Hey, so I’ relatively new to the Forza series, with my only other experience being playing Forza 2 a little bit. I’ve played a couple of other racing games throughout the years and the reason i was drawn to them was because i always felt a constant sense of progression, i enjoyed starting out low with a Honda s2000 and Nissan Fairlady Z being my best “Money Maker” vehicles and eventually working my way up to Lamborghini’s etc. also eventually blowing past the same competition that use to get me troubles after i earned enough cash to upgrade my vehicle and add a sweet new turbo kit, tires and some tuning
But As of Now in Forza Horizon 4 it just seems for every time i upgrade my vehicle the computer just automatically gets boosted up to match me, almost as if when i gain 20 HorsePower the avatars gain 25, i get it, the game does not want me to lap my competition as could be done in the older racing games, but I mean do i ever receive benefit to upgrading my vehicle?
I don’t really see what good it is if when i upgrade my opponents just get stronger to match or surpass my upgrades. So i guess that’s my Question, is there that sense of progression, do you get that feeling of hard work paying off in the sense of pulling away from previously difficult races, or will your car just always be equally matched no matter the upgrades? By the way overall the game seems awesome so i don’t want this to sound like i’m talking negatively, just curious about this aspect.
The horizon series tends to focus more on allowing you to play the game your way, this is more of the point when it comes to upgrades.
In the main forza games, you have to upgrade and tune your car to max it out in the certain PI class of the race, but in horizon you could play all the single player races in a bog standard D class, or a heavily tuned x class, it’s your choice.
I prefer it this way tbh, the upgrades are not there to give you a clear advantage, they’re there to tune the car to drive how you want it too, and to give you the choice of how to play. It’s more of a celebration of cars and for us car nuts to enjoy driving and tuning vehicles we’ve grown up with and loved over decades in a stunning free roam environment.
No, there’s no point in upgrading in Horizon. You spend more money to gain nothing. I’ve said that for years.
Forza Motorsport hasn’t allowed you to upgrade as much as you want. They have race restrictions which limit Performance Index (PI) and often other restrictions like how much horsepower, weight, drivetrain, or tire width.
Thank you! You just made the game so much more enjoyable since i learned this. I tried upgrading my Honda NSX for the weekly Forzathon and keept it at rank A. WOW! It’s so much more fun todrive when it’s not 1000 BHP and actually drivable. Super useful advice. Thanks mate!
Yeah, I found that I had to upgrade the NSX to hit the speed challenge, but it made it completely unwieldy. Which I’m sure a pro could have tuned out, but ain’t no one got time for that. Once I hit the speed challenge, I blew it away to stock, and just did some base upgrades; tires, aero & breaks, and it was much more fun to drive.
The only reason for upgrading in FH4 is really for the speed zones/danger signs. It can be helpful with some cars that aren’t nice to drive stock, but it’s usually cheaper just to pick up a different car in the same class from the AH that doesn’t have the handling quirks.
FH1 was much better about this. Instead of matching your car, each race had a PI limit and the AI upgraded to this limit. Was not happy when FH2 came out and established the system we have now of the AI always matching your PI.
It depends, I think, on a lot of things. In some cases, it’s absolutely necessary. Some D and E class and even C class cars are painfully annoying with stock parts. And some of them can barely move under their own power.
If you like a particular car, for its look, or the way it handles, but it has an annoying quirk that you can’t tune out because tire pressure is the only tuneable option in the stock setup, or if you want to play that same car in a higher class, then maybe it’s worth it to upgrade. But with a higher class of car comes a higher class of opponent. And S2 cars handle a lot differently than A class cars when they get up to speed, and need more tuning to get a proper handle on them.
Generally, I play with the stock parts at first to get a feel for the car at its most basic before shelling out for the go-faster parts.
Thanks for the feedback! So from what im hearing the horizon Series is more so a “playground” version where you can race whatever you want however you want, I was coming into it thinking its just Forza Motorsport in an Open World Free-Roam environment. Must admit i am a little disappointed that the “upgrade” process is not as impactful as traditional racing sims, but i can respect that this is a different style of game
The thing to note (since you are new) is FH4 has absolutely zero progression compared to the other games in the series.
In previous games, there were things to work toward like upgrading the various Festival sites, Championships, Rivals, etc. All of that was ripped out of FH3 because… Well, nobody knows for sure, but it’s sorely missed by many judging by the negative responses on this forum. All we have now is pointless grinding for things that have no use in a racing game like homes, cosmetic items, etc. Many of the features that were in previous games are now locked behind grindy progression, or seasonal content such as Danger Signs, Barn Finds, etc.
There’s also the whole multiplayer side, which does have limits on what you bring. You’ll want to spec at least a road and a dirt variant of an A, S1, and S2 car for adventures, and the seasonal championships have specific car/performance gates too, so there is reason to tune a car, it’s just that in the open world you are free to make the car you want.
A strategy I like to use to best experience each car I drive is upgrade it to to top of its class so that the drivatars can’t upgrade past me which makes the high difficulty races I run more satisfying and competitive. Leaving a car at stock relys too much on hoping the drivatars don’t upgrade too far past you wishing the class (they do)
