Been playing since Forza 3, but only casually. Frankly the lack of games has sort of forced me into playing Forza 5 almost exclusively. It got boring for a second until I started taking tuning a little more seriously. Because of this forum I’ve learned of the profound effect of builds and picked up a thing or two about tuning. I think it’s really great to get some interaction from the pros, RoadRunner and Worm stick out. It seems like you don’t usually get that kind of interaction in a gaming community, so for the open sourced tunes shared by these two, and others, I am extraordinarily grateful!
I do like some leaderboard cars, but I enjoy driving what I like, which is mostly American, British, and some of the Japanese AWD cars in A, S, and R class. While these are capable, it’s tough to compete with the likes of the Xbow, F50, '76 Formula 1 cars, etc. Which at first I found a little disheartening, but now I’m taking great pleasure in overcoming it. Just two weeks ago I had one, maybe two top 100 times. Now I have something like 30. This was all done with my own tunes, which is the method from which I get the most enjoyment. I like seeing the results of my efforts. Admittedly I’ve been focusing on sort of niche courses (and to some extent tunes), but I suppose you have to start somewhere!
In the past I’d only used the information displayed in game to tune. I had some success tuning the bad out, but haven’t really been able to tune good in. This is still true, as most of my success has been with more difficult cars to drive, but ones that have inherent racing ability. This all started with the Ultima, which I love. That Chevy V8 sounds incredible, though it’s is difficult to tune. I finally got it drivable and nearly had a top 50 time on Indy GP, a pretty competitive though not necessarily difficult track. That was without any of the silly corner cutting, so I suppose I should take some pride in that. Tuning this car sort of opened my eyes, after which I had some success with the Chaparral, and then the new Lotus Elise. At this point I started visiting this forum and absorbing its contents. I’ve learned tons to which I applied to probably my best tune yet, several iterations of the Caterham in A, S, and even R class. With this I posted top 100 times in all of the Yas and Top Gear (sort of niche, as I said) tracks. These tunes are shared, and I think I might even open source a few if I get some more time. I’m still stuck tuning them to make them more drivable, not necessarily faster. I hope that will come with more experience. The Caterham is not only a breeze to drive, but I’ve found it to be very satisfying to post some top times with. I’ve had some success with the M1 too, perhaps an overlooked car.
Now I’m working on the Skyline vspec II. I’m finding AWD to be a different beast entirely. I’ve got it handling like it’s on rails, but it’s not as fast as others on the leaderboard. There is some gap in driver skill, but it’s large enough to make me think I’m missing something in the build. There’s lots I’m still learning about alignment and damping, a few of the more intangible and difficult to observe aspects of tuning.
Anyway, just wanted to share the good news! I’m sure others appreciate the open source tunes and sharing of knowledge as much as I do!