Forza Horizon 5 tuning guide: How to tune cars, what every setting means, and more
Make every car truly unique with Forza Horizon 5’s powerful tuning tools.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Forza Horizon 5 is mostly an arcade racer, meaning it sheds the pursuit of absolute realism in favor of more accessible gameplay that more casual players can enjoy on top of the millions of Forza Horizon veterans. However, it still contains plenty of settings and options for more hardcore players to dive into if they want more simulation-like racing, including a comprehensive system for upgrading and tuning cars. Using these tools, you can build any car you want and race it all across Mexico.
Our Forza Horizon 5 tuning guide has everything you need to know about tuning your car, including what every setting means, how to get started, and more.
The best open-world racer
Playground Games has delivered their latest masterpiece with Forza Horizon 5, which features the series' most diverse map and largest car list yet. Forza Horizon 5 somehow fulfills its ambitious promises to be the best open-world racer right now, and one of the best racing games in general.
What is tuning and upgrading in Forza Horizon 5?
There’s avast number of intricately recreated carscontained withinForza Horizon 5, each of which possessing its own unique traits and upgrade options that players can exploit for ultimate performance in each race, event, or challenge. Every individual car in Forza Horizon 5 can offer dozens of individual performance and cosmetic upgrades, with hundreds upon hundreds of potential possibilities proffered to diligent players interested in getting the most out of their vehicles.
Using Forza Horizon 5’s comprehensive tools, players can custom tailor cars to meet a wide variety of goals and objectives. From “sleeper” cars that deliver massive performance while looking mundane and unassuming to legendary hypercars that impossibly excel at off-road adventures, FH5’s upgrade and tuning options give players plenty of choice. Of course, mastering these tools and techniques can feature a steep learning curve, requiring decent levels of knowledge and experience to navigate comfortably.
Taking an already-impressive stock car in Forza Horizon 5 and elevating it to new heights (or moving it to different playing fields entirely) starts with the Upgrade Shop. You can replace and add a ton of different parts to Forza Horizon 5’s massive roster of vehicles, ranging from full-blown engine replacements and body kits to minor tweaks to handling and suspension, and everything in between. Simply upgrading a car is a fair sight less intimidating than the more involved process of tuning, but can still be daunting for novices just starting to dabble with it. For more information, be sure to check out our fullguide to upgrading cars in Forza Horizon 5, which breaks down absolutely everything you need to know about the process.
Tuning lets players customize individual metrics on their car, including the amount of downforce applied by aerodynamic upgrades, the specific settings of their car’s suspension and handling platforms, even the specific gearing ratios for the engine, and much more. Tuning can dramatically affect how your car performs and handles evenafteryou upgrade it, but it’s considerably more advanced than simply installing new parts. Most players likely won’t have to worry about tuning, but those that want to get the absolute most out of their cars and don’t mind experimenting can gain a lot by tinkering with their cars' tuning settings.
This guide covers everything you need to know about tuning your cars in Forza Horizon 5 to take most of the mystery out of the process and make it easier than ever to get started.
Get the Windows Central Newsletter
All the latest news, reviews, and guides for Windows and Xbox diehards.
How do I tune my car in Forza Horizon 5?
Tuning a car in Forza Horizon 5 grants you nearly limitless possibilities, most of which are extremely subjective and vary wildly depending on a number of factors, including the car you’re tuning, the upgrades applied to the car, what you intend to use the car for, and your personal driving preferences. This vast array of possibilities wards off many players from even attempting to dabble with tuning, especially when Forza Horizon veterans and creators create and share their own awesome tunes all the time. Still, there are plenty of tips and tricks that any player can use to begin experimenting with car tuning and making your own cars better than ever. Here’s what you need to know.
General information
There are a couple methods to tune your cars in Forza Horizon 5, and plenty to keep in mind when doing so. Here’s some general information to get you started with car tuning in Forza Horizon 5.
Before you begin, obviously you’ll need to knowhowto begin. Head to any Festival Site orPlayer Houseyou have access to on the Forza Horizon 5 map, as all of them will have equal access to the upgrading and tuning options. Staying on the center “Garage” tab that is offered by default, navigate to the “Upgrades & tuning” section in the left-hand corner after you’ve selected the car you want to upgrade and tune from “My cars.” All the tuning magic will happen here!
There are different ways to tune
As is the case with upgrades, there’s not just one way to accomplish the task. For many players reading this guide, the best option will likely be to upgrade your car and then head straight to “Custom tuning.” However, there are actually three options players should be aware of when diving into the complicated world of car tuning in Forza Horizon 5, including:
Upgrade before you tune
Diving into the “Custom tuning” section in Forza Horizon 5 can let you make significant changes to your car’s handling and performance, but it shouldn’t be the first place to head after settling behind the wheel of a new car. First and foremost, players' priorities should be on upgrading their vehicles before they begin tuning. For one, many tuning options are locked unless you install specific upgrades on your car. Conversely, while tuning optionscangreatly affect a car’s abilities, the changes are not nearly as drastic as installing and replacing parts through upgrading.
