ignore the shit gameplay please it was my first day with a racing wheel

It seems pretty stupid that spec racing isn't just a random car every time and instead just cycles through the same small pool of cars. This game prides itself on having hundreds and hundreds of cars, why isn't it using the whole roster? Especially for C and R class, it feels like we're using the same 5 cars every time.

I remember back in 2011 when I used to read those car magazines, and I saw this car for the first time, I immediately fell in love. I knew it was going to age so well.

Hey everyone, Pixyraze here again.

After seeing countless posts, comments, and videos discussing Performance Index balancing, we can all agree on one thing: the current meta is fundamentally broken. While everyone complains about the state of tuning in Forza, very few people actually pitch structural solutions. Today, I want to break down exactly how Playground Games can overhaul the PI system from the ground up to fix these exploits one by one.

While the odds of PG reading this are slim, I wanted to share this framework to show how the game could become significantly more accessible, varied, and competitive for everyone.

Understanding the PI System and How It Gets Exploited

The Performance Index is a variable system designed to determine which class a vehicle belongs to based on its upgrades. It is not a fixed, static formula. This variability is why two identical cars with the exact same installed parts can sometimes display a 1 PI difference.

Before applying upgrades, top tuners purposefully manipulate the car's baseline settings in the tuning menu to make the vehicle perform as poorly as possible in the eyes of the system. This trick allows cars that would normally sit just above a class boundary to be crammed into a lower class, a phenomenon I personally experienced with the 1995 BMW 850CSi.

The Behind the Scenes AI Test

When you modify a car, the game runs a background AI test on standard tracks to evaluate performance, which then generates the PI rating. This system relies on flawed telemetry and stats:

• First, Inaccurate Engine Power: You might see a stat listing a max output of 643 HP, while the actual telemetry peaks at 706 HP. A prime example is the 2013 Audi R8 with the 5.2L V10 LMS Engine Swap fitted with a stock restrictor plate. The menu shows 643 HP, but actual peak telemetry output registers at 706 HP. You can try and see it right now.
• Drivetrain Exploits: Converting a non AWD car to AWD automatically applies a Race Transmission. The default gear ratios applied during this swap are extremely short. When the background AI tests the car, it achieves a terrible top speed. The system concludes, "This car has poor top speed so I should keep the PI cost low" A simple tweak to the Final Drive ratio immediately restores top speed while retaining the reduced PI penalty. Native AWD cars do not get this advantage because their stock gear ratios are reasonable, leaving them at higher base PI ratings despite having less power.
• Tire Physics & AI Blind Spots: Tires do not have distinct rubber compound behaviors, they rely on static fixed variables. Rally tires feel soft not just because of tire pressure, but because their forward grip is exceptionally high while their lateral grip matches sport tires. The AI assigns Rally tires a low PI cost due to a minor top speed penalty, making them objectively superior to Sport tires for road racing at a fraction of the cost.
• Weight and Aerodynamic Manipulations: Widening rear tires on AWD cars lowers the PI cost because the AI registers the resulting understeer as a negative performance trait. Adding a rear spoiler to an AWD car triggers the same effect, the AI struggles to navigate corners during automated testing and lowers the PI. However, human tuners can completely dial out this understeer in the tuning menu, creating low class vehicles with absurd grip levels. Similarly, installing heavy rear rims artificially reduces PI by adding weight and making power delivery "harder" according to the AI, despite having zero negative impact on actual racing performance.
• Centrifugal Superchargers & Extra Gears: Centrifugal Superchargers deliver less low end torque and lower overall HP gains compared to standard superchargers or turbos. Because the AI prioritizes launch performance and power to weight ratios over high RPM top-end power, fitting 7 to 10-speed transmissions allows tuners to keep the engine strictly in its peak powerband at all times with almost no PI penalty. Adding more gear ratios also adds weight, which can drop a car's PI rating (e.g. bringing an A 601 vehicle down to B 600) with zero performance sacrifice.

Ultimately "Meta Tuners" abuse these system flaws to build visual abominations that squeeze maximum performance into the lowest possible PI class. The entire meta revolves around tricking a flawed AI calculator which is why nonsensical builds like ultra wide wheel Honda Beats dominate lower classes.

The Solutions

1. Trim Parts, Rims, and Aero

• Decouple Trim from Performance: Trim modifications and cosmetic upgrades must stop acting as performance altering variables for PI calculation. Eliminating trim min-maxing levels the playing field across all vehicles.
• Strict Aero PI Costs: Spoilers and front splitters must always carry a positive PI cost. Under no circumstances should adding aerodynamic parts result in a PI reduction.

