Forza Motorsport Guide – Complete Customization, Upgrades and Tuning Guide

Forza Motorsport is now available worldwide for Xbox Series X/S, PC and Game Pass. It makes several changes, from its tire physics and dynamic time of day to car levels and XP earned. Thankfully, tuning is more or less the same, at least mechanically. The twist is that you now need the required parts to tune specific aspects of your car.

All Upgrades and How to Unlock

Here are all of the different upgrade categories and how to unlock them. Check out our guide for tips on leveling up your car’s level quickly.

How to Tune Your Car

Head into Upgrade and Tune and select Tuning. As with previous games, you can save custom tunes and switch to them in the Setup Manager. You can also share them with other players or download their custom tunes.

Tune things based on your driving style to find the best set-up. Let’s discuss each aspect and what you should know for the best tune.

Tires

You can adjust Tire Pressure without needing additional parts, and there are options to set the PSI high or low for the Front or Rear tires. While increasing the tire pressure on the front results in more responsive handling, decreasing it increases traction at the risk of slower turn-in. As for the rear tires, lowering their pressure reduces oversteer. Remember that higher pressure means increased temperatures, which can wear tires out faster. Set them lower than what you’re aiming for to compensate for the increase in temperature, though keep in mind the time of day and weather as well.

Gearing

First, you must upgrade Race Transmission to unlock the option to adjust gearing. You can adjust the speed of each gear or change the Final Drive, which alters them all at once based on the top speed. Favoring Speed means higher top speed, while Acceleration means lower top speed, but you’ll reach it faster. It’s worth keeping the track in mind – if there are long straights and you hit the top speed much before the next turn, it may be worth tuning for more speed.

Alignment

It requires a Race Suspension upgrade and consists of Camber, Toe and Front Caster. The Camber’s front and rear angles can be adjusted, and you want it to be negative for the former to balance out grip and braking distance without too much effect on acceleration. Toe settings shouldn’t be messed with too much since they affect responsiveness, stability, and tire temperature. Adjust them by 0.1, either negative or positive and see how things feel. The Front Caster angle can affect overall stability and your Camber, so keep it around 5 degrees or so and make adjustments accordingly.

Anti-Roll Bars

There are two categories – Front and Rear with sliders for Soft and Stiff. It’s advised to lean more towards Stiff in the Front for less understeer and more towards Soft for the Rear to control oversteer for more stability when cornering.

Springs

A Race Suspension is required to adjust the Springs, and you have Springs and Ride Height, each with Soft and Stiff settings for the Front and Rear. Keeping the overall weight in mind is necessary when adjusting these. Soft Front Springs provide more responsiveness but can cause oversteer, while Soft Rear Springs increase stability but can cause understeer. As for Ride Height, lowering it will increase downforce, resulting in faster speeds on straight lines. Don’t go too low, since this can mean bad results on bumps.

Damping

A Race Suspension upgrade is required to unlock Damping tuning. After that, you can adjust Bump Stiffness and Rebound Stiffness in the Front and Rear to either be Soft or Stiff. It ties into your Spring settings, so change them accordingly. The general rule is that leaning too far towards Soft in either category can make your car more unstable.

Suspension Geometry

A new feature which requires purchasing a Race Suspension Upgrade, you have Roll Center Height Offset and Anti Geometry Percent with Front and Rear settings and options to go High or Low. Go towards the higher side in the Front Roll Center Height for increased responsiveness. Be careful when doing the same with the Rear since it can affect grip.

Aero

You’ll need a Race Bumper or Race Spoiler upgrade. As the sliders indicate, you can go with more Speed or Cornering. Invest in the former for higher top speed at the risk of handling during turns or the latter for better handling but reduced top speed. They can also help control under and oversteer, so tweak them independently for the best set-up.

Brakes

Purchase a Race Brake upgrade to tweak this, and you’ll have Braking Force Balance and Braking Force Pressure to adjust. The former can go more towards the Front or Rear, determining the braking pressure in either part of the car. Try to keep this around 50 percent with some minor tweaks. The Braking Force Pressure can go Low or High and measures the pressure applied when braking.

Differential

Differential requires a Sport or Race Differential to tweak. You can adjust Acceleration and Deceleration in the Front and Rear, depending on whether you have a front or rear-wheel drive car. Try to keep under and oversteering and mine depending on the vehicle type.

Steering Wheel

The last new setting is the Steering Wheel, which is about adjusting the Force Feedback Scale and Steering Lock Range to either Low or High. You’ll want to change these depending on the vehicle since there’s no one-size-fits-all option.