I’ve also tricked out a classic Beetle, but I tweaked the AWD to my preferred settings, send 95% of the power to the rear wheels, 5% to the front, also, keep the stock anti-roll bars and learn to use body roll to my advantage
Turns out that a lot of my understeer issues with my crazy cars (LCH, Original Herbie, and the Mirthmobile) were caused by race-class ARB mucking up the chassis dynamics, I’ve been reverting all my cars back to stock ARB, and understeer is greatly reduced
I downloaded the new pack tonight and went right to work. The first car? Like you have to ask, it was the Gremlin X, of course.
My lap of Fujimi Kaido in the stock beast went for 11:18.144, not at all a bad lap. This car managed to have both endless understeer from the 5.0L V8 under the hood and terminal oversteer from the short wheelbase and the approximately zero weight on the rear axles. You put it in a turn, held the wheels over until they bit, and dealt with the drift that followed. Fun stuff. Smoked the Pacer, too.
The second lap, complete with engine swap (which inexplicably made it lighter even with a 2.4L bump in displacement… The 5 liter is a serious lump) and all upgrades netted a 9:15.968 with the same vices as before, only magnified by the speed. It’s rare indeed that hitting a car with the whole smash doesn’t totally ruin its dynamics, and this is one of those times. It’s a fun ride, and while I would have added it to my garage anyway being the AMC fan that I am, this one is worth the purchase.
So, what cars do you still want? There are a bazillion cars released, lots of exotics to choose from, a solid number of everyday cars, a bunch of dogs (which we seem to gravitate to here), and some oddball cars that seem really out of place like the Ford Transit van. What’s left?
One horrible omission is the Vega. If you have the Gremlin and the Pinto you have to go all the way and include the Vega. How about the Chrysler Cordoba with the “soft Corinthian leather”? What about a Punchbus? A Trabant? A Bricklin? Name it. What would you like to see that isn’t already there, Forza fans?
Keeping with the crapfest, I’d like to see my first car be part of the game:
A Mercury Comet, of the era when it was really just a Ford Maverick. Mine was a '77, but I think it would be better to go with a '74, as that was the year of the Comet GT (I think). This would also give Mercury a second car in the game, which would be neat.
Posted by me on the official Forza forums:
Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum
[ul][li]1927 Duesenberg Model X[/li][li]1929 Auburn Cabin Speedster (one of two replicas of the original show car that burned to the ground in the 1929 Los Angeles Auto Show)[/li][li]1929 Cord L-29[/li][li]1929 Duesenberg Model J[/li][li]1929 Duesenberg Indy[/li][li]1932 Auburn 12-160A[/li][li]1932 Studebaker President[/li][li]1933 Checker Model T[/li][li]1936 Cord 810[/li][li]1938 Packard Twelve Convertible Victoria[/li][li]1948 Lincoln Continental[/li][li]1963 Studebaker Avanti R-2[/ul][/li]
Louwman Museum
[ul][li]1903 Napier 100hp[/li][li]1910 Rolls-Royce 40/50h.p. “Silver Ghost” Croall & Croall Shooting Brake[/li][li]1912 Detroit Electric Clear Vision Brougham[/li][li]1917 Woods Dual Power[/li][li]1926 Mercedes-Benz K Transformable Torpedo[/li][li]1927 Bugatti Type 44 Faux Cabriolet[/li][li]1929 Mercedes-Benz 500K Roadster Special[/li][li]1931 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport Testa Fissa[/li][li]1932 Bugatti Type 50T Semi Profile Coach[/li][li]1932 Morgan Sports Model[/li][li]1933 Maserati 4CM 2000[/li][li]1933 Maserati 8CM Monoposto[/li][li]1934 Bugatti Type 57 Roadster “Grand Raid”[/li][li]1935 Duesenberg Model SJ La Grande Dual Cowl Phaeton[/li][li]1936 Austin 12/4 Low Loader[/li][li]1937 Talbo-Lago T-150C SS “Teardrop” Coupé[/li][li]1948 Tatra 87[/li][li]1950 Ferrari 375 Indy[/li][li]1952 Volvo PV444[/li][li]1956 Jaguar D-Type[/li][li]1959 Imperial Crown[/li][li]1964 Ferrari 500 Superfast Speciale 4.0 Litre[/li][li]1976 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham Elvis Presley Special[/li][li]1986 Shanghai SH760[/li][/ul]
And a special venue for vehicles from 1957 or earlier: the Mille Miglia route used by Rally 1000 Miglia.
Ahh, cars I would like to see in the game. Since the developers are good at covering the expensive exotic stuff, that leaves the dogs (which are more fun anyway).
How about some of the GM X-cars from the 80s? A Chevy Citation II would do nicely. Front wheel drive, solid rear axle and no horsepower.
Another GM dog, the Cadillac Cimarron would be a hoot. Drop a CTS-V motor in that thing and light up the tires!
How about an Opel GT? Cool Corvette Stingray-like looks, light and agile but seriously anemic engine.
As to dogs already in the game - I agree with everyone’s assessment of the Beetle. Wheezing doesn’t begin to describe it going up Fujimi. Load it up with all the race mods and it just gets worse - it’s (not surprisingly) as tail-happy as early 911s. But that luggage rack on the roof is awesome!
