“Forza Motorsport 3” unites the racing game genre, making it possible for everyone to experience the thrill of the world’s most exotic and exquisite cars. Live the most realistic racing experience ever as you take the wheel of more than 400 of the most-beloved cars on over 100 renowned real-world tracks and exotic road courses from around the globe. With breathtaking high-definition graphics and the most advanced vehicle performance modeling in a video game, “Forza Motorsport 3” includes a host of driving assists and adjustable skill levels to make the game a gripping pick-up-and-play experience for audiences of all ages and skill levels.

Your escape into the world of car culture in “Forza Motorsport 3” doesn’t stop at the track. Turn 10 is a proven leader in user-generated content creation in games. “Forza Motorsport 3” further fuels the imaginations of its already thriving community of painters, tuners and photographers with improved customization tools and brand-new ways to share creations with the world via Xbox LIVE. Xbox LIVE makes your journey into the “Forza Motorsport” community and the world of user-generated content easy and fun.

A love of cars lives in all of us. “Forza Motorsport 3” is the automotive playground we’ve all been waiting for.

“Forza Motorsport 3” again takes racers on a tour through Japan on three legendary tracks with new and improved graphics including:

1. Suzuka Circuit: Put your skills to the test on one of the oldest, most famous and dangerous motorsport race tracks in Japan. One of the big dogs of Japanese tracks, the 3.608-mile course requires cat-like reflexes as its 17 turns, highlighted by the quick transitions of the “S” complex, the Turn 11 hairpin, and the tricky Casio Triangle will keep drivers on their A-Game. But don’t fear the throttle, as there are numerous high-speed sections that demand a total commitment from your weighted leadfoot.
2. Twin Ring Motegi: Motegi is where the Japanese get their groove on, NASCAR-style. The venue, built by Honda in 1997, is home to a 1.549-mile oval and a 2.98-mile road course. It has held a NASCAR exhibition race in 1998, was part of the CART circuit from 1998 to 2002 and then it went to host the IRL in 2003. In 2008 Danica Patrick made headlines, becoming the first woman to win an Indy Car race at the Indy Japan 300, the only event currently held on the egg-shaped oval.
3. The Motegi road course doesn’t have the elevation changes of some of the other Japanese circuits but features an intoxicating blend of tight corners and high-speed sweepers. Motegi is the last race on the Super GT schedule so this track is a mix of handling and speed that will take a balanced vehicle and skilled driver to get around cleanly.
4. Tsukuba Circuit: Home of the famous Revspeed Super Battle, the original time attack that hit the Japanese tuning scene in 1990, and D1 Grand Prix drifting events, Tsukuba hums to an underground soundtrack where other Japanese venues feature a much more mainstream beat. Consequently, Tsukuba rewards agility over brute power so gamers who can hit their apexes and keep the momentum rolling should do well on this track. If you drift, welcome to heaven.

On the car side of this week’s Turn 10 Tuesday report, we’re focusing our sites on a slice of the Japanese race cars and production cars new to “Forza Motorsport 3.” Whether it’s the impeccably engineered Lexus IS F, Nissan 370Z or fan-favorite Subaru Impreza WRX STi, fans will have a host of Japanese cars to race, drift, paint, tune, and customize, showcasing their true driving and creative stripes. To highlight a few of the cars on this week’s list, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX MR and Subaru WRX STi immediately come to mind having been dueling it out for decades on the World Rally Championship circuit and more recently on the street and time attack course.

The 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX MR represents the ultimate iteration of the Diamond Star gang’s awe-inspiring 4G63 engine. This solid Turbo 4 propelled Finnish driver Turbo Tommi Makinen to four consecutive WRC championships from 1996 to 1999. In the Evo IX, the 4G63 is rated at its highest output ever, 286 horsepower, and “Forza Motorsport 3” tuners will find it one of the most willing boost-up partners. Yes, 143 horsepower per liter is merely the starting line.

In the opposite corner we have another rally-bred beast in the 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STi. Colin McRae (1995), Richard Burns (2001) and Petter Solberg (2003) all power-slid race-prepped WRX STi’s to the WRC driver’s championship. The road-going 2008 STi is motivated by a turbocharged 2.5-liter EJ25 boxer four engine with 300 horses in the corral. So the STi comes out swinging with a power advantage and aggressively broad shoulders that will tempt livery-painters as much as tuners.

Rounding out this week’s car list reveal are the following:

Production

2009

Lexus

IS F

Production

2008

Infiniti

G37 Coupe Sport

Production

2009

Mazda

Mazdaspeed 3

Production

2006

Mitsubishi

Lancer Evolution IX MR

Production

2010

Nissan

370Z

Production

2009

Nissan

Versa SL

Production

2008

Subaru

Impreza WRX STi

Production

2008

Toyota

Yaris S

Production

2009

Honda

Fit Sport

Race Car

2008

Nissan

#12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R

Race Car

2008

Nissan

#23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R

Race Car

2008

Nissan

#24 ADVAN Clarion GT-R

Race Car

1997

Nissan

#23 Nissan Motorsports R390

Race Car

2008

Nissan

#3 YellowHat YMS TOMICA GT-R

Race Car

2008

Toyota

#25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430

Race Car

2008

Toyota

#36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430

Race Car

2008

Toyota

#6 ENEOS SC430

Gamestop's Exclusive Forza 3 Limited Edition ($79.99) includes :

• Forza Motorsport 2GB USB Storage and keychain: Show off your Forza pride with these specially branded items.
• Forza Motorsport VIP Membership* and Exclusive Car Pack*: Want to be a top painter, tuner, driver or just more active in the community? VIP membership is the way to get yourself noticed. Includes special treatment within the online Auction House, Community Storefront and on the Forzamotorsport.net forums. Also includes 5 of the hottest cars from the roster of Forza Motorsport 3, available only through your VIP membership.
• Exclusive Collector’s Edition Car Pack*: This one is for the fans. This pack includes 5 cars that have been hand tuned and hand painted by the developers at Turn 10 to fly the Forza Motorsport colors.
• Exclusive Forza Motorsport 3 Theme:* Customize your Dashboard experience with this limited availability Xbox 360 theme.

Additionally, if you pre-order Forza Motorsport 3 you will receive exclusive downloadable access to the community designed and chosen, 2010 Audi R8 V10.

Features:

• Featuring the latest and greatest production offerings as well as the world’s fastest and most exotic street cars, “Forza Motorsport 3” offers more than 400 fully customizable and tunable cars from over 50 of the world’s leading manufacturers. Whether your passion is classic American muscle cars, European roadsters, purpose-built race cars or high-tech Asian imports, “Forza Motorsport 3” puts you in the cockpit of the cars you love.
  In addition to the return of world-famous tracks from previous “Forza Motorsport” games, including Suzuka, Nürburgring Nordschleife and the Sebring International Raceway, “Forza Motorsport 3” invites you to conquer the corners on more than 100 tracks, including some of the most beautiful road courses in the world. New environments like the gorgeous mountainous Montserrat region in Spain, the rugged Amalfi Coast in Italy and the American Southwest are presented in such majestic detail that you might find yourself pulling over just to take it all in.
• The appreciation of the automobile in “Forza Motorsport 3” is due in large part to the team’s attention to detail. This is why automotive engineers from manufacturers like Audi and champion race teams like Peugeot as well as experienced computer graphics specialists from across Microsoft Corp. have all teamed up with Turn 10 to make “Forza Motorsport 3” the most beautiful and realistic racing game ever made. All 400-plus cars in the game have been built with more than 10 times the amount of polygons as “Forza Motorsport 2.” This includes painstakingly researched cockpits and interiors for every vehicle. But realism isn’t just about pretty graphics. Turn 10 takes realism to new heights, leading the industry with the most advanced physics model, artificial intelligence and damage calculations. Whether it’s the differences in how each car handles through the corners, how the engines sound at top speed or how different tires and upgrades impact your car’s performance, you’ll find yourself leaning into your turns as if you were really behind the wheel of your favorite ride.
• Forza Motorsport 3 redefines the racing genre. Simulation games can be too hard for some players. “Forza Motorsport 3” rises above the distinction between simulation and arcade games. Using a myriad of cutting-edge driving and gameplay assists such as auto-braking, gameplay rewind and auto-tuning, “Forza Motorsport 3” delivers an experience where everyone can have fun behind the wheel, regardless of your skill and dexterity. Whether you’re a newcomer or a seasoned racing game pro, “Forza Motorsport 3” caters to how you drive and evolves with you over time as your skills increase.
• Painters and tuners will once again be able to showcase creativity through the celebrated Livery Editor, Auction House and deep tuning garage in “Forza Motorsport 3.” The car is literally the artistic canvas as some of the world’s most creative car painters and designers find new layers of depth and freedom to create shocking visual masterpieces before sharing them with others over Xbox LIVE.* Each car in “Forza Motorsport 3” is fully upgradable, allowing gear heads to take on the challenge of turning a Honda Civic into a supercar killer. New Xbox LIVE Leaderboards celebrate not only the greatest racers but also the most prolific car tuners and painters in the community.
• Forza Motorsport 3 is an epic racing game featuring more content and more ways to play than any racing title today. An innovative single-player season mode puts you through a completely personalized racing calendar that includes more than 200 different events, including Circuit, Oval, Drag, Drift and Timed Events. No two calendars are the same; they react to the cars you love and the races you enjoy most. In addition, the online multiplayer mode* gains an all-new game rules editor. This gives players a never-ending variety of ways to play with friends. Whether you’re a speedster, dragster, drifter, painter, tuner or just a lover of cars, “Forza Motorsport 3” is the definitive racing game for you.

Microsoft's Forza Motorsport 3, developed by Turn 10, is currently scheduled for release on Oct. 23, 2009.