Forzamotorsport.net Forums

FORZA MOTORSPORT TUNING CALCULATOR

[ ABOUT ]

• I have been working on this for quite some time and at the same time working with various community members including feuerdog.
  
  And now I release it to you guys. Have fun and constructive feedback will be appreciated. Thanks.

[ MISSION STATEMENT ]

• To provide a solid foundation to tune from. Less time tuning in the dark, more time having fun.

[ FEATURES ]

• NEW! Supports multiple languages including English, Français and Deutsch.
• Supports both English and Metric units.
• Print area enabled.
• REVISED FM4 suspension dynamics.
• Suspension input modifiers for tweaking the strength and front bias for individual suspension parts.
• Integrated transmission calculator.
• REVISED Simplified Dynamometer.
• Calculated final drive ratio.
• Option of selecting between 4, 5 or 6 gear transmission.
• The ability to tune the last gear to match drag limited top speed to gear limited top speed (vehicle’s redline on overdrive).
• Automatic gear spreader.
• REVISED Calculated optimal launch rpm.
• Automatically calculates optimal shift points.
• Option for displaying optimal shift points in mph/kph or RPMs.
• Supports power handicaps.
• REVISED Vehicle Database with vehicle specifications, prices, etc.
• Full rim list with weight loss ratings.
• Tire dynamics sheet.
• Modified tire pressure values based on ideal gas law equations.
• Aerodynamics sheet with down force and drag estimates.
• REVISED Aero strength and front bias modifiers.
• Automatic calculated caster angle based on front tire contact patch and loaded radius.
• Inch increments to camber and toe angle conversion.
• REVISED Ride height adjustment tool.
• REVISED Class Builder sheet to keep track of your class build.
• REVISED Priority Upgrade Table.
• Track list.

[ NEWS ]

• 05/04/2012 - Discontinued until further notice. 
• 04/16/2012 - It is finally here. Please read the new instructions and enjoy. 
• 04/15/2012 - Reboot sequence initiated... 
• 04/07/2012 - For every new version that gets uploaded, the older one gets replaced. However the file has been corrupted, as I later tested, due to an excel version 2010 to 97 conversion. I'm working on a fix but my time is very limited. It will be out when it is out.
• 04/05/2012 - Please stand by.

[ SCREENSHOTS ]

[ REQUIREMENTS ]

• Be somewhat intelligent or born with common sense. 
• Excel 97-2003
• Excel 2007
• Excel 2010 
• Analysis Toolpak enabled
  Excel 97-2003: Tools>add-ins>enable analysis toolpak
  Excel 2007: office button>excel options>add-ins>manage: excel add-ins GO> check analysis toolpak>press OK.
  Excel 2010: File>options>add-ins>manage: excel add-ins GO> check analysis toolpak>press OK.

[Mod Edit - link removed - Worm]

[ INSTRUCTIONS ]

1. Select your preferred language (cell B4)
   
2. Select your preferred units (cell E4)
   
3. Save (CTRL+S)
4. Select Car (cell H1)
   
5. In Game: make sure you are in it and go to:
6. Play Career>Cars>My Cars
   
7. Press [ Y ] to toggle.
   
8. Input that data into FMTC Main(i.e.; power, torque, weight, front)
9. Press [ X ] (car list)
10. Hold the [ RB ] until you reach the data needed (ex: power rpm, torque rpm, redline rpm, front and rear tire sizes)
    

     .....

11. Enter required data into FMTC Main
12. Go to Play Career>Upgrade>Upgrade Shop>Tires and Rims>Rim Style to get Lateral G's. It’s shown on the confirmation screen if you buy and install any upgrade. If already mounted, select Stock rims, press [ A ] once, then check value in the "before" sector to get the current value, then abort mounting with [ B ].
    
13. Benchmark test for top speed and enter it in cell E33, INPUT>Transmission>Top Speed. Readjust gears to top speed desired.
    
14. Follow the comments inside the modifier cells for guidance to that tweak you are looking for.
15. Anything else, ask here or figure it out amongst yourselves.
16. Watch the new tutorial video below.

[ VIDEOS]

  
FMTC - Video Tutorial By insomniac84

Forza Motorsport 4 | Tutorial | Advanced Tuning Guide By TaintProductions

[ F.A.Q. ]

• Can I message you over Xbox Live?
  

  No and please no more blind friend requests, just post here. Someone will help you I’m sure.

• Will you answer a question that has already been answered?
  

  No. Any questions that need a repeated answer will be ignored to prevent disputes and disrespect amongst community members.

• Can you tune a car for me?
  

  No. What would be the point of all this?

• Will this get me to the top of the leaderboards?
  

  No. This spreadsheet is a time saving tool which does most of the math for you, gives you a base set up and has several modifying options. It is not a miracle. However it is up to you to get yourself up to the leaderboards.
  
  Most of the hot lappers of the community have this misconception that using a tuning calculator is weak. Forza is a simulator and this calculator will always feature real physics not feel. The rest is up to you, the user.

• I can't believe this isn't error free. I only get alignment values but everything else is blank. Come on i really want to use this. What gives?
  

  What gives is that the calculator under conditional formatting goes blank when it encounters #NAME?.
  
  #NAME? appears when previous excel versions can't read excel 2007 new formula statements. In this case your spreadsheet gets an error when it encounters the MROUND function.
  
  To fix this you must have the analysis toolpak add-in enabled.
  
  Go to this link for more details:
  http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HP052091851033.aspx

• [Mod edit - ToS violation for Xbox Live, Forza, and this website - Worm]
• Hi FEUERDOG. I’ve used your calculators before and this one looks different and spits out different numbers, why?
  

  I’m not FEUERDOG.

• Is there an OpenOffice version available?
  

  No. This wasn't designed in OpenOffice. It was designed for Excel. OpenOffice is not supported. I'm sorry.
  
  However, if you were to download the 1997-2003 version of the Tuning Calculator, OpenOffice should be able to support it. It will not work in 2007 or later, as we have found.

• What is Tire Aspect Ratio and where do i find it?
  

  The Following is taken from tirerack.com:
  
  "Sidewall Aspect Ratio
  
  Typically following the three digits identifying the tire's Section Width in millimeters is a two-digit number that identifies the tire's profile or aspect ratio.
  
  P225/50R16 91S
   
  The 50 indicates that this tire size's sidewall height (from rim to tread) is 50% of its section width. The measurement is the tire's section height, and also referred to as the tire's series, profile or aspect ratio. The higher the number, the taller the sidewall; the lower the number, the lower the sidewall. We know that this tire size's section width is 225mm and that its section height is 50% of 225mm. By converting the 225mm to inches (225 / 25.4 = 8.86") and multiplying it by 50% (.50) we confirm that this tire size results in a tire section height of 4.43". If this tire were a P225/70R16 size, our calculation would confirm that the size would result in a section height of 6.20", approximately a 1.8-inch taller sidewall"
  
  The aspect ratio is the middle number of your tire size. To find this please follow the instructions posted above.

• Alright awesome! Where can I download this?
  

  

• Can I hack into the Tuning Calculator to make changes or withdraw information, share it with others without your consent for my own personal gain?
  

  No.
  
  Although I would like you to question your principles.
  
  Whatever you do to your personal copy, keep it to yourself. If unauthorized copies were to spread around, no one would know which one would be authentic and thus voiding of the integrity it is known for. Creating chaos.
  
  For the sake of everyone that uses it, preventing unnecessary issues or headaches to troubleshoot as well as prolonging the constantly evolving quality of the Tuning Calculator, please do not take the initiative to take over a product you didn't create by spreading a modified inferrior version of the Tuning Calculator.
  
  Thank you.
  

 [ CONTACT ]

Any feedback, questions, comments or concerns? you can reach us at

• fmtc.forzatl@gmail.com

[ REFERENCES ]

• Ackerman Steering Principle
• Autocross to Win
• Automotive Mathematical Formulas pt. 1
• Automotive Mathematical Formulas pt. 2
• Brake Calculations
• Calculators for 1/4-Mile ET & MPH vs. HP and Weight
• Car tuning in Ultimate Stunts
• Checklist of Kinematic Parameters for a New Suspension Design
• Development and Evaluation of Vehicle Suspension Tuning Metrics
• Difference Between Center of Gravity and Center of Mass
• drivingfast.net
• Horsepower vs. Torque
• How To Make Your Car Handle
• Ideal Gas Law and Tire Pressure
• Lateral Weight Transfer
• OptimumG Technical Papers
• Over Steer / Under Steer Corrections
• Perfect Steering
• Springs and Natural Frequencies
• The Mark Ortiz Automotive CHASSIS NEWSLETTER
• The Optimal Shift Point
• Tires and Grip
• Torque vs. Horsepower
• Vehicle Dynamics Parameters
• Vehicle Dynamics Theory and Application

 [ RELATED LINKS ]

• [AT] Garage Inventory spreadsheet - FM4 version
• FM.NET Battle of the Car Clubs
• FM.NET Signature Shop
• Forza Community Review

Hey buddy glad you're here.

The metric guinea pig reports "Ready for testing"
from what i can see so far, i'll most likely hold my LCE tomorrow.

update of the video tutorial might be possible on the weekend, when i can get a stand for the camcorder and a version of your calc.

@StrantonAce:
most likely it will be working for now, though fields might be renamed, dropped or found on other locations in the new game. just try it. if you can find all input data needed in the new menus - it works, fine though results may not be perfect. if not stay tuned for FMTC4

cheers guys and have a blast to those already holding their copy of FM4

oh and by the way:

Hi FEUERDOG. I’ve used your calculators before and this one looks different and spits out different numbers, why?
I’m not FEUERDOG.

Good to see are here nice and early SM.

 Should get me copy on Friday and planning a big weekend of playing, looking forward to seeing how the sheet works out.

hey guys im ready   cant wait to test and help out......

I've tuned up a few cars today using version 4.4 and it seems to hold up pretty well. My Lotus Elise was a little flobbery and bouncy under braking, so I doubled the strength of the dampers and that seemed to help. Not sure if that's the right solution or not. 

However, I will say that all of my BMW coupes (2002, 1M, e30 M3) are pretty unstable under braking. It feels like the rear end is breaking loose. Might the differential calculations be making the rear diff a bit stiff? Or might the springs and/or dampers be too soft in the front leading to diving under braking and unloading the rear wheels? Or it could be the brake bias calcs used by the game itself has changed, because they weren't this unstable in FM3 and I used version 4.4 for them as well.

Anyway, I Iove the calculator, it is a godsend for my enjoyment of the game. I can't tune to save my life and this allows me to use a wide variety of cars and at least be reasonable competitive in them without having to beat my head against the wall. I do need to figure out how to adjust the tunes once I've gotten the tune from the calc, but for right now most of the cars are stable, particularly the FE/RWD cars (BMW's excluded). 

Cheers and keep the updates coming. It's awesome. 

i got my hands on the game now and i have to report that i am a bit absolutely dissappointed with the upgrades and tuning.

absolutely nothing new as far as i can see.

the same tuning menu, same rims, same car data, nothing new, same same same.

i should slap the already available tuning calculator and call it new since it is the trend that i am seeing.

stay tuned

Slave Munky:

i got my hands on the game now and i have to report that i am a bit absolutely dissappointed with the upgrades and tuning.

absolutely nothing new as far as i can see.

the same tuning menu, same rims, same car data, nothing new, same same same.

i should slap the already available tuning calculator and call it new since it is the trend that i am seeing.

stay tuned

 no pun intended 

metric spring rate still displayed in kgf/cm when the tuning menu says kgf/mm.

4 games later and it is still wrong.

oh boy.

S7 Glock:

I noticed in this version, when one converts drivetrain to AWD, the PI goes up instead of down factoring more than just the weight.  This probably does not affect the car physics as far as tuning is considered though.

true. it affects PI system in such a way it makes every car more competetive to each other which is good.

Slave Munky:

S7 Glock:

I noticed in this version, when one converts drivetrain to AWD, the PI goes up instead of down factoring more than just the weight.  This probably does not affect the car physics as far as tuning is considered though.

true. it affects PI system in such a way it makes every car more competetive to each other which is good.

Damn right its good! In previous game, the AWD PI went down allowing added upgrades. In my opinion, that was a glitch, should not have been allowed. If one wanted to race a car in its stock configuration, and an AWD Frankenstein would sneak in, you did not stand a chance. Anyway, that's just me. And good that it is behind us.

And yes, too bad about the lack of detail in the new upgrade pages.

There was so much talk about improved suspension physics and tire dynamics, but nothing to analyze or use to improve the calc.

Keep an eye on the posted ambient temperatures. Swings from 24F in the Swiss Alps to 90F+ in the desert. I'm convinced this will have an affect on tire choice/pressure settings. At least that might be something to work with. We shall see. 

Oh well.

Glad to see you here on the new side, Slave Munky!

Slave Munky:

i should slap the already available tuning calculator and call it new since it is the trend that i am seeing.

exactely my thoughts.
maybe add a little color to match the new game visuals.

on a sidenote, 4.e4 works quite good so far for me. i uploaded a Citroen C1 to the club garage, that i droped in the calc and it works quite good. just a quick build without major competition value but you might try it in a custom lobby (yeah!) it grew out of the first two seasons in career play, droped to factory upgrades and garnished with a quick selection of parts by hand.

handles quite good and stays on line in corners absolutely brilliant.

the brakes also seem to be a lot more usable by the game itself, until now (C425) i got less lockup issues by far. my brak tweaks i tested masively run into too less pressure since the new game. but i did not test that more that 10 minutes deep.

So maybe we can have some fun and chat tomorrow. too late for me today.

Cheers and much fun "tonight" to all of you
Daniel

the Forza Tuning Labs club has been created. its members will be the first to try out the beta version of the upcoming calc starting next week.

so you might want to stay tuned for that.

EDIT: taking longer than i thought and it seemed like a good idea at the time but it was a bad idea. there is another way to participate just keep reading.