Forza fans wait with bated breath for the first Tuesday of the month, because that’s when the new car packs hit XBL. May’s car pack carried the Top Gear brand, so expectations were high. It promised the Hennessey Venom, the 66 Lotus Cortina, and the 65 Austin Healey Squealey.
Expectations were then immediately lowered upon seeing the rest of the list: an AMC Pacer, a Ford Transit Van, a Jeep, a Chrysler, and a couple of vanilla Japanese 90s sedan, and a smart car. Let’s start with the cool cars.
2012 Hennessey Venom GT
Venom Design courtesy of Roo65
This is the Lone Star State’s answer to the Bugatti Veyron. After a 2007 Road and Track contest where John Hennessey’s super-tuned Viper officially smoked the Veyron in a 0-200 mph contest by 4 seconds (20.3 seconds vs. 24.4 seconds), he had the crazy idea of putting a 1000+ hp Venom engine into a Lotus Exige/Elise. The Venom GT goes from 0-60 mph in 2.5 seconds and 0-200 mph in 15.3 seconds, 9 seconds faster than the world’s fastest car.
The Forza 4 Hennessey was a bit disappointing from a tuning perspective as absolutely no part of the engine is upgradeable, or even accessible. I came up with 2 different builds for the Venom, one in R3 and one in R2 class. The biggest challenge is keeping the power under control as the horsepower per pound ratio is abnormally high in this vehicle, despite mid-engine placement. Get as much tire under the car as you possibly can and add aero if you bump it to R2. Expect personal bests (PBs) at Old Mulsanne, Road America, Sunset, and Sedona. Both versions top out at just under 267 mph. Single lap runs at the Top Gear track resulted in 1:13.459 for the R3 and 1:09.756 for the R2 iteration.
1965 Austin Healey 3000 MKIII
Jensen actually produced the 3000 MKIII from October 1963 until December 1967. The Big Healey was actually not manufactured by either Austin or Healey. The MKIII captures the spirit of the classic 60s English Roadster with a walnut interior, and 150hp 3-liter 6-cylinder engine with a very distinctive growl.
In game the tuning possibilities are wide open. I settled on B-Class, spending most of my pi points on tires, weight reduction, suspension, and a supercharger. The result was a 264 hp screamer with a curb weight of 2,314 lbs. It will do 0-60 in 5.1 seconds and 0-100 in 12.9 seconds. The car also handles very well, expect PBs at Maple Valley, Iberian, and Sedona Club. Top Gear B-Class Lap: 1:23.388.
1966 Lotus Cortina at Tsukuba
Every car pack has at least one car guaranteed to be a lopsided leader board killer. Meet May’s antagonist: the 66 Lotus Cortina. I slapped a 2-minute quick tune and immediately laid down a sub-100 time at a Fujimi Kaido point to point track in D-Class. Tuning the car is a breeze and it will lay down clean laps all day long. The gears were already magically aligned to hit corners one gear higher and with more throttle than normal in similar cars. My D-Class tune came in at 153 hp with a curb weight well under a ton: 1,793 lbs to be exact, stock weight is 2,060 lbs. Tuned to D-Class the Cortina does 0-60 in 6.563 sec and 0-100 in 20.23 sec. Expect PBs on all but the very longest tracks. Top Gear D-Class lap time: 1:29.269.
1977 AMC Pacer X at Fujimi Kaido
Turn 10 unleashed the Ford Pinto a few months back onto an initially underwhelmed fan base. Those Pintos soon dominated leader boards on so many tracks that Turn 10 was unable to discern which car tunes were legit and which had been glitched…so they wiped all Pinto PBs from the leader board. My first impressions of the Pacer X remind me a lot of the Pinto. The Pacer handles great, has ample power, and looks like something a clown would drive. Wayne’s World paint designs are already amassing in the storefront…Garth would be so proud! My C-Class tune goes from 0-60 in 8.3 sec and 0-100 in just over 19 sec with a top speed of 136.6 mph.Tune it to C or B-Class and lay down PBs at Fujimi, Positano, Ladera, or any mini track. Top Gear C-Class lap time: 1:27.223.
2010 Smart Fortwo at Iberian Circuit
Even after installing a race centrifugal supercharger and a bit of engine work, the smart car remained in F-Class with 97 hp. It goes from 0-60 in a yawn-inducing 9.212 seconds and 0-100 in just over 21 seconds. However, weighing in stock at 1,825 lbs and 1,672 lbs with my tune on it, it just doesn’t need a lot of horsepower once it finally gets rolling. Top end and acceleration are marginal but it handles like a C-Class or B-Class car. Try it on mini tracks or downhill Fujimi Kaido configurations. Top Gear F-Class Lap: 1:37.086.
And The Rest
2011 Ford Transit at Sunset - Top Gear B-Class RWD: 1:25.369 Top Gear S-Class AWD: 1:17.192
2012 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon at Fujimi Kaido - Top Gear B-Class: 1:24.856
1990 Subaru Legacy RS - Top Gear B-Class: 1:25.619
1992 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 at Suzuka - Top Gear B-Class: 1:25.253
2012 Chrysler 300 SRT at Sedona - Top Gear Lap A-Class: 1:20.045
I targeted the rest of the car pack to the closest likely competitive class and there were no surprises. Ambitious tuners will unerringly place unlikely cars on the leader board. I myself have an A-Class Dodge Ram in the top 1000 at one of the Top Gear tracks, but the latter half of the list are fun cars, not necessarily competitive cars.
I especially like the May car pack and have no reservations spending my 560 MS points to obtain it. The Hennessey and the Austin Healey alone are worth the price of admission. The Pacer and the Cortina are a pair of lower-class surprises that are destined for a leader board wipe somewhere around the 4th of July. They’re that good. This pack has plenty of content to tide tuners, painters, and racers over until the big Porsche pack hits on May 22, and that one will be $20.00 worth of high-tech German goodness. Expect a comprehensive review when that one arrives later this month.