I also tricked out the Ford Transit van. It is surprisingly good. Off the line it is a monster, and the handling is not precise but predictable. I was pleasantly surprised.
Logan, my nephew, is now at level 30, has all the nannies turned off, drives exclusively with the manual transmission, he loves the classic British roadsters, the pure sportscars (Ferrari, Porsche, TVR) but absolutely adores his VW Rabbit GTI MK.1, he hates muscle cars and derides them for their lack of handling, and given a choice, his ideal powertrain layout is either front engine-rear drive, or mid engine-rear drive
He also loathes the Toyota Prius with a passion…
Learning well, the young padawan is, hmm?
The petrol head seed has been planted, and is growing well, he will definitely be the next generation of petrol head, not bad for a 10 year old
Even my niece, Sage, is getting in on the fun, 8 years old, and now level 10 in game …
Up until recently, she never really cared about the game, when she did play, she’d pick a New Beetle, go on the high speed oval test track, turn around and drive towards traffic, deliberately trying to destroy both her car and her opponents, with a huge, maniacal grin
What changed her play strategy?
I let her try Little Crazy Horse, she loves LCH
So, I told her, “if you play the game seriously, you can build your very own LCH”
That did it, she’s hooked now, her favorite car is now her “S” class VW GTI MK 2, and she’s playing for keeps with a vengeance now, no more demolition derbies
And last night, Sage also tried the Prius, she also hated it, hated it so much that she quit her Top Gear track test lap just after the hammerhead
“I Hate this car, I’m going back to my GTI!”
Another padawan is learning the way of the petrol head …
Try getting her into Dirt Showdown. 
I am now 85% complete. If you go to the Event List, I have completed the second and third boxes in their entirety, with only about 35 more multi-class races to go in the fourth box. The Group Championship races will soon beckon, and those suck because there are 12 tracks per with two races per track. I’ve done a few, but very few, so I still have about 300 races to go. Then I get to do the Porsche expansion races, which don’t count for the Bucket List but are there, therefore must be done.
Yeah, I still have a long way to go. I’ll get it done just in time for Forza Horizon and Black Ops II to come out, probably. It’s a shame that the online races aren’t much fun, your opponents turn off damage and wreck you out rather than actually racing you. When damage is on they wreck you out and try to out-limp you to the finish line.
Any of the 80’s Group B cars available in this game? i would love to play around with a Peugeot 205 or a Lancia 037!
Oh great, now I’m going to have to buy a XBOX…
If you do get the game, be prepared to spend about $100 more on all the DLC. It’s addicting, I promise you. You’ll want to run everything in the game.
I know I haven’t been on to play in a long time, but I thought I’d share this:
My birthday was last week. My wife asked what I wanted, and I told her to get me the wireless wheel so I could play around with it in Forza. But I had an ulterior motive.
Back around Christmas, my dad had a stroke. It took away his left side almost entirely. At the beginning of July, my wife and kids and I moved in with my parents in Michigan, leaving Arizona behind us hopefully forever. I’ve been able to help my mom with handyman stuff around the house, and we have a little bit of help with the baby (she’s 8 weeks old now).
So I had an idea. Dad’s always been more of a Call of Duty or Command and Conquer type of guy when it comes to gaming, but he’s a Ford retiree and I grew up with him teaching me about cars. Plus, there’s no specialty controller for those games.
So, my wife got me the wheel. I set it up, turned on Forza, turned on the auto trans and brake assist, and showed my dad which buttons to push with his right hand to play. He did a few laps on an oval with a Pinto, then asked me to put him on the 'Ring with a Shelby Cobra.
He barely finished the lap in 30 minutes, but he smiled through the whole thing. My wife asked why he went with the Cobra, and he replied, “It’s the only car I ever wanted or needed.”
I was happy to see him do something interactive instead of just watching TV all day. It was pretty freaking awesome as a birthday gift.
That’s a fantastic story. Thanks for sharing.
New DLC today, including a Group B Renault, a 1961 Lincoln Continental, and a MG Twin Cam.
I’m now a member of the club (thank, MacTech). I’m ‘AtlasTripped’.
I took out the shared Mx-5 Ultralight. Wow, is that thing set up nicely. It’s a hoot to drive.
Anything in particular I should be trying in the club? I looked around at the various challenges and races, but didn’t find many that had more than 1 person who had run them. Are you guys challenging each other to any particular lap times or setting up online races?
Definitely try the Pinto Brigade, my Pinto is the orange one, I named it Little Crazy Horse, it’s a handful for sure 
Generally what we do in this club is just recreational driving, trying to best our own times
The most popular tracks in this club are;
Top Gear test track
Fujimi Kaido (we do a special challenge called the Gutless Wonder Challenge on Section B of Fujimi Kaido)
The Nurburgring
Maple Valley Raceway
Laguna Seca
LeMans
Just have fun, no real object to the club, just to enjoy the cars
Agreed. My Pinto is nicknamed Boy George, because I promise it’ll tumble for ya.
So what’s the deal? Buy a Pinto, and then try to make it the most bad-ass unlimited Pinto in the world?