SPDA & XBOX = Forza Motorsport Adrenaline Injection
"Absolutely one of the best events ever attended"
"This has been one of the most exciting unveilings I've been too"
"Wow! That was amazing"
"Oh My God, I'm speechless"
"I couldn't say anything in the mic, it was too exciting"
And the quotes go on and on. The quotes above are actual impressions from the Journalists taking rides in this fantastic event. The roar of engines, the screeching of tires, and the thundering music from XBOX Forza Motorsport driving simulator created an electrically charged atmosphere that excited both the staff as well as the visiting dignitaries.
The Formula:
Provide the journalists with a 1st class event where they can experience the excitement of the new game, as well as experiencing the adrenaline rush, only available through being in the car while being driven to the extremes.
The Weather:
What a fantastic day, the weather cooperated as requested with temperatures reaching 13 degrees by mid morning. For the Motorsports enthusiast, is there any better way to spend a Friday? It was absolutely a perfect day for the event. Earlier in the week, the forecast called for unsettled weather, but after countless evenings of soul selling, the wish of perfect weather was granted.
The Game:
Forza Motorsport XBOX driving simulator, is one of the premier driving sims on the market today. Official release of the game is May 3, 2005. What makes this game different from all the rest including GT4 is the ability to tune your cars exactly how you want them to be tuned. The physics are dead on, not only are they detailed for a game but I'm going to stretch my neck out to say, for the seasoned motorsports enthusiast, the game provides enough set-up parameters to allow you to use this game as an engineering platform to test out suspension and chassis set-up on your street driven car. Plus for the avid Autocrosser (SoloII, Autoslalom), Forza Motorsport provides the players with their choice of up to 10 different autoslalom set-ups. This is unique to Forza.
Chassis Set-up Options:
Absolutely anything you can do to a real car, you can do in the game.
Alignment - Toe settings front and rear
Sway bar - Add, modify swaybar adjustments
Tire Pressures - Ranges between 15 psi all the way to 50 psi, and is customizable for front and rear pressure differential.
Telemetry:
The ability to review your race and analyze realtime telemetry from not only your car but your opponents as well. The data available for review includes friction circles, suspension loading and travel, G-Forces, and a multitude of tire and suspension geometry data.
The Realism:
SPDA provided 35 seasoned Autocrossers to allow Journalists to feel how it really is inside the car during a competitive event. This exhibition allowed everyone involved to Test Drive the autocross track in the game (The Hornet) and actually feel what it is like to be in the car travelling at speed negotiating the actual course "in real life".
SPDA Provided cars that were actually in the game, not to mention the Actual Integra Type R that was used for several of the sound bytes in the game.
We tried our best to provide a cross section of cars that appeared in the game, from Toyota Celica's, Porsche Boxter, Subaru STI's, Mini Cooper S's, Honda Civic's, VW GTi's, etc. The point of providing a cross section of cars, was to allow the journalists to play the game using the vehicle of their choice, and then hopping into the same vehicle for the real world experience. By providing the actual vehicles, SPDA was able to provide the 4th and 5th dimension missing in the 3D game.
Print Media:
Press from all the major magazines were present, Journalists from Quebec, Toronto, and Across Canada were present for the event and took advantage in partaking in the day's events. Our familiar favourites were there from Inside Track Motorsports, Grassroots Motorsports, Toronto Star, and many others were all there taking in the fantastic weather, and the adrenaline rush from Forza Motorsport and SPDA.
Multi Media:
Diversity was the rule of the day, representation from Canada AM, YTV, Discovery Channel (Daily Planet), Rogers Media, Naked News, and more.
The Team:
SPDA and High Road Communications led by the usual suspects. Monica Roddey was the event coordinator on behalf of High Road Communications / Microsoft, and Joe Trinidad on behalf of the SPDA.
 Major Accolades go out to: Ivano D, Nuwan D, Mike A, Maurizio D, Tony K, and Luca P for putting in the time to plan to the n'th degree, enduring playing the game countless hours in order to create a layout with exactly the same cone positions as the actual game. Not to mention, for coming out at the ungodly hour before sunrise in order to set-up the course before the arrival of all the media.
The Marshalls:
A Huuuuge thanks go out to these people, they had to stand at their stations the entire event, managing safety throughout the course, and putting up with rambunctious drivers.
The Drivers:
35 Drivers represented by the GTA's premier motorsports clubs. Representing their clubs throughout the event: http://www.spda-online.ca , http://www.hadamotorsport.com , http://www.wosca.com , http://www.cockyracingguy.com
The Sponsors:
XBOX, SPDA, Wheel and Tire Zone ( http://www.wheelandtirezone.com ), Japanese Automotive ( http://www.japanese-auto.com )
The Closing:
What can be said that hasn't already been said. It was a fantastic day, with successes all around. The accolades keep on coming in, and we'll post them up in a thread within the SPDA so everyone that participated can feel proud of their contribution. We've set the bar and there's more to come. Thanks to you, there's additional National exposure to our organizations and we'll continue sending out the message to "Take it to the Track".
Thank you all for helping to make this event a success.
For comments on this event, What I learned at the XBOX Forza Launch, Click Me |
