Tips for start and beginners [UPDATED]

Overview

This guide is a help for beginning players.

Guide and Tips

In Forza Horizon 4 it is best to play together with others, in online mode called Horizon Life.

Forza Horizon 4 is one of the most enjoyable, easiest and least stressful games! Whatever you do, no matter how badly and negligently – you will still accumulate points and credits, so you will advance to the next level. The game rewards players for everything they do – from completing races and fast driving, to crashes, demolishing the environment or buying carts, painting and taking pictures of them.

You don’t even have to win or reach the top three – for taking further positions you’ll get a similar amount of credits and influence points in comparison to those for the best places. You’ll probably want to make it a little bit harder to play to make the game more challenging and to collect more prizes. You can find a detailed description of how to adjust the difficulty level in another section of the guide.

Forza Horizon 4 will keep you in the prologue for a very long time (even a few hours), during which many activities will be inaccessible – including the main Horizon Life online mode and Forzathon Time Challenges. In order to fully unlock the game you need to collect the appropriate amount of influence points during each season. The fastest way to do this is by taking part in races and breaking the tables with a one-time bonus points. Once you’ve completed all the seasons, you’ll have access to all the online modes, additional rewards and challenges during the current season on the server.

General advice

• After the prologue is completed, one season of the year on the server lasts one week. You have no influence on how to speed up the change of season;
• Use your roadside assistant Anna. Without entering the map mode, you can quickly find your way to the nearest activity you are interested in;
• In most races, it doesn’t matter how well you drive an upgraded car (same goes for the type of car). Your opponents always adapt to the class of vehicle you are starting in;
• Avoid jumping ramps during the race, if possible. Jumping is spectacular, but it will always slow you down a little;
• Don’t worry about leaving the route. Nearly all objects are being destroyed, and the water reservoirs are shallow and allow you to pass through;
• If you made a mistake at a key moment, you can always use the time scrolling option, unless you have disabled it in the following settings;
• Any difficulty selected in the driving options results in an increase of credits received from 5 to 15 per cent;
• Upgrade your vehicle with tuning parts to improve your vehicle’s acceleration and handling statistics. This will make it easier for you to squeeze through your opponents’ peloton, as you always start from the middle or at the end of the stakes;
• Play Horizon Life online mode instead of Horizon Solo. Other players won’t bother you, and you’ll always have the opportunity to earn extra Forzathon points and access to additional races in cooperation mode;
• The Forzathon store’s offer changes every week with the arrival of the new season of the year;
• Perks are won individually for each of the cars owned by you. Frequent use of one model will allow you to quickly max out its bonuses in the form of, for example, more points scored, or additional prize draws;
• In addition to driving, take photos in photo mode and create your bodywork in the editor. For these activities you will also be promoted and gain the opportunity to win more prizes;
• Take part in Forzathon Live public events when you are notified of them. Complete each to get 30 Forzathon points;
• If you want to see the requirement to get three stars for tasks in Horizon Stories mode, use the option “choose any chapter”;
• If you need quick credits, enter an earlier drawn or unnecessary cars for auctions, where they can be sold quickly. Check auctions quite often to find interesting opportunities for yourself.

Which car to choose?

The Forza Horizon 4 contains more than 450 cars. When choosing a car, you should be guided mainly by your taste and choose the one you like or would like to check on the route. However, there are a few basic rules that apply to all vehicles without exception.

Each car has several statistics (in form of numerical values), which can be increased to some extent by mounting improved tuning parts. These stats are the following:

• Speed
• Handling
• Acceleration
• Launch
• Braking

In Forza Horizon 4, races take place on quite short and curvy tracks, so a good handling, acceleration and a quick start will be more useful than maximum speed. This will make it easier for you to squeeze through the opponents’ peloton, because each starts in the middle or at the end of the stakes.

The easiest to drive are four-wheel-drive (AWD) cars, the most difficult are fast rear-wheel-drive (RWD) cars, such as American muscle cars. Depending on power and speed, cars are divided into classes D, C, B, A, S1 and S2.

