Efficiency is key: How to make the most money at high levels

Forza Horizon Legacy Horizon FH3 Discussion
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So you all know that both CR and XP are basically restricted by time played. You can only earn so much CR or XP in say an hour. With the Black Friday sales coming up (30 % off every car in the store, 35 % with the perk) and 18 million CR in my account I was starting to think about the best way to actually make money. I used to think that by using XP/Skills HE cars you could actually make more money than by using a Credits HE car. You earn much more XP and that is good for wheelspins which again give you CR. And I never questioned that. But I realized that with XP requirements for level-ups steadily rising from level 300+ (20.000+ XP) to level 900+ (200.000 XP) the reward for using XP/Skills HE cars over Credits HE cars would slowly get less. But does it actually make sense to switch?

Turns out it does and it does so much earlier than I anticipated. I did a one lap test on Goliath, these were the results.

Credits HE car (Ford GT), 11:00 minutes lap time

40.000 CR race finish
40.000 CR difficulty bonus (I run with a 100 % multiplier, automatic transmission on, braking on, Drivatars Unbeatable)
30.000 CR lineup bonus (I have 2 drivers with level 200, 1 with level 400, 1 with level 750)
40.000 CR HE car bonus
40.000 CR double credits perk bonus

Which is a total of 190.000 CR in 11 minutes. I also got

35.000 XP race finish
10.000 XP lineup bonus
3.500 XP perk bonus
30.000 XP skills perk bonus (perk that gives 3x skills XP)
4.000 XP clean racing bonus

Which is a total of 84.500 XP.

Now let’s assume it takes 60.000 XP to level up once, which would be at level 433. A wheelspin on average is worth something like 60.000 CR if you’re a VIP, So the XP I earned would be good for 84.500 CR. Which puts the total earnings of one lap on Goliath to 274.500 CR.

But how much do I make in an XP/Skills HE car? Well, an XP car gives double base rewards. So I lose the CR HE car bonus and win more XP:

150.000 CR
119.500 XP

These are good for 119.500 CR, which totals 269.500 CR

And a Skills car doubles the skills bonus. I guess some people can get more from skills than I do but not that much more based on lap times. You’re either fast or you are skillful. Anyhow it boils down to

150.000 CR
114.500 XP

in my case, which totals 264.500 CR.

So the Credits HE car actually gives the most money if you are higher than level 433. My math could be off and wheelspin rewards on average are actually much higher (though I doubt it, even if you’re lucky and get an HE car in 100 levelup spins that is only worth less than 10.000 CR per level), so let’s assume it is actually 80.000 CR on average for VIPs. Then we end up with 294.500 CR for the Credits HE car and 310.000 CR for the XP HE car. So it takes a few more levels to make the switch. If it takes us 80.000 XP to level up we earn 274.500 CR in a Credits HE car and 269.500 CR in an XP HE car. And it takes 80.000 XP to level up at level 500+.

So if you want to make money and you are higher than level 433, go use a Credits HE car to make the most money. The payouts for the XP cars have diminishing returns unless you are an extraordinarily great skills driver.

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I just tested the wheelspin payouts. If I buy 25 wheelspins I spend 1.250.000 CR, yet I lose only 500.000 CR. Which means I win 750.000 CR in 25 spins which is exactly 30.000 CR per spin. Now these are without the VIP bonus, so 60.000 CR average payout for VIPs is actually likely correct (add another 10K for the rare HE car wins if you want).

2 Likes
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How do you buy wheel spins?

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Ahaa, I see i’m not the only one preparing for Black Friday sale ^^.

Currently grinding Goliath a lot, and a lot… and a lot… and a lot as i need 90M CR before 25th…

My Viper and GT HE will be ready for the scrap heap once i’m done with that objective lol.

I currently can’t find a better way to earn credits than goliath, though laps are very long and require constant vigilance so it’s very exhausting in the long term.

With GT or Viper HE, perks, difficulty up to 100% i’m averaging 9:50 to 10:05 per lap and receive 1M+ per 5 laps. It’s worth it but, as i said above, very exhausting.
As i’m almost 550, wheelspins are becoming very rare. I think i receive 3 to 5 wheelspins for 5 laps.

I just reached 55M, so here we go again for 35M…

35 X 5 = 175 Laps… Gosh, call an ambulance

1 Like
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I am happy with my 21m. I do not intend finishing my collection yet as it sort of ruins the games longevity.

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Yes but… will they make another 30% sale at a later date ? i’m not so sure =(

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I will buy later with 0 or 5% discount.

I just want to keep something for later.

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Expansion Pass will certainly help you to get something for later then :stuck_out_tongue:

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I’ve been using the quadruple Rivals CR perk with HE cars on Street Races Rivals at the 10k level for a quick 70k-100k payout in a couple minutes, but that requires lots of skill points and careful farming of rivals opponents in the right classes.

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I got several million CR that way just from the race right in front of the Outback festival (my favorite hangout). The 5K and 10K tiers were very easy across the classes for some reason, and I performed only well enough to just beat the current rival, with the 4X perk, and a credits-boost car in the higher classes.

