The good folks over at Famous Autosports shows us exactly what your car will be receiving.

Thanks to Microsoft and London Motor Museum, Turn 10 had quite a showing for the launch celebration of Forza 4. There were over twenty vehicles on display, many of them with price tags in excess of $1,000,000.

The list of cars for the game debut included:

• Aston Martin DBS Coupe
• Aston Martin Vanquish
• Audi R8
• Bentley Continental GT
• Bugatti Veyron
• Dodge Challenger 1970
• Dodge Charger 1969 (Hemi engine)
• Ferrari 458
• Ferrari California
• Ferrari Enzo

• Jaguar E Type 1961
• Koenigsegg CCX
• Lamborghini Galardo
• Lamborghini Murcielago
• McLaren F1
• McLaren Mercedes 2011 SLS AMG
• McLaren MP4 — 12C
• Mercedes SLS AMG
• Pagani Zonda (carbon edition)
• Pontiac Firebird Transam

[Show as slideshow]

12►

Let’s start at the beginning. Back in 2003 this 1995 Ferrari F50 was reported stolen from a dealership in Pennsylvania. An insurance claim was put through to Motor Insurance, who paid the claim. Fast forward five years to 2008 and the car was found amid a drug bust. Motor Insurance was contacted but possession of the Ferrari was held by the FBI during the trial. On May 27th 2009 an FBI agent and a district attorney took the car out for a “short ride.”

Here is an email that went out a few hours after this ride took place:

No biggie, the car over-steered over a curb probably bent a rim and maybe some paint scuffs from the bushes?

…not quite the case. Having a look at the pictures acquired by WreckedExotics you can see there is more to this story than what the government is disclosing. Cracking the carbon fiber frame and exposing the monocoque would seem to stem from a bit more than hopping a curb.

Motor Insurance was told by government officials that they would be able to file a claim for the then $750,000 Ferrari F50. In March of 2010, the U.S. Justice Department ended up denying the claim stating that the because the accident “took place while the Ferrari was being detained by the FBI,” they would not be eligible for reimbursement.

On February 24th 2011, Motor Insurance filed a federal lawsuit in Detroit in hopes to recoup the loss they were facing.

On Monday, the 11th U.S. Federal Judge Avern Cohn dismissed the lawsuit put forth by Motors Insurance, claiming that while crashing the rare Ferrari F50 was ”certainly unfortunate,” immunity is granted by federal law to the government to any property that may be damaged while in law enforcement custody.

[Show as slideshow]

Fiat’s performance division, Abarth doesn’t have a lot to work with. Just two models, in fact, but that hasn’t stopped the Scorpion marque from making the most of the 500 and Punto ranges. Clearly, there’s a lot of room for hot-hatch workings. Just take a look at what Abarth has in store for the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show.

On the floor of the Frankfurt Messe, Abarth will present three new vehicles. Well, new derivatives or editions of existing vehicles, anyway.

Abarth 500 Cabrio ItaliaHaving sold 1,695 examples of the 695 Tributo Ferrari – the fastest 500 to date – Abarth is moving on to the 695 Competizione. Packing the same 180-horsepower 1.4-liter 16-valve turbo four, paddle-shift transmission, 17-inch alloys and Brembo brakes as the Ferrari edition, the Competizione does away with the Ferrari logos and bridges the gap to the Assetto Corsa but legal for street use.

Next up is the 500 Cabrio Italia to celebrate, once again, the 150th anniversary of Italian unification. Underneath the special blue paint job and the folding roof panel is a 160-horsepower turbo four with overboost function and five-speed manual.

Finally the Punto SuperSport takes the existing EsseEsse to new lengths with a 180-horsepower 1.4-liter MultiJet engine, Koni suspension and tricked out interior with Sabelt buckets and Jaeger instruments. You can scope out all three in the high-res image gallery and the press release after the jump, but we’ll have more up-close-and-personal shots from the Frankfurt show for you in just a couple more weeks.

Engineering a mid-engined exotic with a retractable hardtop is a bit tricky. Which is why it’s never been done before – that is, until now. Feast your eyes on what Maranello’s crafty engineers have wrought.

Earlier this morning, we showed you the first video of the coming Ferrari 458 Spider, but now we have a batch of images and more information to share with you. The convertible version of the 458 Italia fills the space left by the F430 Spider and the 360, 355 and 348 Spiders before it. But whereas those went with cloth roofs, the newest variation on the theme uses a folding – or more accurately, flipping – hard panel.

The mechanism is similar to the one on the Superamerica, but whereas that model’s roof panel simply rests under the open sky on the rear deck, the 458 stows under the deck lid, protecting it from collecting dust or rain that would otherwise be deposited on the driver and passenger when deployed.