The game also divides them according to the value of loot in the MMO game, i.e. according to colours: green, blue, purple and yellow, into common, rare, epic and legendary cars.
The exception are cars with a colorful frame, the so-called Forza Edition. They cannot be bought in the main salon, only in the Forzathon store or drawn as a prize. Each of them has an additional bonus, e.g. doubles the skill points.

For Drag races choose cars with high speed, launch and acceleration. When drifting, remember about rear-wheel drive cars – it will be much easier for you to take turns sideways.

With the exception of races for which you need an off-road vehicle, there are generally no restrictions on the class of the vehicle you are using. If you upgrade your favorite C or B class car to S1, you will be able to continue with it, because the computer will select enemies of a similar level.

Your first car

As soon as you have completed the first introductory races, to which the cars are assigned in advance, you will receive an opportunity to select your first car. This will be the case: Ford Focus RS, Audi TTS Coupe and Dodge Charger R/T.

Their stats are the following:

The optimal choice will be one of the German cars: Ford or Audi. Dodge is recommended to those who like a little bit more challenge or love American muscle cars.

Forzathon points and influence points

At the beginning the influence points are used to unlock the next season in the prologue. Then they are linked to a specific game mode and accumulate separately for each of them. After filling in the progress bar you advance to the next level of the competition, unlocking the prize and new challenges on the map. Influence points can be earned fast by finishing races (several thousand points for each) and breaking the tables hidden on the map with the value of 1000, 3000 and 5000 points. Some amounts also influence the climaxes of skills (drifting, side crashes, rubber burning, destruction of the environment, etc.) that are performed during the ride.

Forzathon Points are used for shopping in a special game store, where new content appears once a week in the form of cars (often not available anywhere else), cosmetic items and additional prize lotteries for subsequent levels. You earn Forzathon Points only for weekly and daily Forzathon challenges and time-limited Forzathon Live public events, which are only available in Horizon Life – the online mode of the game. Also, buying one of the houses will give you a double points bonus.

Number of points you can get:

• 100 for a weekly challenge;
• 30 for three daily challenges;
• 30 bonus points for passing a weekly challenge and seven daily challenges;
• 30 points for each completed Forzathon Live event.

Credits are used exclusively for car purchases (in the official festival showroom and auctions) and tuning parts. You can obtain them by finishing races and Horizon activities – stories and also thanks to the sale of your cars at auctions. You will also receive certain amounts for making your own liveries or tuning settings available for download.

By increasing the level of difficulty in general settings you can increase the number of credits gained. The VIP pass allows you to receive double the amount of credits for each race.

Skill points are earned simply by driving. Everything you do with your car – from very fast driving, to tire burning, destruction of the environment, driving sideways, clean driving, overtaking, avoiding a crash, collision, etc. – finally fills the circle of progress with skill points. Collecting them allows you to unlock the proficiency in each car (car mastery) and buy its advantages (perks). If you buy and set up an active Huntsman’s Lodge, you will unlock special songs on the radio – skill songs. During this time you will earn double number of points for each achievement. The game itself will tell you which radio station is broadcasting the bonus hit.

NOTE:
Skill points are collected in general, but perks are purchased individually for each car you own – even for the same brand and model.

After a successful series of car madness you will see how much you still need to score the next skill point.

You will spend skill points on the advantages of the car – separately for each car you own.

The location of Huntsman’s Lodge.

Types of races and activities

• Street scene
• Road racing series
• Cross country series
• Dirt racing series
• Drag strip
• Showcase

Each organized race can be modified to fit your preferences by changing the limitations of particular car class or brand, season, time of a day, and the number of laps.

Almost every race can be modified to meet your taste.

Races that can be played solo or in cooperation with other players, called “wish list” in the previous installment, are now called Horizon story. It is a series of challenges with a small doze of plot – players assume a role or become the owner of a company and earn credits.

In order to complete these challenges and earn 1 to 3 stars, you have to meet particular time, points and speed requirements. If you want to see the requirements for each star select the “any chapter” option instead of choosing the next one.

