Initial D: Forza Stage: What is it?
Initial D: Forza Stage is a blacklist-style leaderboard/ladder for teams in the Forza Touge scene currently based on Forza Horizon 3. It was initially innovated by ‘ES Shado’, who has worked with the drifting community in Forza and decided to pay more attention to the touge scene. Joined
by both ‘KrazyKidJJ26’ and ‘Will is BASED’, the idea was put into motion and shared across the community. A lack of teams that are interested was a considered problem, however to everyone’s surprise, a lot of teams were active in the community and decided to support the idea.
Initial D: Forza Stage is often confused as a tournament or event, however it is neither of these. It is simply an ongoing leaderboard that doesn’t have a set end. The aim of Initial D: Forza Stage is to bring all of the touge teams on Forza Horizon 3 together and competitively rank them, proving who is better than the other. It will also encourage teams to attempt to rank as high as they can on the leaderboard, starting from rock bottom.
Touge racing is often confused with drifting that takes place on touge roads, however touge racing is merely point-to-point racing on touge roads, not necessarily drifting. Good examples of touge racing on Forza Horizon 3 can be found here:
tyseitz vs mitch wolf - ‘Fury of the Dragon’
Team Shinnen vs Foreign Runners - ‘Demon’s Tail’
Initial D: Forza Stage will hopefully bring the community together, and even expand it. As it is team-based, it will hopefully bring drivers together to form teams, and progress through the ladder, or encourage drivers to join up with a successful team in the ladder!
How will it work?
The leaderboard/ladder could be compared to Street Outlaw’s List or NFS Most Wanted’s blacklist, however, instead of individual drivers, it will be focused on teams. If one team beats another team, the winning team will go up and the losing team will go down. The concept is pretty simple however there is more structure to it:
-Each team can only challenge the team above them, so if a team is ranked at #3, they cannot challenge #1 and must challenge #2
-Any team that wishes to enter the ladder will start from the bottom. They do not have to beat the lowest team to ‘gain’ a spot. A new spot will be opened and that will be where the new team resides (For example, if there are 25 teams at that point in time, the new team will become the 26th team). In order to enter Initial D: Forza Stage, the team’s owner/representative must contact either ‘Will is BASED’, ‘KrazyKidJJ26’ or ‘ES Shado’
-If a team wishes to rank up, they have to challenge the team above them, and the choice of course will be the team they challenged. If the challenged team has a home course (more explanation on this later), that will be the course used (For example, if the 26th team challenges the 25th team, the 25th team chooses the course, or uses their home course if they have one)
-If a team is challenged by the team below them, they must accept the challenge in order to defend their position. If declined, the team below the challenged team will gain the challenged team’s spot (for example, if the 26th team challenges the 25th team and the 25th team declines, the 26th team becomes the 25th team and the previous 25th team becomes the new 26th team)
-Both teams will agree to a set time and date, and if the defending team does not show up without any notice, the challenging team will gain their spot. The race may be postponed if agreed by both teams
-The result of any race that counts towards Initial D: Forza Stage must have the results reported to either ‘Will is BASED’, ‘KrazyKidJJ26’ or ‘ES Shado’. You may also record proof using the Xbox One’s Game DVR, and then share it into the Initial D: Forza Stage club, however, this won’t be needed unless if there is a dispute in who won. Still, feel free to provide footage of the race in the club if you wish
-If a team is challenged, and they do not respond to the challenge within a fortnight (2 weeks), the challenging team automatically takes their position (For example, if the 26th team challenges the 25th team, and the 25th team doesn’t respond, the 26th team becomes the 25th team and the previous 25th team becomes the new 26th team)
The Rules, Requirements and Restrictions (ID:FS Brief):
Car:
-The car must be in A Class and therefore has a maximum of 800 PI
-The car must be from a Japanese car manufacturer. The only USDM exceptions to this are the 2001 Acura Integra Type-R (Honda Integra DC2 Type-R), 2002 Acura RSX Type-S (Honda Integra DC5 Type-R) and the 1997 Lexus SC300 (Toyota Soarer), as these all have JDM counterparts as stated in brackets*
-The car cannot exceed 475 horsepower
-The car cannot have a drivetrain swap
-*Teams may also use the non-JDM utility/support vans for spectating team members, such as the 1983 GMC Vandura G-1500 or the 2011 Ford Transit SuperSportVan, but these must be stationary at either the start or finish of the course, or used to block off traffic or mark out the course at technical junctions
Team:
-Each team can have as many members as they wish as long as they have at least 2 drivers to compete. One driver for inbound/uphill, and one driver for outbound/downhill.
