Forza TV show on the way

Forza Motorsport 2 is to get its own four-part "live action mini series" on U.S. channel SPEED TV later this month, it has emerged.

The show is set to star six amateur drivers with different racing backgrounds, in a $100,000 "race of their lives" through disciplines including drag racing, road racing, autocross and drifting.

Produced in collaboration with Microsoft Game Studios, it's being hosted by Lee Reherman, a man some of you telly addicts might know from his stint as 'Hawk' on American Gladiator.

In what amounts to routine cross promotional advertising, Microsoft gets to heavily plug the upcoming Xbox 360 title throughout the series, with "exclusive behind-the-scenes footage" of the game, with new features being announced. We'll let you know what emerges.

"These are real people, real crews and real cars battling it out for a very significant cash prize," gushed Robert Ecker, VP of Programming for SPEED. "It's a very dynamic production encompassing an incredible amount of drama and suspense. Each team and personality has to excel in every one of these racing categories to be competitive; there's not much room for error."

We have to admit to knowing absolutely nothing about SPEED TV, but we've asked Microsoft whether the show will be airing in Europe and we'll let you know what the answer is. If any of you clever people know, drop us a line.

As for the game, it's shaping up rather nicely. Although it's not due for release until May, we reckon Microsoft can't be far away from throwing preview code in our general direction. Check back for an in-depth update soon.