Make sure your car is upgraded exactly where you want it before moving onto tuning with ourguide to upgrading cars in Forza Horizon 5.
Different situations benefit from different tunes
When tuning cars in Forza Horizon 5, there are tips and rules that can be applied broadly across the board as a fantastic “starting point” for perfecting your cars, but no one tune is the best choice every time. Every car is unique, and oftentimes how you want to tune it depends entirely on how you intend to drive the car. Tuning a car to excel primarily on roads is very different from tuning a car to handle any off-roading situation, which is in turn different from tuning a car for drag racing, drifting, or anything else.
When you begin tuning, keep in mind your end goal, and take all the feedback from this guide into account as you progress through every tuning option. A “general” tune can prepare a car to perform well in practically every situation, but more specialized cars will demand more specialized tuning.
You don’t have to do everything
Tuning cars in Forza Horizon 5 can be understandably intimidating, especially if you’re just starting out. One key thing to remember is that you’re absolutely under no obligation to alter every setting when tuning a car, and can completely skip any sections if you want.
Some sections of car tuning in Forza Horizon 5, including “Tires,” “Gearing,” and “Alignment” all require additional time and effort, and even in-game telemetry data, to tune effectively. These sections require a lot more knowledge and are more overwhelming in general than other tuning options. If you still want to improve your cars with custom tunes, you can do a lot without ever touching these sections.
Refine your tunes over time
If you follow the information below exactly, you’ll end up with a great tune that can benefit practically any car in the game, as well as tips for tuning drag, drift, and off-road cars. However, every caranddriver is different, which means your car may still gain a lot from additional tweaks and refinement. If you see any areas your car can continue to improve, don’t hesitate to jump back into the tuning options and make some changes.
Refinement is all about diagnosis and making small fixes targeting that diagnosis. We’ve listed plenty oftips and tricks for refining tuneslater in this guide.
Telemetry data can aid with tuning
As mentioned above, you don’t have to touch every section to be effective at tuning your cars in FH5. However, some tuning options greatly benefit from using Forza Horizon 5’s built-in telemetry options, which give you a huge amount of detailed information on your car. Forza Horizon 5 constantly monitors dozens of factors and statistics simultaneously and during live gameplay, and even simulates weather effects and temperature and how they realistically affect a car. FH5’s in-game telemetry menu gives you the rundown on all of it.
You can assign the telemetry menu to any button on your controller or mouse and keyboard to be brought up at will. Alternatively, you can swap the ANNA AI option with telemetry instead. FH5’s telemetry data is most useful when tuning suspension, alignment, and tire settings.
Save and share your tunes
Once you are satisfied with a car’s tune, you can save it so that you never lose that specific set of upgrades and tuning settings, even if you change the car or completely redo the tune. You can also share your tunes to the Forza Horizon 5 community, and other players can download your tune and install it on their cars! If they like your tune, they can even like your content and give you Kudos, a socialcurrency in Forza Horizon 5. For every download, install, and like, you actually earn Credits you can turn around and spend on anything you want in Forza Horizon 5.
The better you become at car tuning, the more people are liable to install your tunes. Remember, custom tunes include all the upgradesandtuning options applied to the car at the moment you save the tune.
Differential tuning
It may seem strange, but it’s usually easier to start with the last tuning section and travel from right to left. Following this order, players will start in the differential tuning section. A car’s differential controls how much difference is allowed in the rate of spin between tires before they’re locked, especially when turning around corners. A lower differential lock percentage means a larger gap is allowed between wheels on either side of a car, while a higher differential lock means the tires will lock quickly if a difference is detected.
