Forza Motorsport 6's April Top Gear car pack - is it worth it? #Blogpost

So it’s that time of month again where Forza developers turn10 decide to reward us with yet another small handful of cars being beautifully rendered into their digital world. The April Top Gear car pack showcases 7 new, highly requested cars from the bonkers Ferrari FXXK to the classic land barge that is the Jaguar XJS (mine has already been customized to look like a replica of Clarkson’s from the TG Indian special) . Unfortunately for all those season pass holders out there this is the first monthly pack for Forza 6 that isn’t part of the pass meaning you will have to shell out around £7 in order to add these cars to your virtual garage. This is a real shame as personally this is one of my favourite packs to be added into the game with a great variety of cars that many players have been begging for. Now however it’s time to take a more in depth look at each one of these new cars.

The Ferrari FXXK

1,000 horse powers, capable of producing over half a tonne of down-force and a showcase of race derived technologies that will allow this prancing horse to lap Fiorino a full 5 seconds faster than it’s road-going counterpart are just some of the mad figures that this track only hypercar boasts. The FXXK is also named after the explicit word that any driver brave enough to jump behind the wheel will begin screaming the second they put their foot down…or at least i wish that was the case. In fact the X’s in the name represent Ferrari’s special race program that will allow mere mortals, albeit ones with a healthy bank check, experience specialised track days where Ferrari themselves will provide specialist support. Furthermore, these Bruce Wayne’s of the real world will deliver feedback to Maranello in order for them to make their next generation of super, hyper and track cars even more easy and accessible for future customers. The K stands for the KERS system (KERS standing for Kinetic Energy Recovery System) which as any F1 fanboy will tell you is a clever piece of kit that stores energy wasted from braking which can then be used to give the car an extra horsepower boost, not that that’s particularly needed on top of those 1,000 horses. The FXXK then makes a fine addition to the digital world of Forza Motorsport however it is as of right now without any real rivals in game. What we need is another road based track car, possibly one that’s built in Woking. Make it happen Turn10.

Rolls Royce Dawn

Few machines on earth can match the majesty of a Rolls Royce. Everything about them oozes class (unless you opt to get yours either gold or chrome wrapped in which case shame on you) and the Dawn is no exception. With the bold claim of being the quietest convertible ever made as well as being designed to resemble a private yacht, it’s a small wonder why this barage offers up an asking price north of £300,000. However just because the new Roller has 536BHP on tap and the most rigid chassis fitted to a four seat convertible on sale today, don’t expect this thing to devour corners. Wallowy is the best way to describe my experience with the Roller so far although personally i wouldn’t have this thing any other way.

Jaguar Project 7

The D-type is my favourite Race car of all time. Dominating Le Mans and humiliating Ferrari for three years in a row and having one of the prettiest bodies ever fitted to a car it will always have a very special place in my heart. The F-type however was a car I struggled to fall in love with. I agreed that it was an excellent looking car with a remarkable sound track however I just never really gelled with it. I never loved it. The Project 7 is the car I believe is the motor the F-type should’ve been all along. Lowering the ride height and raking the windscreen gives the big cat a far more aggressive stance while all the little retro touches such as the single roll hump behind the drivers head, the fixed rear wing and those retro graphics that hark back to my beloved D-type. Thanks to an 100lb diet on top of several changes underneath the sexy chassis the Jag now drives so much better than a normal F-type. The Project 7 is definitely my favourite car out of this entire pack and made me fall in love all over again.

Audi R8 V10 Plus

Could this be the best all round supercar on sale today? Taking off where the original R8 V10 finished, this new R8 features several aspects of what made the first generation an icon as well as combining this with some newer additions in order to keep this new R8 king of the baby supercar hill. In the engine bay the very same 5.2 litre V10 from the last R8 can be found however it can now slide itself over into the “over 600 horsepower” club. The chassis is also very similar however it’s now 40% stiffer than before allowing the new R8 to corner with even more grace than before. Now onto the new stuff and first and foremost is the controversial styling which personally, unlike others, i’m a fan of. another massive change is the interior which maybe the best on sale today with a massive TFT screen that sits in front of the driver, making him feel like iron man, and a clean, minimalist approach elsewhere giving a very driver bias experience. So is this the best all round supercar on sale today? Well considering how close it’s predecessor got it’s safe to say this Mark 2 R8 almost certainly is.

Dodge Charger Hellcat

“Oh so your Audi super car has 600 horsepower? That’s cute, my dodge saloon has over 700”. This is one car that needs no introduction really being one of the most outrageous cars ever made. There’s no end to the amount of records this car has set over the last few years. “fastest four door saloon car in the world”, check. “Most amount of horses for the smallest sum of money” check. “Most vomit produced on a single school run”, probably check. This is the Dwayne Johnston of the car world, there’s seriously no end to this big, lovable muscle car’s talents. Drive this thing now, it’s ace.

Range Rover Sport SVR

Take one massive SUV, add some sport badges, Shove the engine from your sister company’s flagship sports car up front and give it a sound track similar to a planet ripping into now serve. This is the recipe to perhaps the most barmy SUV ever made, the Range Rover Sport SVR. Having 550BHP combined with go-anywhere credentials, this grotesque flying machine will even surprise on track with some pretty competent handling characteristics that may scare even the quickest of hot hatchbacks. Ignore the looks, this is one rangie that takes speed seriously.

Jaguar XJS

The only older car in this pack, the Jag XJS is the motoring equivalent of a grandfather clock. Manufactured for over 20 years, this jag was a more luxurious, grand tourer than it’s E-type predecessor. While the e-type became more iconic, it’s no doubt that the XJS was a sales success, shifting over 115,000 models over its lifetime. Furthermore being powered by a large V12 the XJS was pretty quick for its time arriving at 60 mph in around 8 seconds and reaching a top speed of over 140 mph.

So what does everyone think of the new Top Gear Car pack? Please note that this is my first ever blog post so I welcome any feedback in order to improve future articles. Thanks for reading