Ultimate Forza Horizon 4 Drift Tune Guide
Looking for a fantastic base drift tune for Forza Horizon 4 that you can tweak to match your preferences? Come and check out our Horizon 4 drift tune guide.
Introduction
Forza Horizon 4 is one of the most popular racing games ever created, and once you’re behind the wheel and experiencing what the tight and twisty streets of the UK have to offer, you’ll soon see why.
If you’re looking to improve your Horizon 4 skills, it’s going to be essential to learn how to drift.
With a vast selection of drift zones within the game, you’ll be fighting to earn various medals alongside pushing your way up the leaderboard in the quest for the top spots against some of the world’s best drifters.
Before you can learn to master the art, you’re going to need to build a drift tune that will serve as a stable platform to refine your skills.
Although you’re able to download drift tunes that other users have created, you’ll soon reach your limits without the ability to customize and refine your drift tune, and it’ll end up holding you back.
For this reason, the best way to build a drift tune is to start from scratch, with a thorough understanding of what each element of the process entails.
This way, when your car isn’t performing exactly how you’d like, you’ll be far more confident that you know what needs tweaking to refine it to perfection.
Be prepared, drifting is a skill acquired over time, and you may well feel frustrated, to begin with, but you’ll soon reap the rewards once you start to improve and gain confidence.
In this guide, we’ll be looking at creating an RWD drift tune. Although you’re not required to follow our car and upgrade choices specifically, we’d recommend doing so to get you started, as you can always change your setup once you’ve gained a thorough understanding of drift tuning.
The Formula Drift cars in the game can be a temptation, but to begin with, you’re better off finding a more customizable vehicle that isn’t such a handful.
Sure, the FD pack is heaps of fun, and we highly recommend you take the opportunity to enjoy it once you’ve refined your skills.
The Best In-Game Settings
The first step before you start drifting is to ensure you have the optimal in-game settings.
Even with the world’s most incredible drift tune, if you’ve got the wrong settings, then you’re going to struggle even to get your car sideways.
Braking - ABS Off
We prefer to use ABS off for maximum car control.
You can use ABS if you’d rather, but real-world drift cars rarely use ABS, so it’s a great way to refine your braking skills.
ABS off will also allow you to maximize your left-foot-braking potential, which you’re likely to find hugely helpful when you begin doing tandems with friends and other players later on.
Steering - Normal
There’s no real right or wrong here, but it boils down to personal preference, and for us, that’s with ‘normal’ steering.
Although you’ll find yourself rapidly switching left and right to steer, in our opinion, it’s the more comfortable option to get to grips with drifting. However, it’s worth giving both a try to see what suits you best.
Traction Control - Off
Ugh. Traction control. No, just no. Some of you may use it for racing, but for drifting, it’s going to fight against your car when you try to drift.
The last thing you want is a driving assist stopping you from sliding.
Stability Control - Off
Like traction control, this is an absolute no for drifting. We don’t recommend either for complete beginners, as it’s more likely to confuse and frustrate you than it is to assist.
Shifting - Manual, or Manual W/Clutch
For beginners, we would only ever use ‘MANUAL’ transmission as a minimum, and we recommend that you also do so from the start.
Those of you that have some driving, or drifting experience, give ‘MANUAL W/CLUTCH’ a try and see how you go.
You may be thinking it’s a pointless gimmick, but the clutch plays a significant role when it comes to refining your drifting ability, and utilizing clutch kicking will improve your skills as you progress.
If you’re new to driving entirely, you can start with Auto if you feel it’s necessary, but we always recommend manual from the start. Auto is just annoying and is likely to leave you in the wrong gear.
Driving Line - Optional
We’ll leave you to decide whether you’ll benefit from this to get you started.
It won’t affect how the game plays; it’ll just give you an idea of the racing line that the game advises.
Just remember that this isn’t a drifting line, but if you’re getting started, then it may give you an idea when it comes to assessing the speed to approach a corner in advance.
Damage & Tire Wear - Optional
These boil down to personal preferences, and we leave it off, especially for longer sessions, as we feel it’s more for racing than drifting.
Although the tire wear feature can be fascinating to see how they’re heating up, they’ll soon be rendered useless, and the repeated need to pit or exit soon becomes an unnecessary waste of time.
