Don’t be afraid to tune. At first it’s all pretty complicated, or so it seems. But it’s not as daunting as it appears to be. You’re here on our site checking out the tuning guide, so obviously you’ve got an interest. That’s excellent. I didn’t know a whole lot about tuning when I first started out, but with dedication and study, things can change in a hurry.

A few things you should know about tuning before you begin are:

1 - The more you know about real world tuning principles, the more likely you’ll be able to succeed as a tuner in Forza Motorsport 4. The real world is governed by the laws of physics. It’s these laws of mechanics, dynamics, gravity, force, acceleration, etc. that we draw upon when tuning our cars to go faster. If you look at the artificial world of Forza, there are also physical laws that govern the way those vehicles perform in-game. Those laws were created by the developers rather than the universe, but they are laws nonetheless. It is so because this virtual world is the same for everyone, giving each individual tuner equal opportunity to figure them out. We assume, as a starting point, that Turn 10 based their physics model to most closely replicate earth’s physical laws as they could. If there’s one addendum I could attach to this statement, I’ll testify that the more I learn about setting up cars in the real world, the more I’ve come to understand that the physics used by the developers are incredibly accurate.  

2 - There is no silver bullet, super tweak, or magic tune that will make you incredibly faster. We live in a world where immediate gratification is king. This is why the unsuspecting noob will pay 10 million credits for a tune used by a top driver, only to find out his lap times haven’t improved all that much. There is no sprinkling of magic dust in tuning, so save your credits and practice your skills. There is no such thing as a ‘best tune’. Tuning, by and large, has some hard and fast rules that point us in the right direction, but I have a quote from Carroll Smith, author of ‘Tune To Win’, (a book that I have read repeatedly, and is a ‘must read’ for any aspiring tuner)……

"The biggest mistake that racers make is in looking for the super tweak that will produce one large chunk of lap time. Assuming that the equipment is both good and sorted out, that tweak does not exist."

3 - Tuning is by and large a trial and error, ‘seat of your pants’ endeavor. Over the last two years I’ve spent a lot of time around car guys. Being in the company of autocrossers and road racers, I finally got the answer to the great mystery of tuning:

Car development never actually ends.

It’s a phenomenon of racing; the sport has us chasing the unattainable dream, because no matter how fast you go, you can always go faster. There’s no glass ceiling on lap times, and therefore, no perfect tune. Is a tune ever really complete? This is why DIY will take you further than buying tunes from the garages. Even if you buy a well setup car from a garage, it would pay dividends to be able to tweak that tune if it wasn’t locked. Car development is about trial and error, and experimentation. Basically, your tunes are complete when you say so. Availability of time to dedicate to Forza 4 is finite, and there are other mitigating factors to consider. How many classes of cars do you like to run? How deep is your garage? How much time you have to dedicate to each car is up to you. In theory, you could have only one car in your garage and continually develop it for the next two years until Forza 5 comes out.  

4 - Fast guys are just fast guys. Sounds simple enough, and it is. The top guys on the leaderboard can take a decently tuned apple cart and run a great time in it. Just because a tuning garage is selling a car that ran a fast lap at Road Atlanta doesn’t, and shouldn’t mean too much to you, just the same as if DIY Stig turns a Top 100 with one of our cars. That’s like thinking if you buy a Nike 3 wood, that you’re going to hit a golf ball like Tiger Woods. Don’t believe the hype or get frustrated. A well tuned car will get you started in the right direction, but it’s up to you to put in the seat time to drive that tune to its potential.

5 - Experimentation pays dividends. This is why you should read the info here, get on the forums, ask questions, buy some good tuning books from the experts, and if you have a car, seriously consider getting into autocross. The more you know about cars and tuning, the more creative you can be with your set-ups. 

This is probably my all-time favorite Carroll Smith quote, again, from ‘Tune To Win’ :

"….go to the race track and find out if it works……If it does not work, do not commit suicide – most bright ideas do not work."

6 - Good driving lends to good tuning. You don’t need to be the fastest guy out there but you need to be able to run consistent, clean laps within the limits of your ability. It is essential. The last thing you need is to go into a corner way too deep, overload the front tires, and then start fiddling with the tune to dial out the understeer. Sometimes it’s the car, but sometimes it’s you. Knowing the difference between driver error and vehicle limitations is paramount to putting together a good tune. You can’t dial out bad driving with the spring rate slider.

7 - A loose car is a fast car. There are a lot of different ways to set up a car, and even in the real world, race teams tune on a package that will give the driver confidence. Back in my early days of FM2, I read the propaganda from the developers about building balanced cars for success. So there I was, building cars for B-Class, trying to get speed, acceleration, braking, and handling all close to each other. As such, all my builds had the full Forza aero bits on them. The cars were balanced, easy to drive, and slow.

A car that’s too easy to drive, with more grip than available power and requires little to no throttle control is going to be slow. Never forget that elapsed time is the game we play and we’re not going to the store to buy milk and eggs. Being fast is about spending as much time at the limit of tire adhesion as possible. A loose car that turns in well will also require good throttle control and feel on turn exit. It will be harder to keep in line, but it’ll be faster. So when you tune on your package, make the car as loose, if not slightly looser than your skill can handle, and keep pushing the limits of both car and driver.

8 - Adjust the end of the car that needs tuning. If we’re tuning out oversteer or understeer, and one end of the car is giving us trouble, tune the end of the car that needs it. If the front of the car is working well, don’t mess with it to fix the back end. Fiddle with the rear end to find the balance you’re looking for. The only exception to this rule is shock tuning, most notably, rebound adjustment. Read up on shocks to find out why.

THE GOALS OF TUNING

Before you set out to tune your vehicles, let’s identify, in simple terms, what the goals of proper setup are: