The title for this post says something – or asks something – but the answers are a LOT more complicated than you might be thinking. In fact the answer is effected by several issues – earning power and position, and bragging rights. We are about to address them all after we answer that first rude question.
Where Has All Your Money Gone?
When the Xbox One launched it did so with a vastly improved stats system in place for the LIVE Gamertag Scheme and games played.
Specifically when you load up your profile — by selecting the “My Profile” selection from the main menu — you actually have access to a array of information about yourself AND other players. When you access the Achievements Tab you get to see the Gamerscore Leaderboard right off the bat.
That is a display showing you the Top Scores for the last 30 days – and where you fit into that group. When you click on that window you get a detailed list of your mates and how much Gamerscore they have unlocked in the past 30 days.
Click on a specific person from that list and you get THEIR Profile Page. Which means you get to see all sorts of stats about their Gamertag, as well as look in depth at their games and game play if they have not locked that up. Among the very revealing data at your fingertips is the completion percentage for every game that they play AND a detailed listing of the Achievements they have unlocked in each game.
You can also compare their progress with your own in a side-by-side display, the same as you can in your own Profile’s Achievements using the Compare with Friends button.
When you open the base page for a game, you get a selection of stats that are important to that game, complete with placement tags (Gold, Silver, and Bronze) if you are in the Top Three for that game.
For Forza Motorsport 6 that means you have access to the following information about YOUR accomplishments and status as well as that of your mates. So you can see the following:
- Gamerscore Totals
- Achievements Count
- Time Played (Ranked)
- Game Progress (Ranked)
- Driver Level (Ranked)
- Credits Earned (Ranked)
- Credits Spent (Ranked)
Below that is the entire complete list of Achievements, whether they have been unlocked, and WHEN they were unlocked – meaning the actual date.
If you look at my stats in that game, among other things you are going to learn that I have earned over 81 million credits, and I have spent over 52 million credits.
That particular display of stats is how I ended up being asked the rather personal question: “Where Has All Your Money Gone?!”
The correct answer to that question is: “None of your damned business!”
The polite and friendly answer though is actually very simple… The money has largely gone on Mod Packs. Oh sure, some was spent buying cars. In fact my garage contains a rather impressive number and variety of cars (if I am saying so myself). As the spending of my bank includes buying cars for my garage, I have written the complete inventory of my garage at the bottom of this post – and I leave figuring out the amount I spent as an exercise for you to complete on your own.
Why did I spend so much on Mod Packs? Well the simple reason is that I was (still am) looking to complete my collection of Super Rare Mod Cards. Believe it or not this is not just about having the important and really useful Mod Cards in my personal collection – it’s also about bragging rights.
Why? More to the point, How? The answer is actually very simple. If you have the complete collection of Mod Cards – the important ones I mean – that means you have an edge for race time and lap time because you have the ability – by virtue of your Mod Card Collection – to squeeze the most out of your cars in terms of performance and speed.
Yeah, it’s really that simple. As long as you have the cards – and the opponent you are racing against has the cards – then the results of your race are totally down to driver skill. And THAT is the whole point.
Bragging Rights?
The serious players of the Forza Motorsports game call themselves The Forza Faithful, and as you can probably imagine – thanks to the rather competitive nature with which the games are infused – there is a lot of bragging rights to be secured.
For most players, the popular bragging rights tend to be restricted to four specific areas of game play, which are – most important first – the following:
1. Multi-Player Track Times.
Visible throughout the MP side of the game, the Track Times a player locks in tend to be among the more visible and obvious of bragging rights in Forza Motorsports – and not just for FM6 mind you.
2. Design Badges
This one is hard to fathom but it seems that obtaining the Platinum versions of two specific Badges are a very big deal in terms of bragging rights and status among the Forza Faithful.
While the vast majority of the badges do not seem to matter, unlocking the Top Tuner and Top Painter badges does matter. Go figure?
3. Game Achievements.
A lot of the Achievements in FM6 are basically Been There, Done That Achievements. That noted there are a handful that actually matter to the Faithful – Achievements that are so highly desired that their owners will willingly grind to unlock them.
Those are (in order of bragging rights importance):
- 1. One for the History Books (50g) Complete all Car Divisions, all Series, and all Showcases.
- 2. Making a Name (20g) Earn 50K credits from the community using your Tune
- 3. Cashing In (20g) Earn 50K credits from the community using your Design.
- 4. Record Breaker (25g) Go faster than 250 mph in any car.
- 5. Racking Up the Mileage (20g) Drive for 1000 miles in Multiplayer.
There you have it – the five Achievements that are important for bragging rights in FM6.
4. Mod Card Collection.
Considering just how easy it is to amass huge amounts of in-game money in Forza Motorsports 6 the question I am sometimes asked is where my money is going? That is what sparked my writing this post actually.
The answer is repeated from above – the money mostly has gone on buying Mod Packs.
The purchases were made as part of the quest to obtain the important cards for ANY Forza 6 racer’s collection, To provide you with a head’s up here there are three types of cards for the list – cards earned via racing, cards obtained from buying the booster packs, and cards acquired from brand mastery.
The short list of cards on the must-have list includes:
- All Affinity-Based Crew Chief Cards
- Booster Pack Crew Chief Cards
- Track Specialist Cards – Super Rare Unlimited Use
While the cards above are unlimited use, while the one-time use bonus cards also have some very desirable cards, including:
- Adept (+7K Driver XP)
- Expert (+7K Driver XP)
- Driver Mastery (+100% Driver Level XP)
- Manufacturer Endorsement (+7K Affinity XP)
- Manufacturer Mastery (+100% Affinity Level XP)
Now the question you have to ask yourself is this – how close are YOU to having the set and the important Super Rare Cards? Yeah? Then you better get busy mates!
Turn 10 Select Car Pack Arrives with the July Update in Tow
If you have not included Forza or its studio – Turn 10 – in your Internet News Filter – there is a chance you are unaware that the most recent expansion content for the game has arrived.
Hand picked by the game development team at Turn 10, this pack is intended to offer representation for every major car type in the game, with a sub-focus on the mechanical elements in car design and engineering.
The Turn 10 Select Car Pack is the modestly priced (it’s just $6.99 US) as far as car packs go in FM6, and contains perhaps the most diverse selection of cars on offer so far.
The Select Pack is only available online via the LIVE Store, and features the following seven crispy new rides for your motoring pleasure:
- 1957 BMW Isetta 300 Export
- 1969 Ford Brawner Hawk III
- 1980 Fiat 124 Sport Spider
- 2014 Chevrolet #4 ROAL Motorsport RML Cruze TC1 WTCC
- 2014 Jaguar #14 Emil Frey GT3 Jaguar XK
- 2015 McLaren 570S Coupé
- 2015 Mercedes-Benz #24 Tankpool24 Racing Truck
Of the seven new rides the two we are the most excited about are Ford’s Hawk III for pretty obvious reasons, not the least being the Cinderella Story of how the red STP-liveried Hawk III with its Ford turbo-V8 helped professional race car driver Mario Andretti win the 1969 Indianapolis 500. This is an Indy Car that LOOKS like an Indy Car!
Our second source of excitement may seem a little unlikely at first blush, but when you examine the Italian-designed, fusion of a three-wheeled motorcycle and traditional sub-compact car, its rather impressive performance when you consider that it is basically powered by a single-cylinder, four-stroke, 13 horsepower 298cc engine, you have to admit that it is rather fascinating as far as super-sub-compacts go!
Of course the fact that the last time we saw one of these beastly babes was when we watched Top Gear’s very capable Jeremy Clarkson (Top Gear Series 10 Episode 3) take a very intimate look at the Model 300 on the show, and then a few years later, put the beast through its paces in order to demonstrate its serious design flaw (Top Gear Series 15 Episode 1).
Yeah, we like.
In the midst of revealing and sharing this new 7-pack of unique motor vehicles, Turn 10 also unleashed the July Update, which focused on what you might call the rehabilitation of three traditional tracks in the series — Catalunya, the Circuit of the Americas, and Monza — and I don’t care who you are that is awesome!
Circuit de Catalunya is a Forza mainstay of a track, offering three different daytime configurations — The Grand Prix Circuit with 2.89 miles, the National Circuit with 1.85 miles, and the School Circuit and its 1.06 miles of course. Its rehab for the update entails finer tuning for the overall course and its surfaces.
The Circuit of The Americas is the first US track that was purpose-built for Grand Prix racing, and features a trio of daytime courses. The Grand Prix Circuit offers 3.42 miles of challenging Texas track, while the West Route features 2.3 miles of challenging turns and banks. The East Route is not a mirror image of the previous course, it being just 1.23 miles long and featuring a very modest set of curves and turns and a very long straight-away.