Rewind - Optional
We always leave this on, as it can sometimes be helpful to turn back the clock when we mess up on a corner. If only the real world were this simple!
Now that we’ve got the in-game settings set up optimally let’s begin creating our drift tune.
Learning the Basics
If you’re a beginner to drifting, make sure you check out this Forza Horizon 4 drifting basics video to begin, so that you have an understanding before we head to creating our drift tune.
If you’re keen to dive deeper into how to master the art of drifting, make sure you check out our How to Drift guide.
Don’t feel disappointed if you end up spending hours and hours doing donuts in the practice areas to get the hang of it.
Drifting is a real test of patience, but we guarantee that the end reward is worth the effort.
Creating Your Forza Horizon 4 Drift Tune
Now that you’ve learned how to initiate and maintain a consistent drift and got your in-game settings correct, it’s time to look into creating your Forza Horizon 4 drift tune.
If you prefer to follow a video guide, then hit play on CToretto’s fantastic video below; although we have tweaked the 350Z to our personal preference, you can follow either guide for a solid base tune.
Choosing Your Car
Although you can choose any car and use this as a base setup, we know how much the fans at Drifted love the Nissan 350Z, so let’s use that as our base platform.
We’d recommend switching cars once you’re confident that you’re capable of driving well with the 350Z and that you’ve learned enough to refine your tune.
Upgrading Your Car
Head into the ‘CUSTOM UPGRADE’ option in the menu as we begin to install the mods that will provide us with more than enough power to spin up the back wheels.
Conversion
Once you’re in the upgrade shop, your first port of call is heading to the ‘CONVERSION’ department.
Here, you can upgrade to the Rocket Bunny widebody kit, and also install a twin-turbocharger setup to your 350Z under under ‘ASPIRATION’.
Engine
Next up, it’s time to extract the power from the VQ35DE V6 engine with the various upgrades available.
If you’re keen to swap out the engine, then make sure you take a look at our Engine Swaps Guide.
Intake
Race intake
Fuel System
Race fuel system
Ignition
Race ignition
Exhaust
Race exhaust
Camshaft
Race cams and valves
Valves
Race valves
Displacement
Race engine block
Pistons/Compression
Race pistons/compression
Twin Turbo
Race twin-turbo
Intercooler
Race intercooler
Oil/Cooling
Race oil/cooling
Flywheel
Race flywheel
Platform & Handling
Now that the engine is pushing out some excellent power figures, it’s time to look at getting your 350Z handling and braking correctly.
Brakes
Race brakes
Spring and Dampers
Drift spring and dampers
Front Anti-Roll Bars
Race front anti-roll bars
Rear Anti-Roll Bars
Race rear anti-roll bars
Chassis Reinforcement/Roll Cage
Race chassis reinforcement/roll cage
Weight Reduction
Race weight reduction
Drivetrain
Upgrading the drivetrain, such as the clutch, ensures that your 350Z is capable of utilizing its new-found power gains to their full potential.
Upgrades such as the 2-way differential enable equal power distribution between the rear wheels for the perfect drift.
Clutch
Race clutch
Transmission
Race transmission
Differential
Race differential
Tires and Rims
When it comes to rims, this is optional since there’s so little difference between them, so go with whatever wheels suit your personal preferences. We’re huge fans of Work Wheels.
When it comes to tires, we want sufficient grip to control the car, but not too much grip that it struggles to spin up the rear wheels.
Tire Compound
Sport tire compound
Front Tire Width
245/40R18
Rear Tire Width
265/40R18
Wheels
Personal preference (we recommend the Work Equip 01)
Front Rim Size
245/35R19
Rear Rim Size
265/35R19
Aero and Appearance
When it comes to drifting, aero makes hardly any difference due to the speeds you’ll be doing. Therefore, we would class this as optional once again.
We recommend going for your personal preference when it comes to your Rear Wing, but we opted for the ‘NISMO’ style.
Finalizing Your Upgrades
At this point, your necessary upgrades should be complete, and you can come out of the Upgrade Shop.
Hit ‘Install Setup’ and we would expect you to have similar updated specs to the following:
- Weight: 1,268 kg
- Peak Power: 728 hp
- Lateral Gs: 1.7
- Class: S1 (843)
Final upgrade price - Approx 79,000 CR
If your figures look significantly different, then there’s a chance that you may have either installed the incorrect upgrade or left one out entirely.
