Before You Play

Before you sit down to play the sixth game in the main Forza Motorsport Series (man, I never thought I would begin any guide page with the words "the main Forza Motorsports Series" and isn't it cool that they are expanding both the story AND the race styles for the games?) there are several matters that we really NEED to bring to your attention, starting with what NOT to do!

I. Preparing the Way

As is often the case with most epic journeys there are things that you can do to make your path into the saga that is Forza Motorsport 6 better... We now cover that in some depth!

First instinct when you obtain a new Forza game is to slot that disc and jump right in. But if you do that for FM6 you will be making a mistake that you cannot later fix.

What are we talking about? We are talking about the loyalty rewards scheme that development studio Turn 10 decided to use in creating FM6, that is what!

Rewards are Earned, not Made!

The Loyalty Rewards System in the FM Series has long been something of a controversial issue, mostly because it appears to punish players who are just now discovering the game series or who are new to the Xbox platform.

To some extent that is a fair point - after all if you have never played the previous games what does it leave you with? It leaves you with a decision - do you NOT play the new game so you can visit the previous titl;es to find an equal footing with the Forza Faithful?

If you do decide to take that route, what does that say about you and your gaming? That money in th game is more important than spirit and play? It is not like they actually created Achievements that depend upon past platy for the game right? Oh... Wait... Yes they did.

Achievements from the series of this sort that have generated concern and anger include;

FM4: Forza Faithful (15g) Import a file from Forza Motorsport 3.

FH: May The Forza Be With You (10g) You received free cars for being a loyal Forza fan!

So here is the thing - Turn 10 caught hell for these - and we highly doubt that they will make that mistake again. Ever.

Down Under Achievement - Celebrating Generations of Races at Bathurst

What You Get

The problem here is that the rewards you get for your past with the series? They are worth having.

We are talking piles of cash (if you have 300+ cars in each game garage) and a stable of really desirable cars to add to your game. So yeah, we can easily see how there might be the temptation of delaying playing FM6 to firm up your standing in the previous games in order to max the prizes you receive in this one!

What Did We Do?

The simple answer? Nothing. We let the cards and chips fall wherever it was that they were going to fall because why? Well, if we are being completely honest, the why is because while we knew we lacked the 300 cars in each game target, we also knew that we pretty much had all of the requirements for the actual reward cars... And the cars? Way more important to us than filthy lucre!

Oh, we peaked at our Forza Hub and Forza Rewards pages - we would be total Lying Liar Mc-Liar Pants if we said we didn't/ But what we saw there was what we expected to see - what we had been seeing for years actually.

We are way ahead of all of our mates in terms of game play and accomplishments. Our FM Hub / Rewards Account is Tier 9, and of the 39 mates we have who play the series, the closest to us has a gap of a whopping -4,393 points before they even catch up to us, let alone pass us!

When we looked at our standing for each of the games we found that each game was just a few hundred points from perfect - and we just checked while writing this and we have 13,420 / 15,000 in points, so yeah, we had total confidence we would be receiving the really important stuff.

So while WE would not have done anything different - here is what we suggest that YOU do if you have not slotted FM6 yet - and that is to complete any tasks you can that will lead to getting a free reward car. Forget the Credits - those you can farm - it is the reward cars you really want!

So what does that mean? It means the following:

Anything you can do to improve your overall Tier Level is a good thing because it directly translates into more really good gift and reward cars being given to you in the new game. Here is the Tier Scheme by Points and Tier:

What do you get - so far - for each Tier Level you attain going into FM6? Just for having a Game Save for the following selected titles in the series attached to your Gamertag you get reward cars. For achieving Tiers in the Forza Rewards / Hub System you get reward cars!

Previous Titles Gamertag Records

An additional Loyalty Smacked, arrives from the Forza VIP Scheme as well!

Forza VIP Loyalty Reward Cars

Your also are rewarded based upon the current Tier Level in the Forza Rewards / Hub Scheme you have attained - assuming you have joined it - you HAVE joined it, right?!

FR/H Tier-Based Reward Cars

II. Preparing the Game

Before you can really dig into FM6 you are going to need to configure its challenge and difficulty levels first. If this sounds odd to you then hey, welcome to the world of Modern Console Gaming!

Most of the mainstream AAA Titles you have played - and most of the ones you will play - address the whole issue of game difficulty by having you make one choice, at the start of game play. It is a choice you cannot miss, and one you have to make in order to continue into the game. FM6 does not do that.

In place of that single generic setting, you instead play a little of the game via the Tutorial Mode and then you have to decide how to configure the Dravatars (a Drivatar is the system-controlled NPC avatars that you compete against).

Something you should bear in mind - Drivatars are a sort of AI-based opponent in that rather than simply using a generic NPC opponent what Turn 10 has done in its place is to insert NPCs whose skills, behavior, and aggro are based entirely upon the real human player whose name they bear.

You will notice that many of the Drivatars you are racing against are names familiar to you - names from your Friends List! That is because the servers try to have you race NPC opponents that are based on people you know to increase the personal experience of it all.

Unfortunately what that means is that you are going to be exposed to the sort of behavior and attitude that your mates display in races when they think nobody is looking!

So when your best mate's Drivatar sees you in a vulnerable position and then pits you into the wall before driving away? They did that because THAT is a tactic your best mate used in their campaign play!

Conversely the aggression you show to the NPCs is then shown by your Drivatar when it appears in your mate's games - something you may want to bear in mind every now and then, right?

