Horizon 4 Tuning Guide
Part 1 - Horizon Tuning Basics
Understanding Car Types and Body Types
When it comes to tuning in Horizon the most important aspect you need to understand is the concept of car types and body types.
Car types provide a general classification of all cars in Forza and group several body types. Each car type needs a distinctive way to be setup in terms of tuning.
Generally Horizon distinguishes between road and off-road cars.
The following road car types exist in Forza Horizon:
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Utility Cars (vans, SUVs)
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Street Cars (sedans, wagons, muscle cars, compact cars)
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Sports Cars (sports cars, GT sports cars)
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High Performance Cars (super cars, hyper cars)
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Race Cars (GT race cars)
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Race Trucks
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Prototype Race Cars (LMP cars)
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Open Wheel Street Cars
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Open Wheel Sports Cars
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Open Wheel Race Cars (classic GP race cars)
The following off-road car types exist in Forza Horizon:Ra
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Rally Cars
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Off-road Cars (jeeps)
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Off-road Trucks (pickups)
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Open Wheel Off-road Cars (buggies)
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Off-road Race Trucks (trophy trucks)
Now what is a body type? A body type defines the basic characteristics of a car such as suspension geometry and chassis and suspension stiffness. Forza does not simulate cars on an individual car level but on body type level. That means all cars that share the same body type are running on the same virtual representation of the car.
An example would be a classic American muscle car that features a very conservative suspension geometry combined with a soft chassis and suspension setup that gives you that unique "boat like" handling on roads.
In contrast modern F1 race cars features a unique open-wheel suspension geometry along with a much stiffer chassis and suspension characteristics that is suitable for high-speed racing on ultra-flat race tracks.
Body types are similar to the concept of divisions that group similar cars to achieve more close racing but they are not identical. Sometimes divisions contain cars of different body types or cars of a certain body type are spread across several divisions. Think of divisions more of an organizational grouping of cars whereas body types define the physical (or simulated) taxonomy of all cars in Forza.
To further diversify body types with regard to the period of time a car has been built Forza uses an era system:
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Modern: cars built 1995/96 or later
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Early Modern: cars built 1981-1994/95
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Vintage: cars built 1960-1980
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Early Vintage: cars built 1940-1959
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Pre-War: cars built before 1940
That means the correct body type of a 1979 Chevrolet Camaro is a "Vintage Muscle Car" whereas a 1987 Pontiac Firebird TransAm is an "Early Modern Muscle Car".
Now how do car types and body types affect tuning? Generally speaking older cars require a stiffer chassis and suspension tuning and a more conservative alignment and differential tuning than modern cars and race cars require softer chassis and suspension tuning and a more aggressive alignment and differential tuning than production cars.
Open Wheel race cars and Prototype race cars however don't follow this pattern because they are exposed to extreme forces while cornering so they need very stiff chassis and damping setup to handle those forces.
The following table gives an overview how car type and era affect the different tuning areas:
Car Type Camber / Caster ARBs / Springs1 Rebound / Bump Diff Accel / Decel
Utility Car Medium Medium / High Medium / Low Medium / Low
Street Car Medium Medium / High Medium / Low Medium / Low
Sports Car Medium Medium / High Medium / Low Medium / Low
High Performance Car Medium Low / High Medium / Low Medium / Low
Race Car Medium / Low Low / High Medium / Low Medium / Low
Race Truck Medium / Low Low / High Medium / Low Medium / Low
Prototype Race Car Low / High High / Medium Medium / Low High / Low
Open Wheel Race Car Low / High High / Low High Low
Open Wheel Sports Car Medium / High Medium / Low Medium Low
Open Wheel Street Car Medium / High Medium / Low Low Low
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Rally Car Medium Medium / High Medium / Low Medium / Low
Off-road Car Medium Medium / High Medium / Low Low
Off-road Truck Medium Medium / High Medium Low
Open Wheel Off-road Car Medium / High Medium / Low Medium Low
Off-road Race Truck Medium Medium / High Medium Low
Era Camber / Caster ARBs / Springs1 Rebound / Bump Diff Accel / Decel
Modern Higher / Lower Lower Higher / Lower Higher / Lower
Early Modern ^ | | ^ | ^ |
Vintage | | | | | | |
Early Vintage | V V | V | V
Pre-War Lower / Higher Higher Lower / Higher Lower / Higher
1 In relation to car weight
Mind you these principles only give general guidance and cannot directly be translated to specific values.
For a complete list of cars along with their respective car and body types please refer to Appendix A - Car List.
Understanding Drive Types
Another fundamental thing when it comes to tuning is to understand the different drive types and how they effect tuning.
A cars drive type is determined by two factors: engine position and drivetrain. While engine position is a fixed property of each car that cannot be changed, the stock drivetrain can often be swapped and thus changes the cars drive type.
There are three different engine layouts possible:
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Front Engine: this is the most common engine layout where. the engine is located at the front of the car
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Mid Engine: this engine layout moves the engine between the driver and the rear wheels and is often used for race cars and high performance cars because it moves the center of mass more towards the middle of the car which in turn offers better rotating capabilities
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Rear Engine: this is the least used engine layout where the engine is located directly above the rear wheels, it offers the best traction for rear wheel drives because of the added weight on the rear axle but has the worst cornering capabilities due to most of the weight is located on the rear of the car making it prone to understeer
Likewise there are three different drivetrains:
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RWD: rear wheel drivetrains are the most common used drivetrains where the rear wheels are the driven wheels and the front wheels are the steering wheels, in combination with front engine layout is this the most common drive type
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FWD: front wheel drivetrains are common on many compact and small engine cars as they allow for a more compact vehicle when used in combination with a front engine layout, in front wheel drivetrains the front wheels are used for both acceleration and steering
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AWD: all wheel drivetrains are common on most off-road cars and SUVs as they offer improved off-road handling, in all wheel drives all wheels accelerate and the front wheels are also used for steering
The combination of engine position and drivetrain leads to following common drive types:
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FR: front engine rear wheel drive is the most common drive type as it offers the most balanced layout with the engine in the front and the drivetrain on the rear
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FF: front engine front wheel drive is a common drive type for compact cars as it allows to put both engine and drivetrain on the front of the car making it the most compact and lightest drive type
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MR: mid engine rear wheel drive is often used in race cars and high performance cars as the center of mass is more in the middle if the car for improved turning
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RR: rear engine rear drive is rarely used for some race cars and high performance cars as it offers best traction for improved acceleration
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MF: mid engine front wheel drive is rarely used on some compact sports or rally cars
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F4D: front engine four wheel drive is the most common drive type for off-road cars and SUVs
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M4D: mid engine four wheel drive is common for all wheel race and high performance cars
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R4D: rear engine four wheel drive is common on off-road sports cars or buggies
Now how does the drive type affect tuning? Generally speaking drive type layouts that move vehicle weight more to the front of the car require a more understeer setup to stabilize the car on corner entry and more front camber to compensate higher body roll at the front of the car. Conversely car types that move more vehicle weight to the rear of the car require a more oversteer setup to combat inherent understeer and more rear camber to compensate higher body roll at the rear of the car.
The following table depicts how drive type affects the different tuning areas starting with highest front weight bias down to highest rear weight bias with the common FR drive type being in the middle as the most balanced drive type,
Drive Type Tire Pressure Camber ARBs Springs Dampers Brakes Diff
Front / Rear Front / Rear Front / Rear Front / Rear Front / Rear Front Distr. Accel / Decel
FF Lower / Higher Higher1 Lower / Higher Lower / Higher Higher / Lower Higher Higher / Lower
MF | ^ ^ | ^ | ^ ^ | ^ ^ |
F4D | | | | | | | | | | | |
FR -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
M4D | | | | | | | | | | | |
MR | | | | | | | | | | | |
R4D v | v v | v | | v | | v
RR Higher / Lower Higher1 Higher / Lower Higher / Lower Lower / Higher Lower Lower / Higher
1 Higher = More Camber
So these are the basic Horizon tuning principles. With the basics being laid out we are now ready to dive into general tuning.