Forza 3 Leader Boards

[Mike Gayner]

I have never really played racing games online, but recently thought it would be kinda cool to see how I rank in Forza versus the online community. So I started a time trial on my favourite track (Laguna Seca) and did a couple of laps. After comparing myself with some of the leaders I was suspicious of their abnormally good times. Sure enough, if you watch the replays it's just people basically cheating/exploiting, and it's impossible to compare your score with legit times.

I take it this is a problem on all of the tracks? Doesn't this make the leaderboards a complete waste of time? Is there a way of reporting these BS scores? Does MS even give a crap?

 

[geno]

I didn't know the top times were a result of cheating. How far behind were your best times? Usually if I use the same car as the top-of-the charts leader, I can get within about 4-5 seconds of the tip-top times. I figure me not being amazing at it + not having a wheel makes up for that gap, but I never thought the topmost times were from cheaters /shrug.

 

[MustangSVT]

I have never really played racing games online, but recently thought it would be kinda cool to see how I rank in Forza versus the online community. So I started a time trial on my favourite track (Laguna Seca) and did a couple of laps. After comparing myself with some of the leaders I was suspicious of their abnormally good times. Sure enough, if you watch the replays it's just people basically cheating/exploiting, and it's impossible to compare your score with legit times.

I take it this is a problem on all of the tracks? Doesn't this make the leaderboards a complete waste of time? Is there a way of reporting these BS scores? Does MS even give a crap?

what makes you think they are cheating? there is a HUGE gap for some casual single player thinking they are good because they are able to beat computer cars and some serious players that play same track over and over and over and over just to shave .1 second.

I did this for Laguna seca with RX-8 stock on GT4 with a friend back and forth beating each other's time for over 6 weeks and the times we were getting were ridiculous by the end.

My bet is that you are not as good as you think you are on that track and the top times are probably legit. :hmm:

 

[Mike Gayner]

what makes you think they are cheating? there is a HUGE gap for some casual single player thinking they are good because they are able to beat computer cars and some serious players that play same track over and over and over and over just to shave .1 second.

I did this for Laguna seca with RX-8 stock on GT4 with a friend back and forth beating each other's time for over 6 weeks and the times we were getting were ridiculous by the end.

My bet is that you are not as good as you think you are on that track and the top times are probably legit. :hmm:

Have you watched the top leaders' replays? They are using some DLC cars that somehow stick to 7,500rpm and require no braking around corners. Watch the replays - it's unmistakably cheating.

 

[ivan2]

what's your time? also, the car you are using matters, A LOT.

 

[Mike Gayner]

what's your time? also, the car you are using matters, A LOT.

My time has nothing to do with this thread - I don't think I'm anywhere near the best in the world. I'm just saying that it's impossible to tell who is - just open the game, enter the leaderboards and watch the first few replays - totally based on exploits. Probably the first few hundred are cheaters. And it's not subtle cheating - seriously, just watch - it's obvious, unmitigated exploiting/cheating.

edit: I went back into the game in order to record the ridiculous exploits and they're all gone from 2 days ago. All the times at the top are now legit and all the exploit ones using DLC cars I didn't recognise have been removed - so obviously someone at MS/where ever does care.

I'm still a little surprised however to see that all the top scores are set by people who use assists - and as far as I can see there's no way to filter the list by people who don't use assists. I don't really think it's a legit time if you're using ABS honestly.

 

[zoic]

It is actually faster for most cars to use fully manual clutch(button), since it changes gears up faster than otherwise possible then.

I'd like to have better options to filter and sort the leaderboard lists too.

 

[ajskydiver]

...I don't really think it's a legit time if you're using ABS honestly.

If the car in real life has ABS, does it still bother you? What about a modern dual clutch transmission where it's auto and/or manual selection of gears?

Using ABS and manual isn't really an assist in my eyes if the real life counterpart is represented accurately.

 

[ivan2]

so this is a whine thread, I get it.

 

[Mike Gayner]

so this is a whine thread, I get it.

Fuck off then.

 

[ivan2]

with that kind of attitude im pretty sure you won't be breaking into 1000 any time soon.

 

[MustangSVT]

It is actually faster for most cars to use fully manual clutch(button), since it changes gears up faster than otherwise possible then.

I'd like to have better options to filter and sort the leaderboard lists too.

The reason for using manual over auto is to be in best gear most of the time and use engine's sweet spot for rpm. faster "rowing" won't give you faster lap time.

and wtf, abs is in most of the auto sports.

I would like to see the leaderboard videos if possible.

 

[mugs]

Have you watched the top leaders' replays? They are using some DLC cars that somehow stick to 7,500rpm and require no braking around corners. Watch the replays - it's unmistakably cheating.

When you see someone cheating, or at least evidence of cheating, you can view the player's gamertag and file a complaint. Microsoft will investigate and take action.

Pretty much nothing is known about how Microsoft investigates these things, aside from knowing that they will get into multiplayer games with people who have been reported and see how they act. We don't know if Microsoft records voice chats (doubtful) or other game data (also seems unlikely) - they are intentionally vague about how their code enforcement works.

You also can't provide any information about the specific offense you're reporting, aside from a category. I think that's a mistake, because you have to report them for cheating without specifying the game or how they cheated. Microsoft could look and see that you've never played a multiplayer game against those players, or that they don't play multiplayer at all, and conclude that it's a false report. They track the reliability of your reports and will start to ignore you if you're a serial false reporter. And of course you never find out the result of their investigation, so you could keep reporting cheaters without knowing that they're ignoring you.

All you can do is report them for cheating though, and hope others do the same. I reported a bunch of people for cheating based on obviously impossible stats on CoD leaderboards, no idea if they ever fixed that.

 

[Mike Gayner]

When you see someone cheating, or at least evidence of cheating, you can view the player's gamertag and file a complaint. Microsoft will investigate and take action.

OK thanks. Obviously they do something about it, because the leaderboard was filled with cheaters a few days ago and it's clean now. I don't play MP games on the Xbox (play all MP on PC) so I don't know much about reporting systems etc.

 

[foghorn67]

Go to a dedicated Forza forum and look for things like lap times and uploads of vids. Or do a youtube search. It's a good way to figure out where you compare with the pros.

 

[zoic]

The reason for using manual over auto is to be in best gear most of the time and use engine's sweet spot for rpm. faster "rowing" won't give you faster lap time.

and wtf, abs is in most of the auto sports.

I would like to see the leaderboard videos if possible.

Didn't mean manual vs auto. I meant manual(with auto clutch) vs fully manual(where you need to press the clutch button between every shift yourself).