I'm the Lead Game Designer for Forza Motorsport 2. I'm responsible for directing the creation of this incredible racing simulator franchise.

First of all, there's no way any console apart from Xbox 360 that could handle what we're doing here. 60 fps, 4x full-screen anti-aliasing, motion blur, and high-dynamic-range lighting. All in crisp 720p high-definition glory.

We're doing everything possible to capture the visceral nature of racing like no game that has come before. Forza Motorsport 2 drivers will feel like they're racing some of the most desirable and most powerful vehicles on the planet at their absolute limits on some of the world's greatest tracks.

Players will also be able to feel every nuance of your car and the road thanks to Forza Motorsport 2's support for the official Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel.

As you may know, Drivatar Technology was the foundation of all the Artificial Intelligence in Forza Motorsport, not just the AI you trained. The types of mistakes you would see in the opponent AI were the same type you'd see in other players (especially when playing over Xbox Live).

In Forza Motorsport 2, we are improving and expanding Drivatar Technology to give even more personality and realism to the opponent AI.

The AI you face in Forza Motorsport 2 will have names and personalities that were specifically trained/created by the designers. Some will be fast, but tentative in traffic. Others will take slower lines, but will be more aggressive toward other cars. By giving them names, the players will be able to recognize the fast and the dangerous drivers from the field.

Our primary goal is to leverage the incredible potential of Drivatar Technology to simulate realistic tension and rivalries in the Single Player modes. Our secondary goal is to use Drivatar Technology to better prepare and train the players to succeed online.

We'll be keeping the action to the tarmac – there's no plans to include gravel/offroad racing at this stage.

That said, we're pretty happy with what we've come up with. We've got a dream team here – extremely smart, experienced and passionate. There are plenty of racers and tuners on the team. We want to share our passion with gamers and car people all over the globe. More than anything, we want to deliver a killer racing simulator.

We consult with top automotive engineers and professional race car drivers to create the most complete racing experience available. Our advanced tire and suspension models were built to be future-proof. The tire physics model alone took us over three months to develop and tune for the original Forza Motorsport. They respond to heat and pressure changes as well as weight transfer and aerodynamic load.

The increased power of Xbox 360 has allowed us to showcase our incredible physics engine to even greater effect. The physics will still be running at extremely high frequencies (180-360 fps). Some systems are now running even faster. We felt the bumpy nature of tracks like Sebring in North America required running the physics at rates we've never seen in any other game. I think the biggest change that most players will notice is the increase in the graphical framerate.

This doesn't really effect the physics, but some players do get graphical framerate and physical frequency confused. For Forza Motorsport 2, the graphics will be running at 60fps.

Do to the increased power of the Xbox 360, we've been able to go even further in modeling the way cars incur damage and wear, and the effect it has on performance. Crashes will be more dramatic with parts and particles flying off the cars. Weather effects however – not at this stage.

I thought the Forza Trailer was very impressive. It really captured the heart and vision of the game and the team. Namely, it captured "car passion". When the car explodes so the viewer can see it getting upgraded under the hood, that's cool. Seeing the car rebuild from a single style line, that's really cool.

Polishing a build for E3 takes 1-3 months out of your development cycle. Most teams feel that the added pre-release pop that is generated from a demo is worth the sacrifice to the final product or the release date. We really want to be on shelves by the end of the year with a worthy successor to our 90+ rated first endeavour. Sacrificing 1-3 months of our development time, even if it costs us pre-release pop, wasn't worth it to the team. We want to spend as much time and all of our resources to create the definitive racing simulator.

While it's never "easy" to squeeze in the high level of detail we have, the Xbox 360's power has made this an achievable target at 60fps and 720p with 12 unique, customizable and damage-able cars on track at once. We're still working hard on getting as much lifelike material in the game as possible, but we're thrilled with what we've been able to achieve – and we think players will be too.

The original Forza Motorsport was a beautiful game for the Xbox hardware – with tons of detail. Even the track surface was covered with the type of high resolution rubber, sealant and cracks not seen in any other racing games on the Xbox or PS2. We squeezed every little bit of power out of that box. We're doing the same for the Xbox 360. The car models and car textures as well as the track models and track textures have been rebuilt high much higher resolution in order to take full advantage of the more powerful system.

From the very challenging Nürburgring Nordschleife track to the spectator-lined streets of Rio de Janeiro, in Forza Motorsport 2 you will be able to race on meticulously designed tracks with an incredible sense of speed and realism. The game will feature more than 65 tracks carved out of 18 environments, including 13 real-world licensed circuits such as the Road America race track, Silverstone Circuit, Tsukuba Circuit and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Sebring International Raceway is among four new real-world licensed circuits added to the newest installment of the Forza Motorsport franchise.

At this stage we are still developing additional tracks for the game. But I agree that a Mount Panorama track would be fantastic – I'm a big fan! Ever wonder what the inspiration was for Blue Mountains in Forza?

Personally, I think GT Legends on the PC has the best implementation, especially when combined with TrackIR (http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/). In GT Legends you can use TrackIR to look down at your virtual feet and watch the driver use the clutch – simply incredible. However, I like the default cockpit view to be more forward and focused like TOCA. Again personally, I don't want to see the wheel and the dashboard when I'm racing. I want to see the A-Pillar, top couple centimetres of the dash/wheel and the windshield.

