During its first month at retail, Forza 3 sold through more than a million copies worldwide. To give a little something back this holiday season, Turn 10 is releasing the Hot Holidays pack with ten new cars to keep you busy.

With the DLC you’ll get the following:
1. 2010 Ferrari 599XX
2. 2010 Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss
3. 2010 Lamborghini LP6700-4 SV
4. 2010 Porsche Panamera Turbo
5. 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia
6. 2010 Jaguar XFR
7. 2010 Audi S4
8. 2009 Aston Martin #007 AMR Lola
9. 2009 Audi #2 Sport Team Joest R15 TDI
10. 2010 Nissan GT-R Spec V

The developer also released usage stats for the first month. Players logged a whopping 6.6 million man hours in the game, including 64 million player sessions over 590 million miles of track. Not too shabby considering the other titles released in the same quarter (*cough* Modern Warfare 2 *cough*).

Source: Kotaku

If you’re worried you won’t have anything to do over the holidays this year you can stop. From the looks of things, the release of Forza 3 should keep you busy well on through the new year and into 2010, when you can catch all the major releases that got delayed. Turn 10 released the full list of cars on its upcoming 2-disc racer, a list that boasts more than 400 cars from the last 50 years or so.

The oldest car, the legendary 1954 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing, is like a teaser to a great meal. All 400+ vehicles will be available with complete customization when the game launches on the 27th this month. You really do get a chance to drive almost anything in the game, from Asian imports to European classics, American Muscle to the Italian supercar, there’s something for everyone in a game that looks to expand Microsoft’s answer to the Gran Turismo franchise. You can see the full list of cars at the official Forza Motorsport website.

The highly anticipated demos for Forza 3 and Brutal Legend are now available for download. If you’re looking for something to keep you busy this weekend, these two games are a pretty solid start.

The Brutal Legend demo is pretty massive at 2GB, but it’s a substantial look at what should be a pretty solid game. You’ll get to play the entire opening chapter in all its demon-shredding glory. The Forza demo isn’t exactly slim, racing in at 1GB. For the wait you’ll get a new damage modeler and leaderboards for the included tracks.

Both games are for XBL Gold members only, so you’ll have to wait if you’re a Silver subscriber. You Playstation users will be able to get the Brutal Legend demo over the Playstation Network soon as well.

Microsoft and Turn 10 announced today that Forza 3 has gone gold more than a month before release. The game is set to hit North American shelves October 27th, but it looks like we’ll also have a chance to play the game early. A demo of the game is set to hit Xbox Live on September 24th.

The demo has been designed to show off all the features that are new to the franchise. We’ll get to see the new cockpit view, play with the rewind features, and probably spend most of our time looking at the new damage model. The demo is also going to support online leaderboards, giving us a chance to start the competitive racing a bit early.

As for cars the demo will be limited to just five:
- 2007 Porsche #80 Flying Lizard 911 GT3-RSR
- 2010 Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro
- 2009 Ferrari California
- 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR
- 2009 Mini John Cooper Works

If you haven’t purchased your pre-order, now might be the time to do so. Once that demo hits I’m sure plenty of people will be looking for pre-release sales.

Source: Joystiq

Today, Microsoft announced that Forza’s latest installation, the cleverly named Forza 3 will hit US stores on October 27th. Microsoft has also laid out details for the collector’s edition, which will only be available at Gamestop.

Driving enthusiasts who purchase the Limited Collector’s Edition version of Forza 3 will be treated to ten exclusive cars, VIP status in the Forza community, a 2GB flash drive (?) and a Forza 3 branded keychain. Five of the ten “exclusive” cars are available to any VIP Forza member. The others are just for you special folks willing to drop some extra cash on the game.

If you pre-order the game you’ll also be treated to the Forza 3 design competition contest winner’s Audi R8 V10. The car was designed by Midland, Michigan fellow.

Will you be pre-ordering? Regular or Limited Collector’s Edition?

There’s a definite line drawn between serious racing games and games like Burnout:Pardise. The former has almost always attracted the serious gearheads – people who want the ability to fine tune every part of a car, some of whom actually know what the hell they’re doing. The latter is for people like me, who just enjoy driving really fast and looking at pretty cars. Okay, so I also like the former, but I really don’t know what I’m doing, which makes it tough to really get into the game. I’ll race around the early tracks, completely dominating the competition, but by the time it gets to the long races (like the 4-5 hour matches) I’m just bored.

Turn 10, the guys who put out the Forza franchise, want to change that, and they say it all comes down to conventions of development. Korey Krauskopf told Kotaku he thinks developers have become too specialized.

“I think that’s more about developers trying to be different, not an indictment of the user. I think it’s that game companies are making their games more specialized,” he said of the increasing specialization in games like Forza. By making the game incredibly detailed, developers limit their player base because it confuses your average player. That’s Krauskopf’s take anyhow.

For others, like myself, it’s just too much information. I love learning new games, mastering new playstyles, but a game like Forza takes more time than I’m willing to commit to learn all the ins and outs. Turn 10 plans to add all sorts of “auto-tuning” features to Forza 3 alongside huge customization for multiplayer matches with the hopes that it will draw a more casual crowd. ‘Kopf cites games like Halo 3, where players can edit almost everything about the world, including handicaps/assists for certain players, to create a competitive experience for everyone.

As a short list, Forza 3 will include team modes, racing handicaps, one-button racing, auto-tuning, brake and acceleration assists, among other aids for the challenged gamer. Maybe I’m just a little too competitive, but you can bet your ass I won’t be using any assists in my gaming, no matter how badly I need it. For those folks with a more healthy disposition toward friendly gaming I’m sure this is a welcome addition to the franchise.