Digestable Forza Horizon 5 Car Building/Tuning Guide

Upgrading Cars In General~

* Single player scales around your car

* Multiplayer scales around class system

* Generally don’t upgrade over 2 classes from base class

Conversions~

* Most cars don’t need conversions

* Usually best to keep stock engine unless pushing to a class stock engine doesn’t have power for, or for lowering a class

* Default drivetrain is usually best

* Natural aspiration is usually best, unless unable to meet power goal, or have spare PI

* Turbocharger gives higher max power, but only in the higher rev range

* Supercharger gives less max power, but better acceleration in the rev range

* Bodykits often take away adjustable aero options

Aero~

* Front wing can be very important on higher class cars

* Best to build without a front splitter, unless understeering to much and not having enough front grip

* Adjustable rear aero can lower PI, and have downforce tuned away

* Only add rear aero if significant loss of rear grip at speed, best to not have adjustable rear aero, though very important on higher class cars

* Non-adjustable aero are good for tweaking PI at end of build

Tires and rims~

* Generally use corresponding tire-compounds for drifting (depending on how much grip is needed,) offroad, and rally

* Can sometimes use stock tires in low class rally builds

* Off-Road tires can work with rally builds if mostly not on pavement

* If power is not too significantly higher on AWD builds, you can often get away with stock tires for road racing

* For FWD or RWD cars, an upgrade can be helpful, either sport, semi-slick tires (good for rain and dipping offroad, usually better than racing tires,) or racing tires for road-racing

* Slick tires are only very good for rivals racing

* If understeering, upgrade front tire width on FWD builds

* Almost always max upgrade rear tire width, especially on AWD and RWD builds, it adds a lot of grip

* Rims have different weights, also good for tweaking PI at end

* Larger rims make cars feel more responsive

* Wheel spacing helps handling and grip

* For RWD builds it can be best to leave front spacing stock and space rear, will give more rear grip and stability

* Wheel spacing is good for tweaking over/understeer balance (+Rear spacing, -Front=Stability/Understeer, +Front spacing, -Rear=Darty/Oversteer)

* Wider front track width may mess with suspension

Drivetrain~

* Clutch is less valuable if using manual + clutch setting, important on manual, clutchless/automatic, especially older/slower cars

* Almost always get sport transmission, only get race transmissions if extra gears are needed, or have extra PI & want to tweak individual gear ratios

* Driveline is good for tweaking PI at end, drops weight and quickens revs

* Race differentials for road builds, rally differentials for off-road builds, only use off-road differential for fully dedicated off-road builds (dune-jumpers, rock-crawlers, etc.)

* Platform & Handling~

* Almost always buy race breaks

* Almost always buy race/rally suspension

* No reason not to put antiroll bars (ARBs) on your build

* Usually best to not have full roll-cage (even if it drops PI,) unless building an old slow car into a high power car, generally, add one level of chassis reinforcement per class above base class you are running, and if you are staying in the same class, it is generally helpful to at least put one level of chassis reinforcement on your build

* Usually best to run stock or max upgrade for weight reduction, it depends on if you are going for least weight or most power, this is when you must decide; generally more power makes you faster on straights, and less weight makes you faster everywhere; usually higher power builds are better in online racing, however less weight gives you better handling

Engine~

* This is where you spend the rest of your PI budget

* First, intake/exhaust, then oil/cooling, then intercooler if your car isn’t naturally aspirated, then supercharger if your car has one, then camshaft which increases your redline, then fuel/ignition/compression which are good for adding power if you have PI left, then flywheel for tweaking your PI which makes your car more snappy and responsive, then displacement/turbocharger if your car has one

* If you have reached this point, it is good to tweak some upgrades if you can add them without changing PI such as rims, tire widths, and drivelines

Drift build~

* There is no reason to build your car into a class unless it is for open drift

* Start with aero and wheels (Drifting is a style game)

* For drivetrain, use a drift differential, drift springs, and drift tire compound should be good for almost every build

* Always run race breaks

* Stock gears are fine

* If going for skill points/open drift, more power is better, be sure to add more grip to accommodate for it

* Most tandem/open drift builds are between 350-500 horsepower and for beginning drifters (towards the low end)

* If building into a class, refer to previous upgrading section, otherwise go all out

* Front tire width is important for maintaining front grip, start by having front wheel width 1 above rear wheel width, for testing starting with median width for rear

* More power needs wider tires but too wide on too little power and you won't maintain revs

