Forza Motorsport 2 toernooitjes

Q: So can you explain how these tournaments work?
BG: Each tournament will have a two-day qualifying period. In those 2 days players can go to the tournament select screen and choose a tournament to qualify for. Really, this is similar to a Time Trial and/or Free Run time attack. Players will be shown the Qualification Bar needed to make it into the tournament. This bar is set by the players themselves based on how many people are allowed in the tournament. If a tournament will only allow 128 players in, then the player with the 128th fastest time is that qualifying bar. Players can qualify as much as they want before the cut-off point.

Q: What happens after you qualify for a tournament?
BG: Once you have qualified for a tournament we will place a graphical helmet icon on that tournament in the menu list. Here, you can select this tournament to see the tournament bracket breakdown (as well who is assigned to in each room). You can also see what track is set for each round as well as who you will be playing with in the first round. Players are randomly seeded after the qualifying round into the first round. You can also choose to practice any of the rounds before the tournament by selecting the track on the bracket screen. The number of brackets depends on the amount of players we determine at Turn 10 for that tournament.

Q: How many total players can be in a tournament?
BG: The player size for each tournament breaks down as follows:

64 players = 8 Brackets – 4 rounds
128 players = 16 Brackets – 5 rounds
256 players = 32 Brackets – 6 rounds

To allow more players into a tournament we have branched out some of the tournaments after the qualifying round. This will allow a great deal more people to play and get to experience tournaments. We will take the top third from qualifying and put them into the gold tier tournament, the next 3rd of the qualifying will be put into the silver tier tournament, and the last 3rd will go to the bronze tier tournament. The track and lap assignments are the same, the payout at the end of each race will just be different. We have also incorporated our career payout system to the tournaments. So those who finish 7th or more will still be given a reward. This payout is scaled based on which tier tournament you are in, so no matter what, you are still earning money toward you career profile -- and besides the glory of winning tournaments and getting called out on Forzamotorsport.net, money is the main motivator for joining tournaments.

Q: Wow, sounds like a pretty complex system of automation. So, this is all automated, right? It's not like Turn 10 is going to sit on Xbox Live and create lobbies and rooms for people to join, right? (Please say no).
BG: Yeah, the great thing about Forza 2's tourney system is that everything is automated and we control it with an admin tool here behind-the-scenes. One nifty feature we've included for all this interaction with Tournaments and Auctions is a notification and inbox system all within the game. This notification system essentially helps you get to your tournament race on time. We track your gamertag while you play Forza Motorsport 2 and you'll receive messages in the menu system telling you that you have either 15, 10 or 5 minutes to get to you tournament race before it begins. If you open the message it will automatically take you to the tournaments screen from whichever menu you're currently sitting at. Note that this function does not work in race, only in the non-race menus of the game.

Q: What happens if you fail to show up for a tournament?
BG: Noshowkernal.exe is fired off the DVD and we wipe the players hard drive of all Forza Motorsport 2 data (just kidding -- or am I?). That and you will be given a DNF or instant loss for that race, therefore removing you from the tournament.

Q: What kind of (and how many) tournaments will we see online?
BG: When the game hits retail in May, we'll have 12 weekly tournaments active, with at least one for every car class. The non-race classes will be split into three groups so overall you will see 24 tournaments on the tournament select screen. We designed the faster classes (S, U, R1,R2,R3,R4) to start on the weekends as we felt the best racing action will come from those classes. We are also opening up the player limit to those weekend starting tournaments to allow more people.

Q: So this sort of begs the question you know the community is going to ask -- can we setup our own tournaments?
BG: One of our main goals in Forza 2, was to bridge the gap between hardcore racers and casual racers. Forza 2 is our first implementation of tournaments and we wanted to build an automated system that would allow all players to compete on common ground. We have the ability to setup, change, and tweak tournaments on-the-fly. Our tournaments are designed in-house here at Turn 10 and take all of the hassle of finding good people to play against. Similar to auction house we want people to have a safe and clear environment to trade cars with one another. In that same vein we have removed the middle man from the equation.

This is not to say that we don’t want to have player created tournaments. On the contrary, we do want players to develop their own shared experiences through Forza. One tool we've given players is a much more robust multiplayer server with all kinds of restrictions, settings, and even multi-round racing. But like I said, this is our first attempt at a complex system like tournaments and we want to make sure we do it right by not biting off more than we could chew in one go. We are barely skimming the surface of tournaments and this is an area we are very passionate about.

Q: Will we be seeing sponsored tournaments or win prizes?
BG: Yes, we will be doing some really cool things with sponsored and community driven tournaments.

Q: So we've heard a bit about Forza TV. How does that work into all this?
BG: Forza TV is completely integrated into the tournament system. If a tournament is currently running, you have the option of going into the bracket and watching the action in real-time. We have also built a specific channel off of the Forza TV list called “Featured Races”. These races are hands down the hottest races happening online. This includes sponsored tournaments as well as tournaments containing the higher ranked players. So consider it an honor as well if you find yourself being televised in our Featured Races channel.

Q: Can we record replays or take photos from tournaments?
BG: If you are playing in a tournament you can save the replay after the race, like you can in all multiplayer races. Likewise, during these replays, you can go into Photomode at any time to snap pictures.