' is a 2007

simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the s ...

racing video game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...

developed by Turn 10 Studios for the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

console. It is the second title in the '' Forza'' series, and is the sequel to the original '' Forza Motorsport'' (2005) and was followed by ''

Forza Motorsport 3 ''Forza Motorsport 3'' is a 2009 racing video game developed for Xbox 360 by Turn 10 Studios. It is the sequel to ''Forza Motorsport 2'' and the third installment in the ''Forza'' series. The game includes more than 400 customizable cars (more t ...

'' (2009).

Gameplay

''Forza Motorsport 2'' is a

on the

and the sequel to '' Forza Motorsport'', which was released for the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the ...

in 2005. Players compete in events around the globe using real licensed cars on a variety of real-world and fictional courses. It features an arcade mode, meant more for quickplay of races, and a career mode, which is focused on long-term play. Career mode spans several racing disciplines, spanning from racing of common commuter cars to those in racing series such as Super GT and

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) is a grand touring car series sanctioned by ITR e.V. who have been affiliated to the DMSB- FIA since 1984. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The s ...

as well as other

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...

series. The game supports split-screen,

System Link This article refers to the Xbox system link. Not system link on any other Video Game Consoles. Information about system link on other Video Game Consoles can be found elsewhere! {{short description, Form of offline multiplayer gaming System Link i ...

and Xbox Live multiplayer gaming. Split-screen allows two-player head-to-head racing, while both System Link and Xbox Live allow up to eight players to participate in a single race. Using Xbox Live, players can also buy in-game cars through the game's auction house, sell and 'gift' cars. Most cars in ''Forza 2'' can be visually customized with both aerodynamic parts as well as graphics. 1,000 layers of graphics can be created with the livery editor to draw shapes, letters and pictures onto a car. According to the developer, it is preventing possible copyright conflicts, also reducing loads in online races. Paint schemes can be auctioned online to other players for in-game credits. Many players reproduced paint schemes appeared in real world, or creating Itashas through this system. There are 349 cars available (including downloadable content) in ''Forza Motorsport 2''. They are divided into six production classes and four race classes. A car's class can limit races for which it is eligible. The final list of cars was revealed on April 20, 2007. Famous racing car drivers from racing series such as

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

and

Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

will appear in exhibition races if the player selects racing cars for the race. Some drivers include

Allan McNish Allan McNish (born 29 December 1969) is a British former racing driver, commentator, and journalist from Scotland. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2013, as well as a three-time winner of the American Le Ma ...

, Pedro Lamy,

Johnny Herbert John Paul "Johnny" Herbert (born 25 June 1964) is a British former racing driver and current television announcer for Sky Sports F1. He raced in Formula One from 1989 to 2000, for seven different teams, winning three races and placing 4th in ...

Max Papis Massimiliano "Max" Papis (born 3 October 1969) is an Italian professional motorsport driver who has competed in several top-level motorsports events such as Le Mans 24 Hours, Formula One and Champ Car. He has three Champ Car victories. He is the s ...

Kamui Kobayashi is a Japanese professional racing driver who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing (GR) and in the Super Formula Championship for KCMG . He previously competed in Formula One, Formula E, the GP2 Series, and ...

Satoshi Motoyama Satoshi Motoyama (本山哲 - Motoyama Satoshi; born March 4, 1971) is a Japanese professional racing driver and team manager. He is best known for racing in the Super GT Series, formerly known as the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGT ...

Yuji Ide (born 21 January 1975) is a Japanese racing driver. He is the 2005 Formula Nippon runner-up and the 2010 Suzuka 1000km winner. He competed in Formula One with the Super Aguri team in 2006, but was demoted to third driver after four races and s ...

Teppei Natori Teppei Natori (Japanese: 名取鉄平, ''Natori Teppei''; born 11 September 2000) is a Japanese racing driver. Career Karting Natori started karting in 2014 when he was 14. He finished 6th in the ROK Cup International Final. Japanese F4 In 2 ...

Tommy Archer Tommy Archer (born November 16, 1954) is an American professional racing driver. He has competed in International Motor Sports Association, Sports Car Club of America, Trans-Am Series, 24 Hours of Le Mans and National Association for Stock Car A ...

Seiji Ara Seiji Ara (荒聖治; Ara Seiji) (born May 5, 1974 in Chiba, Japan) is a Japanese race car driver. He was the winner of the 24-hour Le Mans race in 2004, driving an Audi R8. In the same year he also raced in the Le Mans Endurance Series and ...

, Masahiko Kageyama,

Alain Menu Alain Menu (born 9 August 1963) is a Swiss racing driver who is currently working for Team BMR as a driving coach. He was one of the most successful touring car drivers of the 1990s, winning the prestigious British Touring Car Championship tw ...

Luc Alphand Luc Alphand (born 6 August 1965) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from France. He specialized in the speed events and later became a race car driver. Ski racing Born in Briançon (Hautes-Alpes), Alphand was world junior champion in 198 ...

and

Christophe Bouchut Christophe Bouchut (born 24 September 1966 in Voiron, Isère) is a French professional racing driver. He currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, driving for Dexwet-df1 Racing and Alex Caffi Motorsport in a part-time effort. He won th ...

. Developers of the Forza series also appear in certain races, such as ''Dan Greenawalt'' and ''Michael Caviziel''. ''Forza Motorsport 2'' concentrates on

circuit racing A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also ...

; point to point races which were featured in the original ''Forza Motorsport'' have been removed. Real world tracks

Road Atlanta Road Atlanta (known for sponsorship reasons as Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta) is a road course located just north of Braselton, Georgia, United States. The facility is utilized for a wide variety of events, including professional and amateur spo ...

, Silverstone,

Laguna Seca Laguna Seca may refer to: * Laguna Seca Formation, a geologic formation in California * Laguna Seca (Mexico), see Convention of London * Laguna Seca (Santa Clara County), a seasonal lake in California * Laguna Seca, Texas, United States * Rancho ...

, Tsukuba,

Mugello Circuit Mugello Circuit () is a race track in Scarperia e San Piero, Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The circuit length is . It has 15 turns and a long straight. The circuit stadium stands have a capacity of 50,000. Grand Prix motorcycle racing host an ann ...

, Sebring International Raceway,

Suzuka Circuit The , more famously known as the , is a long motorsport race track located in Ino, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan and operated by Honda Mobilityland, a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co, Ltd. It has a capacity of 155,000. Introduction Soic ...

, and

Nürburgring Nordschleife The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around the village a ...

are licensed and included. Forza 2 is also one of the first racing games to prominently feature cars from the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The American Le Mans' hea ...

in both the game and downloadable content. The damage and physics in the game have been revamped over the previous game, allowing for multiple settings: "simulation," which is the most severe, allowing for damage that can take a car out of commission; "limited," which scales down the severity of impact of crashes; and "cosmetic," where the damage is merely visual. The damage ratings for each part of the vehicle can be seen on the HUD (heads up display) accessed from the in-game menu. New for ''Forza 2'' are scoreboards similar to those found in ''

Halo 2 ''Halo 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox console. ''Halo 2'' is the second installment in the ''Halo'' franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclaimed '' ...

''. Each user can log into the official website for ''Forza 2'' using their Xbox Live account. In addition to leaderboards, features included are online auctions for in-game cars. Cars purchased through auctions will come with all statistics related to that car such as mileage, total repair cost incurred, number of previous owners, etc. Other features include tournament scheduling and the ability to take in-game photos and upload to and view five at a time on the ''Forza 2'' website.

Development and marketing

The Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel was developed in alongside ''Forza Motorsport 2'' and is designed to work with the game. Professional racers

playtest A playtest is the process by which a game designer tests a new game for bugs and design flaws before releasing it to market. Playtests can be run "open", "closed", "beta", or otherwise, and are very common with board games, collectible card games, ...

ed the wheel to aid the development in trying to achieve realistic features and settings. ''Forza Motorsport 2'' features

force feedback Haptic technology (also kinaesthetic communication or 3D touch) is technology that can create an experience of touch by applying forces, vibrations, or motions to the user. These technologies can be used to create virtual objects in a computer ...

with the use of the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel. ''Forza 2'' runs at 60

frames per second A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

720p 720p (1280×720 px; also called HD ready, standard HD or just HD) is a progressive HDTV signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HDTV (1.78:1). All major HDTV broadcast ...

resolution ( HD), with replays running at 30 frames per second to accommodate additional after-effects. On August 1, 2007, the first downloadable content for the game was released, the "Nissan Tournament Pack", free of charge. It featured three Nissan cars. A second downloadable content was also made available containing a paintable

Peugeot 908 The Peugeot 908 is an auto racing car developed by Peugeot Sport in 2011 for the Le Mans Prototype category of racing. Powered by a diesel engine, it is the successor to the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP which competed since 2007. The newer 908 features ...

race car. On September 21, 2007, the "September Car Pack" was released, containing 11 individual cars. On October 26, 2007, the "Motegi Track Pack" was released, featuring a new downloadable track,

Twin Ring Motegi Mobility Resort Motegi (モビリティリゾートもてぎ) is a motorsport race track located at Motegi, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Originally named Twin Ring Motegi (ツインリンクもてぎ), the circuit's name came from the facility hav ...

. The track is playable in the form of four variations, including three road courses and an oval. On December 7, 2007, two packs of downloadable content were released, the first being the Road America track and the second being the "December Car Pack" featuring 11 cars. On March 19, 2008, the "March Car Pack" was made released, in the form of 13 individual cars. Download content for Forza Motorsport 2 is no longer supported. ''Forza Motorsport 2'' was released in three editions: the regular edition, the ''Limited Collector's Edition'' and the platinum hits edition. The Limited Edition features a 157-page booklet containing insider details on the game as well as tips on how to obtain the game's

Achievements Achievement may refer to: *Achievement (heraldry) *Achievement (horse), a racehorse *Achievement (video gaming), a meta-goal defined outside of a game's parameters See also * Achievement test for student assessment * Achiever, a personality type ...

. Car manufacturer detail is also provided along with three ''Limited Collector's Edition''-exclusive cars. The three cars are the Subaru Impreza S204, Saleen S281E, and Challenge Stradale. Various online game stores also offered a bonus code to unlock the

Nissan 350Z : The Nissan 350Z (known as Nissan Fairlady Z (Z33) in Japan) is a two-door, two-seater sports car that was manufactured by Nissan Motor Corporation from 2002 until 2009 and marks the fifth generation of Nissan's Z-car line. The 350Z entered pro ...

featured on promotional pictures with preorder purchase. The ''Limited Collector's Edition'' was available in Australia, Asia, Canada and Europe, but not in the United States. A special edition titled ''Forza Motorsport 2 Platinum Hits'' was released for the North American market on August 19, 2008. This edition includes a bonus disc containing the cars and tracks available as downloadable content at the time of its release, the cars of the ''Limited Collector's Edition'' and the

originally offered as a preorder bonus.

Reception

''Forza Motorsport 2'' received a Platinum sales award from the

Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) is a non-profit trade association for the video game industry in the United Kingdom (UK). Ukie was originally founded as the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), and the ...

(ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom. The game received "universal acclaim" reviews according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

. In Japan, ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the f ...

'' gave it a score of all four nines for a total of 36 out of 40. In Australia, '' Hyper''s Dirk Watch commended the game for its "excellent handling and fantastic customization". However, he noted that the game was "not particularly user friendly and feels almost identical to ''Forza''".

References

External links