* All parts not mentioned aren’t necessary but helpful

* Remember it's all about grip (and style)

(Note you need manual with/without clutch to drift properly, as well as traction and stability control off)

Summary~

* First unlock tuning options, getting the right tires, suspension & transmission

* If having plenty of spare PI, upgrade breaks/clutch/adjustable aero

* Then spend rest of PI on weight reduction such as rims, driveline, and actual weight reduction, or adding power to the engine

Tuning Cars In General Part 1~

* First create a base-tune, then identify & solve problems, and fine-tune your build

* Start from the right and move left

* Certain upgrades are required to unlock certain tuning options

Differential~

* Differentials control how much power goes to each wheel

* RWD cars only have a rear diff

* FWD cars only have a front diff

* AWD cars shave front, rear, and central diffs

* A diff at 0% will send all power to the least resistant wheel (if one of your powered wheels is in the air, it will receive all the power, leading to not moving at all)

* A diff at 100% will send all power to the most resistant wheel (the wheel on the ground will receive all the power, leading to you moving)

* When turning, your outside wheel has to follow a wider radius then your inner wheel, so it moves faster than your inside wheels; welding your diffs at 100% will break you into a drift, which can be helpful for drift builds but nothing else

* Set rear diff acceleration between 50-90%, higher is usually better, the higher the setting, the more oversteer, this is very important, higher the power, higher the percentage; reference: top of S1, a good base would be 80%

* Set front diff acceleration between 10-50%, lower=more oversteer, higher=more understeer, on high power/grip builds or rally builds, a higher setting can be better, important, especially on FWD cars, reference: top of S1 (road build,) a good base would be 15% low on track high on rally

* Generally set front and rear diff deceleration (affects diffs when not on throttle, can affect corner entry) lower than acceleration settings, 0% is usually fine, though is personal preference and can be tweaked a lot, lower feels more responsive and less stable, higher means more understeer and more stability when entering corners, not very important, having same setting on both will help rotate car on corner entry

* Center diff controls how much power goes to back two wheels/front two wheels

* More power to rear=more oversteer, more power to front=more understeer

* Generally set between 50-80%, higher for track, lower for rally, very important, reference: top of S1 (road [track] build,) a good base would be 70%, good for dialing in over/understeer

* For drift either weld diffs or run lsd with 85-95 on accel and 0-40 on decel

Brakes~

* HORIZON IS REVERSED

* Not very important

* Balance: Front = Rear braking force. More stable, understeer. Rear = Front braking force. Less stable, oversteer.

* Brake Pressure: Not important with ABS, Not very important without ABS

* Higher = Quicker locking/ABS engagement.

* Generally leave stock for base tune

* 0% on rear drift to be able to slow while keeping drifting and not straightening

* 30 psi drift for some reason

Aero~

* (Only important for A+ Class)

* Higher = More grip at high speed, much better cornering, hotter tyres, lower top speed and high speed acceleration.

* Front may increase oversteer and feel more responsive and snappy, while rear may increase understeer and cornering grip

* Generally leave this alone until final tune

* Front downforce can help drift but not very important

Damping~

* Bump stiffness is how much it compresses, rebound is how much it extends

* Stock rebound stiffness is good for base tune

* Bump stiffness should generally be between 50%-75% of rebound stiffness (to figure out range multiply .5 and .75 by corresponding rebound stiffness setting)

* Bump stiffness should usually be lower, only raise if you notice your car bouncing or feeling unstable

* Start low and work your way up with bump stiffness

* Fairly important

* Increase stiffness on the end of the car that is not losing grip or decrease stiffness on the end that is losing grip

* High bump %=slower compression

* High Front setting = more rear grip and vice versa

* Lower bump is usually better for off-road

Stock rebound 50% of corresponding rebound for bump to keep tires on road during drift

* Springs~

* Low front = oversteer

* Low rear = understeer

* A heavier/lower car should have stiffer springs

* Important

* Softer suspension as a whole will feel less responsive but grippier

* Stiff suspension will feel snappy but less grippier

* FWD and AWD are the most prone to understeering so have slightly lower front stiffnesses for your base tune

* Don't mess with front springs too much but lowering rear can increase rear grip for drift but can be find to leave alone unless high power

Ride Height~

* Lower is generally better as is lowers center of gravity making your car more stable

* A good base tune is 2 above minimum

* Off-road vehicles need high ride height for clearance on rough terrain

* Minimum for drift

Antiroll Bars~

* ARBs tie your left and right suspension and affect mid turn over/understeer

* Very important

* Softer ARB=Darty feeling in the front (allows body to roll on front outside tire