-The team name must be sensible. No inappropriate words or references and no racial insults or slurs
-Each team must have a team logo/vinyl made in Forza Horizon 3’s vinyl group tool, and must be visible on the competing cars. This can be as simple or as complex as you want however it must not contain inappropriate images and should preferably have the team name as the main focus
-Teams cannot share members, therefore every person should be in only 1 team. Anyone who is caught double teaming will not be allowed to participate in Initial D: Forza Stage races, and any races that they may somehow take part in will not count towards Initial D: Forza Stage
-Serious team rivalry is not allowed. We want to maintain sportsmanship. Any team caught endorsing or encouraging vulgar behaviour towards another team will be removed from the leaderboard
Course:
-All courses must be approved by the of the administrators in order to be used
-Courses cannot take part in any DLC/Expansions (For example: Blizzard Mountain)
-Courses must be 100% tarmac. Off-road routes are not allowed
-Course names cannot be inappropriate
-Courses should not use the main highway except for crossing it
-Courses should not be located in Surfers Paradise
Race:
-There will be an uphill race and a downhill race, not particularly in that order. If one team wins both the downhill and uphill, they are the winners. If one team wins the uphill and the other team wins the downhill, a tiebreaker race must take place. This can be either:
1.The winner of the uphill going against the winner of the downhill.
2.A set of time attack runs. The defending team will set a time either before or during the whole event and then the challenging team has to beat it in one run/one attempt
The direction of the race depends on if the uphill or downhill winner is from the defending team. If the defending team’s driver won the uphill but lost the downhill, the tiebreaker will take place on the uphill and vice versa.
-All races should follow the Cat ‘n’ Mouse format, with the defending team choosing who leads or who chases. Generally, the challenging team should chase and the defending team should lead
-A distance must be marked at the finish of the race, of which if the chasing car is within this distance to the leading car or has overtaken the leading car, the chasing car wins, or if the chasing car has a bigger distance between them and the leading car than this distance, the leading car wins. This distance must be agreed upon by both teams
-If a car crashes into traffic or into a tree, the race may be restarted, but each team has a maximum of 2 restarts for the uphill and 2 restarts for the downhill
-Contact is allowed, however excessive bumping is not. If the contact heavily affects a driver, the race is restarted. This counts towards the other team’s restart count
-Cutting corners is not allowed, however 2 wheel dips are allowed, and understeering off the road is also allowed (do not confuse with taking the corner wider than you should, which also counts as cutting). If a driver cuts a corner, the race is restarted and counts towards the restarts of the team that cut the corner.
Home Courses:
Almost all teams in Initial D: Forza Stage have home courses. These are the routes that you will be driving on. Each course will have an inbound/uphill (regular/normal direction) and an outbound/downhill (reversed direction). Teams are not required to have a home course, however it is advised that you do create a home course. This is because you will be more likely to win on that course, as you’ll be more familiar with it, and will have more understanding of the course than your rival teams, which ultimately means you’ll be able to defend your position on the ladder. However if you choose not to create and use a home course, it means you will have to race on a different course, belonging to a different team. You will need permission from the team that owns that course, however an exception to this is the course ‘Fury of the Dragon’, as it is no longer in use by any specific team and is seen as a community course. Teams may also share a home course with both team’s permission. For example, Team A may use the same course as Team B, which will have the same name.
