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Attention gear heads and livery lovers, there's a brand new track available for Forza Motorsport 3. The Nürburgring GP Track Pack is now out on Xbox Live Marketplace. As the name suggests, the DLC gives players access to the Nürburgring Grand Prix Circuit, offering both short loops and full loops for races. Should you be interested in laying some rubber on this track, or just showing off your latest artistic creation, Nürburgring will run you 400 ($5).

Shortcut: Download the Nuburgring GP Track Pack [via Xbox.com]

VG247 has posted an interview with Forza Motorsport 3 director, Dan Greenwalt. Perhaps the most interesting bit is Greenwalt's explanation of why developer Turn 10 was so intent on making the game run at 60 frames per second. According to Greenwalt, racers that run at 30fps have "visual shuttering artifacts," which developers are forced to cover up with motion blur. This, he said, takes up GPU resources for other features. Beyond that, he noted that the 60fps benchmark was essential to the "feel" of the game and the responsive nature of the controls. "I'm sure you would get a similar response from Infinity Ward regarding Call of Duty," said Greenwalt.

When asked what he thought about Gran Turismo 5, and whether he was looking forward to it, Greenwalt said that "all good game developers look at what their competitors are doing." He stated that he has been "a long-time fan" of the series, though he added, "At this point, after so many missed releases, it's nearly impossible to say what GT5 will be or when it will ship." That said, Greenwalt believes that Gran Turismo 5 will be "a good racing game." Not exactly "No game competes with us," is it?

The interview also covers some interesting statistics, like the fact that players have driven over 1.1 billion miles in online Forza 3 races. Check out the full interview for more stats and insights on the game's development.

Turn 10 is giving players a chance to vote for the vehicles that will be included in a future Forza Motorsport 3 DLC release. Running until January 29, a poll on car enthusiast site Jalopnik.com features 120 vehicles for players to choose from, focusing specifically on "iconic" and "classic" rides.

The partnership with Jalopnik doesn't end there; March's Forza 3 DLC pack will feature the most "coveted 2009 and 2010 models" as chosen by the site's editors. If you're looking for your favorite whip to make the cut, you best make your click. Wait, what's this? The Batmobile is not on the list? Where's the option for a write-in candidate, huh?

Since its late October launch, Forza 3 has sped into over 1 million homes worldwide, marking a commercial milestone for Turn 10's critically acclaimed racer. In conjunction with today's release of the game's second and now premium DLC car pack (the first one's always free, ain't it?), dubbed "Hot Holidays," Microsoft has tallied up some Forza 3 stats.

According to the publisher, players have so far tracked 6.6 million hours and 590 million collective miles -- no word on flats or oil changes. Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg tweets that "more than 4M [million] auction bids" have lead to "$18.7 billion" virtual dollars spent (we have to imagine at least a billion went to that gorgeous coop pictured above). Of course, Microsoft has its eye on the real dollars, offering today's 10-car pack for 400 ($5). The full list of cars is posted after the break.

Additionally, a second premium pack has been confirmed for January 12, and -- wouldn't you know it -- that date coincides with the kick-off of the Detroit International Auto Show. You think that was planned?

Don't want to grow up or pay full price for video games? A list of purported Black Friday game deals for Toys R Us has shown up online, with a few temporary price drops that may justify a late night or early morning trip to TRU on November 27.

Most of the great deals are "5AM Doorbusters," which means that if you have yet to pick up Halo 3: ODST, Need for Speed Shift, or Forza 3, they'll all be $34.99 ... at 5AM. Good luck! Also marked down at that obscenely early hour: Dead Space Extraction, which most of you have yet to pick up. It'll be just $24.99. Whether any of that is worth getting up at ridiculous o'clock to fight each other over is your call. See the full list of deals here.

[Thanks Pete!]

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In one of those "We feel sort of gross about this, but it's okay 'cause we get something cool for free" kinda ways, Microsoft today announced a partnership with Hyundai to bring the Genesis Coupe to Forza 3 as DLC on November 17. And not just one measly version, but three: a Rhys Millen Racing Red Bull Hundai Genesis Coupe, an HKS Genesis Coupe, and a "one of a kind" Genesis Coupe will arrive as a pack – free of charge! And though the name Hyundai may not exactly be synonymous with high speed racing, we're assured their modded counterparts will help to clear any misconceptions.

Man, when is Europe going to get over this whole soccer thing? Not only do they love the real-life sport to an unhealthy degree, often leading to gang formation and general acts of hooliganism, but they also possess a collective, soul-crushing addiction for the game's many virtual representations. For instance, Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 debuted in the top sales spot for UK last week, bumping former first-place finisher FIFA 10 down to third place.

Nestled betwixt these two was Forza Motorsports 3, which admittedly has little to do with soccer. Fourth and fifth place went to Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games and WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 respectively, which have even less to do with soccer -- though the appearance of a wrestling game in the top five gives us hope for the nation. Now there's a sport.

