Forza Horizon 2 features a ton of options for customizing the difficulty of the game. Even then, chances are you’re competitive enough that you don’t just want to throw the game into easy mode and destroy the A.I. After all, you’ll earn more credits for playing on hard, and those players you race against online aren’t under the control of the settings you define. If you hate losing, the only solution is to get better.
To help you become a better racer in Forza Horizon 2, we’ve put together a helpful tips and tricks guide. Our goal is to arm you with the knowledge needed to go out and slay enemies on the track.
Related: 6 Things You Might Not Know About Forza Horizon 2
If you’d like some hands-on help, feel free to join our in-game club, which is called Limited Edition. We’ll be glad to play alongside you to help you become the ferocious road warrior you aspire to be.
For now, check out the gallery below for tips to improving your racing ability in Forza Horizon 2.
Forza Horizon 2 - Tips and Trick Guide
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Use third person view when off-roading
If you're like me, you enjoy racing in the first-person perspective, whether it be using the cockpit or hood view. While you can certainly race from these perspectives in Forza Horizon 2, you're going to have much better visibility if you use either of the two third-person views when off-roading. When you're driving through vineyards and tall grass, you're simply not going to be able to see much in the first-person view angles. Switch over to third-person by hitting the right bumper a few times and you'll be able to more easily see what's coming ahead.
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4WD is the way to go
You're going to be driving off-road very often in Forza Horizon 2, and that's what 4WD (four wheel drive) vehicles excel at. If you want to have an easier time controlling your car as you shortcut turns and plow through rough terrain, 4WD is the way to go.
There are a ton of 4WD vehicles in Forza Horizon 2, including the GTR, Golf R, Huracan, and much more. You can also go to the garage and perform a drivetrain conversion to many of the non-4WD vehicles to turn them into 4WD.
If you prefer to get sideways and like the extra challenge, there's nothing wrong with MR or FR cars, but they require a bit more finesse in Forza Horizon 2.
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Brake earlier when it's dark, and especially when it's raining
Forza Horizon 2 has a full day/night cycle, as well as weather. In the case of night racing, it's difficult to see what awaits you ahead, particularly if you're new to a event. You'll want to brake a little earlier than you think just to make sure you don't go flying off the track.
In the case of weather, you absolutely need to brake earlier. As in real life, tires can't maintain 100% traction all the time when driving on a wet surface. Brake earlier, and try not to distribute your weight so that you slide out or you may just end up costing yourself a race—or a rewind.
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The skills every racer should know
If you're not a veteraned racer, there are some principles to racing that you should know.
The Apex. The best way to go around any corner is to approach it from the outside, and brake hard before the corner so that you can cut into it. You essentially want to go outside to inside to outside. This takes advantage of the track's width to give you the most efficient arch, giving you an opportunity to leave the corner at maximum velocity. Remember, don't just speed into a corner and bump off the track wall. It might seem fine, but is far less efficient and rewarding. If anything, brake early as you learn the brake points of each turn, and become acquainted with your vehicle.
Drafting. When you drive behind another car at speed, your vehicle will experience less drag. So, make sure that, unless you're in first place, you're always trying to get behind the next car to slipstream.
Always be braking or accelerating. If you aren't pressing down the brake or accelerator, you're being inefficient. Try to always have a finger pressed down to get better lap times. You don't have to have the accelerator pressed all the way down, though. Actually, if you have traction control turned off you'll need to learn how to slowly press down the accelerator as you exit a turn.
Feel the car. If you're playing on the Xbox One version, your car will communicate with you using the Xbox One Controller's impulse trigger rumble. You'll feel a very distinct, rough shake in your fingertips if your car is losing traction around a corner, and one and/or the other trigger will shake to indicate which tire(s) are losing traction. If this is happening, try to even out your car and re-distribute its weight by tapping the accelerator and then going back to braking.
If you're playing the Xbox 360 version, you'll need to read the car's language by looking at the car's orientation as it goes around the turn. The second those back tires lose traction, you need to stop accelerating and re-gain control.
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Cut the checkpoints
Instead of races being defined by a closed circuit like many other games, Forza Horizon 2 has checkpoints that have two red flares that you must drive between. The trick with these is to apex into whichever is the inner flare. You'll want to approach the turn from the outside, and then cut through the flare. The game will count it as you going through the checkpoint as long as your car makes contact with the flare, so don't be afraid to cut into it at a sharp angle.
Also, make sure that you always know where the next checkpoint is, that way you can position yourself to apex through it and lower your lap times. You can see the next checkpoint by looking into the distance for a huge white line shooting into the sky with some text above it.
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Don't be afraid to drive off the track
Forza Horizon 2 is an open-world racing game, and all of its many events aren't just bordered off asphalt circuits. You will have opportunities to apex through grass and dirt; don't be afraid to do this as long as you're able to go through the next checkpoint. The physics have been designed in a more arcade fashion so you aren't punished for going off-road. For the most part, you'll be able to retain most of your velocity, although your turn radius will be a bit larger. Just be sure to avoid any dirt ramps that might send you barrel-rolling into a tree.
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A good upgrade and tune keeps the losses away
Forza Horizon 2 features robust tuning and upgrade options for every car. Instead of opting to spend several hundred thousand dollars on a faster car, you can upgrade one of that you already have to compete against the big boys. Also, you can make drastic changes to the behavior of a car by tuning it. If you would prefer more acceleration, just reduce the gear ratios. There are tons of things to take into consideration when tweaking the settings, and you can press down on the d-pad while driving to see all the vitals of the car in real-time.
You'll notice that many players in online multiplayer modify their cars to the limit of each class, as the races are set to only include a particular class. Pushing the rating of your car to the limit of its class range is a great way to be as competitive as possible.
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Adjust the difficulty
Forza Horizon 2 has an array of assists that you can turn on and off, as well as full control of the difficulty of A.I. racers. You'll want to play around with these settings throughout your journey to increase the difficulty as you get better at the game. You will not only be rewarded with more credits for disabling assists and turning up the difficulty, but will also get better at the game by challenging yourself.