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Hmm, I never thought of it - does the perk work with the “blue crosshair”-dude (that one that gives 50k+ in a head-to-head win)?.

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No. that guy works with a Credits HE car but they appear way too rare to make them an acceptable method of income.

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I never worry about cash. It comes in constantly no matter what you do. I just play to have fun and know I will eventually have more cash than I could ever spend. Plus I have so many cars now I can’t even keep up. I have close to 300 and most have never been driven or built yet.

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This is how it’s going for me too. I do usually build cars when I get 'em, but then I save them for later. When I get to 'em, that’s when I see if I still like the build, then tune.

So I’m trying to save as much money as I can for the sale. I’m going to buy as many 10 million CR cars as I can. If I can buy 2 of each, that would be great. 3 of each, even better. The over 5 million CR cars are the only ones that I’m focused on buying when the sale hits. As the OP pointed out, 1 Goliath lap gets you about 200k CR. 5 laps gets you about 1 million CR … for less than an hour driving. The 5+ million CR cars are the only ones that really require a long grind to get.

I used this strategy in Forza Horizon 2. It’s a good one. The only thing is that there are only so many leaderboards and eventually you top out, so it can’t last forever. Trying to win by as little as possible helps extend it’s usefulness, though. The less you win by, the more beatable Rivals above you.

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It all depends on how you look at it, for me I’m about level 520 but I’m over 40 million credits so I’m just farming spins waiting for the next set of HE cars to drop. I have every car that I’ve wanted and some I even have doubles/triples although I have been clearing those out (in anticipation of the BF sale) as well because I probably will never drive em. I run goliath because Im in love with it! its not a grind for me, much more like a passion…its my testing ground. If I can’t run it at goliath then its no bueno.

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Good to hear there are some other insane people doing the Goliath. That is the only way I’ve found to get max CR. I use the double CR bonus from the skill points board, and the Ford GT HE car, and try to rack up as many skill points as possible. I played Goliath on Unbeatable, but after the November Update, Unbeatable’s difficulty was jacked up for me. Most likely a glitch since near launch, my game’s difficulty just spiked, and forced me to race at inexperienced or New Racer to get a difficulty that rivaled Unbeatable. Since then, the game has leveled out, except for the Unbeatable and Pro difficulties. I was lapping most of the cars on Unbeatable once in five laps, but now, I lap no one, and the 2nd place car is on my tail no matter how good I race. I was finishing the race right at 9 minutes, and yet 2nd place was ready to overtake me as soon as I wasn’t driving perfect.

This is the same with Pro… So I unfortunately have to drive in Expert since the November update… Sorry for the long story. That’s been my experiences with Horizon 3 though. I really like the game, but it has been pretty buggy at times. Either way, I’m pushing hard to get all of the cars. I’ve raised 20 million twice, and spent it. I’m now back up to 21.5 million and now that I’ve heard about the Black Friday sale from you buys, I’m not going to spend a dime until then. I race 6 laps twice a day, which equals 2 million each day. So that will get me close to 50 million by Black Friday. I need a little under 100 million to get the rest of the cars.

If anyone else comes up with better ideas to raise CR, please let me and everyone else know. Thanks again for the information. Good luck to all of you.

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I think your math is about right. From a view on wheelspin only, you just have to compare the bonus the XP car gives and compare it with the credits the Credits car gives. At around level 400 your bonus credits allow you to buy more wheel spins than a xp bonus would grate you. I think VIP-bonus is neglectable as it only doubles credit rewards.

When it comes to money and efficiency, difficulty bonus plays a major role too. Currently, I’m very comfortable with 80% bonus (no rewind, ABS & Traction control on, break lines only, “unbeatable” opponents). My last 12-rounds race of Goliath (Ford vs. Holden) in a 2017 Ford GT HE was a bit under 2 hours and although I made a few mistakes here and there I got 1st place easily despite chatting with friends the whole time. The race netted me about 2.35 millions (unlocked all perks and the one-time exhibition perk) - that’s about 20k credits/min.

Outside of races the Mechanic Perk is the most important tool to save money. Whenever you plan to fully upgrade a car, use it! Maxed upgrades usually cost over 100k, pretty cheap for 10 skill points!

On Black Friday I’m not gonna focus on the hefty 8-10 million cars but the small ones as it’s easier to find a “cheap” 10M-car with 20-30% lower AH-price (compared to the showroom) than one of the lower price tiers (<1.5 million).

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You need to unlock the related perk in the Skill Shop, and then you can just go to the Progress menu and select the tile for Wheelspins to buy them for 50k each spin.

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This. Be aware, however, that VIP bonus DOES NOT apply to purchased wheelspins.

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You guys must have better luck then I on spins. I would never even consider buying wheel spins at 50k a pop.

In 10 wheelspins I’ve not received a HE car. For 500k I could almost get 2 in AH. This seems like setting yourself up to be upset.