When it comes to tuning in Forza the most important aspect you need to understand is the concept of car types and body types.

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Car types provide a general classification of all cars in Forza and group several body types. Each car type needs a distinctive way to be setup in terms of tuning.

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Generally Forza distinguishes between race, road, rally and off-road cars.

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The following race car types exist in Forza Motorsport:

• Race Cars (GT race cars, touring cars, NASACAR, V8 Supercars, Formula-E, Formula Mazda, Formula Ford)

• Prototype Race Cars (LMP cars)

• GP Race Cars (F1, IndyCar, classic GP cars)

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The following road car types exist in Forza Motorsport:

• Street Car​s (sedans, wagons, muscle cars, compact cars)

• Sports Cars (sports cars, GT sports cars)

• High Performance Cars (super cars, hyper cars)

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The following rally car types exist in Forza Motorsport:​

• Rally Sports Cars 

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The following off-road car types exist in Forza Motorsport:​

• Off-road Cars (jeeps, buggies)

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Now what is a body type? A body type defines the basic characteristics of a car such as suspension geometry and chassis and suspension stiffness. Forza does not simulate cars on an individual car level but on body type level. That means all cars that share the same body type are running on the same virtual representation of the car.

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An example would be a classic American muscle car that  features a very conservative suspension geometry combined with a soft chassis and suspension setup that gives you that unique "boat like" handling on roads.

 

In contrast modern F1 race cars features a unique open-wheel suspension geometry along with a much stiffer chassis and suspension characteristics that is suitable for high-speed racing on ultra-flat race tracks.

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Body types are similar to the concept of divisions that group similar cars to achieve more close racing but they are not identical. Sometimes divisions contain cars of different body types or cars of a certain body type are spread across several divisions. Think of divisions more of an organizational grouping of cars whereas body types define the physical (or simulated) taxonomy of all cars in Forza.

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To further diversify body types with regard to the period of time a car has been built Forza uses an era system:

• Modern: cars built 1995/96 or later

• Early Modern: cars built 1981-1994/95

• Vintage: cars built 1960-1980

• Early Vintage: cars built 1940-1959

• Pre-War: cars built before 1940

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That means the full qualified body type of a 1979 Chevrolet Camaro is a "Vintage Muscle Car" whereas a 1987 Pontiac Firebird TransAm is an "Early Modern Muscle Car". 

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Now how do car types and body types affect tuning? Generally speaking older cars require a stiffer chassis and suspension tuning and a more conservative alignment and differential tuning than modern cars and race cars require softer chassis and suspension tuning and a more aggressive alignment and differential tuning than production cars.

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GP race cars and prototype race cars however don't follow this pattern because they are exposed to extreme forces while cornering so they need very stiff chassis and damping setup to handle those forces.

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The following table gives an overview how car type and era affect the different tuning areas: