We’ve had an influx of launch events in lil’ ol New Zealand of late. This week we were invited to attend the Microsoft Xbox New Zealand launch for Forza Motorsport 3 at the Hoyts Sylvia Park Cinema complex in Auckland.

Tolan Henderson from Microsoft Xbox NZ was on-hand to take us through the initial experience of playing Forza on the largest movie screen (30.63 x 12.29 metres!!) in New Zealand. And boy, was it HUGE. After watching Tolan smash the asphalt with his mad skillz, we were all invited to play the game in three separate theatres. There were individual car simulators also set up for that ‘realistic’ driving experience.

They weren't kidding when they said 'Big Screen'

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the ‘Director’s Suite’ theatres at Sylvia Park, I highly recommend that you do. You don’t know comfort until you try one of those chairs. Now, I’ve just got to figure out a way to get one home

Big theatre, big screen and even bigger chair!

The simulators were awesome and really added to the experience of Forza 3. It felt alot like being in a real car with pedals and a steering wheel. Obviously, not everyone can experience Forza 3 like this from their homes, but if you get an opportunity to try Forza 3 on a simulator (like at Armageddon next weekend!), you should definitely give it a go!

Hmm, pretty sure there should be wheels on this thing…

Forza 3 looked impressive on the big screen. The game boasts over 400 vehicles (some of which you must unlock in the game), and more than 100 race tracks to choose from. You can also customise and tune your cars and the development team have worked closely with real automotive engineers to create a very realistic driving game experience.

Forza 3 for Xbox 360 will be available in stores in New Zealand from the 23rd of October.