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New Forza 6 car pack adds 1,000 hp German race truck

Today, Forza Motorsport 6 continues its pattern of monthly updates with seven new cars in the Turn 10 Select Car Pack. The diverse group of cars spans nearly 60 years of motoring history with a combination three street and four track cars from Germany, Italy, the UK, and the UK. Turn 10 Studios will also release an update that brings back Monza, Catalunya, and the Circuit of the Americas tracks. The seven vehicles in the pack are the 1957 BMW Isetta 300 Export, the 1969 Ford Brawner Hawk III, the 1980 Fiat 124 Sport Spider, the 2014 Jaguar #14 Emil Frey GT3 Jaguar XK, the 2014 Chevrolet #4 ROAL Motorsport RML Cruze TC1 WTCC, the 2015 Mercedes-Benz #24 Tankpool24 Racing Truck, and the 2015 McLaren 570S Coupe. The BMW, Fiat, and McLaren all represent iconic vehicles for their respective brands. While the BMW may not be fast and the McLaren is the baby of the brand, their importance can't be overstated. It also can't be a coincidence that Fiat is releasing an all-new 124 Spider, now based on the Mazda MX-5 Miata, just as Forza is adding in a version of the original. The racecars share a similar iconic nature. The Ford Brawner Hawk III won the 1969 Indianapolis 500 with Mario Andretti at the wheel. The team behind the GT3 XK has ties with Jaguar going back decades. The Chevrolet Cruze is one of the most successful cars in the history of the World Touring Car Championship. Finally, the Mercedes-Benz racing truck was added because the developers saw them in real life and thought racing these big trucks would be cool. The car pack is available to for $7 total, or players can purchase each car individually. Related video: Related Gallery Forza 6 Car Pack Toys/Games BMW Fiat Mercedes-Benz forza car pack

Are future vehicular hacks inevitable?

Before the hack of the Uconnect system in a Jeep Cherokee resulted in a 1.4-million vehicle recall, the potential software vulnerabilities in vehicles were already a hot topic with Congressional inquiries and even proposed legislation in the US. As cars' interconnected systems gain the ability to go online, they become open to a host of new threats. Automakers are trying to stop this, but it might be too late to put the genie back into the bottle. Throughout 2015, the issue of software security in vehicles has become increasingly vital. For example, the recent Jeep case wasn't even the biggest hack this year. In February, a major flaw was discovered in the BMW Connected Drive service that allowed researchers to remotely lock and unlock the doors and potentially affected 2.2 million cars. The fix was an over-the-air patch for the problem. Automakers are actively working to fix the issues. Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi reportedly are using encrypted connections and firewalls in their vehicles to prevent hacking. "Absolute, 100-percent safety isn't possible," Daimler spokesperson Benjamin Oberkersch said to Automotive News Europe. "But we develop our systems, tested by internal and external experts, so they're up to date." These vulnerabilities seem to be popping up more often. A successful hack took $14 in parts from Radio Shack in one case. There was also a 60 Minutes report earlier in the year about DARPA's ability to hack into OnStar to take control of a Chevrolet Impala. Experts aren't so sure companies can contend with hackers' advancement. "The difficulty for the carmakers at the moment is the question whether they can keep pace with advances in technology, and especially hacking technology," Rainer Scholz, executive director for telematics consultant EY, said to Automotive News Europe. "We seriously doubt they can." At this point, vehicle hacks are coming more from researchers looking for holes than from those with malicious intent. Still, the vulnerabilities are definitely there. It's up to automakers to keep patching the problems before they become dangerous to drivers. Related Video: News Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req.Image Credit: Bill O'Leary / The Washington Post via Getty Images Audi BMW Jeep Mercedes-Benz Safety Technology Emerging Technologies hacking cyber security

Lexus NX, BMW i3 to get Super Bowl commercials

At this point last year, we'd been getting news on automotive-focused Super Bowl commercials for more than two months. The teasers hadn't come out yet, but manufacturers lined up for the super-expensive spots were making their intentions known. This year? Almost nada, until this week. BMW has said it will air a 60-second spot promoting the i3 during the first quarter of the game, the Munich firm returning to The Big Game after a four-year absence. BMW says, "Big ideas like the BMW i3 take a little getting used to, and the creative idea surrounding our spot will play on this analogy." We say that pitching a tiny range-extended hatchback during the beer-iest American sports orgy of the year should make for some neat commentary afterward. Lexus is putting its new NX crossover in the second Super Bowl commercial it's ever aired, eschewing the glitter of celebrities and glamor for a straight-shooting spot and the tagline, "Be seen, be heard, make some noise." Joining those two are Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Toyota. The six confirmed carmakers are down from eleven last year, when car spots made up a quarter of the total ad time. The price to do business for 30 seconds this year: reportedly around $4.5 million, up a stacks from last year's $4 million. You can watch the Lexus commercial in the video above, and beneath that, the BMW press release below has a bit more information on its effort. BMW to Advertise All-Electric BMW i3 during Super Bowl XLIX. The all-electric BMW i3 is featured in a 60-second spot during Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday, February 1, 2015. Woodcliff Lake, NJ – January 15, 2015... Today, BMW announced plans to feature the all-electric BMW i3 in a 60-second spot during Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday, February 1, 2015. After a 4-year hiatus, BMW will be returning to the big game with a commercial during the first quarter. "As one in three Americans will tune in to watch the Super Bowl, we are thrilled to use this platform to educate viewers on the importance of electric mobility," said Trudy Hardy, Vice President of Marketing, BMW of North America. "Big ideas like the BMW i3 take a little getting used to, and the creative idea surrounding our spot will play on this analogy." BMW i is BMW's forward-looking and sustainable brand dedicated to solving many of the mobility challenges faced by the world's most densely populated cities. The BMW i3 is the first of the BMW i vehicles constructed from the ground up primarily of carbon fiber.