Forza Motorsport 3 Diary: Storefront Shopping

There are still relatively few copies of Forza 3 out there right now, but Turn 10 has started sending advance copies of the game to "VIP" players who made names for themselves customizing cars in Forza 2. As a result, the storefront and auction house areas are more about quality than quantity right now. Not a day goes by that I don't log in and see something that impresses me, and it's always extremely gratifying to receive a message letting me know that one of my designs has been sold. I can't wait to join an online race someday and see a car that I painted alongside me on the starting grid.

Oh, and I race too! I'm currently level 30-something and in the fourth year of my career. The races are getting a lot longer now, and as a result I'm increasingly finding that the new rewind feature is a godsend. It shows up on the leaderboards when you use it, but that's a small price to pay for not having to play through a 20-plus minute race again from the start just because of one small error. I use the delete option plenty of times when I'm painting, and I welcome the opportunity to do something similar on the track.

Shaun

Take a look at the Forza 3 storefront as it stands right now and you'll see that I have the market utterly cornered on Cactuar-themed vinyl graphics. Granted, I've only sold one. But! That's also one more than anyone else in the entire world has sold. You have no idea how happy that makes me. I mean, I love simulation racing games, but it's not exactly a genre that's known for allowing people to find their own creative niche. (Unless you consider the ability to tune your gear ratios to be creative endeavor.) But what the team at Turn 10 Studios has done is give people the ability to do just that in a way that makes perfect sense within the context of a realistic racing game.

At the end of the day, you're making art to earn credits, and while you can use those credits to buy other people's art in an infinite loop of artists supporting artists, those credits are best spent on buying and upgrading cars. Sure I may not have earned enough money selling vinyls of Final Fantasy characters to buy an Audi R8, but I have earned enough to help my Audi TT Coupe S-Line breathe a little better with a new racing air filter. And that's a start. I'm really looking forward to see where it goes from here. I mean the storefront community, not airflow in my Audi TT.

Brian

The main thing I've been doing leading up to the release of Forza 3 is hording cash. Last night, for example, I spent something like 10 minutes in the game's car upgrade menu, waffling like Brett Favre over whether or not I wanted to drop a couple thousand credits on a new set of rims. Why the stinginess? Simple: The more credits I save now, the more credits I'll have to completely blow in the storefront once all of the amazing user-created content arrives after the game's release.

What amazes me most about my time in Forza 3 is that, at least for now, racing has become secondary to the storefront stuff. Every time I fire up the game, my first stop isn't my garage or a season race, instead I head straight to the storefront to see what people have come up with and if any of my own personal creations have sold. Compared to some of the incredible early vinyls and designs that have already been released--check out the sweet Jet Li vinyl someone made above--my work is the artistic equivalent of preschool fingerpainting. Still, I'm hoping to supplement my remedial skills in design with some smart marketing by cornering the market on designs with high commercial appeal--like the national flags I've made for countries like Scotland, Sweden, Japan etc. I also made the four knights from Castle Crashers--one design, four different colors--which I suspect will do pretty well.

When I'm not counting my credits, I'm making my way through Forza 3's career mode and, along the way, I've fallen in love with my white 2007 Ford Shelby GT 500 (above), which I've decked out in a paint/vinyl scheme meant to mimic the "away" uniform of my beloved Auburn Tigers. If you look closely you'll see a few added details--like Shaun's created "Fuel McCarthy Racing" logo and my orange knight Castle Crasher near the rear of the car.

The way Forza's season mode is organized, it's easy to fall in love and stay in love with a car--after a race event has completed, you'll be offered a choice of three events to take place in next, one with your current car, and two with different cars from your collection. As a result, you can choose to linger in a favorite class, stick around in a car you've taken a shine too (like my beautiful Shelby), or progress to increasingly powerful rides at a quick clip. Because Forza 3 gives you cars at fairly regular intervals as well (for completing certain race events and leveling up), you're always in the mix with a competitive car, which is perfect for misers like me who are pinching every virtual penny until October 27.

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As Justin alludes to above, if you're a Forza fan who has a penchant for car design, then the Forza Paintshop Union is for you. We'll be running regular race weekends after Forza 3 is released, where you'll get a chance to show off your designs, share vinyl and design tips with other GameSpot users, and race your custom rides to your hearts' content with fellow budding designers. Check it out, join up, and we'll see you at the track!

For more on Forza 3, check out a bunch of screens and gameplay videos.