Microsoft and Turn 10′s exciting new Forza 3Ultimate Edition and Top Gear partnership, but it looks like it wasn’t as exciting to everyone, especially the real dedicated community. The Turn 10 Studios blog has become somewhat of a warzone since the announcement and to make matters a whole lot worse, Turn 10 are causing more frustration and anger by completely ignoring the whole situation.
The Top Gear test track is already featured in Gran Turismo 5, but clearly Microsoft doesn’t want to be outdone in any aspect when it comes to the battle of the driving simulators. The new deal with the Beeb will see a ‘number of co-promotions’ in the future. The first taste though will be as part of the Forza Motorsport 3 Ultimate Collection, which contains the original game and all of the downloadable content released so far.
What exactly is so special about this “Ultimate Edition”? First, the package includes the complete Forza title with 500 cars and over 100 challenging tracks. Developers then added an Xbox Live content card that allows buyers to download the “Stig’s Garage car Pack” featuring three super cars — the Koenigsegg CCX, Lexus LFA, and Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. If that wasn’t enough, Hammond, Clarkson, and May will entertain, review rides, and poke fun at each other in a Forza Motorsport-exclusive 90-minute video.
Most of the community members have already shelled out the full price for the original game as well as additional money towards all of the additional DLC packs. It’s for that reason that many of them see it as a complete slap in the face to have to buy another full game in order to get the new content and let’s face it, these guys want those cars more than anyone.
Even worse, most of these guys have spent the last year trying to get Turn 10 to fix issues and bugs with the game only to have a lot of the issues remain, not to mention packaged up with more content and release all over again. This, also after still not releasing one of the Jalopnik packs that was promised ages ago.
It will also feature 90 minutes of downloadable Top Gear content and ‘Stig’s Garage Car Pack’. The latter will include the Koenigsegg CCX, LEXUS LFA and Mercedes Benz SLS-AMG. You’ll also get a special Top Gear Xbox Live theme for your dashboard (the Xbox 360 dashboard that is, not your car’s). As a result of all these extras the Ultimate Collection will now include 500 different cars and 100 different track configurations. There’s no mention yet of the Top Gear test track though, so maybe that’s going to be a Sony exclusive.
Everything started getting really out of hand when the comments where being completely ignored only to have Turn 10 allegedly start deleting comments as well. Lately, Turn 10 has been focusing a lot on their Kinect integration, and with this new pack, are also looking to attract more newcomers and casuals. Either way, this is not how you treat your dedicated fan base, especially so close to the release of a rival title that is looking mind-blowing. Turn 10 had better start doing some serious damage control, most of their most dedicated fans are pretty much saying their goodbyes and moving over to F1 2010 and Gran Turismo now, not a good thing for Turn 10 and the franchise in the long run.
According to officials, the “Ultimate Edition” is just the first of many more offerings, so stay tuned for more. The full package will cost $29.99 when it arrives in North American stores this October 26.
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