On the plus side when you are racing and you see a Drivater make a mistake? Yeah, that means that your mate (or whoever trained that Drivatar anyway) made that very same mistake when THEY were racing this track!

Learn the Game Challenge Level

So yeah, play through the tute and learn what the base challenge level is like at the default settings, and then go into the game during one of the race setup screens and set the level of the Drivatars there. That sets it for the rest of play unless and until you alter or change it!

When you ramp up the skill of the Drivatars you also ramp up their aggression to some extent - something to bear in mind - by making them harder to beat will naturally make your game and game play more challenging!

Adding to the Challenge

So you have the Drivatars set at the hardest level and that is still not enough of a challenge for you you say? Well we have the answer for you!

If racing against maxed out Drivatars is still not enough for you, consider using the Dare Cards (the Purple ones) from the Mod Cards to add increased challenges and difficulty to your racing!

Dare Cards are like the Blue Crew Cards in that they do hot get destroyed like the Green Boost Cards with use. That means that when you collect a new Dare Card you get to keep it - and use it - forever!

Examples of how the use of these cards can help make your game more challenging can easily be found by examining the different cards - and the rarer they are the better! Also note - any races that you complete using Dare and in some cases Crew and Boost Cards - that have special conditions contribute to two of the cumulative Achievements in the game:

1. Meeting Objectives (10g) Complete 30 Race Objectives.

2. Accomplished (15g) Complete 60 Race Objectives.

A sampling of the added challenges you can bring to your game and races through the Dare Cards includes:

1. Back of the Pack - Start in the 24th Grid Position. Hitting the Objectives earns +30% Credits.

2. Brutal Braking Reduction - Braking decreased by 25%. Hitting the Objectives earns +30% Credits.

3. Brutal Shift Time Increase - Shift time increased by 1.0 second. Hitting the Objectives earns +30% Credits.

4. Dark Horse - Power decreased by 12%. Hitting the Objectives earns +30% Credits.

5. Dead Weight - Weight increased by 12%. Hitting the Objectives earns +30% Credits.

6. Perfectionist - Simulation damage on and Rewinds off. Hitting the Objectives earns +30% Credits.

7. Purist - Manual with Clutch and no HUD. Hitting the Objectives earns +30% Credits.

8. Slick - TCS and STM off with -15% Grip. Hitting the Objectives earns +50% Credits.

As you can see these cards really offer a wide variety of challenges - and these listed here are just the tip of the iceberg!

When the card says "Hitting the Objectives" what that translates to is finishing the race! As you can see, adding in higher difficulties and challenges ALSO increases your rewards for playing under those difficulties and challenges and how cool is that?

III. Training Your Drivatar

Have you ever stopped to consider that there are things that you can do that will contribute to the overall quality and challenge of game play in FM6? Well there are - and one of the smallest things that you can do that will have the greatest impact is training your Drivatar.

What are we talking about? Bear with us for a moment and we will explain!

First, from the main menu tab over to the OPTIONS page. Now select the MY DRIVATAR box and hit the Action Button ('A').

This meny and its display have a number of Tabs you can change to using the LB and RB bumpers. What you are looking at is the status of your Drivatar. Seriously! You are looking at a detailed breakdown not just of their accomplishments but an assessment of their skills.

Looking at the OVERALL Tab you can see the stats for a wide array of values, a sampling of which includes:

• Total Races[ : 442

• Total Distance: 7,433.71 MI

• Total Time: 76h 21:11

• Top Speed: 258 MPH

• Average Speed: 97 MPH

• Fastest Lap Time: 10.21.783

• Drivatar Sync: 58%

And etc. We stopped at Drivatar Sync because THAT is the important stat for the purposes of this section... When we looked at this page for our Drivatar, the Drivatar Sync read 58% - which is pretty good all things considered, but basically that says that our Drivatar is only just over half-trained!

Now use RB to Tab to the next screen - the one for A:PS Festival. This screen contains the stats for the Alps Festival track, so let's examine the same ones here:

• Total Races[ : 5

• Total Distance: 82.17 MI

• Total Time: 47:29:000

• Top Speed: 161 MPH

• Average Speed: 104 MPH

• Fastest Lap Time: 01:46:163

• Drivatar Sync: 100%

The differences are pretty obvious between the two snippets of stats, but here is something you may not be aware of - the last stat - Drivatar Sunc - for the OVERALL Page is based on the collected stats from all of the individual tracks listed here. The stat for the Alps Festival pave on the other hand is based exclusively on the actual driving that *I* did on that track.

Roughly translated, what that means is that I have driven races on that track a sufficient amount of time - and I have trained the different markers for that track a sufficient number of times - so that the server knows how *I* tend to drive on THAT track.

What that means that, when my Drivatar goes out into the world and races one of you blokes, you are getting performance from them that is as good as it gets, which means that they should be all that much more of a challenge for you!

Now, wouldn't it be great if EVERYONE trained their Drivatars like this? Well? Well yes, yes it would.

We cannot get everyone to do it - but maybe - hopefully - we can get YOU to. That way when you race with MY Drivatar - and I race with YOURS - we are getting the BEST challenge and game experience we CAN!

In that spirit I took a look at all of The Tracks for MY Drivatar, and this is a sampling of what I discovered:

Obviously the way to correct this is to race these circuits until enough data is recorded for the server to get an accurate record of performance - that makes your game better and, if you do the same - it makes OUR games better. So what do you say?