Forza Horizon 5 upgrading guide: How to mod and upgrade cars, pick parts, and more
Guaranteeing victory in Forza Horizon 5 comes often comes down to how you upgrade your cars.
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Forza Horizon 5is in the hands of players everywhere, and itscar listis the most extensive the series has seen yet. Squeezing the most performance out of every one of these varied vehicles often means taking them to the Upgrade Shop and installing some new parts. Novice and veteran players alike may struggle to know what to prioritize when upgrading their cars, however, with thousands of potential performance and cosmetic upgrades available across FH5’s car roster.
Here’s everything you need to know about upgrading your car in Forza Horizon 5, including general tips and tricks, how to pick parts and upgrades, 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 upgrading and tuning in Forza Horizon 5?
Forza Horizon 5 features hundreds of unique vehicles in its car lineup, each of which possesses different performance characteristics and styles. FH5 players can accomplish a lot simply by driving the cars stock (devoid of optional upgrades and alterations), especially since the wide variety of cars ensures there’s a perfect vehicle for every situation. Still, using Forza Horizon 5’s comprehensive upgrade and tune tools, players can obtain greater levels of performance, or design cars that specialize in certain events or scenarios.
You can create a “sleeper car” that packs a huge amount of raw power in an assuming body, refine an already-fast hypercar to achieve unbelievable speeds, build the ultimate off-roading machine, design the perfect drifting or drag racing car, and so much more. All of this is possible through Forza Horizon 5’s Upgrade Shop, which lets you replace and install new parts in your cars. The tuning menu lets you tweak your car even further, with in-depth controls allowing you to alter every element to fit your precise needs. Tuning is especially important when you significantly upgrade a car beyond its original capabilities. For more information, be sure to check out ourfull guide to tuning cars in Forza Horizon 5.
Upgrading, and tuning in particular, can feature steep learning curves if you’re not familiar with how to approach car upgrades or you’re unsure what you want to accomplish. In this Forza Horizon 5 guide, we’ll go over everything you need to know about upgrading your cars to your heart’s content. While car upgrades aren’t really necessary to play Forza Horizon 5 or even beat the game, it can unlock entirely new ways to play, with plenty of fun combinations available. This guide specifically covers car upgrades, and doesn’t go over tuning, which is more advanced and has an even steeper learning curve.
How do I upgrade my car in Forza Horizon 5?
There are literally thousands of performance upgrades in Forza Horizon 5, spread across several different categories and sections. Each car has a unique selection of upgrades available to it, and different cars may lean more toward certain specialties than others (an off-road buggy isn’t likely to become a drifting monster, for example). Despite the seemingly insurmountable number of options and upgrades, however, there are tips and tricks that apply to car upgrades in Forza Horizon 5 in general. Here’s what you need to know.
General information
There are a plethora of routes to upgrade your cars in Forza Horizon 5, and plenty to keep in mind when doing so. Here’s some general information to help with every car upgrade.
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Firstly, you need to knowhowto upgrade your vehicles in FH5. To do so, head to any Festival Site orPlayer Houseon the map. Once you’re inside, stay on the “Garage” tab in the center of the resulting menu. Here, you can choose whichever car you wish to upgrade from “My cars,” and then head over to “Upgrades & tuning” on the left-hand side to reach the upgrade menu.
There are different ways to upgrade
When it comes to getting the most out of your FH5 vehicles, “Custom upgrade” is the route to go, which lets you personalize and select individual part upgrades. This ensures you have exactly what you need, and lets you customize your car in fun ways. However, there are actually several potential ways to upgrade cars in Forza Horizon 5, including:
Everything beyond this point specifically talks about the “Custom upgrade” option, as other upgrade paths don’t require you to consider any of this.
Choose your PI goal or objective first
Before you begin upgrading your car in Forza Horizon 5, it’s important to decidehowyou want to upgrade it. Each car can have dozens or even hundreds of upgrade options, meaning it’s imperative to choose a path before you begin. There are two things to bear in mind: your car’s target PI Class, and your car’s objective or specialty.
