Using an External USB Hard Drive to Run Games on an Xbox 360 Plus Forza 4 Played with ONLY OLD CARS!

 January 31, 2023

#462

Gentle reader,

I know a fellow who really got into speeding up classic video games by loading many of them on an external hard drive for one of my nephews. At the time, I found it a novelty, but having used external back up drives for my PCs and laptop, it made sense to do that with my Xbox 360 consoles as well.

I did research on how to do that (many call that "googling", but I use another, non-tracking search engine) and found it was not difficult at all. Thus, I backed up ALL my game data, including the no longer obtainable Car Packs, onto the USB back up drive.

Then, one time, when the "FM4*" loaded, a screen appeared offering to let me choose which drive to run the game from. I thought, "You can do that?" and gave it a try. *For the rest of this article, I will refer to Forza Motorsports 4 as "FM4".

Yes you can! And, I was able to start FM4 from the beginning! But, this time, I have ALL the cars to choose from! So, I thought, "This time, I'm only going to race and modify OLD cars." And I have been doing just that. What fun! For an exhaustive list of ALL THE CARS, check out this site: List of Cars | Forza Motorsport 4 Wiki | Fandom

There are three physical versions of Microsoft's vaunted Xbox 360 console. I found this image in an article I am linking below for further information, should you need or desire to read more about this subject.

The web site this image was found on is here: Recommendation: Best Xbox 360 Internal or External Hard Drives

The only type of '360 I have ever used is the one on the left. I've owned a number of them. I've two good ones right now which I use. I have installed the only game I play*, Forza Motorsports 4, directly on the external hard drive which sits atop the console, but even so, the console STILL uses the game disc and it can be noisy and slow.

*I have tried many of the popular racing games available for the Xbox 360, but none ever satisfied like Forza Motorsports 4. The "BU", above, means it is the Back Up drive, rather than the main drive I use.

A typical generic (or name branded) case for 3 1/2" laptop hard drives.

The photos above show a generic 3 1/2" (laptop) hard drive case which I installed a new laptop hard drive within. While it has a round port to plug in an AC powered adapter, it is not needed. The USB power from the '360 is sufficient to run it.

There is a USB port to the LEFT of to the Category 6 (network) cable port on these original Xbox 360 consoles.

The HALO green hard drive is a Chinese copy of the original. One can easily find them, they are pre-formatted to the Xbox 360. In fact, one of the articles I am linking below lists MANY external drives, including one of the green ones.

The green HDD works fine and I will never fill it up, since I only play one game. The black one on the right is one of the largest that Microsoft made for this type on console: 120GB.

This particular laptop-sized external hard drive case has a "Y" USB cable. One cable is thicker than the other, which is visible above, but not below. The thicker one is the one to connect to your console. The thinner one is if the drive needs extra power which it would draw should the second cable also be plugged into a computer's second USB port. It does not carry data.

The case above has a synthetic rubber coating on it. Similar to some smart phone cases. It was first used on the back of some film cameras in days of old.

Note how it has been rubbed off by simply using the camera. 

In order to use a new external hard drive, one must FORMAT it. This link, from Microsoft themselves, tells one how to do that.

How to reset or reformat your Xbox 360 to factory default settings | Xbox Support

To FIND your hard drives, the pictures which are below, show step-by-step how to find your drives and how to choose which one to use with a game.

This is the Xbox 360 home page of which I imagine you are quite familiar. 

Press up on the D-PAD on your steering wheel or controller. Then keep pressing right until it gets to "settings".

Press the green "A" button, and the "drawer" will open as seen above.

The screen will then look like this.

Press down on the D-PAD to get to Storage. Then press the green A button.

This shows all the possible drives (devices). The top one is the hard drive within or on the top of your console.

Which is the one highlighted in green above.

Now, the new external drive, which I have attached via the USB port, is highlighted.

Pressing the green A button will open this list on the contents of the new drive. Obviously, what you have on your drive will differ from what mine contains.

Again, what will be on your drive will be different than mine. ALL I play is Forza Motorsports 4.

I am fortunate to have kept the same gamer tag all these years and to have transferred all of my data to the external drive, which I mentioned above. Thus, I can still draw from and drive EVERY car ever offered by FM4.

Okay, so that shows what is within my drive. 

NOW, below, I show you how to choose which drive to use when playing a game: 

Internal, with game disc, or External without the disc.

Press the green A button on games and the My Games drawer will open.

In my case, this is the game in the disc drawer. Press the green A button again and the game begins loading. 

Once that finishes, a screen similar to this one will appear and ask you to: "A Press A to start the game."