* Low front = oversteer

* Low rear = understeer

* Requires a lot of adjustment on FWD and AWD cars

* For front, set ½ between minimum and 50%

* For back, set at 50%

* Leave stock for RWD cars for base tune

* Keep in mind cars generally have stiffer suspension on the lopside of it

* Don't mess with front arbs too much but lowering rear can increase rear grip but should be fine to leave alone unless high power stiffer on rear can help break out back on low power builds

Alignment~

* Negative camber=bottom pointed out,positive is opposite

* Goal of camber is to have more contact with the road in a corner, or often used as a way for RICErs to identify each other

* Negative camber is almost always better in track racing

* Important

* Knock down front and rear camber a few notches for base tune

* Camber controls corner and braking grip

* Camber needs to be adjusted using telemetry

* Toe is similar to camber, but the horizontal angle of your wheel at rest

* Toe-in means the side of the wheel facing the front of the car is pointed inwards, Toe-out is the opposite

* Toe decreases top speed and tire temperature

* Small adjustments make big changes

* Toe-out can make a car feel less stable

* For FWD and AWD cars for base tune begin with .1-.2 degrees front-toe-out which creates oversteer, if there are still problems you can add some rear toe-out

* Toe is somewhat important

For RWD start with .1-.2 rear-toe-in to help keep rear end stable in corners

* Caster adjusts suspension vertical angle when facing the side of a car

* Higher caster angles rotate the steering axis towards the back of the car

* Higher caster angles let you run less front negative camber as when you corner your wheels lean into the turn like a motorcycle

* High caster adds camber in a corner without camber on a straight

* Not very important

* Affects how strongly tires want to recenter and how car feels, mostly personal preference

* A good base-tune is 4-7 degrees to start

* Usually max front negative camber for most drift builds, max caster for lower angle and more grip while counter steering, 1-1.5 rear negative camber unless wanting less rear grip, not too much however as it will massively decrease handling, front toe-out gives more effective steering angle and destabilized front wheels making it easier to throw more weight on entries, put as much as comfortable with, 2 is usually good, but higher can help with drift zones, rear toe can help with how the rear of the car will behave in a corner, more toe out will help with wider corner trajectory and make it feel more tight and controlled, start with 1 rear toe in for beginners and work your way out to 1 toe out or more

Tuning Cars In General Part 2~

Gearing~

* Adjusts gear ratios of transmission

* Shift final drive towards speed until the right-most line on the graph at the bottom left of your screen touches just outside of the ride side of the graph for the base tune

* On high-powered RWD builds extend the first and second gear towards speed slightly which will help with throttle control and low-speed grip

* You don't need to touch gearing much for drift builds, for whichever gears you're drifting in (1-2 for low power, 3-4 for mid power, etc.), if you are red-lining and not maintaining speed you are in too low of a gear, if you cant stay high in rev range and are bogging out you are in too high of a gear, once you have found the first good drifting gear, move all next gears tighter in to it, this allows you to modulate much easier as you can up and down shift mid drift for extra wheel speed and to tuck into a tighter corner without worrying about losing the drift, default final drive

Tires~

* In horizon you don’t have to worry about tire wear so the only concerns are grip, temperature, and feel

* Higher PSI will feel more responsive and have a higher theoretical peak grip usually but will lose grip more suddenly

* Lower PSI will heat up quickly and lose grip more progressively and not as much giving more time to make corrections

* PSI changes the shape of the tire and can lead to more contact with the ground

* Fairly important

* 26-35 PSI for track. Higher front PSI is better for cornering.

* You can leave stock for base tune

* For drift keep front around 30, but lowering can create a AWD type drift effect and bigger entries, rear pressure is where you fine tune rear grip, lower=grippier and smoother, higher=breaking loose more suddenly & less drift grip, run stock or lower rear tire pressure, lower on high power cars, in tandems it's important to run what the other driver is running, even high psi, if you need to increase psi much over stock to stay in the drift chances are you just need a stiffer rear end, thinner tyres (or tires?), or more power

Identifying & Solving Problems~

* T opens telemetry on PC

* Navigate to suspension

* The white bars with pink show much the suspension is compressing/expanding

* Fully pink=Fully compressed (You don’t want to see this under normal driving conditions)

* Take a lap around a circuit with this window open to make sure your suspension isn’t bottoming out (note: this is different from your body bottoming out)

