I’ll give you an example: I’ve tested NUMEROUS cars on Laguna Seca, getting my best times from 1:32.8-1:33.6 using the '02 Vete, '95 Vette, '99 Viper, and a few others. I feel like I’ve upgraded these cars to the best of their abilities & drive with 0 assists too for maximum performance.
Come online A class lobbies though, there’s always 2-4 guys that have insane lap times compared to mine. I’m noticing that their cars have a little more speed than mine, but still posses the ability to make corners quickly.
I can understand tracks like daytona where speed kills, but I’m seeing '65 Cobras, '68 Dodge Darts, and a few more older muscle cars just tear it up like nothing on tracks like Mugello & Suzuka. I’m even seeing larger vehicles like the '00 SVT Cobra R & '17 Camaro dominate.
So I’m convinced there’s some special magic, because I know they aren’t killing me on the sticks, it’s their cars that are upgraded/tuned far superior to mine, & I’m itching to know why.
Sounds like the most logical reason so far. I’ve been upgrading all my cars for minimum weight + high grip & putting speed as my last priority thus far. If that’s true, then it truly blows my mind how guys are able to make corners with that much HP & stock tires if that’s the case.
How you build depends on the class and track though there is a such thing as too much grip. Majority of the tracks in the game favor cars that can accelerate very well. A full blown grip build has limited use for many cars. Usually lime rock, mini circuits, or any other track with minimal straights. There are exceptions to the rule. There are some cars that you can build this way and they will still accelerate well thanks to stock motor & sport/street transmission combo. Im thinking cosmo and 550 in this case.
By in large, your goal is just enough handling. Many times these builds can feel just as good as a full grip build.
Dude … no matter how good you think you are (and this applies to life in general as well as Forza) … there are ALWAYS people out there that are simply better than you are. There’s no ‘special magic’.
Suzuka is quite power-dominant too, basically you just need a car to hang on in the Esses and Spoon and the majority of the rest of the lap is straights (just bent ones so it doesn’t look as obvious). Degner 1 is barely a corner, Degner 2 is just a case of tipping the car in at the right time and letting the camber and the weight transfer handle the rest. Online 130R everyone runs wide on anyway so no need for good handling there.
You can overtake people on Suzuka with ease, stop using the inside line and use the higher speed outside line forcing the inside line to slow down more
other times they swing wide and you can just enter that space
In some divisions the grip to get down the hill helps more than the power to get to the top. In Forza GT raw grip seems to help more than horsepower.
For class racing I’ve had more general success with power at Mugello, but even then I’m guessing that grip cars like the A-class NSX or S-class Viper would also be competitive.
Depending on what class you are in, I’d say Mugello is more of an aero grip track. Yes it has a long pit straight but the long sweeping corners dominate the track more.
Suzuka can go both ways. Grip for the first half of the lap, power for the second half of the lap.
Should be easy enough to find a shared leaderboard tune and look at horsepower, weight etc. Their build should be able to be replicated.
I am in the top 1% and have some front page times ( not in A class) But am still way off the very top times.
I gave one of my tunes to a very fast guy and he was 1.5 to 2 seconds a lap faster than me in my tune!
Some people are magically quick but there is no witchcraft involved. They are just wired differently and they practice and they know the track limits intimately.
This. You want a direct comparison go download a tune from one of the top times on the leaderboard and see how far you are off. Then you will realize on even playing ground they are just that much better.
Many times you can check out the person in the lobby and see if they their own tune or someone else’s. You should be able to get that tune if it’s a shared tune.
You can have the best tune it won’t mean you will do well, some people just have a very high skill level. Taking a TX3 Lightening tune is not going to make me super good suddenly in Forza GT as an example.
For me the tune makes up for 50% of my ability because frankly I’m really bad. I don’t do well in cycle production or stock racing, it has to be my own car. If I’m in my own car, top 100 would be the absolute minimum standard and top 50 would be for an optimum setup.
One of the secrets I’m going to share is to set up your ride frequencies (NF) as you would in real life. This means setting up the springs and dampers according to the suspension geometry of that specific make and model. This involves procuring measurements that include corner weight, wheel to spring/damper motion ratio, wheel to sway bar motion ratio and so on. Attaining these pieces of information will help you to calculate the proper settings to dial in your car’s ride frequency.
Shockingly enough, Forza actually models suspension geometry pretty accurately so whatever suspension tuning method you would use in real life will translate directly into the game. I’m actually impressed in the level of technical detail that hides itself in the physics. Looking past the simcadey aspects, the physics here are very solid.
So TLDR; my secret is Science! You think this post is long? I haven’t even explained anything! Not even a scratch. I’d love to start a Suspension Dynamics Technical thread but I’m not good at forums.