Competitions in Horizon story:

• The Stunt Driver
• LaRacer @ Horizon
• Drift club
• World’s Fastest Rentals

Drift Club is one of the series of challenges in Horizon Story mode.

During your exploring of the map, you will come across locations with additional activities. Completing them gives you influence points. By increasing your rank, you can unlock more places of this type.

Additional activities:

• Speed trap
• Speed zone
• Danger sign
• Drift zone

Danger signs are special ramps where your goal is to fly as far as you can with your car.

Buying and selling cars

This section of Forza Horizon 4 walkthrough describes how to acquire new cars in the game and how to sell unwanted vehicles from your garage to earn some credits. Below, you will also find more information about the auction house featured in Forza Horizon 4.

In Forza Horizon 4 you acquire cars at the autoshow with the earned Credits and at Forzathon store with points. Cars can also be acquired in frequent prize draws. There are also the barn finds that can be found in old garages across the map – the game will tell you where to look for them. Cars can be also acquired and sold at the auction house.

The autoshow is where you acquire most of the cars.

The auction house is the only place where you can get rid of all the unwanted or additional cars in return for some credits (removing cars from your garage does not offer any credits). When browsing the auctions, you can find upgraded cars or machines with unique paint jobs, often at a bargain price. In order to sell a car, select the “Start Auction” button from the auction house menu and set the preferred criteria for the price of the car and the duration of your auction. Upon selling the car you will not receive the in-game currency automatically – you need to go to auction house notifications and confirm that you have received the credits.

You can sell a car only at the auction house.

Upgrading and tuning cars

Upgrades are mostly installed under the hood, however, you can install entire body kits onto some vehicles and replace the entire engine along with the drive unit. This way you can change an RWD car into a 4×4 that is much easier to handle – and the other way around. Don’t overdo it by installing all available parts to each car. Small and light cars can become difficult to handle. Focus on improving a vehicle’s handling, acceleration, and traction (better tires). Installing some parts unlocks the option to adjust them in the car setup section.

You can change the bodies of several cars by installing dedicated body-kits.

Tuning a car involves adjusting its driving features to meet a particular race type as well as your preferences and skills. Here, you can adjust such things as tire pressure, align camber, anti-roll bars, springs, and brake balance. A detailed description of each adjustment can be found in a corresponding tab in the tuning menu.

Remember – there isn’t one golden solution for tuning your car. Everything depends on the driver’s preferences and the type of a race. When adjusting your car, you can select different settings for drifting, drag races and off-road races. Settings that are perfect for one player can be unacceptable to someone else.

If you want to test yourself in creating your own setup, adjust one element at a time and test your changes. Check what happens to the car, and only then move to the next setting. The well-adjusted car is useful when racing against other players or on a high difficulty level of Drivatars.

Tuning is a tedious process of adjusting installed parts to improve the performance of your car under specific conditions. The description on the right includes all the information regarding changes.

Level of difficulty and its impact on the number of credits earned

The difficulty level settings can be found in the main menu. By adjusting the game elements, you can increase the number of credits you earn for participating in races by as much as 125%. Riding with such settings can be very difficult and tiring, and winning with artificial intelligence is almost impossible. So we recommend finding a golden mean between comfort of playing and some challenge, as numerous prize draws still bring a vast income of credits.

The proficiency of artificial intelligence has 8 levels. Each of them increases the number of credits by 5% – so there is 40% bonus to gain. It is definitely worth to forget about the first two or three options and test your opponents’ speed only from the fourth level – above average. It is worth noting that the last level is called unbeatable.

You can use the programmed settings or decide on each of the following options separately, which is a better solution.

You can choose between Artificial Brake Assist, ABS or deactivated ABS. The first option should be discarded immediately. ABS is quite an optimal solution, especially since in Forza Horizon 4 we don’t race on the track and usually don’t try to cut the hundredths of a second on the lap. The number of credits can increase up to 15%.

