Forza Motorsport meets the Polaris Slingshot

And so, after more than 1,200 open-air miles, all on three wheels, the Polaris Slingshot reaches Seattle, finish line for the epic Run The Coast road trip.

In just ten days since leaving LA, the Slingshot has been drifted around Willow Springs racetrack by former US champion Dai Yoshihara, travelled up the incredible roads of the Angeles Crest to meet LA’s bikers, cruised along the stunning Pacific Coast Highway all the way to San Francisco, blasted through the beautiful redwood forests of Humboldt County, stopped for a visit with famed automotive artist Randy Grubb in Oregon, met the weird and wonderful denizens of the world’s most famous doughnut shop in Portland, and taken in a spot of longboarding on Washington State's beautiful Maryhill Loops road.

But before the Slingshot parked up for good, and a well-earned cup of the famous local coffee, there was one more stop to make.

In Redmond, just outside Seattle, sit Microsoft’s Turn 10 Studios. Inside are the guys and girls responsible for the formidable Forza Motorsport series of racing games, with over 10 million copies sold since the very first iteration way back in 2005.

Turn 10's offices are the home, the nexus of driving passion. Walk in the door, and alongside a water fountain, the first thing you see is a lifesize replica McLaren P1 (with several prominent “don’t touch” signs). Walls are festooned with racing trophies, full-size exhausts, tyres, and many, many industry awards. Driving simulators abound, with lap times being attacked everywhere you look.  

The day the Slingshot arrives in Redmond, the team are in celebratory mood, having just put the finishing touches to Forza Motorsport 6, by far their biggest and most ambitious project to date.

This Turn 10 team have spent years digitally measuring real-life tracks around the world, accurate to the nearest inch. They’ve produced their own independent tyre data for each of the 450 cars within the game, and recorded original engine noise for each one. The new game features both night-time racing and wet weather for the first time, which involved working out exactly where the puddles actually appear when it rains on, say, the Top Gear track, and recreating the exact treacherous conditions.

And with the game shipped, some of the guys have a well-earned spare hour. Who better to test out the Slingshot than these world experts in the sheer visceral pleasure of driving?

You can see what happened next in the video above, as Alan Hartman, studio head at Turn 10 Studios, and Bill Geise, creative director for the Forza Motorsport games, check out the Slingshot, before some of the guys in the studio head out for a few side-by-side passenger rides.

And then, with the sun going down for the final time, it was time to leave Redmond, and for Run The Coast to come to an end under the glorious Seattle skyline. What a trip. You can check out every video from all ten days of open-air fun below, and next week we’ll be looking back at some of the highlights of the entire Run The Coast trip, along with some never-seen-before photography. See you then... 

Many thanks to everyone at Turn 10 Studios for their time. Forza Motorsport 6 is out now for XBox One - head this way for more details. 

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Want more from Run The Coast?

Here’s what happened when legendary drifter Dai Yoshihara got behind the wheel at Willow Springs racetrack outside LA

The Slingshot heads to the hills above LA to meet California’s bikers

LA to San Francisco: the Slingshot takes on the world’s coolest road, and meets the crowds along the way

Automotive artist Randy Grubb meets the Polaris Slingshot and goes for a ride 

Watch as the Polaris Slingshot hits Portland’s craziest shop, before heading off for a spot of longboarding…

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