New racer questions! Advice requested

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So I’m starting to get into Forza Horizon 3 on my PC with my new 1070, and it runs pretty good. I mostly play multiplayer these days, and do okay, but I’m not sure how to pick a good car, I try and get a good street car for street, offroad for dirt, and a medium car for mixed surface in the right category. Are all the cars with the same # balanced, or are some better, like the more expensive ones? So like if something is s1-900, is it balanced equally with every other s1-900 car?

Also on the ‘launch’ at the start of the race, it seems like I get passed a lot, no matter what kind of car I’m in. I just floor it before the green light, is that the right way to launch or is there a better way?

Also should I be using the handbrake? I mostly just brake early with the line indicator when I can see it, and then accelerate through the second half of the turn without sliding at all if I can help it, that seems to work and I get a variety of finishing positions, but should I be handbraking to shave seconds off? Not sure what the technique is for that.

I also love to race in first person with the hood showing, it seems more intuitive for driving, but I get bumped a lot and is there some way to handle people bumping you when you’re in first person? Would adding 2 screens for 3 screen driving help? 1080p screens are pretty cheap these days…also does bumping hurt your clean skills bonus, even if they ram you and not the other way around?

Also I just got the skill that gives +100% to clean racing, and my xp went way up - save for the rare moment of distraction or getting rammed at a bad time by another car, I’m pretty good about staying on the track and not crashing.

Also I have like 2 million $$$ saved up, should I buy expensive cars or just a variety of regular priced cars? Are the expensive cars better?

On upgrades, I usually just auto-upgrade to the same class the car is in, so like A-750 to A-800 and that sort of thing, should I be doing something different in upgrading, and is it better to keep cars in the same class or get lower-class cars and upgrade them to higher class? Are some stats better than others? Or is it mostly based on the course, like lots of long straights favors top speed and lots of turns favors braking and handling?

Well, thanks for reading, hopefully I can get some tips and advice for these questions, and possibly others too! Great game, I played the crew before this one and they don’t even compare. Not laggy at all. Although maybe it would be cool if those multiplayer ‘waiting’ timers for voting and other non-racing timers were a little shorter.

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I’m surprised you haven’t got answers yet. There must not be a lot of traffic in here. Even though your not in the wrong place, I think this could be asked in the Discussion section, but I’ll try to answer what I can.

All cars of the same PI are not at all balanced in this game. The build, the upgrades chosen, are the key to success online. Your troubles at the start of races are probably directly related to this. This game is biased toward All Wheel Drive, and, because of how much PI “more power” parts cost compared to “handling” parts, the game favors more power to more handling. Seriously, if you are auto-upgrading cars and getting a variety of finishes, you’re doing well because you’re at a huge disadvantage. I like this game a lot, but the PI system isn’t great.

1000hp cars are possible in C class, for example. They handle terribly, but that’s a lot of power.

The lower classes have more extremes than higher classes because tires cost so much PI in the lower class cars. Because of that, I’ve stuck to A class and above so far. I do have a lot of experience in those classes, though, so here are some car-building tips:

  1. Online, you probably want to convert almost any car to AWD. A naturally good RWD car, like a Ferrari F40, can compete online, but you lose at start and have to make up time … and AWD is just favored.

  2. In an A class AWD car, you want a handling rating between 6.5 - 6.8 for an all around, online race car. The better you drive, the less handling you need, but if you go higher than 6.8, you won’t have enough power. Some courses favor handling even below this range, with more power, but those builds aren’t great for everything.

  3. In a S1 class AWD car, you want to be in a handling range of 7.4 - 7.7.

And here’s an example of how to build a car. I built a 2009 Corvette with no wing or splitter today, so now I’ll build a 2009 Corvette with a wing and splitter just to have a different version.

The 09 Corvette starts out RWD with a PI of 829. Since there’s a lot of room to S1 PI 900, that’s my target. Here are the ugrades I want no matter the cost.

AWD conversion
Race Front Bumper (optional)
Race Rear Wing (optional)
355 mm rear tires (biggest size)
Race Differential
Race Transmission
Race Springs
Race Front Anti-Roll Bar
Race Rear Anti-Roll Bar

The bumper and wing are optional, and you don’t always need race transmission, but these parts are needed for any car 99% of the time. And this 09 Corvette doesn’t have brake upgrades, but Race Brakes are almost always needed on any car.

After adding these parts, the PI is now 848 and the handling rating is 7.4 … a little low for an online car. If I upgrade to the next tire compound, the handling rating is 7.7. But if I purchase Race Weight Reduction, the handling rating is 7.6 and I get much better acceleration. Depending on the car and the event, the right choice could be tires, weight, or a combination. For this car, I choose:

Race Weight Reduction

The PI is now 877 , the handling rating is 7.6, so now the rest of the PI goes toward more horspower. First, I check what engine conversions are available. Sometimes you can add a lot of power here for little PI. If you can get a turbo or supercharger on any engine, do it. They are PI efficient. For this 09 Vette, there’s either the stock V8 or a V10 conversion with similar power and similar PI. I’ll keep the stock engine just as a personal choice. There is a turbo conversion available and affordable, so I’ll choose it.

Twin Turbo

The PI is now 880. Now to the engine shop. If the turbo or supercharger can be upgraded, start with that. This one can.

Race Twin Turbo

The PI is now 885. The engine’s power band and what you want from the car determine what is needed next, but at this point it matters less. Buy engine parts that add power until you can’t afford more. I choose:

Race Cams and Valves
Race Engine Block
Sport Intercooler

At this point, I can’t afford more power. Now I see if I can buy anything else. Also, intercoolers and roll cages add weight as they increase performance. Sometimes they are worth it, but it wouldn’t be a big deal to avoid ever getting them. I see that I can afford a clutch upgrade and then I’d be maxed out at S1 900.

Race Clutch

The finished car weighs 2964 pounds and makes 847 horsepower.

Speed - 7.0
Handling - 7.6
Acceleration - 9.8
Launch - 10
Braking - 9.2

This car is no joke. A little tuning and this car could beat 99% of everything you see online … in a major way. Unless the opponents’ cars were built with a similar strategy, they will be no match. And using this build strategy, any car can be made to compete and win. Cheap cars, expensive cars, Transit Vans … all can be made great. Some better than others, but still …

And I don’t know if multiple screens are possible. I play from the driver’s seat camera and look around with the controller, but it’s tricky. There’s a lot of going by feel and trying to hold my line when I play. And very little using the hand brake.

Sorry it took a while for a response and good luck.

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Unfortunately, yes. Almost any contact with something not destructable will break the clean string, even it’s 100% someone else’s fault.

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