If there are minor differences, this could be down to choosing different wheels or a wing, so don’t panic, as you won’t notice the difference.
Tuning Your Car
Now that we’ve got the necessary upgrades added to the car, the chances are that if you were to head straight to the street, then your setup isn’t going to using anywhere near its full potential, which is where tuning is necessary.
Since you’ll be running a stock tune on your car alongside a heap of upgrades, this changes how the car drives and handles, significantly, which is where tuning is going to refine your setup to establish its true potential.
Tires
Tires are, of course, the only element that connects your car to the ground, so this can be vital when it comes to tuning.
For the base tune, we’ll opt with the following settings:
Front: 32 PSI
Rear: 30 PSI
If you’re finding that you’re not getting enough grip in the front or the rear of the car, then you can tweak this as necessary.
The lower the tire pressure, the more grip your car will have, but this could cause your vehicle to grip up when you least expect it, rather than maintaining the drift.
If you have nowhere near enough grip, consider going down to as low as 25 PSI and working your way back up until you feel it’s just right.
Gearing
As you’ve probably guessed, gearing defines how long your car will stay in each gear before it hits the redline.
Where making the gearing too long may stop the engine from producing the power to keep the rear wheels spinning without endless clutch kicking.
On the flip side, if the gearing is too short, then you’ll be bouncing off the limiter as soon as the wheels spin up, making controlling the car near impossible.
Use this as a base, and if you’re not happy with the gearing, then make minor tweaks until you’ve got it exactly how it works best for you.
- Final drive: 3.60
- 1st: 2.89
- 2nd: 1.99
- 3rd: 1.49
- 4th: 1.16
- 5th: 0.98
- 6th: 0.85
Alignment
Alignment is one of the most vital parts when it comes to refining your cars handling, and we highly recommend taking a more in-depth look into Camber, Toe, and Caster if you’re struggling to achieve the perfect setup.
Thanks to the super-realistic physics of Forza Horizon 4, you’ll most likely find better knowledge on real-world configurations that also apply in the game, but unrealistic setups can also work well.
Tuning in Horizon 4 presents the perfect opportunity to tweak and play around to see what works for you.
For now, let’s use this as a base setup:
Camber
Front: -4.0º
Rear: -1.5º
Toe
Front: 0.2
Rear: 0.0
Caster: 7.0
Anti-Roll Bars
Front: 28.55
Rear: 24.49
Springs
Front: 70.0 kgf/mm (or as close as possible)
Rear: 52.0 kgf/mm (or as close as possible)
Ride Height
Front: 9.0 cm
Rear: 9.0 cm
Damping
Rebound stiffness
Front: 9.7
Rear: 8.6
Bump stiffness
Front: 5.4
Rear: 5.0
Aero
Downforce
Front: 75 (if unlocked)
Brake
Balance: 50%
Pressure: 100%
Differential
Acceleration: 100%
Deceleration: 85%
Conclusion
When it comes to creating a drift setup, each person has their personal preferences on how their car drives and handles, but we feel confident that we’ve provided a great base to get you started in this guide.
There’s a tremendous amount of information out there when it comes to tuning your drift car in Forza Horizon 4, and there are some in-depth guides on YouTube, such as this excellent video from HokiHoshi:
The best thing you can do is adjust the setup to suit your needs, as there’s such a wide variety of factors at play, even down to the preference of controller or wheel.
If you’re keen to learn the in’s and out’s of drift tuning to get the very best out of your setup, then check out this insanely comprehensive guide to teach you everything you could ever need to know when it comes to drift tuning.
Once you’ve enjoyed what this Nissan Fairlady 350Z tune has to offer, make sure you head over to our Forza Horizon 4 best drift cars guide to try out some of the best of the FH4 selection.
So, there we have it! We hope that we’ve provided you with a solid drift tune to begin your Forza Horizon 4 drifting journey.
Looking to try Forza Horizon 4 on your VR rig? Then read our VR guide.
Want to master your Horizon 5 drifting skills? Check out our recommended Forza Horizon 5 drift tune.
Thank you for reading our Forza Horizon 4 Drift Tune guide.
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Photography credits
We thank the following entities for the use of their photography in this article:
Written by Joe Terrell
Drifted.com founder, motoring journalist and all-round car enthusiast. Read more about Joe and the Drifted team on our about us page. Rate This Article
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