Give us both? Please?
As for the marketing...meh, he could back off a tad, but it's really nothing new that we haven't seen from so many other developers.
And 5 improvements?
Well, it'd be damn easy to look at what has been done that Forza has yet to incorporate. Heck, even go back several generations...look at World Driver Championship (WDC) on N64, Sega GT (SGT) on Dreamcast, and Test Drive Le Mans (TDLM) on Dreamcast, and you can easily come up with a list of 5 things.
Weather TDLM did great, dynamic weather. Copy this. The race might start out sunny, but clouds could roll in and it might start to drizzle or even rain. Pitting to change tyre choice is key, especially if you're trying to anticipate what will happen, or how heavy the rain will be.
Time of Day WDC had some of the best pre-baked times of day. The blues of Vegas' false dawn, and the blinding sunrise in Lisbon are amazing. Even better, make it dynamic. TDLM did an incredible job with this (coupled with its dynamic weather). Of course, this is most important in endurance races...but I'd venture to say that it is vital in them.
Create-a-Car One of the greatest things about SGT was the carrozzeria mode. Winning races and series gave you access to parts...chassis, bodies, drivetrains, etc. with which you would build completely custom vehicles. You want to build a mid-engine rotary sportster with macpherson struts? Go ahead and see how it tracks. Heck, instead of winning parts, develop them. Which leads into...
Racing Team Dynamics Give me a career in the career mode. Let me run or get hired by a racing team. WDC did this a bit. You got hired, they'd provide the cars, you'd provide the driving...signing with certain class B teams would mean that you couldn't work with some class A teams due to rivalries...some bosses were more forgiving of a loss than others. Could easily ape that..or improve it. Own the team...sign on with makes and parts manufacturers...make it a
career.
Environmental Effects I suppose this could fall under weather, but it's a bit more subtle than that. SGT made great use of what the Dreamcast was able to do, with its implementation of heat and fog effects (Snowy Mountain had an amazing feel to it) and WDC's Tokyo track shined because of the small . These days, the systems should easily be able to provide more. Give me Patches of ground fog, give me a truly baking road surface that causes mirages, make me deal with thick thule. Oh, sure, it seems like eye candy, but it is a big part of having to deal with the nuances of certain tracks.
