When tuning for Track Racing, your main goal is to tune a car that runs the fastest lap time possible. This is achieved with a combination of handling, braking, acceleration, and well timed gear shifting.

This guide will go over the basics of how to tune your car for faster lap times in Track Racing, and will explain what each element of the tuning menu does in regards to performance.

I would recommend a Rear Wheel Drive car for anybody new to the Track Racing Scene, due to the fact that they handle easier and are often simpler to tune. you can convert any car to Rear Wheel Drive (RWD) that comes stock as Front Wheel Drive (FWD) with a $6000 upgrade, but I recommend starting with a stock RWD car because they are more straight foward to tune, and have no additional costs for becoming RWD.

When upgrading for Track, I recommend a Six-Speed Sport Gearbox to handle the corners with less braking and better handling, it isn't really worth investing in the non-sport transmission because of the similar cost and large difference in shift time. I would also recommend an Adjustable Gear Box upgrade to optimize your gears for cornering and acceleration. Your gears should probably all be adjusted a bit lower than what they come as, here is the gear setup for my Civic Track Car (FWD):

1st Gear: 4.32
2nd Gear: 2.85
3rd Gear: 2.1
4th Gear: 1.52
5th Gear: 1.2
6th Gear: 0.95

I use a Six-Speed Sport Gearbox



Your gears should be able to carry you through most corners without having to baby the throttle through them, this is why it is usually best to have a Six-Speed transmission as opposed to a Five-Speed transmission because you can full throttle more corners. The added gear also helps acceleration through corners, and assists handling because the gears will have less room to exert power during cornering.

In regards to engine, all the engine upgrades you apply to your car will stay with that car, so don't worry about engine swapping until you're done upgrading (Skyline Engine is the most powerful engine). Power supply upgrades don't do anything custom to your engine in terms of horsepower, so you can choose upgrades in any order that you want. Intake and Outtake upgrades have a very similar affect to Power Supply upgrades, so they should also be upgraded in the same way.

The purpose of engine upgrades is purely to add power (Hp) to your car, in order to increase its acceleration and top speed capabilities.



Keep in mind that power upgrades, while making your car faster, affects your handling and traction. Before adding high amounts of power to your car, try to have a decently tuned transmission and suspension. This will avoid losing control around corners and make your car more stable.

Suspension upgrades or "Suspender" Upgrades as the game calls them, allow you to modify your suspension and adjust its settings such as height and camber. Having a good suspension in your car with the right settings is important for handling and can give your car the 'racer' look due to how far you can lower it.
Buying the Adjustable Suspension upgrade opens up a large table of values to adjust in order to make your car look or drive differently, these values can be hard to understand for new players, so you could leave these values as they are and just adjust the suspension height.




If you want to find out what these values do to your suspension so you can adjust them, see the definitions below:

CAMBER
Camber angle alters the handling qualities of a particular suspension design; in particular, negative camber improves grip when cornering especially with a short long arm suspension. This effect is compensated for by applying negative camber, maximizing the contact patch area.

RUGGEDNESS
Suspension ruggedness is essentially the resistance that your suspension has when the car slams down against the road or when the cars weight shifts dramatically during cornering, this value defines how well your car can handle bumpy surfaces without losing control and reduces '2 Wheeling'.

AKKERMAN
The inside wheel is steered to a greater angle then the outside wheel, allowing the inside wheel to steer a tighter radius.

CASTER
The caster angle identifies the forward or backward slope of a line drawn through the upper and lower steering pivot points when viewed directly from the side of the vehicle. Positive caster also increases tire lean when cornering (almost like having more negative camber) as the steering angle is increased.

DAMPING
Suspension damping is the process that controls the speed in which your suspension retracts and contracts, controlling how quickly your suspension resists against rough terrain and weight shift.

TURNOUT
Turnout, to put it simply, controls a form of turning sensitivity in your suspension and can assist quick turn in response, but applying excessive turnout can cause understeer and loss of traction.