Initial D: Forza Stage is a blacklist-style leaderboard/ladder for teams in the Forza Touge scene currently based on Forza Horizon 3. It was initially innovated by ‘ES Shado’, who has worked with the drifting community in Forza and decided to pay more attention to the touge scene. Joined
by both ‘KrazyKidJJ26’ and ‘Will is BASED’, the idea was put into motion and shared across the community. A lack of teams that are interested was a considered problem, however to everyone’s surprise, a lot of teams were active in the community and decided to support the idea.
Initial D: Forza Stage is often confused as a tournament or event, however it is neither of these. It is simply an ongoing leaderboard that doesn’t have a set end. The aim of Initial D: Forza Stage is to bring all of the touge teams on Forza Horizon 3 together and competitively rank them, proving who is better than the other. It will also encourage teams to attempt to rank as high as they can on the leaderboard, starting from rock bottom.
Touge racing is often confused with drifting that takes place on touge roads, however touge racing is merely point-to-point racing on touge roads, not necessarily drifting. Good examples of touge racing on Forza Horizon 3 can be found here:
tyseitz vs mitch wolf - ‘Fury of the Dragon’
Team Shinnen vs Foreign Runners - ‘Demon’s Tail’
Initial D: Forza Stage will hopefully bring the community together, and even expand it. As it is team-based, it will hopefully bring drivers together to form teams, and progress through the ladder, or encourage drivers to join up with a successful team in the ladder!
How will it work?
The leaderboard/ladder could be compared to Street Outlaw’s List or NFS Most Wanted’s blacklist, however, instead of individual drivers, it will be focused on teams. If one team beats another team, the winning team will go up and the losing team will go down. The concept is pretty simple however there is more structure to it:
-Each team can only challenge the team above them, so if a team is ranked at #3, they cannot challenge #1 and must challenge #2
-Any team that wishes to enter the ladder will start from the bottom. They do not have to beat the lowest team to ‘gain’ a spot. A new spot will be opened and that will be where the new team resides (For example, if there are 25 teams at that point in time, the new team will become the 26th team). In order to enter Initial D: Forza Stage, the team’s owner/representative must contact either ‘Will is BASED’, ‘KrazyKidJJ26’ or ‘ES Shado’
-If a team wishes to rank up, they have to challenge the team above them, and the choice of course will be the team they challenged. If the challenged team has a home course (more explanation on this later), that will be the course used (For example, if the 26th team challenges the 25th team, the 25th team chooses the course, or uses their home course if they have one)
-If a team is challenged by the team below them, they must accept the challenge in order to defend their position. If declined, the team below the challenged team will gain the challenged team’s spot (for example, if the 26th team challenges the 25th team and the 25th team declines, the 26th team becomes the 25th team and the previous 25th team becomes the new 26th team)
-Both teams will agree to a set time and date, and if the defending team does not show up without any notice, the challenging team will gain their spot. The race may be postponed if agreed by both teams
-The result of any race that counts towards Initial D: Forza Stage must have the results reported to either ‘Will is BASED’, ‘KrazyKidJJ26’ or ‘ES Shado’. You may also record proof using the Xbox One’s Game DVR, and then share it into the Initial D: Forza Stage club, however, this won’t be needed unless if there is a dispute in who won. Still, feel free to provide footage of the race in the club if you wish
-If a team is challenged, and they do not respond to the challenge within a fortnight (2 weeks), the challenging team automatically takes their position (For example, if the 26th team challenges the 25th team, and the 25th team doesn’t respond, the 26th team becomes the 25th team and the previous 25th team becomes the new 26th team)
The Rules, Requirements and Restrictions (ID:FS Brief):
Car:
-The car must be in A Class and therefore has a maximum of 800 PI
-The car must be from a Japanese car manufacturer. The only USDM exceptions to this are the 2001 Acura Integra Type-R (Honda Integra DC2 Type-R), 2002 Acura RSX Type-S (Honda Integra DC5 Type-R) and the 1997 Lexus SC300 (Toyota Soarer), as these all have JDM counterparts as stated in brackets*
-The car cannot exceed 475 horsepower
-The car cannot have a drivetrain swap
-*Teams may also use the non-JDM utility/support vans for spectating team members, such as the 1983 GMC Vandura G-1500 or the 2011 Ford Transit SuperSportVan, but these must be stationary at either the start or finish of the course, or used to block off traffic or mark out the course at technical junctions
Team:
-Each team can have as many members as they wish as long as they have at least 2 drivers to compete. One driver for inbound/uphill, and one driver for outbound/downhill.