PI Class stands for “Performance Index Class,” and is a number that roughly summarizes how good your car is, broken down into different categories including “Speed,” “Handling,” “Acceleration,” “Launch,” “Braking,” and “Offroad.” There are seven PI Classes in total, including:
PI Class is vital in Forza Horizon 5, as it not just represents how performant your car is overall, it also dictates what Race Events and game modes in which your car can participate. PI Class is used to ensure players don’t have unfair advantages with massively superior cars, as everything is contained within the same PI Class. Most cars can’t touch every PI Class, but many can be upgraded through two or more. Before upgrading your car, it’s a good idea to have a target PI Class in mind, and then attempt to upgrade your car to the very top of that PI Class (for example, an A-Class car with a PI of 701 would struggle to keep up with an A-Class car with a PI of 800, even though they can compete with each other).
For many players, C-, B-, and A-Class cars are the sweet spot, especially the latter, as they’re a lot of fun to drive but are still perfectly manageable. S1-, S2-, and X-Class cars are powerful and fast, but they can be difficult to drive if you’re not experienced. On the other hand, D-Class cars are the slowest cars in Forza Horizon 5, which of course means everything takes a little longer to do. PI Class is indubitably crucial in FH5, but it’s also not all that matters. Solely pursuing a higher PI or only taking PI gains into account can occasionally limit you in your upgrades.
Of course, not all cars upgraded to the same PI Class are created equal. Cars can specialize at different race events and tasks, including but not limited to Road Races, Dirt Races, Cross-Country Races, PR Stunts, Drag Races, drifting, and more.
Before you begin upgrading your car, ask yourself what you want to do with it. A car built to excel on asphalt may struggle to go off-road, while a drift car may struggle at anything that isn’t drifting, to name just a couple of examples. You can upgrade a car to excel in a variety of tasks, or a car that masters just one. Deciding what you want to use your car for before you begin upgrading will make the process much more seamless.
Max upgrades aren’t always best
When upgrading cars in Forza Horizon 5, it’s easy to default to the “best” upgrade in every category and max out a car. Pursuing the highest possible PI Class at all times does result in major increases across the board for most cars, and is often a dramatic transformation, but this isn’t always the best route to take. Always choosing the max upgrade for a car can cause it to become difficult to drive if it isn’t tuned properly, a process that requires further knowledge and experience over simply upgrading a car.
When upgrading a car, keep in mind the above tip and aim for a specific PI Class (and even a specialty) before you begin. There’s absolutely nothing stopping you from max upgrading a car regardless, but it’s important to remember doing so may also require additional tuning. A car’s stock tune is usually pretty solid, and can handle a lot of upgrades pretty well, but major changes or upgrades can cause the tune to no longer be able to keep up with the car.
Finally, cars with the ultimate upgrades in every area can be a lot of fun to drive around, but sometimes aren’t practical for actual races or events, unless you have a specific goal in mind.
Weight is always important
A consistent factor when upgrading your vehicles is managing weight. A car’s weight has huge ramifications for how it handles and performs, and directly affects how effective your car’s engine is at getting things moving. Keeping weight in mind while upgrading your cars is perpetually a good idea, and can help you compare the pros and cons of various upgrades. This is especially true when considering PI, as how much PI your car rises with a specific upgrade doesn’t always tell the entire story.
Lower weight is almost always a good choice (with a few exceptions), but you should also be aware of your car’s power-to-weight ratio. This number takes your vehicle’s horsepower (which represents how powerful your engine is) and divides it by its total weight. The higher this number is, the better. For example, a car with 1,000 horsepower that weighs 2,000 pounds has a power-to-weight ratio of 1:2, which is a very solid number. You may notice upgrade parts that raise your PI and technically make your car more powerful, but actually add enough weight to lower your overall power-to-weight ratio. In many cases, these upgrades may not be worth that trade-off.
Experiment and make changes
There’s no one right way to upgrade cars in Forza Horizon 5. This guide focuses on giving you all the basic information you need, but ultimately the best way to learn how to upgrade (and tune) is to experiment with different combinations and drive the finished products. It’s easy to upgrade cars in Forza Horizon 5 continually, and you can also undo changes or make new ones at any point during the process.
As you upgrade your cars in Forza Horizon 5, don’t hesitate to backtrack to sections you’ve already visited to consider different paths or upgrades, especially if you have a specific goal in mind that can be better reached another way. Even completely starting over or undoing huge swathes of progress shouldn’t be a deterrent, as it all contributes to better and more enjoyable driving experiences.
