BMW M3 GTR (E46) 2002 - Inaccurate car model

This issue has persisted since Forza Motorsport 2. The BMW M3 GTR Strassenversion in Forza Motorsport has an inaccurate car model. Since it shares the base model with the standard E46 M3, it also shares its inaccuracies with it. This even includes the factory GTR body kit itself, as it is available within body customization on the standard E46 M3.

Since the body model is shared with the standard E46 M3, all inaccuracies can be found in its Report which I have linked above, so I will shorten this report.

The front end is extremely disproportionate, with the bumper sticking out too far due to the grille and lights part of the front fascia being tucked too far into the car. The bumper itself also has wrong air intake shapes, as they are far too big and the areas around the side intakes aren’t rounded.


Just like on the standard E46 M3, the side line is ruined by disproportionately large wheels. They also have inaccurate shapes and very low quality, as the wheels on the rear axle are not concave enough.


For some unknown reason, in Forza Motorsport the factory carbon rear spoiler has been replaced with the standard E46 M3 lip, though the correct spoiler is available as Customization. Then there is the rest of the rear end, which is once again disproportionate. The rear bumper is too big compared to the rest, and the exhaust tips are placed incorrectly, despite them being in a different position on the standard E46 M3 which also features this rear bumper as a Customization option. Finally, the taillights are weirdly low quality, and the reverse light/ fog light parts of them are incorrectly red instead of white. This shows that this model is just a modified standard E46 M3 model.


BMW has a few E46 M3 GTR Strassenversion models on display, and I think they wouldn’t decline borrowing one for scanning. This car, as well as its standard counterpart, needs a complete rescan.

I believe its color is also inaccurate, as it persisted since its return to the Forza series in FH4. It looks a bit yellowish, as it remains the same in FH5. Meanwhile, its color/paint in the new FM is darker, makes it even more worse.

Well not just the inaccurate color, but also, there are two additional inaccurate parts in the rear:

  • The lip on the trunk is supposed to be Carbon fibre, but it ended up as a body color instead.
  • Taillight housings in the trunk were taken from the 2003-2006 facelift E46, as the M3 GTR is only a 2001 model year where it’s supposed to have pre-facelift Taillight housings.

Both of these are mentioned according to the Forza wiki page of the car.

In conclusion, the X360 model only got the color, carbon lip, and taillight housings correct. As it returns to FH4, it was never remodeled but a few things from its model got downgraded, making its “disproportionate” model a little bit more worse. Its inaccuracy is indeed shared with the standard M3 E46 because both of them debuted together starting with FM2.

And comparing to the PS2 GT4 model, it had a better-looking shape than the Forza model, and its wheels are in a different set. So maybe, imagine if the M3 GTR would return to GT7, it will look very incredible there.

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