-The team name must be sensible. No inappropriate words or references and no racial insults or slurs
-Each team must have a team logo/vinyl made in Forza Horizon 3’s vinyl group tool, and must be visible on the competing cars. This can be as simple or as complex as you want however it must not contain inappropriate images and should preferably have the team name as the main focus
-Teams cannot share members, therefore every person should be in only 1 team. Anyone who is caught double teaming will not be allowed to participate in Initial D: Forza Stage races, and any races that they may somehow take part in will not count towards Initial D: Forza Stage
-Serious team rivalry is not allowed. We want to maintain sportsmanship. Any team caught endorsing or encouraging vulgar behaviour towards another team will be removed from the leaderboard
Course:
-All courses must be approved by the of the administrators in order to be used
-Courses cannot take part in any DLC/Expansions (For example: Blizzard Mountain)
-Courses must be 100% tarmac. Off-road routes are not allowed
-Course names cannot be inappropriate
-Courses should not use the main highway except for crossing it
-Courses should not be located in Surfers Paradise
Race:
-There will be an uphill race and a downhill race, not particularly in that order. If one team wins both the downhill and uphill, they are the winners. If one team wins the uphill and the other team wins the downhill, a tiebreaker race must take place. This can be either:
1.The winner of the uphill going against the winner of the downhill.
2.A set of time attack runs. The defending team will set a time either before or during the whole event and then the challenging team has to beat it in one run/one attempt
The direction of the race depends on if the uphill or downhill winner is from the defending team. If the defending team’s driver won the uphill but lost the downhill, the tiebreaker will take place on the uphill and vice versa.
-All races should follow the Cat ‘n’ Mouse format, with the defending team choosing who leads or who chases. Generally, the challenging team should chase and the defending team should lead
-A distance must be marked at the finish of the race, of which if the chasing car is within this distance to the leading car or has overtaken the leading car, the chasing car wins, or if the chasing car has a bigger distance between them and the leading car than this distance, the leading car wins. This distance must be agreed upon by both teams
-If a car crashes into traffic or into a tree, the race may be restarted, but each team has a maximum of 2 restarts for the uphill and 2 restarts for the downhill
-Contact is allowed, however excessive bumping is not. If the contact heavily affects a driver, the race is restarted. This counts towards the other team’s restart count
-Cutting corners is not allowed, however 2 wheel dips are allowed, and understeering off the road is also allowed (do not confuse with taking the corner wider than you should, which also counts as cutting). If a driver cuts a corner, the race is restarted and counts towards the restarts of the team that cut the corner.
Home Courses:
Almost all teams in Initial D: Forza Stage have home courses. These are the routes that you will be driving on. Each course will have an inbound/uphill (regular/normal direction) and an outbound/downhill (reversed direction). Teams are not required to have a home course, however it is advised that you do create a home course. This is because you will be more likely to win on that course, as you’ll be more familiar with it, and will have more understanding of the course than your rival teams, which ultimately means you’ll be able to defend your position on the ladder. However if you choose not to create and use a home course, it means you will have to race on a different course, belonging to a different team. You will need permission from the team that owns that course, however an exception to this is the course ‘Fury of the Dragon’, as it is no longer in use by any specific team and is seen as a community course. Teams may also share a home course with both team’s permission. For example, Team A may use the same course as Team B, which will have the same name.
Notice: SSP DID NOT CREATE THIS COMPETITION, NEITHER DO WE HOST THESE. WE ARE SIMPLY GETTING THE WORD OUT SO THE LEADERBOARD CAN GROW.