The function is simpler than most folding contraptions and resulting form is more pleasing to the eye as well, but the one disadvantage is that the 4.5-liter direct-injection V8 (with all its 562 prancing horses and trademark crackled red cam cover) is now hidden below decks instead of displayed as on the 458 Italia coupe. Which only goes to show that while you can come close to having your proverbial cake and eating it too, even this level of performance roadster has its trade-offs. This, though, strikes us as one we could live with. You know, if we really had to.

Follow the jump for the video and full press release, and be sure to scope out the initial batch of high-resolution images in the gallery as we gear up for the 458 Spider’s debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show just a few weeks from now.

One of the most complex parts of a modern Formula One car is its steering wheel, which can be worth tens of thousands of dollars on its own and packing all the controls you’d expect to find on a dashboard right onto the wheel itself. Ferrari took a similar approach with the steering wheel on the 458 Italia, moving the starter button, chassis mode dial, windshield wiper controls, headlights, turning indicators… everything right onto the face of the wheel, while removing the usual stalks to allow for unimpeded access to the oversize shift paddles.

The result is a thorough rethink of one of the automobile’s most basic components, though some have derided it as too complex. And if you’re one of those who thought the end result looks more like a video game controller than a car’s steering wheel, you’re not alone: feast your eyes on the latest device from Thrustmaster.

Designed as a controller for driving and racing games on the Microsoft xBox 360, the Ferrari 458 replica wheel is flush with all the functions you’d need for playing Forza 4 or the latest Need for Speed game the way it ought to be played. Coming this October for less than $90, it’s considerably more affordable than some of Fanatec’s offerings, and could be just the thing to keep us from getting any work done. Check it out in the gallery and follow the jump for the full press release.

Today, Ferrari is unveiling the 458 Spider, and official video of the new sports car’s roof operation has already hit YouTube. It’s as simple as it is slick. The rear-hinged tonneau flips up, after which the Superamerica-style roof panel rotates back into the space behind behind the seats. After extending two small trim elements, the tonneau comes back down. It’s elegant and fast, and the car, predictably, looks beautiful. Keep an eye out for additional info on Ferrari’s newest addition later today. In the meantime, hit the jump to see the roof in action.

Most automobiles on this planet find their rubber resting on the clean floor of Jay Leno’s garage at some point in their life. The latest to get the Big Dog denim treatment is the Fiat 500, and Chrysler arrived in Burbank, California with a one-of-500 Prima Edizione just for the occasion. Jay lines the car up alongside his own 1937 Fiat Topolino, which looks like a toy car by comparison, albeit a rather handsome one at that.

Leno has enough room for more than the limited-edition 500, however, and two other Fiat subcompacts get camera time. One is the 500C, which receives a brief mention while the other is a Road Race Motorsports-prepped 500 hardtop that captures quite a bit more of Leno’s attention.

Jay takes both the Prima Edizione and the Road Race Motorsports 500 out for a spin. That means, despite the small subject matter, the clip posted after the jump is twice as long as the standard Jay Leno video. Still, with all this Fiat cuteness, it’s definitely worth your time.

Turns out Fiat may have been a wee bit ambitious in setting a 50,000-unit goal for the first year that its diminutive 500 hatchback and convertible have been on sale in the United States. Through the month of July, Fiat had sold a total of 7,982 500s in the States in 2011.

That figure includes 3,038 units sold in the month of July, but the monthly tally should continue to rise as more and more dealerships open in markets expected to snatch up the cute and spunky little hatch.

Laura Soave, the woman Fiat chief Sergio Marchionne has put in charge of the Fiat brand in America, isn’t ready to completely dismiss the company’s original 50,000-sale projection, saying instead that it “probably” won’t reach that goal. Much of the problem can be traced back to early Fiat franchise dealer openings. “We missed the whole first quarter,” Soave told Bloomberg, referring to the fact that just 12 of the 130 planned dealerships were open to the public by the end of February.

In an effort to jumpstart sales, Fiat is rolling out a number of intensified marketing campaigns, which you can read more about here. On the plus side, the brand has some major plans in the works for the U.S. market, and at least the automaker is making good money on the 500s it has sold so far.

As far as autoworker jobs go, putting together a Ferrari has got to be one of the plum gigs. The company is consistently rated as one of the best places to work in Europe, but if the pleasant atmosphere and long espresso breaks weren’t enough, you get to go home at the end of the day knowing that you put together a Ferrari. Not a pickup truck, not an economy hatchback, but a Ferrari.

Unfortunately for most of us, that job isn’t really feasible, but to give us a glimpse at what we’re missing, Ferrari is apparently releasing a series of videos showing us what it’s like inside its factory. Last week it was the engine assembly line, and this time it’s the facility where the workers produce the frame.

The factory built in conjunction with aluminum giant Alcoa also happens to be the only Ferrari plant located outside the company’s compound in Maranello – situated, as it is, in nearby Modena. Follow the jump to watch the ten-minute video to see the process unfold.