Hope this will help some people who are either struggling withe trials or just looking for some fun builds to try. I don't do any sort of competitive pvp racing, this is mostly just for fun.
Too long:Didnt want to read codes:
Merc - 150 953 489
Toyota - 271 402 721
Ford - 297 176 629 (oldest, room for improvement)
There are 3 pretty good options to create for this trial, and future ones with same restriction, easy wins and relatively fun. Not necessarily suitable for competitive racing, except maybe first car/truck below.
- Mercedes-Benz X-Class
- Ford Super Duty F-450 DRW Platinum (Common one not the lifted FE version). Have used this in previous offroad Trials for easy wins.
- Toyota Land Cruiser Arctic Trucks AT37
Most important thing they have in common is 7.4L V8 engine. Ford and Toyota have a Twin Turbo option which gives it the best acceleration, but handling suffers the most until you get used to it. I'll breakdown the Merc as it end up being the most manoeuvrable out of the three, with the extra points you have to spend since you'll be using the 7.4L V8 with supercharger.
Upgrades
Body Kits and Conversions
- Aforementioned 7.4L V8 and slap a supercharger on it.
- Bodykit... Performance Index (PI) reduction for more upgrades, widens the body (helps with handling? idk forza is funny with that stuff)
Aero and Appearance
- FH6 - Race Rear Wing... PI reduction, adjustable if you want more speed or better traction.
Tires and Rims
- Offroad Race Tire (I believe the other two have it by default? if not leave it for last as upgrade since they tend to take a lot of points)
- 275/50R19 front tire (only because I ended up with PI to spare)
- 375/35/R19 rear tire (PI reduction)
- Lightest Rims of your choice (due to spare PI)
- Front and Rear Track Width to maximum (again not necessary, mostly because I could)
- Optional: Rear Tire Profile if you need more PI for other upgrades.
Drivetrain
- Clutch - best
- Transmission - your pick, some say first Race one is best (lightest), but I usually prefer 10sp because I don't drive manual and I like the tight gear ratios.
- Driveline - best
- Any differential that unlocks tuning (as far as I can tell, they are just presets? And I hate the Offroad preset so I usually go Rally or Race)
Platform and Handling
- Brakes - only if you have PI to spare because you didn't upgrade something or used more PI reduction upgrades (e.g. the Tire profile)
- Rally Spring and Dampers for adjustment
- Race Anti-roll bars for adjustment
- Sport Weight Reduction (race one cost too much PI)
Engine - all maxed
In general I would do the engine conversion, transmission, some/all of the PI reduction first then check engine upgrades for out-of-the-box 0-60/0-100 to see whether it is worth continuing with tweaks on any of these three, including other cars (sometimes throwing the AWD conversion into the mix if it reduces PI).
Tune
Differential
- For the Merc its 65% Center
- 23/5 Front
- 40/10 Rear
I adjust center before touching anything else in Tune to see how acceleration & Speed change and leave it at the best setting. Usually I keep the Front/Rear between 20-50, regardless of the race, because I like how it handles. This is something you may have to figure out yourself if you don't like the handling.
Tire Pressure
It's whatever you want it (tweak it if you don't wanna touch anything else), I kept them between 1.1-1.4 on all three cars. Some claim there are golden pressure settings for each type of tire, others say that you rarely have to go above 1.1.
Brake
Again...whatever you like, if you had the PI to spare for upgrade.
Aero
Maxed cornering for the Merc, only because the top speed difference is small and you'll never hit it in a race anyway. For actual racing you'd likely move it towards cornering to increase lateral Gs. 1.0-1.10 should be minimum for road races, for offroad it doesn't matter as much unless you really want to follow that racing line.
Damping
- Rebound - Front 9.0 / Rear 6.5
- Bump both 3.0
This works well for the Merc, don't remember if I tweaked it, but I don't feel like I desperately need to. If your car feels bouncy/stiff (most noticeable when offroading and losing control) tweak this accordingly.
Springs
Untouched on Merc, if the other cars felt bouncy/stiff then I tweaked this. Change Ride height for offroading only if it improves Acceleration/Speed. For road it may need more tweaks.
Antiroll Bars
Untouched on Merc as it is, could tweak a little. Required changed on Ford and maybe Toyota too. Softer front if you struggle to turn, countered by stiffer back. If you are turning ok, but something feels off, swift them both equally in whichever direction a bit to see whether it helps.
Alignment
- Camber is set to Front -0.7 / Rear -0.7 (slight tweak, but not super necessary, can be used to improve handling further if you don't like it)
- Toe untouched, small tweaks only seem useful for road racing and bigger for drifting??
- Front Caster 6.0, slight tweak again not super necessary for Merc or the other two offroad cars.
Gearing
Final Drive -> 10th for the Merc
3.40 / 6.00 / 4.20 / 3.08 / 2.45 / 2.00 / 1.70 / 1.45 / 1.25 / 1.10 / 0.99
My personal rule of thumb is to start moving Final Drive to see if any improvements show up in Acceleration and either remember them or take a screenshot. Then set top gear to top speed that I think I will need (usually I like at least 300 km/h for any A class any race type). After that start tweaking individual gears, usually highest to lowest, 0.05 points at a time.
Screenshot of result for the Merc:
