**The World of Digital Racing: Forza and Its Impact on Gaming**

Before we dive into the story, if you can do me a favor and hit that like button, it really, really does help a lot in the algorithm. And the algorithm is technically a robot that controls part of my life. So I wanna get some of the control back.

Let's talk about Forza. It's the game that literally opened up the world of digital racing. The first console racer that let you yell at other people online and the only racing game to knock the mighty Grand Turismo from its golden throne. This is everything you need to know to get up to speed on Forza.

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Are you tired of seeing so many junk cars? Then buy this shirt and wear it every day, so junk car owners know we buy junk cars. Hi, I'm Junk Car Jimmy, I want you to gimme a call. Look at this car, junk! Ooh, now that's junk. Yeah, best I can do is 50 bucks. So get it at donutmedia.com today. I'm Junk Car Jimmy and we'll pay you a lot of money for that junk car, depending on the year, though. Nothing too new, nothing too old. It's gotta be just right.

**The Rise of the PlayStation and Grand Turismo**

The Sony PlayStation turned the video game world upside down when it came out in 1994. The graphics were next level. You could play fricking CDs with it. And most importantly, it boasted a huge number of popular games. The most popular game was a little piece of gaming history that I like to call Grand Turismo.

Grand Turismo was the revolutionary brainchild of Japanese programmer and car enthusiast Kazunori Yamauchi. Before the OG grand Turismo game came out in 1997, racing games were either boring sims that took themselves way too seriously or cartoony Mario cart-type chaos. Grand Turismo's advanced physics engine, cutting-edge graphics, and a huge selection of real-life cars changed everything.

It was a smash hit with gamers and car nerds alike. A lot of people in our generation got into cars because of Grand Turismo. Kazunori Yamauchi was a car nut, and it showed. The first game in the series featured a ridiculous 178 playable vehicles. Everything from Dodge Vipers to Mazda Demios, and all those cars handled like their real-life counterparts.

Kaz and his team spent years gathering data to make the game as realistic as possible. Then, they spent years dialing it back a little bit to make sure that the game was still fun to play. Now we did an episode on Grand Turismo, and in my might sound like we're doing another one, but we're not. I'm going to talk about Forza soon. And if you wanna know more about that, I'm gonna put the link to that video in the description.

Anyway, the first Grand Turismo was the best-selling game on the PS one. Which helped Sony move a record-breaking 100 million consoles, which helped them develop something that would turn the console gaming world upside down, even harder.

**The Birth of the PlayStation 2**

To top the first PlayStation, Sony had a little trick up its sleeve. The sequel would be a media system that could play DVDs! The company even envisioned it as competition for the personal computer, which spooked little Bill Gates down Microsoft way. He worried that a system like the PS two could eventually put Microsoft out of business.

Gates first tried to partner with Sony to develop the PS two software platform. But Sony was like...

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Before we get into the story,if you can do me a favor andjust hit that like buttonit really, really does helpa lot in the algorithm.And the algorithm is technically a robotthat controls part of my life.So I wanna get some of the control back.Let's talk about Forza.It's the game that literally openedup the world of digital racing.The first console racer thatlet you yell at other people,online and the only racing gameto knock the mighty GrandTurismo from its golden throne.This is everything you need to knowto get up to speed on Forza.(upbeat music playing)- Are you tired ofseeing so many junk cars?Then buy this shirt and wear it every day,so junk car owners know we buy junk cars.Hi, I'm Junk Car Jimmy, Iwant you to gimme a call.Look at this car, junk!Ooh, now that's junk.Yeah, best I can do is 50 bucks.So get it at donutmedia.com today.I'm Junk Car Jimmy andwe'll pay you a lot of moneyfor that junk car, dependingon the year, though.Nothing too new, nothing too old.It's gotta be just right.- The Sony PlayStation turnedthe video game world upside down,when it came out in 1994,the graphics were next level.You could play fricking CDs with it.And most importantly,it boasted a huge number of popular games.The most popular game was a little pieceof gaming history that Ilike to call Grand Turismo.Now Grand Turismo was therevolutionary brainchildof Japanese programmer and car enthusiast,Kazunori Yamauchi.Before the OG grand Turismogame came out in 1997,racing games were either boring simsthat took themselves way too seriouslyor cartoony Mario cart type chaos.Grand Turismo's advanced physics engine,cutting edge graphics and a huge selectionof real life cars changed everything.It was a smash hit withgamers and car nerds alike.A lot of people in our generationgot into cars because of Grand Turismo.Kazunori Yamauchi was acar nut and it showed,the first game in the series featureda ridiculous 178 playable vehicles.Everything from DodgeVipers to Mazda Demios,and all those cars handledlike their real life counterparts.Kaz and his team spentyears gathering datato make the game as realistic as possible.Then, they spent yearsdialing it back a little bitto make sure that the gamewas still fun to play.Now we did an episode on Grand Turismo,and in my might sound likewe're doing another one,but we're not, I'm gonnatalk about Forza soon.And if you wanna know more about that,I'm gonna put the link tothat video in the description.Anyway, the first Grand Turismowas the best selling game on the PS one.Which helped Sony move a record breaking,100 million consoles, whichhelped them develop somethingthat would turn the consolegaming world upside down,even harder.To top the first PlayStation,Sony had a little trick up it's sleeve.The sequel would be a mediasystem that could play DVDs!The company even envisionedit as competitionfor the personal computer,which spooked little BillGates down Microsoft way.He worried that a system like the PS two,could eventually putMicrosoft out of business.Gates first tried to partner with Sonyto develop the PS two software platform.But Sony was like, "no, we got this.Thanks nerd.We'll take it from here."Then he attempted to buy Nintendo,and Mario was like, "get theout here, you freaking nerd.Go back to Jeffrey Epstein's island."According to a Microsoftemployee who was there,they quote, "they justlaughed their asses off.Like imagine an hour ofsomebody just laughing at you.That was kind of how that meeting went."So at the rockus laughterof Japanese businessmenringing in their ears,Microsoft started developingtheir own console.The Xbox.The result was a hugetechnological achievementbut the tech specs didn't mean much,without good games to back them up.Well, Halo was an immediatehit for Microsoft,but otherwise Sony basicallycornered the marketon popular games that didn'tstar Italian plumbers.This included a certain racing franchisethat had already sold 35 million copies.Hmm I've got it.What if we stole their idea?And that's exactly what Microsoft did.Forza Motorsport was announced in 2004,as the Xbox's answer to Grand Turismo,a highly customizable racing sim,with real cars and real courses.Microsoft tapped DanGreenwalt to head the project.Now he had previously worked as a designerfor the arcade style franchises,Project Gotham Racing and Midtown Madness.And he was a real car in enthusiast,but he actually got intocars through racing games,which was his first love.This guy was literallymade to make a racing game.Early in the development process,Greenwalt came up with a mantrathat became the mission statementfor the whole Forza franchise.Turn gamers into car loversand car lovers into gamers.Now that's pretty similarto our mantra here at Donut,turn donut lovers intocar lovers and car loversinto an indestructible army of undead.Greenwalt and his team of 24 programmers,designers and other mathpeople founded Turn 10 studiosand they started Forza development,with the all important physics engine.They first created a highlyrealistic driving simulatorthat almost perfectly imitated real life,but like the GrandTurismo team before them,they realized that real life isn't fun.It's just, you wake up, do some crap,you go to bed, you wakeup, you do some crap,you go to bed.So they loosened up the physics.Grand Turismo had nailed its goalof becoming a chill version,of the real life driving simulator,so hard, that it basically created a spacefor Forza to slot into.One notch, more chill,and yet still severalnotches more realisticthan any other racinggame titles at the time.You couldn't throw anyfricking turtle shellsor anything in this game.Forza's ultra-flexiblecar customization optionswere a key ingredient to this.Players could create customPhotoshop style visual layersfor each section of your car.And each section could handle upto 100 design layers a piece,you could basicallydesign your own livery,which had never been done before.If your lifelong dream was todrift around the Nurburgringin a Ferrari Enzo thatsays pubes on the side,Forza Motorsport is your game.Forza also let you go deep on car tuning,like all the way downto the tire pressure.Sure, the Forza title only had 231 cars,compared to Grand Turismo 4's insane 721,but there were enough optionsthat literally every personwho ever played the game,could create their own one of a kind car.And let's be real, 231cars is more than enough.Jay Leno.There were 33 differentMiatas in Grand Turismo 4.33!That's how old Jesus was when he died!That's one Miata forevery year of Jesus' life.Now let's be honest, besidesthe custom Liberty thing,the first Forza Motorsportsounds a lot like Grand Turismo.Dan Greenwalt and histeam knew that they hadto figure out, a way toset their game apart.Now here's something weirdthat you might not know.Part of the original plan wasto make Forza into a car collecting game.Microsoft even hired a designer,away from Pokemon to help establish that,gotta catch 'em all feel.Every car and part in the game,had a rarity rating based on the regionthat you select when you start the game,USA, Europe, or Asia.So for example, it's easy to get a Camaroif you're playing in the US,but good luck tryingto find a Skyline GTR.Greenwalt and his team hopedthat this would help builda virtual racing communityby encouraging playersto trade cars and parts.So that car collectingthing, it was different,but it really wasn't somethingthat got people excited.Without something unique and exciting,Microsoft's big moneyGrand Turismo challengerwas doomed to fail.And Bill Gates hates failure.Thankfully Forza's saving gracewas the obvious oversight,in Grand Turismo franchise.The biggest thing thatcalled the games tagline,the real driving simulator into question.I'm talking about crash damage.(slow motion) Crash damage.Bop your Lister Jaguar into a wallat 200 miles per hour inGrand Turismo 4, what happens?You bounce back like it never happened.The car looks good as new.In Forza, the cars could get (beep) up,just like in real life.Paint scrapes, smashedwindows, dangling bumpers,it all added anotherlevel of reality to Forza.And if you did enough damage,your car's performancewould start to suffer.Up until this point GrandTurismo's cars would stayin basically perfect condition,no matter how you drove them.Which is really weirdconsidering how tirelesslythe GT team worked, tomake things very realistic.Maybe they couldn't affordto crash all these cars in real life,to get the real physics data,which is obviously howForza pulled it off.Bill gates is really,really rich, you guys.He got a bunch of orphansto crash cars into walls and stuff.I've seen the footage, it's gruesome.Forza's realistic cardamage was such a winthat every Grand Turismo game afterwardshas replicated the feature.They got their own orphans andthey smashed them into walls.This wasn't the only realism one up Forzahad on Grand Turismo.Greenwalt and his crewgave Forza Motorsportthe most realistic NPC AI yet,thanks to Xbox's advanced computing power.To do this, Microsoftbrought in a robotics expert,from elsewhere in the company,where robots fully replacedthe human staff I bet.This expert created anartificial intelligence system,called Drivatar.Yep.It learned to mimic your racing styleand even improve on it.Players could simulate racesto see their own style inaction or race computer carsthat would drive just like them.Which for a lot of