With MORE than one drive, this screen will show.

Using the D-PAD, press down to the "USB Storage Device" and press the green A button.

Here is the list of contents. Press the green A button on the list of "Games and Apps".

A list of all the games you have INSTALLED on YOUR external drive will be listed.

IF you haven't INSTALLED any games on your external drive, then you will have to do so. Warning: Xbox 360 consoles are NOT speed demons. It will take a little while for the entire contents of EACH game disc to be transferred to the hard drive.

After selecting which Device to use, the game will load as usual, BUT, if you are using a USB drive, it will load much quicker and silently.

Below are links to articles I researched to aid you, dear reader, in your quest to follow suit and improve how you play games on you classic Xbox 360!

13 Best External Hard Drive For Xbox 360 2023: In-Depth Reviews For You  

Recommendation: Best Xbox 360 Internal or External Hard Drives

Thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to read my humble blog. I hope that you found this information useful. Feel free to leave a comment BELOW or on Facebook.

Scott Robb

January 31, 2023

#462

Bonus material: As noted in the title, and above, I am ONLY going to modify and race OLDER cars, rear-wheel-drive whenever possible. I am 66 years old (a geezer) and first learned to drive in the early 1970's! Almost all cars were rear-wheel-drive then. SUVs, Crossovers and Minivans did not exist then. Nor did cell phones, the Internet or many other things people take for granted today. 

MOST racing cars in the world are rear-wheel-drive. Most STREET cars are front-wheel-drive. And the street cars are FANTASTIC cars. They do EVERYTHING better than the old cars I used to drive could do. If I were to get into one of the cars I drove back in the day and took it for a drive, I would likely think, "What a piece of crap!"

My first car, which I bought in September, 1973, looked like the one below. It was a 1964 Chevrolet (Chevy) Impala two-door hardtop. Note that there is NOTHING there when all four windows are down. That shows it is a Coupe or Hardtop. ALL cars and trucks today have metal frames around the door's windows.

This was the type of interior it had. Those are called Bench Seats. My interior was tan-to-brown in color.

Note the shifter for the transmission was mounted on the steering column, not on the floor like almost all cars have nowadays.

And the automatic transmission had TWO gears: Low and Drive.

Because the engine drove the REAR WHEELS (rear-wheel-drive) it sits "longitudinal" or front to rear. The transmission is behind the engine. A drive-shaft comes out of the transmission, under the center of the car and attaches to the rear differential (rear end) and it drives the rear axles and thus the wheels/tires.

The engine above is a "V-8", which means four cylinders on each side of the V-shaped engine block.

This is my current car. It is 18-years-old and I absolutely ADORE it! I will keep it running forever. It is a 2005 Volvo V50 station wagon.

Note, that it has "bucket" seats as ALL cars and most other passenger cars and light trucks have. 

It has a floor shifter for the six-speed MANUAL transmission. VERY RARE.

It has a turbocharged FIVE cylinder engine. Which is VERY unusual these days. It, like 95% of all passenger vehicles today, has a "transverse" (side-to-side) engine. 

It has THREE pedals! The left one is the CLUTCH pedal. Something you have probably never seen nor heard of. The clutch mechanically connects the engine to the transmission. To accelerate from a stop takes the skill to press the gas pedal just the right amount and slowly let out (take your left foot off of) the clutch pedal. To change gears, the clutch must be disengaged, then the shifter moved from one gear to the next highest: 1>2>3>4>5>6. When slowing down, one can shift the gears back down, it helps the vehicle stop quicker. If you fail to move the gear shifter to neutral when slowing down, the engine will stall. "Seems like a lot of work.", you may be thinking.

WHY do I drive such an OLD car with such archaic technology? Because it is FUN. The same car with an automatic transmission WILL shift gears quicker. But, this car will win a drag race (on a sanctioned, official drag strip, of course) every time over the automatic car. The M66 transmission is set up for RAPID acceleration over the five-speed automatic transmission. Plus my humble V50's official top speed is 149 MPH! 

My car has ZERO "TECH". It cannot tell me how to get somewhere, it cannot answer my phone, should it ring, while I am driving. It cannot connect to the Internet. It cannot play a movie, or connect to satellite radio. And I am SO OK about that!

Call me old fashioned, go ahead. I am. Another good thing about having a manual transmission, MOST car thieves have NO IDEA how to drive a car with a manual transmission!

So, I always leave it in REVERSE, as seen above. They will look in the window, see the shifter and walk away. Hopefully.

