DIY-racetuning - The Ultimate Forza Motorsport 3 Tuning Resource

Hey guys, this is more a general question than an engine/power questions specifically, but I've got a couple of questions. What do you think has more an effect on whether or not your car & subsequent tune will be capable of top (say top 1000) lap times? The build or the tune? I've built / somewhat tuned about 5 or 6 cars, but I think the closest I've ever gotten to the top times with any of them (on any track) is around 4 or 5 seconds slower. Going along with that, is there a given attribute that is better to build for, or does that sort of depend on the car you're building?

Thanks!

Me personally, I believe it's pretty much both. I mean, you can build a car to whatever specs you like, but ya gotta be able to handle it, and that requires tuning it to your driving style. Look at all the cars at the top, all the same and you can mimic the specs of the cars to have the same weight, power and torque but it means nothing if ya can't drive it like those who tuned it. Once you have the perfect tune/build to suit you (and for as long as it is actually competitive) it all comes down to your own driving skills ultimately.

I've been doing a lot of Hot Lap challenges lately. I would have to say the car and build account for most of getting you to your top time, assuming you have a reasonably balanced tune. I've seen people write that the driver is the biggest part of the time, with build taking up most of the rest. Tune being maybe 5-10% (again... assuming you have a reasonable tune). When I do hot lapping, i first concentrate on the car and build and start with a decent tune. As I progress, the tune will evolve (as will minor tweaks to the build). But I can take the exact same car and tune as the #1 driver, and not even get close to a top 100.

As far as any specific attribute... that depends on the track. The car depends on the track. The build and tune depends on the track. Don't buy an A Class Lotus 2-Eleven and expect to do well on Old Le Mans. But take a successful Old Le Mans car and try to run it on Iberian Mini and you will fail. Tracks with long straights and slow corners will take a car with lots of power, and weight doesn't matter. Tracks with flowing high speed turns (like Iberian Mini) will take cars with lots of grip, but acceleration and top speed doesn't much matter. Some tracks take a mix.

So as you are learning to tune and drive, try to focus on the track you are driving it on. I may have a general purpose tune for any given car, but I don't really expect to get top times with it. For that, I create a tune/build per track. If the track you are driving on doesn't require a lot of shifting, skip tranny and clutch upgrades (maybe) for PI being used elsewhere. If it has a lot of slow corners, skip the wide grippy tires. Keep what helps your time improve, toss the rest.

I came in here to post, but DaisyIfYouDo has said it all perfectly!

If you are struggling to decide on what kind of build would suit a certain track, you could try what I do when hunting a leaderboard time. I make three builds (on the same car). One maximises the horsepower, one maximises the cornering G rating, and the final one maximises power/weight.

Take each build on the track and see which is fastest. Usually you will find the handling build works best. Then you can tweak it, Eg racing gearbox if you need it.

In order of most influence on lap times we have:

• Driver skill (Can you put in consistent lap times? Are you driving the fastest line?)
• Build/car choice (See above!)
• Tune

Thanks a lot for the input! Hopefully I can turn it into some good lap times / competitive online cars