Ah, the age old question, “How to be competitive racing in Forza?”
I’ll come right out and say that I’m no leaderboard barn burner, I don’t have any top 1000 times. Typically I’m in the top 1-2% depending on track, class, and how much I care. However, I’m competitive online. Not saying I always win, but I can hold my own. So take my advice with that grain of salt in mind.
To start with the easiest to change to the hardest to change.
Car Selection:
The Pi system actually does a pretty good job defining how a car will compete. Cars of similar characteristics will run about the same times all else being equal. But not all the cars are similar, and very few tracks are balanced in what they favor (nor should they be). Put simply, the lightest car wins. Put less simply, the car with the lowest top speed wins. The Pi system overemphasizes top speed, which in most circuit racing is a completely worthless statistic. Light cars usually have low horsepower (for their class) and very good handling. However, the low horsepower combined with the low weight gives them power to weight ratios equal to or better than the heavier high horsepower cars. The end result is that they have higher cornering speed than the heavier cars. They launch off the corner better than the heavier cars, and can brake later at the end of the straight. The speed at the end of the straight maybe lower for the lighter cars, however, the total time for the sector will be less. Ironically the same strengths carry over for muscle cars. Their high aerodynamic drag gives low top speed despite their high horsepower, which allows for more acceleration or handling add-ons.
Whenever I make a user created lobby, I usually put a minimum weight restriction to make car selection more competitive across a broader range of cars. And speaking of competitive, AWD cars quite simply aren’t. T10 basically added a 50-80 Pi penalty to every AWD car in the game after complaints during Forza 3 as to their dominance. On a very tight track you might be able to build a competitive AWD car, but it will be an utterly uphill battle. My suggestion, rip the AWD system out of any car you build if you can. If it can’t be done don’t bother to race the car.
Tuning:
I know there are people that tune their cars for every track. I know there are people that buy tunes for every track. …I am neither, it takes too much time for every car. I personally make a general setup for non aero cars. And a Low, Medium, and High downforce setup for cars with aero. I’m well aware that I’m leaving lap time on the table (my guess is up to a 1.5 seconds for an average track). But since I don’t get paid to play this game…so what. Anyway, when it comes to tuning the easiest way to think about it is managing grip levels front to rear. Stated simply, if you make something softer (usually called compliance) you will add grip to that end of the car. If you make something harder, it will react faster (a good thing to a point since a car can become skittish). The telemetry system is an excellent way to tune a car. Use the tire temperature screen to set your camber, for instance. You’d want the temperature to be as even as possible across the tire through corning. I like to watch replays of my test laps in slow motion to see how the suspension and grip levels are working. But to keep things simple. If the car is understeering (refusing to turn) soften the front in of the car or make the rear end stiffer, in some way. If the car is oversteering (turning to much) stiffen the front of the car or soften the rear of the car, once again is some way. There are multiple ways to accomplish this, unless you have specific questions, I’ll just say you should experiment. And I’ll also say that tuning for yourself is for naught if you can’t drive consistently. Which brings me to the most important part.
Race Craft:
It doesn’t matter what car you use or how it’s tuned if you can’t drive it. Not every fast driver is exploiting physics loopholes in the game (though I did laugh when a friend mine lost all his times when T10 patched the rev banging cars) a lot of them are just faster than you…or me. You get there through practice, like with everything. I’ve recommended to several before that the rivals events are a perfect way to learn fast lines around a track.
The most important part of a track is the straightaways, because you are using the maximum power of the car, whereas everywhere else you are either slowing down or at part throttle. Consequently the most important corner on a race track is the fastest corner leading onto the longest straight (that’s why cars with aero are so fast). The reason why, is because it is harder for a car, any car, to accelerate at high speed as compared to low speed. Thus a mistake on a highspeed corner is more costly than on its low speed counterpart. Take every track and find this most important corner and perfect your line out of, into, and through in that order. Then go to the next fastest corner on the next longest straight and do the same process on and on until you get to the slowest corner on the shortest straight. You’ll find that when you improve in one area you will next to “fix” the previous area you were good at since you are now approaching it at a higher speed than you were, which will alter your line. That is the sport of driving fast. The sport of racing is driving fast with other people.
I don’t use the braking line (turn off ABS, BTW, you’ll gain lots of lap time without it). I find that most who use the braking line are wedded to it despite all claims to the contrary. It is good to be able to know how to take multiple lines through a corner. You will be off line every time you overtake someone and have to alter how you go through the corner because of that. In fact you will more than likely be off line when you are passed (assuming the person did it correctly and didn’t just push you out of the way). I may not be the fastest racer, but I find that I am enormously difficult to pass even by people driving several seconds faster than me because they are not used to passing someone that can take the inside line away and hold it throughout the corner to track out.
The trackday rivals event is a good tool to learn how to drive fast while being off line. I might be able to hold my own and occasionally win in the normal hoppers. However, in the multiclass hoppers I almost always win due to being able to cleanly and quickly get through traffic.
Hope my advice helps.
I found that I had to learn to use my middle finger for the brake and my index finger (which is what I’d previously used for braking) for the clutch. It just takes time before it becomes habit. I took an Audi TT for laps around Fujimi and by the time I was halfway through the gearbox was so damaged I couldn’t tell when I’d timed it right anymore so I had to leave it in third gear. However I stuck with it and now it’s become second nature. Between that and using the braking line my laptimes have significantly improved. Stick with it. I do release the gas briefly when shifting, FYI, sometimes with better effect than others.