If your differential lock is too low, your wheels may spin and lose traction; too high, and your car may suffer from understeer when traveling around corners. The optimal differential tuning settings change depending on what you’re using your car for, as well. Here’s what you need to know:
The above suggestions work great for the majority of cars and for general usage, but some kinds of tunes may benefit from alternative differential tuning. Here are some examples:
Brakes tuning
The second tuning section is for your car’s brakes, which directly controls how the car responds when quickly decelerating. You won’t have to change much in this section most of the time, but tuning your car’s brakes still has strong effects on handling. Here’s what you need to know:
The above suggestions work great for the majority of cars and for general usage, but some kinds of tunes may benefit from alternative brakes tuning. Here are some examples:
Aerodynamics tuning
Aerodynamics refers to how a car handles the friction of air when traveling at high speeds, and how much force is pressing the car down into the ground. Aerodynamics is a constant focus for high-end performance vehicles that are seeking the greatest speeds possible, or electric cars that desire the best efficiency possible. Aero tuning in Forza Horizon 5 lets you tweak how much downforce is applied to the car at high speeds. Here’s what you need to know:
The above suggestions work great for the majority of cars and for general usage, but some kinds of tunes may benefit from alternative aerodynamics tuning. Here are some examples:
Damping tuning
Damping is one of several suspension settings you can tweak in Forza Horizon 5, which has huge effects on handling and your car’s overall grip. Damping settings specifically control the travel rate of your car’s suspension in two different places. Rebound stiffness controls how quickly your car’s suspension bounces back to normal after hitting bumps in the road, while bump stiffness controls how quickly your car’s suspension compresses when first hitting those bumps. Here’s what you need to know:
Three sections of Forza Horizon 5’s tuning options, “Damping,” “Springs,” and “Antiroll bars,” all relate to your car’s suspension and handling. These sections also feature a lot of similarities when tuned. Above all, properly tuning these suspension settings requires knowing your car’s weight distribution, which describes how much of your car’s weight is focused in the front and rear halves. Fortunately, it’s easy to obtain this information.
Here’s what you need to know about tuning your damping settings in Forza Horizon 5:
The above suggestions work great for the majority of cars and for general usage, but some kinds of tunes may benefit from alternative damping tuning. Here are some examples:
Springs tuning
Tuning your car’s suspension in general can considerably alter your car’s handling properties, especially when it comes to off-road and rally racing. More specifically, this section controls the stiffness of your car’s suspension springs, both in the front and rear, as well as how close to the ground it sits. Not only can this affect the aesthetic of your car (if that’s important to you), it’s also vital to tune to preserve your car’s handling. Here’s what you need to know:
Three sections of Forza Horizon 5’s tuning options, “Damping,” “Springs,” and “Antiroll bars,” all relate to your car’s suspension and handling. These sections also feature a lot of similarities when tuned. Above all, properly tuning these suspension settings requires knowing your car’s weight distribution, which describes how much of your car’s weight is focused in the front and rear halves. Fortunately, it’s easy to obtain this information.
Here’s what you need to know about tuning your springs settings in Forza Horizon 5:
The above suggestions work great for the majority of cars and for general usage, but some kinds of tunes may benefit from alternative springs tuning. Here are some examples:
Antiroll bars tuning
Antiroll bars help control the flex between the right and left half of your car, and can have a huge impact in handling, especially in older cars or tunes that significantly change how a car performs. You can install antiroll bars in the front and rear of your car and tune each independently, and use them to refine your settings and handling, or to help nudge your car towards a specific specialty. Here’s what you need to know:
Three sections of Forza Horizon 5’s tuning options, “Damping,” “Springs,” and “Antiroll bars,” all relate to your car’s suspension and handling. These sections also feature a lot of similarities when tuned. Above all, properly tuning these suspension settings requires knowing your car’s weight distribution, which describes how much of your car’s weight is focused in the front and rear halves. Fortunately, it’s easy to obtain this information.
Here’s what you need to know about tuning your antiroll bars settings in Forza Horizon 5:
The above suggestions work great for the majority of cars and for general usage, but some kinds of tunes may benefit from alternative antiroll bars tuning. Here are some examples:
Alignment tuning
While previous sections focused on specific portions of your car’s suspension and handling platform, the “Alignment” section encompasses the entirety of your car’s suspension. This section lets you tune how your suspension sits, and how it relates to your car’s wheels. This section is relatively advanced to tune, and requires constant trial and error, but can still further improve your car’s handling if done properly. Here’s what you need to know:
Three sections of Forza Horizon 5’s tuning options, “Alignment,” “Gearing,” and “Tires,” can all be considered more advanced than previous sections, requiring additional information, extensive trial and error, and more to tune and refine properly. These sections can be daunting to newcomers, but fortunately can often be safely skipped for the vast majority of users and cars. If you choose to tune these sections, bear in mind that it may take longer to become adept at and require lots of experimentation. All three of these sections also greatly benefit from liberal use of FH5’s in-game telemetry menu.
Here’s what you need to know about tuning your alignment settings in Forza Horizon 5:
The above suggestions work great for the majority of cars and for general usage, but some kinds of tunes may benefit from alternative alignment tuning. Here are some examples:
Gearing tuning
Out of all the tuning options provided to players in Forza Horizon 5, “Gearing” is arguably the most nuanced and inaccessible of the bunch. Tuning gears can completely transform your car’s performance in both top speed and overall acceleration, but it can also render your car utterly useless. There’s no one correct way to tune gears, it’s highly subjective, requires an absure amount of trial and error and experimentation, and is often unnecessary for a majority of cars.
