If you were one of those Forza 3 fans that had enough vision to go ahead and plunk down the extra cash to purchase the Limited Collector’s Edition (LCE) version, then you are likely pretty happy with all of the extra benefits that it has brought you so far. It seems, however, that a growing under of Forza 3 players are continuing to complain about the fact that those LCE buyers have VIP status, and there is no other way to get VIP status and all of the additional content that goes with it, other than to purchase the LCE version of the game.

Some players are suggesting Turn 10 Studio should offer the VIP status for purchase in the Xbox Live Market and, as you can imagine, those who purchased the LCE version of the game and have VIP status oppose the suggestion that Turn 10 should sell the VIP status, thus reducing the value of the investment of those that already purchased the LCE version of the game. As you can imagine, this has become somewhat of a hot button issue which has been fueled by the amount of additional content that LCE buyers have already received that those that purchased the regular edition can’t get access to.

Turn 10 has finally weighed in on the subject, once again re-affirming that at this time the only way to get VIP status is to purchase the LCE version of the game. While they have considered the possibility of making VIP memberships available for purchase from the Xbox Live Marketplace, there are at least no plans to do so at this time. Still, Turn 10 is leaving the door open by saying that they are studying the possibility of making VIP memberships available as a separate purchase from within the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Much of the drama over the VIP status has been with the cars that have been “gifted” by Turn 10 to VIP members. While it is understandable that some might be unhappy with the fact that some players have VIP status and some don’t, we are not sure that just selling VIP memberships seems like the right answer to the problem or is fair to those that purchased the LCE edition from the start. While the complaints and discussions that we have read seem to be both heated and passionate on both sides, we just don’t think that there is a right answer to this problem that is going to make everyone happy. We have to admit that the LCE and VIP status have been one of the best values that we have seen from a studio in a special edition; and like many others, we would hate to see that disappear.

One other note to those who have VIP status: if you are going to change or upgrade your Xbox 360 hard drive or change your Gametag, you might want to visit the Forza Web site and look carefully at the restrictions on how to do this correctly and what not to do. If you do it all wrong, it is possible that you could lose your VIP status; but that normally comes from deleting or abandoning your Gametag. In most other cases, you should be able to re-download the VIP pack as long it is under your same Gametag and you should be good to go. Better to be safe than sorry.