Paul Valente
Automotive Engineer
I have been dutifully silent on this but I guess the cat is out of the bag. A while ago, actually, quite a while ago (a long time when you are keeping a secret anyhow :wink2: ), Fred Russell from Microsoft's Turn Ten Studios contacted me regarding my X1/9. He'd been calling around to various guys like Brett Melancon and John Montgomery and the late great Damon Kane looking for a Euro 1975 X1/9 that was original looking and he kept getting my name.
My car is a '74 so and not 100% European but has the slotted rear valance, the euro spec bumpers and isn't modified externally to any meaningful degree so Fred decided it was as good a starting point as he was going to get in North America. A few weeks later a photographer named Drew flew out to Detroit to take some pictures of it. Like, 250 or so pictures of it.:eyepop:
I had done some prep work like putting in the amber turn signal lenses, installing the stock air cleaner lid, restoring an original steel wheel and Michelin 145R13 XZX tire and digging an NOS muffler out of the garage so that Drew could get all of the details of those items as well and the modelers could build the car they wanted in the computer world. These guys are detail oriented! I mean, Fred was asking about all these details and I'm thinking, no one playing the game is going to know all this but Fred persevered. He wanted to make sure if you crashed the car in the game that if the engine lid flew off, the motor would look right! It is insanely accurate. It doesn't hurt that Fred is a huge Italian car fan either!
So, through a lot of work on the part of the Turn Ten guys they were able to morph my car into the Euro spec 1975 X1/9 they wanted.
I was interested as to why Fred was insistent on 1975 and he told me the reason but I'm not sure I can say what it is yet but what was announced yesterday was that an X1/9 will be part of something called the Bob Bondurant Pak for Forza Motorsport 5. I don't know much about XBOX, but the game they sent me is for an XBOX ONE. Don't know if it is available on other platforms or not.
Looks better in French Blue, if you ask me. :wink2:
My car is a '74 so and not 100% European but has the slotted rear valance, the euro spec bumpers and isn't modified externally to any meaningful degree so Fred decided it was as good a starting point as he was going to get in North America. A few weeks later a photographer named Drew flew out to Detroit to take some pictures of it. Like, 250 or so pictures of it.:eyepop:
I had done some prep work like putting in the amber turn signal lenses, installing the stock air cleaner lid, restoring an original steel wheel and Michelin 145R13 XZX tire and digging an NOS muffler out of the garage so that Drew could get all of the details of those items as well and the modelers could build the car they wanted in the computer world. These guys are detail oriented! I mean, Fred was asking about all these details and I'm thinking, no one playing the game is going to know all this but Fred persevered. He wanted to make sure if you crashed the car in the game that if the engine lid flew off, the motor would look right! It is insanely accurate. It doesn't hurt that Fred is a huge Italian car fan either!
So, through a lot of work on the part of the Turn Ten guys they were able to morph my car into the Euro spec 1975 X1/9 they wanted.
I was interested as to why Fred was insistent on 1975 and he told me the reason but I'm not sure I can say what it is yet but what was announced yesterday was that an X1/9 will be part of something called the Bob Bondurant Pak for Forza Motorsport 5. I don't know much about XBOX, but the game they sent me is for an XBOX ONE. Don't know if it is available on other platforms or not.
Looks better in French Blue, if you ask me. :wink2:
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