fwiw
I joined the forums the day after I discovered Forza Motorsport 3 in August 2010 and there have been very few days since then that I haven’t at least checked in on the forums. One of the great game features back then was tuning file sharing, so I enjoyed participating in community-run tuning contests as a way to improve my skills. But what I really loved was compiling spreadsheets of car data and events so I could track my gameplay options but also compare car specs.
Back in the 80s I was a car fan due to movies, but something that really interested me was the engineering, so I subscribed to car magazines just to see all the specs of each car. I thought I knew cars then - until I joined the forums and realized how much breadth of knowledge there was in the community. After some time on the forums I thought 'okay, now I know cars* - until I started tabulating the community’s car wish lists and realized again how much was available to learn. There’s always something to learn here on the forums from other community members.
I was a moderator for years, and worked on site for the Forza Racing Championship events in 2017-2018, where I met many of the players in person for the first time. I experienced face to face what I’d been seeing for years on the forums - whether positive or negative, the opinions coming from Forza’s community is a clear demonstration of how passionate they are about the game and just want to see what they love be even better.
One of the other activities I really enjoyed early on was the community lists on the forums (cars that could be detuned to a lower class, cars with engine swaps etc) and I started writing up lists of lists and FAQs. My thought was that if I can help players get the information they need and questions answered, the sooner they’re able to dive into the game and find out what they enjoy about it the same way I did when I was new. That continues to be my goal in my role as a community manager: helping others find their path to fun.
I tend to be a lurker by nature, and I’ve been hovering around since the days of FM4/FH1. Though I’m painfully awkward when it comes to replying, I do like seeing how other people feel about the series. And like others said, I tend to come on and find some good tunes (usually @CashlessPlains8 , @TonyKartRcr and @betinhogvz ) because I’m am still horrible at gear ratios after all these years. I’m sure I’ll still be around for FH6 and the new FM, as well.
Thanks for sharing Max. I’m sure I speak for the majority when I say we know you have a tough job here, but we greatly appreciate all your efforts & dedication to the Forum.
For that I am extremely thankful. I always have so may questions!!! Thanks for always answering my questions!
Also @CashlessPlains8, those are some sweet rides!! If the forums were to do a car meet, I would have to bring my custom one-of-a-kind Silverado, and my dad would have to bring his one-in-500-ever-made Ford F550.
Thanks for the mention! I’m really happy to have a few you guys mention me in this thread and to be a part of this forum and contributor. It’s pretty awesome to be able to share these tunes that make the game more enjoyable for you guys & girls.
Nah, for that gathering, definitely wouldn’t be a need to impress anyone; that would be more about the friendships, & just the spirit of cars & car culture anyway.
You were missed this week Tony; look forward to having you back after your “work-ation”
(Real life does have a tendency to get in the way sometimes for sure)
Concur. Missed the selection of Tony tunes. I’ll have to do up one of the Italian cars in Gulf next week so it’ll be compatible with the tune.
A conversation with my eldest daughter gave me an idea for another livery… gloss black with pearlescent yellow accents. (We were talking about cars with “no keys… push to start”.)
Isn’t it that we are all, or most uf us, “old” people? Like 30+ years old.
For me forum have that right dynamic. Where reddit, discord and social media feels like FOMO generator. Like you need to be in right place in right time to join the discussion.
Discord, to me, is like being in a room full of people and trying to have a conversation with someone across the room. And everyone is listening and joining in your conversation. You don’t know who your talking to anymore.
@Banjacked8153 In “internet years” we are in the same group
@AnakalaRon Technically, here you are doing the same. It is just slower and less people talking at the same time.
That is why I said that froum have “right dynamic”
PS. I need to check something. Does “right dynamic” have equal meaning to “the right dynamics”?
EDIT: I would like to add that Discord was very useful while doing live events. Where all interested parties was able to communicate quickly between each other.
I honestly believe that a big part of the engagement from those of us in the “Senior Division” is bc we were there at the dawn of the industry as the first kids to experience video games & no matter how much time goes by, I’m still amazed by the complexity, graphics, gameplay & just overall realism of what we play today vs where we started. I could be wrong, but for the generation which has grown up with the modern gaming platforms, it’s probably not as impactful overall.
I’m sure I’ll still be around for FH6 and the new FM, as well.
I’ve got one of those now too!
& as far as age goes, I’m probably in that “upper tier” 
well at 60 that must put me on the top shelf then. (never to old for gaming)