How to tune your car
in Forza Horizon 6
No jargon. No engineering degrees required. Just clear explanations of what every setting does and how to use it — so you can build faster tunes for any event.
Quick Start by Event Type
Jump straight in with a step-by-step for your favourite event
- 1Load the Road Racing preset in the Tuning Configurator
- 2Set tyre compound to Sport or Race
- 3Set camber to -1.5° front, -1.8° rear
- 4Run a few laps — adjust ARBs if car feels too stiff or too soft on bumps
- 5Fine-tune brake balance until braking feels consistent
- 1Load the Dirt Racing preset
- 2Switch to Rally tyre compound
- 3Reduce tyre pressure to 24–26 PSI
- 4Raise ride height to 7.5–8.5 inches
- 5Soften all springs and ARBs significantly
- 6Set toe to slight toe-in all round for stability
- 1Load the Drift preset
- 2Keep Street tyres — you want to slide
- 3Set rear diff to 100% acceleration lock, 0% deceleration
- 4Stiffen front ARB, soften rear ARB
- 5Increase front camber to -3° to -3.5°
- 6Move brake balance to 58–65% front
- 1Load the Drag preset
- 2Switch to Drag or Slick tyres
- 3Lower rear tyre pressure to 18–22 PSI
- 4Set both diff locks to maximum (100%)
- 5Stiffen rear springs, soften front springs
- 6Set brake balance to 50/50
Tires
Your only contact with the road
Tyres are the single most important part of any tune. Everything — braking, acceleration, cornering — happens through four small patches of rubber. Getting the tyres right first makes everything else easier.
Gearing
How fast you go through each gear
Gearing controls how your car uses its engine power. A good gear setup keeps the engine in its "sweet spot" (the RPM range where it makes the most power) as much as possible. Bad gearing means you're either revving too high or lugging along with no torque.
Alignment
The angle your wheels sit at
Alignment settings control how your wheels are angled relative to the road and to the car. These have a huge effect on how the car handles in corners. Small changes make a big difference — these are measured in degrees and you rarely need more than 2–3° of any setting.
Suspension
How your car handles bumps and corners
Suspension settings control how the car reacts to bumps in the road, how much it leans in corners, and how the weight transfers when you brake and accelerate. Getting suspension right is the difference between a car that feels planted and a car that feels like it's constantly trying to throw you off.
Damping
How quickly your suspension moves
Dampers (shock absorbers) control the speed at which the suspension moves — not the force, just the speed. Springs push the wheels back after a bump, and dampers slow that movement down so it doesn't bounce back too fast. Without dampers your car would bounce like a pogo stick.
Aerodynamics
Using air to push the car into the ground
Aerodynamics uses the speed of air moving over and under the car to generate downforce — an invisible force pushing the car into the road. More downforce = more grip at high speed, but also more drag = lower top speed. It's a constant trade-off.
Brakes
Stopping power and where it goes
Brake tuning controls how much braking force goes to the front wheels vs the rear wheels. This has a massive effect on how the car behaves under heavy braking — whether it spins, understeers, or stops straight and true.
Differential
How power is shared between wheels
The differential allows the inside and outside wheels to spin at different speeds in a corner (the outside wheel travels a longer distance). A tunable differential can lock up to share more torque between the wheels — useful for traction but it fights against turning.
Problem Solver
Car misbehaving? Find the cause and the fix
The Golden Rules of Tuning
These apply no matter what car or event you're tuning for
If you change five settings at once and the car gets worse, you'll never know which one broke it. Make one change, test it, then move on.
Before touching settings, identify what's wrong. Is the car understeering (won't turn in)? Oversteering (rear slides out)? Bouncing over bumps? Each problem has a specific fix.
Test your changes on the same corner at the same speed every time. Consistency lets you compare results accurately.
Many beginners make everything stiffer thinking it'll be faster. But too stiff on a bumpy track loses grip. Match the stiffness to the surface.
A car that handles well is one that's balanced. If the front has way more grip than the rear (or vice versa), the car will fight you. Aim for balance.
Always save a working tune before you start experimenting. That way you can always go back to a baseline if things go wrong.
Ready to build your first tune?
Use the Tuning Configurator to apply everything from this guide — with sliders, presets and expert tips built right in.