us ispretty embarrassing to watch.So we have full custom paint jobs,an active Pokemon influence,crash damage, and all thatstuff set the OG Forza apartfrom Grand Turismo.Now there's one thing left,that really made ForzaMotorsport stand out,the ability to race peoplein parents' basementsall around the world.Forza was developed to beplayed online via Xbox live.It's hard to believe today,but no Grand Turismo game at that point,could be played on the internet.Xbox live made it easy.It was arguably the biggest single thingthat set the Xbox apartfrom the competition.And online racing was arguablythe biggest single thingto set Forza apart from Grand Turismo.Suddenly, you you could raceanyone, anywhere, anytime,and you didn't even have to ask your momif they could sleep over.I guarantee that if you walkedinto a college dorm in 2006,someone was in the process oflosing Maple Valley Racewayto an 11 year old in Japan.Online play, is now anintegral part of gaming.Forza was one of the veryfirst games to embrace it.And when it was releasedin 2005, Forza Motorsportwas universally praised.It sold 100,000 copies inthe US in the first week,one reviewer called Forza,"the most realisticconsole racer ever made."But the OG Forza came out right at the endof the original Xbox's lifespan.Microsoft was already gettingthe more powerful Xbox 360,ready for release.So Greenwalt and the Turn 10 crew,quickly shifted gears,to turning out sequels.After the success of the first Forza game,Greenwalt's team grew massively,and they pumped out threesequels for the 360,each one was well received,but the improvementsover the original weren'texactly monumental.Because of this softwareslump, the franchise laggedwell behind Grand Turismo in popularity.It wasn't until the fourthsequel, 2012's Forza Horizon,that turn 10 studiosliterally opened up the worldof console games to a new,horizon.Now Microsoft wasn'tstoked on Forza's sequelslagging behind Grand Turismo.Greenwalt knew his teamhad to look at the gamefrom a totally different angle,if they wanted to keep making it.An easy way to do that,is to bring in outside brainswith different perspectives.So Turn 10 took pitchesfrom other developers,a British company called Playground Games,throughout a wild idea.Why not let gamers drivetheir cars everywhere?They liked it.Forza Horizon took everything gamers lovedabout the track based seriesand put it in an open world,where you get points forlong drifts, huge jumps,street race victories, smashingthrough fences, cool stuff.The whole game was set aroundthe fictitious Horizon Festival,in the not fictitious Colorado, unless,is Colorado real? I don't know.Let's be clear, Forza Horizonwasn't the first open world driving game,but it stood out becauseit didn't compromiseon the things that made foursa Motorsport games so great.Instead, it added moreof a relaxed, varied,chaotic game play to theestablished Forza mix.Who plays the most videogames? Teenage boys.What do teenage boys like?Chaos!Horizon was a hit, Euro gamer said,"Forza Horizon, exchanges infinite lapsand bottomless grindfor an actual structureand sense of adventure."IGN said, "Forza Horizonand Playground Gameshave rewritten the rules of the road."I said, look, what I painted on the sideof my Ferrari Enzo guys, says pubes.Forza's Horizon series,has now far outsoldthe original Forza Motorsport games.Forza Horizon 4, was the most popular gamefor the Xbox one, outselling Call of Duty,Grand Theft Auto and Halo.Those games are massive.And before Grand Turismo came along,this sort of thingbasically never happened,with racing games.So hitting number onewas a major milestonefor Forza to reach.And in late 2021, Forza Horizon 5,had the biggest launch ever of any gameon any Xbox system ever,10 million players,drove around the game'senormous open world versionof Mexico, in the week of its release.And in a way Forza Horizonis a perfect executionof Dan Greenwalt's original goal,to blend car culture and gaming culture.And with the massivesuccess of the series,it makes sense that Microsoft would wantto keep expanding the Forza franchise,according to Greenwalt, "Idon't see how it's possible,that the only thing Forzawould be is Forza Motorsportand Forza Horizon.It's gonna continue to grow.Just as games have continued to grow."Thanks watching thisvideo and everything elseon Donut media, hit that subscribe buttonso you don't miss anything.Hit the like button, like I said,it really helps us out in the algorithm.If you want to get some Donutswag, go donutmedia.com.I'm really excitedabout our merch program.We're dropping new crap almost every week.We got posters now, dude,we got fricking buffhorses shirt redesign.Got we buy junk cars, shirts.I love you.