Decided to break from the career today to have a couple of custom endurance races against the AI. In Forza 4 I would've just picked these from the massive selection in the career menu but that just isn't there any more and I don't want to do the showcase races in proper racing cars.
First race was 25 laps of good old Road Atlanta, in a D350-something Abarth 595 that cocked one of its front wheels if you overcooked a corner a little bit, fully manual with the clutch. Great fun going up and down the gears and the engine is so rev-happy nailing heel-toe downshifts was easy. I didn't want to fight with the AI for 50 minutes so set the drivtards to 'inexperienced'. If the straight line speed was better I would've been out of sight by the end of the first lap, but I was quickly overtaken on the long straight by about 7 cars before taking those places back in the final corners. I think I lapped the pack at least twice, coasting most of the final lap as I was right on the border of running out of fuel. About 40K XP points gained.
That was too easy really so I got out my GMC Vandura and got that to C499 for a 35 lap race at Laguna Seca, this time with the difficultly set to 'expert'. I also decided to go for sequential this time as the van makes grinding noises on almost every shift when using full manual regardless of whether it's bad or not. 35 laps worked out to 1 hour 5 minutes and even with the difficulty cranked up and a big wobbly van I barely noticed the difference. A couple of the drivatards kept crashing on the first turn, at one point spinning and blocking my path on lap 32. Even with damaged suspension I cruised home with the win though and lapped the pack at least once, bagging at least 60 'perfect turn' scores. Obviously I had to pit because I was in a V8 van. 67K XP gained.
I'm very happy with how my wheel is working, the full sized rim really does work well too.