From a design perspective, cockpit view can be cool for several reasons - all depending on the implementation: 1) it can better emulate a real driving perspective and audio, thus it can be more immersive, 2) it can give the player better car to environment context, 3) using camera movement, it can provide a better sense of accelerative gravitational forces and "seat-o-the-pants" driving, 4) it can provide a player a chance to test drive a rare car that he/she would never get to in real-life.

On the other hand, in car view isn't all roses: 1) Like disabling Transmission, ABS and Traction Control assists, it makes driving more difficult, 2) unlike disabling Transmission, ABS and Traction Control assists, taking the added difficulty does not carry any potential for better lap times, 3) Up-res'ing one interior could take as much time as adding one new car to the game and we have 300 cars that would need the up-res'ed interiors, 4) Forza features a Weight Reduction Upgrade that would require us to build multiple high polygon versions of most interiors for each upgrade level.

In order to give the player better car context and immersion, we're adding a bonnet view.

I'm really excited about the Wireless Racing Wheel. We just got our prototypes in house two weeks ago. We're getting the Force Feedback code hooked up right now. The feel and the materials of the wheel are very nice. However, what I'm most excited about is the combination of rumble and Force Feedback together.

As a simulation racing designer, I've been waiting for this for a long time. A simulation requires great feedback. Great feedback (audible, visual, and tactile) tells the player when they are at 99%, 100%, 101%... of the limits of the car. Up to this point, the Force Feedback motor of a wheel was used to give feedback on the front and rear tires at the same time. This is similar to stereo audio feedback – its two dimensional. It's nice, but not as nice as 5.1 surround sound. Having both rumble and Force Feedback motors allows me to give three dimensional tactile feedback to the player through the wheel. The Force Feedback simulates aligning torque in the front tires and the rumble simulates slip in the rear tires.

Forza Motorsport fans will still be able to continue expressing their inner artist in the paint and upgrade shops with near-endless visual personalization. You will be able to customize the shape of your car by combining licensed rims, performance parts and aftermarket body kits. You can also create your own unique paint scheme using millions of paint and decal options.

From a design perspective, one of the goals of the Paint Job Editor was to expand the range of skills rewarded in the game. You can be a great racer, tuner, or painter. To that end, the tool is incredibly powerful. Like our simulation physics engine, the Paint Job Editor empowers the creative and distinguishes those with skill. For Forza Motorsport 2, we're making the tool even more powerful. More layers, more decals, and more options – all at a much higher resolution.

If there was one thing I felt was a missed opportunity for PGR3's Photo Mode it was that you couldn't take those cool images you spent ages tweaking to print out, email or use as desktop wallpaper.

As you say, you will be able to take in-game pictures of your creation in "Forza Motorsport 2" Photo Mode. This mode is very similar to what you've seen before in PGR3. We're not going into detail right now about what happens to photos after the player has snapped them. I'll just say, we're always looking for more ways to get players to go to the community site. The community site forzamotorsport.net has been re-launched with more content and more interaction. We're investing very heavily in the community for Forza Motorsport 2. Expect more details as we get closer to launch.

As in the original Forza Motorsport, take your personalized car onto Xbox Live for some intense online wheel-to-wheel racing – now featuring 12 cars on track at once. Earn in-game credits and complete single-player career objectives while racing over Xbox Live.

For now, we're not announcing most of our new modes. However, our studio, Turn 10 and Bizarre Creations (the makers of the PGR series) have a very strong relationship. We are constantly redefining what it means to be an online racing game. However, we are also sharing technology. This means that we are able to leverage the power of both teams to bring innovative online features to market at an incredible rate.

As a result of this partnership, Forza Motorsport 2 players will enjoy a PGR style TV mode called Forza Motorsport TV. This mode has incredible relevance in the Forza Motorsport franchise. In Forza Motorsport 2, you won't just be watching a bunch of Ferraris racing together. You'll be watching completely customized Ferraris racing in a simulation environment. The personality of the driver emerges in Forza Motorsport TV. Paint schemes and physics mastery add to the excitement and diversity of the "telecasts".

Ah... achievements. I'm a huge gamer. I love that aspect of the Xbox 360 experience. In the first 6 months of playing on the Xbox 360, I broke the 10,000 gamer score mark. Let me tell you, that it wasn't easy to do while working game developer hours. I'm not sure what to say about the Forza Motorsport 2 achievements. They've been lovingly crafted by an achievement junkie;-).

We are still aiming for a Holiday 2006 release and at this stage things are on track. Game development is never easy – especially on a title as big as Forza Motorsport.

Most game's down-size when they make the generational leap. For example, when the Gran Turismo series moved from the PS to the PS2, it lost half its content. Forza Motorsport is making the generational leap and still growing in every way – more tracks, more cars, more upgrades and more modes.

We are driven to follow up a 90+ reviewed game with an even better sequel. The original Forza Motorsport was a great game, but it didn't even touch the game in my head. Forza Motorsport 2 will be one step closer (ok, maybe two steps closer).

We've got an incredible team. They are so creative and talented. The most satisfying aspect of creating Forza Motorsport 2 has been growing as a team and tackling hard problems together.