Improvements towards rehabilitation of COA involved further fine-tuning of the track and its surfeaces, and changing the roll of toilet paper in the driver’s bathroom. Sure, Royale bathroom tissue brand might actually offer a “Stronger Feeling of Softness” for the discerning Canadian bottom, but everyone knows that Charmin Ultra is “Best For Bear Bottoms” and there’s lots of Bear Bottoms in racing!
Okay so, naked hiney humor aside, when they arrived at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza with an eye towards rehabbing the course, the first efforts that the track team focused upon was the chicane at Turn 4, and the desire to adjust it to more accurately distinguish between clean and dirty driving lines — an issue that was bothering a large percentage of the Forza Faithful.
They then focused upon the tire wall at Turn 4, opting to move it in order to alter the driving line and better prevent corner cutting, which also allowed them to declare themselves King of the Racecourse and immediately head out to Vince Young Steakhouse on San Jacinto where they nommed down on the best noms they had on offer, which you know, is steak noms. Just saying, you don’t open a jar of peanut butter expecting to find corned beef hash, and you don’t go to a steakhouse for the salad!
The rest of the content for the Update was mostly focused on improvements to the online multi-player and player-vs-player elements, including online handling, which while you know that deserves praise and all, we’re still in shock from working on completing the NASCAR Expansion so yeah, ‘Merica!
The Contents of My FM6 Garage
There are X cars in my garage. Kudos to the first person to email me with the percentages in expenses. Cars marked with a (C) are cars I own the Master Crew Card for. The Master Crew Cards number among the most wanted – as in you mostly want to have one for every car in your garage 🙂
- 1968 Abarth 595 esseesse
- 2001 Acura Integra Type-R
- 1934 Alfa Romeo P3
- 1992 Alfa Romeo Milano Quadrifoglio Verde
- 2008 Aston Martin Team Forza DBS
- 2012 Aston Martin V12 Zagato
- 2014 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S (A700)
- 2014 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S (A638)
- 1989 Audi #4 Audi 90 quattro IMSA GTO
- 2013 Audi Team Forza R8 Coupe V10 plus 5.2 FSI quattro
- 2013 Audi Team Forza RS 7 Sportback
- 2014 Audi #2 Audi Team Joest R18 e-tron quattro
- 2016 Audi R8 V10 plus
- 2016 Audi R8 V10 plus in Top Gear Livery
- 1975 BMW #93 Herve Poulain 3.0 CSL
- 1981 BMW M1
- 1988 BMW M5
- 2009 BMW #92 Rahal Letterman Racing M3 GT2
- 2011 BMW X5 M
- 2012 BMW Team Forza M5
- 2014 BMW M4 Coupe
- 2014 BMW M235i (B598)
- 2014 BMW M235i (C476)
- 2015 BMW X6 M
- 1967 Brabham BT24
- 1992 Bugatti EB110 Super Sport
- 2011 Bugatti Veyron Super Sport
- 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe
- 2013 Cadillac XTS Limousine
- 2013 Caparo T1
- 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air
- 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport C2 Fast & Furious Edition
- 1970 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
- 1970 Chevrolet El Camino Super Sport 454
- 1990 Chevrolet #30 Douglas Shierson Racing Lola T90/00
- 2015 Chevrolet #1 Team Penske IndyCar
- 2015 Chevrolet #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype
- 2016 Chevrolet #1 Chip Gnassi Racing McDonald’s Super Sport
- 2016 Chevrolet #42 Chip Gnassi Racing Target Super Sport
- 2016 Chevrolet #5 Hendrick Motorsports FARMERS Insurance Super Sport
- 2016 Chevrolet #5 Hendrick Motorsports GreatClips Super Sport
- 2016 Chevrolet #24 Hendrick Motorsports NAPA Super Sport (C)
