Forza Motorsport 2 is a simulation racing video game on the Xbox 360 and the sequel to Forza Motorsport, which was released for the Xbox in 2005. Players compete in events around the globe using real licensed cars on a variety of real-world and fictional courses. It features an arcade mode, meant more for quickplay of races, and a career mode, which is focused on long-term play. Career mode spans several racing disciplines, spanning from racing of common commuter cars to those in racing series such as Super GT and Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters as well as other sports car racingseries. The game supports split-screen, System Link and Xbox Livemultiplayer gaming. Split-screen allows two-player head-to-head racing, while both System Link and Xbox Live allow up to eight players to participate in a single race. Using Xbox Live, players can also buy in-game cars through the game's auction house, sell and 'gift' cars.
Most cars in Forza 2 can be visually customized with both aerodynamic parts as well as graphics. 1,000 layers of graphics can be created with the liveryeditor to draw shapes, letters and pictures onto a car.[1] According to the developer, it is preventing possible copyright conflicts, also reducing loads in online races. Paint schemes can be auctioned online to other players for in-game credits. Many players reproduced paint schemes appeared in real world, or creating Itashas through this system. There are 349 cars available (including downloadable content) in Forza Motorsport 2. They are divided into six production classes and four race classes. A car's class can limit races for which it is eligible.[2] The final list of cars was revealed on April 20, 2007.[3]Famous racing car drivers from racing series such as Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, Formula One and Le Mans Series will appear in exhibition races if the player selects racing cars for the race. Some drivers include Allan McNish, Pedro Lamy, Johnny Herbert, Max Papis, Kamui Kobayashi and Christophe Bouchut.
Forza Motorsport 2 concentrates on circuit racing; point to point races which were featured in the original Forza Motorsport have been removed.[4] Real world tracks Road Atlanta, Silverstone, Laguna Seca, Tsukuba, Mugello Circuit, Sebring International Raceway, Suzuka Circuit, and Nürburgring Nordschleife are licensed and included.[5] Forza 2 is also one of the first racing games to prominently feature cars from the American Le Mans Series in both the game and downloadable content.
The damage and physics in the game have been revamped over the previous game, allowing for multiple settings: "simulation," which is the most severe, allowing for damage that can take a car out of commission; "limited," which scales down the severity of impact of crashes; and "cosmetic," where the damage is merely visual.[6] The damage ratings for each part of the vehicle can be seen on the HUD (heads up display) accessed from the in-game menu. New for Forza 2 are scoreboards similar to those found in Halo 2. Each user can log into the official website for Forza 2 using their Xbox Live account. In addition to leaderboards, features included are online auctions for in-game cars. Cars purchased through auctions will come with all statistics related to that car such as mileage, total repair cost incurred, number of previous owners, etc. Other features include tournament scheduling and the ability to take in-game photos and upload to and view five at a time on the Forza 2 website.[7]