Conversion upgrades
Conversion upgrades are massive, fundamental alterations you can make to your car, which can have huge effects on the overall driving experience and your options available elsewhere when upgrading. It’s recommended to start here because of this, as it helps prevent unnecessary backtracking later on in the process. Not every car will have a ton of conversion options, but here’s what you can expect to see.
Aero and appearance upgrades
Aero and appearance upgrades include front and rear downforce upgrades, and body kit pieces like front and rear bumper replacements, side skirts, hoods, and more. This section is a great way to customize some cars, as well as shave off weight in some cases. Most of the time, though, players will come here to install front splitters or rear spoilers to unlock downforce tuning, which changes how much downward force is pressing your car to the ground (improving top speed and acceleration or handling and turning).
It’s always worth checking this section to see whether there are any fun cosmetic upgrades or ways to lose a few pounds, but lower PI Class cars very likely don’t need the additional downforce or tuning options provided by the consistent upgrades always found here. These aero upgrades should be considered if you upgrade a car into S1-Class or higher (and in some cases A-Class), or if you upgrade your car and find that it’s not handling well around corners and easily loses traction.
Tire and rim upgrades
One of the biggest single categories for upgrades is the tires and rims section, which can move your car into an entirely different league or give you the handling refinements you were looking for. How many options are available in this section varies a lot from car to car, but there are five general upgrades to be found here.
Drivetrain upgrades
Drivetrain upgrades aren’t going to revolutionize your car’s performance completely, but it can grant small boosts to how quickly your car shifts, grant you additional tuning options for little or no PI cost, and provide several ways to reduce weight.
Platform and handling upgrades
Platform and handling upgrades directly affect how your car handles and have little to do with power or speed. Still, this is a great place to go for serious handling boosts, weight reduction, braking improvements, and additional tuning options to squeeze a little more out of your car.
Engine upgrades
Engine upgrades improve the capabilities of your car’s engine, and bear increases in power and changes in weight. Engine upgrades can drastically alter your car’s speed, acceleration, and launch, but it can also negatively affect handling (the more power you’re working with, the harder it is to control it). It’s normally recommended to visit engine upgradesaftereverything else, unless your goal is to eke out as much power or speed from a car as you can.
When upgrading engine parts, always remember your power-to-weight ratio. Flywheels are solid minor upgrades because they simply reduce weight, while exhaust and camshaft upgrades are great starting places to power up your engine without increasing weight. If your car has the parts installed and upgrades are available, improvements to turbochargers or superchargers will increase your car’s weight but can offer large gains in power.
Other engine upgrades can be used to reach your PI Class target and fill in gaps where necessary, as long as you keep in mind your power-to-weight ratio and how much power your car can handle before it becomes unwieldy. Unless you’re driving with simulation settings in Forza Horizon 5, with options like realistic damage simulation and engine heat, cooling upgrades are almost always not worth the power gains, since they usually come with big increases in weight and lower your power-to-weight ratio.
What is Forza Horizon 5?
Forza Horizon 5 is an open-world racing game from Playground Games and Xbox Game Studios. While indubitably more of an arcade racer, FH5 does feature simulation-like elements and settings, and lets players customize and upgrade their cars through the Upgrade Shop or tuning menu. Playground elevated its status as a premier developer with the release of Forza Horizon 5, which delivered all of the studio’s promises and quickly became one of thebest Xbox racing gamesyou can play.
Forza Horizon 5 features ahuge and widely diverse map, hundreds of incredible cars to drive, and a nearly endless amount of content to explore that continues to grow and expand over time. TheForza Horizon 5 Festival Playlistintroduces new reasons to play every week, and Playground is committed to supporting its flagship project for years to come.
If you’re a fan of racing games or are interested in experiencing one, Forza Horizon 5 is one of the best in the entire genre. FH5 is now available on a huge number of platforms, includingXbox Series X,Xbox Series S, Xbox One,PC,Xbox Game Pass, andXbox Cloud Gaming.
In ourForza Horizon 5 review, we concluded that Playground Games has crafted the “unchallenged champion of open-world racers,” and one of thebest Xbox gamesreleased in 2021. If you want to learn more about this ambitious racing title, check out ourultimate guide to Forza Horizon 5.
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.
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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.