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To figure out what you want to do about adjusting these values in order to make your car handle well, test your current settings on a Track that you like and adjust the values that relate to the problems you are having when you take a corner.

For example, if your car is understeering during cornering and your car lacks turn in response, add some negative camber to the cars wheels and raise the turnout and / or akkerman values by a reasonable amount.

Drive Modifications change which wheels (front or back) pull or push your car using the engines power, which are the driving wheels.



Front wheel drive or FWD configuration is lighter than Rear wheel drive (RWD)[/i] and is more stable than RWD, so you don't spin out as much. FWD does not accelerate at as high a rate as RWD, and should be launched from a lower RPM in order to reduce loss of traction or 'wheelspin'. FWD also means that the same wheels pulling your car are also turning your car, and because of this, applying heavy throttle in corners causes your car to understeer and stop gaining speed.

Rear wheel drive configuration is heavier than FWD, but pushes the car better at high RPM compared to FWD. Rear wheel drive has more responsive handling capabilities than FWD and is easier to tune. RWD is more prone to losing traction in corners than FWD, but can often enter them faster than FWD. Rear wheel drive cars can lose traction in the Rear tyres when throttle is applied too quickly during cornering. This causes the car to 'spin out' and turn sharply into the corner, spinning the car around due to the Front tyres have more traction than the Rear tyres. Rear wheel drive cars also accelerate faster than FWD cars when the Rear tyres have enough traction, because the driving wheels are pushing the cars weight forward without the stress of pulling as much weight behind the tyres.


When choosing between FWD and RWD, it's all about the build you're going for, and preference. When you are Track Racing, drivetrain (FWD or RWD) largely affects your driving style and the way you take corners, and that's where preference comes in, but otherwise, its all about what you want the car to drive like.

If you want the car to be able to swing into corners, jet down the straight, and you don't mind the loss of stability and throttle babying, take RWD.

If you want the car to have good stability, grip, and you don't mind the early braking and having to tune out understeer, then take FWD.

Brakes are an important part of any Track Racing build, they dictate how long your car can maintain speed for before a turn, you use them to prepare for almost every corner on any given track, and they are your failsafe if you speed towards a corner and can't make the turn at your current speed.

Every good Track Car needs a solid set of brakes, and brake upgrades will do exactly that. I would recommend buying brake upgrades that total at least 250 N*m (You will have to add up the amounts on each part), this added braking force will provide good braking distance and allow your car to maintain speed for longer before a corner, and will keep you from slamming into any walls that you might be speeding towards.




A good braking setup will only cost a few thousand dollars, and only requires a small amount of upgrades. Here is a list of upgrades you can apply to cost effectively upgrade your braking system:

Enlarged Brake Pads +55 N*m
Composite Brake Rotors +85 N*m
Eight Piston Calipers +121 N*m

Weight Reduction removes excess weight from your car, meaning that there is less weight for your car's driving wheels to push or pull, this causes your car to accelerate faster and reach a higher top speed.


Weight Reduction can be a little pricey, costing $1000 give or take per weight reduction upgrade, and there are 6 of these upgrades totaling 64 Kilograms of weight reduction.

You can reduce your car's weight even more by doing 'physical weight reduction', which involves removing the door of your car, and taking out any unnecessary parts that are often heavy such as the passenger seats or mudflaps (if your car has them). You can also reduce the weight of your car by replacing your original driver's seat and steering wheel with ones bought in the tuning shop.

Weight reduction also causes your car's body to sway less when cornering, preventing '2 wheeling' and maintaining traction.

Once you have gone through all of the above sections, applied the upgrades, and followed the steps on how to properly tune your car, you're done. You now know how to fully upgrade and tune your car for Track Racing.

Once you have tried either FWD or RWD for your track car, I highly recommend trying a car with a different drivetrain if you haven't already (For example, try a Skyline if you've only tuned an Acura).

If you are interested in how you can get faster lap times and race well on Track, check out this guide for Track Racing [Guide coming soon]

If you're up for the challenge, comment on my profile and add me for a race.