How to customize your car in Forza Motorsport

Forza Motorsport does a great job of introducing you to its mechanics through an introductory series of races. As an old-time fan of the series, I was familiar with this approach, but new players may be surprised that the first time you jump into the game, you are put behind the wheel of a Corvette E-Ray —no questions asked.

Can you customize your car in Forza Motorsport?

After the three introductory races, you will be taken to compete in other tours (this is the term Forza uses for its series of competitions), and you will be given the option to buy new cars for that specific category. In between races, you can improve the car's performance by purchasing new parts (including wheel rims), and you can tune their setup—but you can't change the car's color.

How to change the color of your car in Forza Motorsport

To change your car's paint or decals, you have to exit the career mode, go to the main menu, select "Cars" and then "Design and paint." There, you can edit any of the cars you have in your collection. I spent a fair amount of hours creating a livery here, to then save it and share it with others, but you don't have to do that: you can apply groups of layers and liveries made by other players and be good to go in a minute.

Related: Everything we know about Forza Motorsport – Release Date, Game Pass, Platforms, & more

How to change aero and body parts

While the Performance Index (PI) of your car increases when you spend Car Points (CP) in performance upgrades and new parts, the Level of the car increases as you drive it. Just by using the vehicle in competition (i.e. by scoring sector times and completing laps), the car will gain XP points. As it levels up, you will unlock new pieces and eventually the possibility of changing aero parts and body kits. This can be done through the Upgrade Shop as seen in the picture above.

Recommended performance upgrades for Forza Motorsport

As you drive each race, you will level up your car and unlock new parts for it. These parts aren't free, but you can purchase them with a currency you earn as you race. Which ones you prioritize depends on your playstyle, but for stock cars, I recommend getting the exhaust upgrades first—this will improve the sound of your car and give it a throaty roar that will make your experience much more enjoyable.

Best tuning setups in Forza Motorsport

If you want to extract the maximum performance from your vehicles, you should take a look at How to tune your car in Forza Motorsport. But since the Forza Motorsport games aren't pure simulators and fit more into the category of simcades, there are some things you can get away with and should be taken into account when customizing your drive:

• Tires: even when the fuel and tire simulation is activated, the degradation of the rubber has little impact on the car's performance. This means you can run absurdly over-steery setups and drift on every corner without losing that much grip.
• Traction control: There is almost no wheelspin when Traction Control is off; not even at race starts, which is when TC makes the most difference.
• Car stability: most vehicles are stable over bumps or when you go off-road. I found it easy to return to the track from a gravel trap or a patch of grass and easy to control the body roll. So even with extreme setups, cars are still drivable.

For more on Forza Motorsport, check out Forza Motorsport is pushing tech to the next level here on Pro Game Guides.