Choose between assist, normal or simulation. The first, of course, is an option for the youngest or real newcomers, the normal one may be useful when using the keyboard. In case of a pad or steering wheel it is worth to ride at the simulation level, especially that the driving model in the game is quite friendly. There are 10% more credits to gain.

Similar effect to the TCS. The system brakes single wheels in slippage to maintain the direction of movement. You can gain 10% credit bonus, but it should only be turned off when drifting.

Traditional choice: automatic or manual, or even with the use of a clutch. The latter is only worth choosing if you have the right steering wheel with a set of pedals and not necessarily during dynamic races. You can have up to 5% (manual) or 10% (clutch) credit bonus.

The track displays a dynamic line, which at first shows the direction according to the GPS settings and secondly indicates with color the place where you have to brake before cornering. You can turn it on permanently, only before corners, or turn it off. Since in Forza Horizon you drive on a network of regular roads that are difficult to learn by heart with braking points (like on a racetrack), the optimal solution is the “only corners” option. Do this to earn 10% credit bonus.

If you choose the no-damage model, the car will look and behave like new. Cosmetic damage has a form of body bruises and the biggest inconvenience: a spider web of broken glass on the windscreen while driving with a camera in the cockpit. The simulation model has a number of faults due to collisions with hard obstacles or other cars, which will cause an uncontrollable drift during a simple ride. The car can be repaired at a festival point, at your home or by using the appropriate option in photo mode.

The rewind option is a very convenient tool if you make a big mistake during a race – a mistake on the road or a frontal crash. It allows you to scroll through the time and restart from an earlier moment, without having to repeat the whole race. Turning it off and blocking it gives you as much as 15% more credit bonus.

Car mastery and perks

Car mastery developed with unlocked perks is actually a list of additional bonuses for each car. Unlike the third Forza installment, where perks regarded the driver and applied for all cars, where each car has its own set of perks. Some of them can be used only 1 time – e.g. credits, influence points or prize draw, while others are permanent – e.g. 10% bonus to mastery points when demolishing the area or overtaking another car. You use skill points to unlock new perks. It is a good idea to purchase all perks for cars that you use most often.

Skill points can be earned for anything you do when driving. Each activity or trick, but also their combination, fills the skill points wheel. You gather them when driving any car to a common pool, however, you spend it separately for each vehicle.

Note: the percentage, credit, and point values might vary between different cars.

• Extra life – skill combination is stopped after the second collision;
• Wreckage weapon – destruction skills improve by XX%;
• Just hoon it – XX% bonus to filling the skill points during the free ride;
• Lottery win – XXXX influence points to car collector level;
• Spinball wizard, Optional extras – additional prize draw;
• Wombo combo – XX% bonus to influence points for a skill combo;
• Love tap – XXX% bonus to tap trick while drifting;
• Blessed – XX% bonus to skill point bar after a lucky escape;
• Natural drifter – points for drift and e-drift increased by XX%;
• Drift destroyer – XX% bonus to skill point bar for side ram;
• Fan favorite – XXX% bonus to influence points for the next 10 races;
• Showing off – XXX influence points;
• Weekend toy – XXXX car collector influence points;
• Daredevil driver – X% more points to the daredevil skill;
• Exceptional handling – the skill point multiplier rises 2x faster;
• Absolute speed – the speed skill points bar rises by XX%;
• Risk taker – XX% bonus to near miss skill points bar;
• Head turner – XX% bonus to skill points for finishing races;
• Flying car – XX% bonus to the aerial maneuvers skill points bar;
• Pass master – XX% bonus to overtaking skill points bar;
• Dirt monster – XX% bonus to influence points for 10 dirt races;
• Pro racer – XX % bonus to slingshot skill points;
• Triple pass master – XX% bonus to triple pass skill points bar;
• Road racer – XX% influence for 10 street races;
• Wrecking ball – XX% bonus to wreckage weapon skill points;
• Concours d’elegance – XXX% bonus skill points for clean driving;
• Drag reduction – XX% bonus to drag skill points;
• Skill legend – skill multiplier rises up to X times of its value;
• Suspect catalytic converter – a gift of 200 000 credits.

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