* Generally the pink bar should remain between 20%-80%

* If it isn’t moving much then it needs to be softened and vice versa, however if it isn’t moving much but feels good then it should be fine

* If it is good on base tune then it may only slightly be adjusted for final tune for over all feel

* Navigate to tires & misc. Window to check camber

* Watch the outside tire setting on a corner

* This should never go positive under normal cornering circumstances, on a low profile tire is should never go lower than -1 to -.5

* If it goes neutral or positive, lower camber

* Navigate to heat

* Your tires should generally be a mustard color in the middle of the corner

* The inside should be the hottest, the outside the coldest, and the middle of the tire in the middle

* This can be adjusted by tire compounds and dialed in with tire pressure

* Peak grips occurs when you see a clearish mustard color

* The difference between the inside and outside should never be more than 20 degrees

* If it is greater than 20 degrees lessen camber and vice versa

* The temp difference should be within 10-15 degrees (F)

* If your middle is less than inside and outside then you need to increase PSI and vice versa

* These checks being done your base tune should be complete

Final Tune~

* Over/Understeer can occur in Corner entry, mid,and exit

* Keep in mind multiple can happen at the same time

* FWD and AWD tend to understeer and RWD tends to oversteer, especially in the exit of a corner

* If when turning it feels like the car is resisting input, that is corner entry understeer; You can

- Adjust tire pressure

- Lower front springs/ARBs

- Increase toe-out in front/rear

- Increase front downforce

- Lower diff decel lock

- Increase front bump

- Decrease front rebound

* If you notice it understeers during breaking particularly you can move more break bias towards the rear (WHICH IS FLIPPED IN HORIZON) keep in mind slight understeer is normal while breaking

* A sign of mid-corner understeer is when you enter the corner well and it tries to straighten out; You can

- Increase Rear ARBs (ARBs play a big part, try stiffening rear, same for suspension)/spring rate

- Increase front downforce

- Increase rear rebound/bump

- Adjust tire pressure/camber/caster

* Corner exit understeer largely comes to differential settings; You can

- Increase center diff rear bias

- Increase Rear accel lock

- Decrease front accel lock

* If you are oversteering in corner entry you can

- Increase front springs/ARBs

- Increase toe-in

- Increase diff decel lock

* If you are oversteering in mid corner you can

- Increase front ARBs/spring rate

- Increase front rebound

- Adjust tire pressure/rear camber

* If you are oversteering in corner exit you can

- Increase center diff front bias

- Increase front accel lock

- Decrease rear accel lock

* For RWD Grip builds you can

- Adjust downforce

- Adjust bump stiffness

- Adjust alignment

* Many RWD Grip builds just need more throttle management

* If your car is turning well when you have enough time to set up for the corner but under or oversteers when quickly transitioning from a left to a right bend for example, you can

- Adjust Damping

- Adjust ARBs

* If your car is easily thrown off when hitting a curb, you can

- Lower bump stiffness

* If your tires aren’t getting hot enough, you can

- Increase downforce

- Increase toe-out if understeering and tires are too cold

- Increase toe-in if oversteering and tires are too hot

* If your car is bouncy and shifting weight too much, you can

- Increase bump dampening

- Increase spring stiffness

* If you aren’t breaking well enough, you can

- Lessen front camber (Increase caster to make up for it)

- Move break balance towards back wheels

- Stiffen suspension in front, to move breaking grip to the rear (If you are already maxing out front brake power)

* If your car has a lower than desired top speed, you can

- Drop your aero

- Adjust final gear

* Remember, every car is different, and don’t be afraid to experiement

* For drift if you car more grip you can lower:

- Rear bump

- Rear springs

- Rear ARBs

- Rear tire pressure

Accel/Decel diff lock

* For drift if you need less grip you can increase:

- Rear bump

- Rear springs

- Rear ARBs

- Rear tire pressure

- Accel/Decel diff lock

Credit~

* Data compiled by grimm, (grimm [1078065349] on Steam, Grimmmmmlock on Xbox.)

* Data collected from HokiHoshi

* Please give credit as due if sharing this guide

References~

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvSOOu_4XRw

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkHNIBBw6Tw

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6qthLir2iI&list=RDCMUC8GztlirjJ3ScRqpufo3PRQ&index=7

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=queQnIzy6YU&list=RDCMUC8GztlirjJ3ScRqpufo3PRQ&index=40

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2911040132					

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