Prep to Tune

For the first time in the Forza Motorsport Series the emphasis has been removed from Tuning as the primary means for improving performance of your cars for the story mode. In its place the wizards at Turn 10 opted instead to create a new system for performance enhancements called Mod Cards.

This is significant for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that you can achieve car more effective results using the Mod Cards than you can Tuning both because you can combine a Blue (Crew) Card and two Green (Boost) Cards for highly effective and targeted improvements to handling and speed, and to get that sort of improvements from tuning alone you risk altering the class of the car.

What that means - simply translated - is that you will get far better results in the Campaign and Story Mode using Mods than you can using Tuning.

That said, Tuning is STILL the go-to path towards gaining an edge in online multi-player racing.

That's right, despite the fact that they went to all that effort to create the very effective Mod Card System, for multi-player and online racing you are still going to need to custom tune your cars in order to achieve the sort of results that make a difference.

Before we start covering the details of the actual Tuning process there are some basic guidelines - call them a Tuning Philosophy really - that you really have to follow when you tune.

Equipping a Gold Badge

Learn the Baseline

Before you set out to tun a car, take it to the track and test it. Specifically take it to the track you want to use it to race on - in Free Play - and test it:

A. First run through the track a few times with the car stock, and no changes. That will give you a sense of what it already feels like, and reveal the things that need adjusting.

For example for a track with no long straight runs and lots of sharp turns, you are probably going to want to adjust the following:

- Suspension if it needs it

- Gear Ratios with focus on the bottom end

- Brakes

- Tires and Grip

B. Once you ID what needs to be adjusted start that process working on ONE thing at a time. Get THAT thing right, then move on to the next thing, always keeping an eye on the PI so you do not upgrade that car right out of the race!

Re-Test as Often as You Need To

When you feel like you have a major system upgraded fully and properly, take the car back out on the track and race it again, noting the change in performance and feel and the new times.

Knowing this process inside and out Before You Tune is a good thing!

Finally the Golden Rule Before You Tune: We don't Tune for the fun of it, we Tune to fix a problem! If there is no problem, then there is no reason to Tune!