Simulation Racing the Awesome Australian V8 Supercars In Forza

 January 21, 2023

#461

Gentle reader,

I entered the world of simulation (car) racing way back with a PC racing game titled "Test Drive Le Mans". I quickly concluded that I HAD to have a steering wheel and pedals to do it properly.

Simulation racing has come a long way since those early days. I am probably one of the oldest virtual racers out there, being 66 and having been driving in the real world almost fifty years.

I came across this still image, likely made by the game designers, of Kiwi (New Zealander) Scott McLaughlin's 2014 Volvo S60 V8 Supercar.

The name, "supercar" causes most people to think of exotic sports cars, which is what I thought it stood for too, before stumbling across the iconic South Pacific racing series on YouTube. I have put links below to several web sites which relate to the sport and/or tell the history of it.

The sport evolved from "Touring Cars" racing, a worldwide racing series which most fans love because the cars roaring around race circuits are street cars modified to race. "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday" has been a positive side effect of "stock car" racing which touring car racing qualifies as. Back in the late 1990's here in North America we too had it. It was called NATCC. Manufacturers got involved and I got interested in it because the sole US car maker was Dodge with a pair of Stratus racers. Which is what I was driving at the time. 

Years ago, I came across these three images of a diecast model car of David (son of legendary Marc) Donohue's #8 NATCC Dodge Stratus.

Now, many hear "stock car racing" and think of NASCAR. Sadly, there is NOTHING stock on a NASCAR racer. Prior to the 1980's race cars were still made from STOCK cars. People in the stands or watching it on TV could relate because (like in touring cars) the cars they see racing LOOK exactly like what might be in their garage or in the parking lot of the race track.

Supercars is what NASCAR could be, if it actually tried to mimic REAL cars. Supercars look exactly like what they are supposed to be: Actual street cars. The grilles, headlights, taillights, mirrors and a few other things are actual factory parts. ALL four doors open, the lights works and they have a windshield wiper because rain does not stop a Supercars race. 

From the beginning of the series, it was "Australian V8 Supercars". Because the only cars that could be raced were Australian made Ford Falcons and (General Motors) Holden Commodores. The latter were later sold in the US as: Pontiac G8s, Chevrolet Caprice (police cars) and lastly as Chevrolet's SS. 

Then, around 2010, Supercars came up with a new chassis design and invited other car makers to join in the race series. Mercedes Benz accepted with their C63 AMG, Nissan with their Altima and Volvo with their S60. ALL cars are four door sedans in the real world and in the races.

Now, most Mercedes Benz cars are rear-wheel-drive and many come with their V8 engines. Nissan and Volvo also made V8 engines, but most of their cars were (and still are) front-wheel-drive. Nissan's V8 engines were in their big SUVs and pickup trucks. Volvo's V8 was designed and built by Yamaha (just as Ford's SHO Taurus V8/V6 engines and the original Corvette ZR-1 16-valve V8 engines were) and were an option in the S80 sedans and XC90 large SUVs. But, like in the Taurus, they were mounted "transverse" (sideways) in the engine bay, as seen below.

A friend's Volvo XC90's V8 engine. 

Polestar, is now Volvo's elite (and electric) car line but was an independent modifier of Volvo cars and engines and built Volvo race cars. Thus, Volvo hired them to modify the engines (above) and build/race the S60 V8 Supercars in the 2014/2015 seasons.

Photo from the 2015 Supercars season with Scotty Mclaughlin "bouncing in off the kerbs" in a race. Obviously, this is the car rendered in Forza 6 image at the top of the article.

Two of the Mercedes Benz C63 AMG racers from the same seasons.

Two of the several Nissan Altima Supercars which outlasted Mercedes Benz and Volvo in the series.

Nissan cars were chosen by a number of teams that raced Fords or Holdens, while only one team chose Mercedes cars for a team of two. Just as only a pair of Volvos were raced.

OK, now that I have shown real V8 Supercars let me get to the V8 Supercars which were offered in Forza Motorsports 4, the only game in the series I have raced in. 

Note the bright car numbers on the rear doors and left side of the windshield.

Part of the appeal of Microsoft's iconic racing series is the level of realism they put into everything. Note how these five Fords (and the five Holdens below) are rated at R3 709. That equates to the approximately 640 horsepower the real cars are limited to. 

Modifying them up to R3 800 gives them over 900 horsepower and the ability to reach 205 MPH which equates to almost 330 KMH!

Note the lack of car numbers on this Falcon and the Commodore below. I believe that Forza does not allow putting things on the car's glass.

Thanks to the thousands of skilled artists within the Forza community, one can enjoy realistic liveries such as this one of a DJR/Penske Falcon. The team later changed to Mustangs once Ford of Australia ceased producing Holden cars.