Source -- PES 2010 Scores All Formats No1 [Chart Track]
Source -- All formats chart [Chart Track]

When Forza Motorsport 3 ships on October 27, the retail package will include two discs: One with the actual game and a second with additional content. While the process of importing the tracks from disc two is a relatively simple procedure, we've developed a quick video to show the process in action.

In order to get all of the game's additional content, racing fans will need to have 1.9GB of hard drive space available to import the entire disc. However, as outlined in the video, players can also choose which content they wish to install if space (or interest) is an issue. A complete listing of the game's disc two vehicles and circuits can be found after the break.

Also of note: Microsoft has revealed all new copies of Forza 3 will include a download token for ten classic vehicles and two additional circuits.

Turn 10 doesn't want you camping out at the GameStop and waiting for the first trade-in of Forza 3. Microsoft has announced launch-day incentives in the form of exclusive DLC, packed in for new purchasers. Those who acquire Forza 3 new will get access to two extra race tracks, Benchmark High Speed Ring and Sidewinder Proving Grounds, as well as the Legends Car Pack, a bundle of 10 classic automobiles.

• '65 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA
• '64 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage
• '81 BMW M1
• '60 Chevrolet Corvette
• '69 Dodge Charger
• '57 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa
• '80 Fiat 131 Abarth
• '67 Lamborghini Miura P400
• '71 Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R
• '65 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe

It remains to be seen whether these downloads will eventually become available for purchase on the Xbox Live Marketplace. For now, the content can only be acquired through an in-package token, shipping with new copies of the game on October 27th.

As our more astute readers likely gathered from this very post's headline, another week has gone, so it's about time we checked in with Major Nelson to see what made his list of the most-played games on Xbox Live. Unsurprisingly, Bungie's dynamic duo of Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST managed to do well, taking the first and third spots, respectively -- Call of Duty 4 was in the second slot, while Forza 3's demo managed to get some play time on folks' boxes, taking a tight turn into the seventh place spot.

On the XBLA side, Trials HD did backflips to the top of the list, beating out recent releases Zombie Apocalypse and Bust-A-Move Live!. The remainder of the XBLA list saw favorites Battlefield 1943 and Shadow Complex rounding out the bottom end of the top five.

While rushing to make an appointment to get hands-on time with Crackdown 2, we overheard two Microsoft exhibitors discussing the reception of the recently released Forza Motorsport 3 demo.

Microsoft Rep #1: "Seems like a lot of people like the demo."
Microsoft Rep #2: "Yeah, well we really like that GT5 release date!"

With Gran Turismo 5 launching in 2010, it looks like Forza Motorsport 3 won't have much traffic to contend with when it launches this October. And boy, is Microsoft happy about it.

It was only a few months ago that Ferrari officially unveiled the successor to the F430 in the much rumored Ferrari 458 Italia. With Forza 3 just over a month away, we can certainly understand how developer Turn 10 couldn't find extra time to fully develop the brand new car for its game. Even though the game went gold recently, the developer got right back to work, announcing recently that the mid-engine V8 monster will arrive as DLC this holiday. There's even a sweet video of the car in action that you can see above (and compare it with the real thing found after the break).

We pressed Microsoft for a price and only heard back, "We're not announcing any other details about the Ferrari vehicle at this time, other than to celebrate its inclusion in the game since it's a sick car." Maybe Microsoft will gift us all free Ferraris for the hoidays!

Are you seeing a pattern yet? After an early reveal, Microsoft has officially announced a 250GB Xbox 360 bundle in the UK and South Africa – including Forza Motorsport 3 (standard edition), two wireless controllers, and a headset – all for price of £249.99 or R4,999 (that's $413 and $680 earth bucks, respectively). The bundle will be available on October 23, alongside the game.

Like the recently announced Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 bundle, this Forza 3 "Super Elite" bundle includes the not-available-separately 250GB hard drive, lending credence to the theory that Microsoft will only be including the beefier drive in bundle form. Unlike the Modern Warfare 2 bundle, we don't expect the Forza Xbox to be Forza-themed.

Interestingly, not all bundles will include this 250GB option: take the similarly European 120GB Halo 3: ODST bundle which swaps the 250GB upgrade for a copy of Halo 3. What's still not clear is if any of these foreign bundles will make their way to North America or if the Modern Warfare 2 bundle gets the 250GB drive all to itself.

Microsoft's John Noonan, who is currently working on Crackdown 2 and is co-host of Microsoft Game Studios' Platform Biased podcast, got folks in a tizzy when he tweeted about the Crackdown 2 Zune HD. We got in touch with Noonan, who let us know that this laser-etched model -- along with many others sporting Xbox-exclusive brands -- are available as part of the Zune Original Program at the Zune Store.

The "Xbox Series" features Halo ODST, Gears of War 2 and Forza 3, along with a few others. There doesn't appear to be an extra charge for the advertising fan appreciation, so the only thing you'll pay for is the Zune -- which, we're told is like an iPod.