Tracks of the World

By Danny Chihdo

Forza Motorsport™ is a deep—really deep—racing and driving simulation developed and published by Microsoft Game Studios. In addition to the multitude of real-world cars (complete with adjustable but very real-world physics) the game features dozens of authentically recreated real-world tracks, sprinkled liberally with diabolical fictionalized creations. How you approach these tracks is up to you. You might wait to discover them all in career mode, or decide to test each one in the Free Run mode with any car class you want to experiment with. The latter is definitely recommended, especially if you plan on playing a lot of your career mode on XboxLive® using the ELO ranking system to match you with similarly skilled players.

The Pacific Shipyards
The shipyards comes in two flavors—I and II. The only difference is the direction you travel in this point-to-point (i.e., one-way) race that clocks in at just over four miles. By and large the track is mercifully flat, so you don't lose speed on the hills, but it's got some absolutely brutal corners and switchbacks that force you to drive with your head and your thumbs. And, naturally, it's nighttime driving on both versions of the track. Don't want to make those 180 degree corners too easy.

Pacific Shipyards is flat but convoluted.

Fujimi Kaido
This hilly point-to-point challenge comes in six different daytime varieties—three each for downhill and hill climb. Down Hill A is the first 3.83 miles of the track, and challenges you to maintain control on a rapidly descending drop, and it also then throws in curves and corners that can make a grown man weep (seriously, I wept—you try it). Down Hill B is a bit more forgiving, with more straight stretches and slightly fewer curls. Down Hill C combines both tracks into a 6.7-mile monster that looks for all the world like a cruelly tortured spaghetti noodle when viewed from above. The Hill Climb reverses the process. The big difference here is how you handle weight and traction. On the downhill side, more weight adds to the steering difficulty and the chance that you'll lose traction. On the hill climb, more weight and slightly deflated tires can give you an edge in traction, but don't go overboard and sacrifice speed.

Nürburgring
Hit the European countryside in style for the Nürburgring track, which has been divided into four separate race courses. These point-to-point tracks offer a middle ground between Fujimi and the Shipyards, mixing some long, flat stretches with mild and not-so-mild grades and descents that can throw off your control if you're not careful. Corners are often straight-up right angles, with a few long sweeps. Nürburgring tracks A, B, and C are each 3.1 miles long, and track D is 3.7.

Drag Strip
After hours and hours of challenging curves and hot-headed competitors, sometimes you just want to point the car in one direction and floor it. Here's your chance. Straight as a pool, short as a, er, short pool cue, the 0.25 miles drag strip lets you, too, "live life a quarter mile at a time."

Road Atlanta
Moving on to circuit tracks—where the big difference is that you run laps instead of heading in one direction and driving for the finish—you come across Road Atlanta, the kind of track the Duke boys themselves must have cut their teeth on. Road Atlanta is similar to Nürburgring in many respects—similar asphalt, variable elevations, and some hair-raising right-angle turns that can easily send your ride flying into the middle of Hazzard county.

Sweet home Ala—no, wait, Georgia.

Tokyo Circuit
I've declared this 2.25-mile circuit track my personal Forza Motorsport nemesis. It's fairly flat, very dark, crowded, tight, and filled with moments of exhilarating speed punctuated with sudden, desperate turns of pure terror. From above, the Tokyo Circuit resembles Aladdin's lamp. The "handle" and the "spot" of the lamp are each brutal 180s followed by cruel90-degree turns—but it's the one at the end of the spout that will haunt your nightmares.

Tokyo Circuit is not for the faint of heart.

Those are just a few of the tracks you can master inForza. Now get out there and burn some rubber.

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