Also of note, Penske hired Scott McLaughlin to join their team in a Mustang and he won the championship THREE times in a row! Penske later brought him to the US to race on his Indy cars team. He has done very well in the series.

Again, note the bright car numbers on the rear doors and left side of the windshield.

These are the five team cars one can choose from in Forza Motorsports 4. Obviously, there are a lot more than five teams in the series. Since there is a Volvo in FM6, I can assume there are far more available in later versions of the series.

Again, at least one artist captured the new livery for the 2015 500 KM race at Sandown, in which Microsoft sponsored a Supercars team.

Here is a Holden Commodore Supercars engine. It is missing the ducting which directs air to the eight individual intake tubes seen here.

Since only Ford and GM racers are available, and I am far from being the only fan of Volvo racing, several talented artists captured Volvo's livery quite well. 

This particular artist compensated by placing number 33 on the C pillars.

If FM4 had offered the Volvo V8 engine as a swap into the S60, it might be able to be close in performance to an R3 800 modified Supercar.

Since this Mercedes Benz C63 AMG is equipped with a V8 engine from the factory, it is much faster than the Volvo.

FM4 does not offer any modern sedan from Nissan except this Sentra which is a smaller car than the Altima. Yet, with an engine swap and turbocharging, this little thing will perform very high in the R3 category.

Now, Volvo was, and is, involved in Touring Cars racing series and others around the world. 

They read the BTCC (British) rule book very carefully and found no mention that the cars had to be saloons (sedans) so, they prepared two estates (wagons) to race instead!

These two images of both cars within the team, show just how low they sit and how little suspension travel they have compared to street cars.

Note the lack of any spoilers on the cars. This image is in a Volvo museum.

Some images of my 1:43rd scale Volvo 850 diecast car models.

The real cars really do sit this low.

Lastly, about Volvos: I drive a 2005 V50 T5 M66. What those numbers mean is: V is for "Versatile", or wagon/estate. Cars numbered (then): 30, 40, 50 & 70 were P1 chassis and thus compact cars. C30s and C70s were two-doors with the latter being offered as convertibles. Larger Volvo models (then) were #s 60, 70, 80 and 90 and were built on larger chassis and thus midsize or large cars. "T" (then) stood for Turbocharged engines. "5" (then) meant it has a five-cylinder engine. "M" meant manual transmission and "66" meant a six-speed transmission.

Now, recovering from my overenthusiastic tangent, let me get back to RACING V8 Supercars. Within FM4, there are (at least) two Supercars-only series. They also can race in Ford-only race car series. And of course, any R3 race series within the game.

Stock at R709, you are going to lose, no matter how good you are. Thus, do a quick modification to R800. The game will ask if you want to be automatically upgraded the first time you try to enter a R800 race.

Just the other day, I was racing online around the Nürburgring Nordschleife in the Xbox Holden shown above. Along the start/finish straight, I was doing 204 MPH! The thrill of racing purpose-built (verses us modifying stock cars to race) race cars is the excellent handling, cornering, braking and acceleration that only real race cars can give. 

As noted in the beginning of this article, I can't race without a steering wheel and pedals. 

This a 42" LG HDTV which I use. Originally using a Samsung 32" HD monitor. Note the map of the Nürburgring Nordschleife above, left.

My ever-loving-and-supportive wife, bought me a gaming chair. Those are were worn GEOX driving shoes. I wore out my original Piloti driving shoes racing.

Black T-shirt supports a lumbar cushion which is necessary for me. I also built and added a thigh support to the front of the chair.

An aerial photograph of the Nürburgring Nordschleife which better shows the elevation changes of the circuit and whit is within and without the iconic race circuit.

To conclude, if you haven't tried V8 Supercars, what are you waiting for? They are hard to see out of due to the rollbar tube which angles down right to left. So, I chose to see with just the car's hood and (added by game designer) large rearview mirror. They have very torquey V8 engines and I find I must utilize the traction control while racing anything S-Class or higher.

And, now, as promised, some links for you to explore more about Supercars series and their history:

Our History - Supercars, Supercars - YouTube, 2014 International V8 Supercars Championship - YouTube, 2015 V8 Supercars Championship,  YouTube A History of V8 Supercars - How the V8 Supercars Championship Series Works | HowStuffWorks and The Supercars Championship History | The Supercars Collective

Thank you for taking the time to read this very long article. I hope you learned some things from it and are now anxious to try our Australian V8 Supercars and/or modifying some four-door sedans within the Forza world to see if they can compete like I have.

Scott Robb

January 21, 2023

#461