Still, practicing and learning how to properly tune your car’s gears can make the difference between a “good” and “great” tune. Even if you choose not to dive headfirst into gears tuning and all the frustrations it entails, there are still ways to improve your cars quickly and effortlessly. Here’s what you need to know:
Three sections of Forza Horizon 5’s tuning options, “Alignment,” “Gearing,” and “Tires,” can all be considered more advanced than previous sections, requiring additional information, extensive trial and error, and more to properly tune and refine. These sections can be daunting to newcomers, but fortunately can often be safely skipped for the vast majority of users and cars. If you choose to tune these sections, bear in mind that it may take longer to become adept at and require lots of experimentation. All three of these sections also greatly benefit from liberal use of FH5’s in-game telemetry menu.
Here’s what you need to know about tuning your gearing settings in Forza Horizon 5:
The above suggestions work great for the majority of cars and for general usage, but some kinds of tunes may benefit from alternative gearing tuning. Here are some examples:
Tires tuning
Your car’s tires are obviously a very important part of the driving experience, as nothing your car is capable of doing matters if it’s not able to translate that through its tires to the ground. There are two things that are important with tires tuning—tire temperature and tire pressure both play a big part. You’re only able to tune tire pressure, but this setting also directly affects temperature. Properly tuning this ensures your car maintains grip on the road, which improves handling, control, and the transfer of power from wheel turning to actual momentum. Here’s what you need to know:
Three sections of Forza Horizon 5’s tuning options, “Alignment,” “Gearing,” and “Tires,” can all be considered more advanced than previous sections, requiring additional information, extensive trial and error, and more to tune and refine properly. These sections can be daunting to newcomers, but fortunately can often be safely skipped for the vast majority of users and cars. If you choose to tune these sections, bear in mind that it may take longer to become adept at and require lots of experimentation. All three of these sections also greatly benefit from liberal use of FH5’s in-game telemetry menu.
Here’s what you need to know about tuning your tires settings in Forza Horizon 5:
The above suggestions work great for the majority of cars and for general usage, but some kinds of tunes may benefit from alternative tires tuning. Here are some examples:
Refining tunes
The initial tuning process can take a lot of time and see considerable benefits when applied to your car, but it doesn’t have to end there. You can constantly tweak your tunes over time, and even change settings on the fly ahead of races or events to better match the specific situation. If you notice areas your cars can improve in (like poor handling or stability), you can refine your tuning settings to, hopefully, reduce those concerns and mitigate the problems. Here are plenty of general tips and tricks to use when refining your tunes:
What is Forza Horizon 5?
Forza Horizon 5 is a simul-arcade open-world racing game from the masterful creators at Playground Games and Xbox Game Studios; FH5 pairs abeautifully diverse worldandhundreds of amazing carswith a combination of accessible arcade-like gameplay mechanics and surprisingly deep simulation settings. This concoction ultimately builds one of thebest Xbox racing gamesyou can play today.
Forza Horizon 5 doesn’t just allow you to explore a detailed depiction of Mexico or dive into hundreds of hours of content; it also allows you to do so alongside friends and strangers alike through online multiplayer. When it comes time to decide which of the hundreds of potential cars you wish to drive, you can upgrade and tune it to your heart’s content until it’s perfect for what you want to do. The always-evolvingForza Horizon 5 Festival Playlistensures there’s never a shortage of content, as Playground Games continually adds new challenges, events, and cars to the game over time.
In ourForza Horizon 5 review, we concluded that this brilliant title represents the “unchallenged champion of open-world racers,” and is well worth a visit as one of thebest Xbox gamesavailable. We’ve compiled everything you need to know in ourultimate guide to Forza Horizon 5.
Racing fans shouldn’t miss Forza Horizon 5, and it’s now available on a variety of platforms. You can play FH5 onXbox Series X,Xbox Series S, Xbox One,PC, andXbox Cloud Gaming. Forza Horizon 5 is also available throughXbox Game Passand PC Game Pass.
The best open-world racer
Playground Games has delivered their latest masterpiece with Forza Horizon 5, which features the series' most diverse map and largest car list yet. Forza Horizon 5 somehow fulfills its ambitious promises to be the best open-world racer right now, and one of the best racing games in general.
All your gaming needs, in one subscription
Is the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate the best value in all of gaming? It’s possible. Ultimate bundles your Xbox Live Gold subscription, an Xbox Game Pass subscription for both Xbox consoles and Windows PCs, and Xbox Cloud Gaming for on-the-go. That means access to hundreds of games, with more added all the time, for a single monthly subscription cost.
Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter@BoddyZachary.