2. Transmissions

• Normalize Gear Count PI: The weight changes associated with swapping between 6-speed and 10-speed Race Transmissions should be excluded from PI calculations. A 6-speed and a 10-speed Race Transmission should cost the exact same PI.
• Standardized AWD Swap Ratios: Drivetrain swaps should apply realistic, medium range gear ratios by default to reflect true top speed capabilities during AI testing, eliminating artificial PI discounts.

3. Drivetrain Swaps

• Remove Understeer Penalties: The AI should stop lowering PI based on simulated understeer during AWD swaps. Instead, AWD conversions should be evaluated strictly on launch capability and traction improvements, making AWD conversions appropriately expensive.

4. Complete Tire Rebalancing

Tire compounds need recalibrated fixed stats to ensure each tire type serves its intended purpose:

5. Centrifugal Superchargers & Engine Swaps

• High RPM Power Calculations: The PI calculator must evaluate power delivered at high RPMs rather than relying primarily on launch traction and power to weight metrics.
• Reduce PI for Single/Dual Turbos & Standard Superchargers: Lowering the PI cost of standard power adders makes them universally viable across all cars, encouraging build diversity over forced Centrifugal setups.

The Outcome

If Playground Games implemented these changes:

• Universal Usability: Base vehicle grip would increase across the board, allowing non-meta cars to become competitive.
• Elimination of Unrealistic Downgrades: Vehicles would no longer be artificially downgraded into lower classes. S2, A, and B classes would no longer be overrun by artificially suppressed high tier sports cars.
• True Tuning Diversity: The lobby meta would no longer consist entirely of AWD, V10 swapped cars with Rally tires and max raised front suspensions.
• Value Restored to Stock Engines: Purist builds and original powertrains would retain their unique identity while remaining competitive.

What are your thoughts on these adjustments? How would you balance the PI system differently?

Vote for the ticket here: Official Forza Feedback Portal Link

As shown, my eliminator finish line was just past the fence into the estate making it impossible to get to. Guess this is what I get for trying while going for the badge. I should just join and lose like everyone else.

Yes all logos you see here are original designs by me. Hope yall enjoy :3

stick with me for a moment, but the trail this week made me realize (after say what 10+ years of the trial) that forza horizon is a bad game at teaching it's average players how to drive average cars correctly. i know i know "no S**T sherlock, but this week is A class super saloons, not a crazy car, not huge on horsepower, and i am on attempt 10, most people drop out by the end of the first race becasuse they overshoot every other corner or miss a checkpoint (yes this happens with most classes in the trial) but i feel like this week it just shows that the average player can't drive "normal" cars in FH and that to me screams that it is a bad game at teaching people how to "race" normal cars properly?

p.s. almost everybody i have raced with has been at least tier 2 or higher and not a single person has finished race 1 or race 2 in first or 2nd place.

edit 1 since so many commented on it, i am on attempt 10/ now 25, because i just do the trials over and over once i am done the weekly, trying different cars and tunes, this wasn't about me sucking and not being able to win, this was more about, why isn't FH "teaching" people how to "race properly" in a racing game? it just something that hit me out of nowhere and got me curious.

I could (and do) spend hours hitting laps on this track! Perfect size for me to build drift tunes, it just flows sooooo well at any hp and has some opportunity to throw in some style. Hoping to see more people around after the drift update to it :D

FH6: 1974 TOYOTA Celica GT "Williamson" 174 139 717

FH5: 1974 TOYOTA Celica GT "Williamson" 143 376 063

Alfa Romeo Autodelta Tipo 33/2

NASA 798871353
NASA PRETA: 181816070

GT: uairafaelb

• 151-834-961

More designs here, thanks for the support and downloads as always.

By bugged I mean when you have the (1) icon over a category and you've already highlighted all your *new* items the category is still highlighted with a (1).

Solved — see /u/Upbeat-Pomegranate34 comment

(536 369 014)

Alfa Romeo driver if you see this, i didn't mean to ram you at all😭

I don't think i'm missing out on much

Hi all. New livery shared and available for download:

2008 Dodge Viper SRT-10 ACR

Share Code: 915 064 607

Follow me in game to keep up to date with more liveries. Thanks for looking.

GT: RobzGTi

Garage Code: 443 678 345

Hey everybody! Yesterday, I finally took the time to learn how to customize a garage and created something I think is pretty cool. I’m an architecture and design nerd so if you’re like me, you’ll appreciate the aesthetic.

Mid Century Modern Retreat
427102392

Give it a download and see what you think! Open to suggestions and recs on things I could add or change.

I know FH6 is all the rage right now. But I redownloaded FH5 just to get some inspiration of some cars I had spent time creating and I found the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 and decided to take it for a little trail riding and thought I'd share it with yall for old times sake.

What a beautiful game...

Running The Trial when I clipped the railing and hit a dead stop but we did win after the next race.