- 2016 Chevrolet #48 Hendrick Motorsports Lowe’s Super Sport
- 2016 Chevrolet #88 Hendrick Motorsports Nationwide Insurance Super Sport (C)
- 2016 Chevrolet #4 Stewart-Haas Racing Jimmy John’s Super Sport
- 2016 Chevrolet #4 Stewart-Haas Racing Outback Steakhouse Super Sport
- 2016 Chevrolet #10 Stewart-Haas Racing Nature’s Bakery Super Sport (C)
- 2016 Chevrolet #14 Stewart-Haas Racing Mobil 1 Super Sport
- 2016 Chevrolet #41 Stewart-Haas Racing Haas Automation Super Sport
- 2016 Chevrolet Camaro Super Sport
- 2069 Chryslus Rocket 69 (R821)
- 2069 Chryslus Rocket 69 (S758) Fallout Livery
- 1969 Datsun 2000 Roadster
- 1968 Dodge Charger Fast & Furious Edition
- 1969 Dodge Charger R/T
- 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona Fast & Furious Edition
- 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona HEMI
- 1970 Dodge Coronet Super Bee
- 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat
- 1963 Ferrari 250LM
- 1968 Ferrari 365 GTB/4
- 1976 Ferrari #1 Scuderia Ferrari 312 T2
- 1987 Ferrari F40
- 1990 Ferrari #1 Scuderia Ferrari 641
- 2009 Ferrari 458 Italia
- 2009 Ferrari Team Forza 458 Italia
- 2013 Ferrari 458 Speciale
- 2013 Ferrari LaFerrari
- 2014 Ferrari #62 Risi Competizione 458 Italia GTLM
- 2014 Ferrari FXX K
- 2015 Ferrari 488 GTB
- 1952 FIAT 8V Supersonic
- 1969 FIAT Dino 2.4 Coupe
- 1940 Ford De Luxe Coupe
- 1956 Ford F-100 Vault-Tec Livery
- 1965 Ford Mustang GT Coupe
- 1966 Ford Lotus Cortina
- 1966 Ford GT40 Mk II
- 1970 Ford Escort RS1600 Fast & Furious Edition
- 1973 Ford XB Falcon GT
- 1977 Ford Escort RS1800
- 1978 Ford Mustang II King Cobra
- 1981 Ford Fiesta XR2
- 2005 Ford Hot Wheel’s Mustang
- 2009 Ford Focus RS
- 2011 Ford Transit SuperSportVan
- 2013 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor Shelby
- 2013 Ford Shelby GT500
- 2014 Ford Fiesta ST
- 2015 Ford #02 Chip Gnassi Racing Riley MK XXVI Daytona Prototype
- 2015 Ford Mustang GT
- 2016 Ford #2 Team Penske Alliance Truck Parts Fusion
- 2016 Ford #2 Team Penske Brad K. Fusion
- 2016 Ford #22 Team Penske AAA Fusion
- 2016 Ford Team Penske Shell-Pennzoil Fusion
- 2016 Ford #66 Ford Racing GT Le Mans
- 2016 Ford Shelby GT350R
- 2017 Ford Focus RS
- 2017 Ford GT
- 2015 Formula E #2 Virgin Racing VIR 01E
- 1973 Holden HQ Monaro GTS 350
- 1977 Holden Torana A9X
- 1988 Holden VL Commodore Group A SV
- 1967 Honda RA300
- 2001 Honda S2000 Fast & Furious Edition
- 2005 Honda Team Forza NSX-R
- 2014 Honda #2 Castrol Honda Civic WTCC
- 2015 Honda #27 Andretti Autosport IndyCar
- 2011 Hot Wheels BoneShaker
- 2011 HSV GTS (A659)
- 2011 HSV GTS (C491) Australian Royal Air Force Livery
- 2015 Infiniti Q60 Concept
- 1988 Jaguar #60 Castrol Jaguar Racing XJR-9
- 1990 Jaguar XJ-S
- 1993 Jaguar XJ220
- 2015 Jaguar F-Type R Coupe
- 2016 Jaguar F-TYPE Project 7
- 2011 Koenigsegg Agera
- 2015 Koenigsegg One:1
- 1967 Lamborghini Miura P400
- 2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 (R852)
- 2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 (S750)
- 2014 Lamborghini Veneno
- 2014 Lamborghini Team Forza Huracan LP 610-4
- 2014 Lamborghini Urus
- 1980 Lancia #31 Lancia Corse Beta Montecarlo Turbo
- 1997 Land Rover Defender 90
- 2015 Land Rover Range Rover Sport SVR
- 1971 Lotus Elan Sprint
- 1999 Lotus Elise Series 1 Sport 190
- 2015 Lotus E23
- 1957 Maserati 300 S
- 1961 Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage
- 2014 Maserati #35 M.Calamia Swiss Team MC Trofeo
- 1991 Mazda #62 Mazda Motorsports RX-7
- 2010 Mazda Mazdaspeed 3
- 2014 Mazda #70 SpeedSource Lola B12/80
- 2015 Mazda Formula Mazda
- 2016 Mazda Team Forza MX-5
- 1988 McLaren #12 Honda McLaren MP4/4
- 1993 McLaren F1
- 1997 McLaren F1 GT
- 2013 McLaren P1
- 2013 McLaren Team Forza P1
- 2015 McLaren P1 GTR
- 2016 Mercedes-AMG C 63 S Coupe
- 1939 Mercedes-Benz W154
- 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Coupe
- 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR
- 1967 Mercedes-Benz 280 SL
- 2011 Mercedes-Benz #35 Black Falcon SLS AMG GT3
- 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK 55 AMG
- 2015 Mercedes-Benz #9 Erebus Motorsport E63 AMG V8 Supercar
- 1990 Mercury #15 Whistler Radar Cougar XR-7
- 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS Fast & Furious Edition
- 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII MR
- 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR
- 1969 Nissan #21 Nissan Racing R382
- 1969 Nissan Fairlady Z 432
- 1973 Nissan Skyline GT-R
- 1992 Nissan Silvia CLUB K’s
- 1993 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec
- 1994 Nissan #75 Cunningham Racing 300ZX
- 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R Fast & Furious Edition
- 2002 Nissan Fairlady Z Fast & Furious Edition
- 2002 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec II
- 2003 Nissan Team Forza Fairlady Z
- 2012 Nissan GT-R Black Edition
- 2015 Nissan #23 GT-R LM NISMO
- 2015 Nissan #1 NISMO MOTUL AUTECH GT-R
- 1968 Opel GT
- 1979 Opel Kadett C GT/E
- 1993 Peugeot #3 Peugot Talbot Sport 905 EVO 1C
- 1958 Plymouth Fury
- 2000 Plymouth Prowler
- 1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am SD-455
- 2005 Pontiac Aztek
- 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder (C)
- 1957 Porsche 356A Speedster (C)
- 1960 Porsche 718 RS 60 (C)
- 1970 Porsche 914/6 (C)
- 1982 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.3 (C)
- 1987 Porsche 959 (C)
- 1987 Porsche #17 Porsche AG 962C (C)
- 1989 Porsche 944 Turbo (C)
- 1998 Porsche #26 Porsche AG 911 GT1-98 (C)
- 2003 Porsche Carrera GT (C)
- 2004 Porsche 911 GT3 (C)
- 2008 Porsche #7 Penske Racing RS Spyder Evo (C)
- 2011 Porsche #45 Flying Lizard 911 GT3 RSR (C)
- 2012 Porsche 911 GT2 RS (C)
- 2012 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 (C)
- 2012 Porsche Cayenne Turbo (C)
- 2014 Porsche 911 Turbo S (C)
- 2014 Porsche 918 Spyder (C)
- 2015 Porsche #19 Porsche Team 919 Hybrid (C)
- 2015 Porsche GTS (C)
- 2015 Porsche Macan Turbo (C)
- 2013 Ram Ram Runner
- 1980 Renault 5 Turbo
- 2013 Renault Clio RS 200
- 2016 Rolls-Royce Dawn
- 1965 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C
- 2013 SRT Team Forza Viper GTS
- 1996 Subaru SVX
- 1967 Sunbeam Tiger
- 2014 Terradyne Gurkha LAPV Fast & Furious Edition
- 1974 Toyota Corolla SR5
- 1985 Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT Apex
- 1995 Toyota MR2 GT
- 1995 Toyota Supra Fast & Furious Edition
- 2014 Toyota #8 Toyota Racing TS040 HYBRID
- 2014 Toyota #12 Rebellion Racing R-One
- 2016 Toyota #11 Joe Gibbs Racing FedEx Express Camry
- 2016 Toyota #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Interstate Batteries Camry
- 2016 Toyota #18 Joe Gibbs Racing M&M’s Camry (C)
- 2016 Toyota #19 Joe Gibbs Racing ARRIS Camry
- 2016 Toyota #19 Joe Gibbs Racing Stanley Camry
- 2016 Toyota #19 Joe Gibbs Racing Subway Camry
- 2016 Toyota #20 Joe Gibbs Racing Dollar General Camry
- 2016 Toyota #20 Joe Gibbs Racing DEWALT Camry
- 2013 Vauxhall Astra 1.6 Tech Line Top Gear Edition
- 1963 Volkswagen Beetle
- 1963 Volkswagen Type 2 De Luxe
- 1981 Volkswagen Scirocco S
- 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit GTI
- 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco 16v
- 2011 Volkswagen Scirocco R
- 2014 Volkswagen Golf R
- 1967 Volvo 123GT
- 2016 W Motors Lykan HyperSport
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