Ok so it’s common knowledge that parts such as the Flywheel, Clutch, Camshaft, Rims, Oil System, Intercooler are probably not your first to go to parts when upgrading but I want to know how important the Rollcage is. It can lower PI which is great but it does add some weight to the car and I want the lightest build possible provided that I’m not losing out somewhere?
What the deal with the Rollcage?..
… and do I really need it?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Depends on car and class. Below A you should be trying without or with only street and see how the car fares. In the lower classes I’ve never used anything above Sport. Some cars actually rotate and handle better without a cage. In the higher classes the added weight has less impact in terms of power-to-weight so its usually a win-win. Overall it’s a cost/benefit calculation, just like every other upgrade. You have to experiment and evaluate.
Entirely car/track dependant. It is needed.
Short wheelbase D Class? I dunno. I usually use at least street but from memory I’ve built a couple of D Class without and there’ve been a couple of tunes shared about that don’t use a cage. Typically though I’m usually choosing which one rather than none at all. And yes, track dependent. It’s been a long day.
Thank you
I’ll probably stick with it then but toy with sport and race(they’re my only options)
Im also a strong believer in at least using the street rollcage.
I try to stay away from the roll cages in the muscle cars, unless I need the PI drop to get more HP 
and I never put it in the AWD cars…but like said above most other cars depends entirely on the track and car. If I tune a car for Yas, regardless of what it is I try to stay away from the roll cage due to how stiff it makes it. Oh, and disclaimer…I am bad about just throwing parts on cars so take what I say with a grain of salt.
For a beginner, handling is critical. Anything that improves it is worth using. Race Roll Cage can help in that regard. If their car stays on the track they may not become griefers so quickly and not drive the track backwards out of frustration. They might even stick around long enough to steadily improve. As I see it, the Roll Cage isn’t merely a useful race part. but also a great Forza community introductory growth tool.
Depends how much handling you want in the car or how much instability you can control. I usually add it for PI reductions if the weight stat isn’t too bad or I’m trying to avoid using tires since the cage upgrade uses less PI. Sometimes you can pair weight reduction and roll cage if tire upgrade avoidance is your goal.
Trial and error are pretty much the overall deciding factors though. It’s definitely an upgrade to consider, even if it is only the first tier.
It pretty much depends on the car.
Chassis twist is real and it has been featured in forza. I’m not quite certain how well it is featured in FM5, (as I’m still tuning in FM4. XBone hasn’t arrived here yet.)
How ever. I have seen Ford Escort Coswort literally ripping its body to pieces. cause it has so much power/torque, and great suspension for track use, but no rollcage. The welding’s literally ripped apart. and that was “only” 330hp engine.
Generally older cars tend to suffer from chassis twist more than more modern cars, but still every car suffers from it more or less. and now we are getting to the “do I need rollcage/Chassis reinforcement”
Well Chassis twist causes unresponsiveness while turning. The more rigid the chassis is, the more responsive it is. This calls in the rollcage.
How ever it always adds weight, weight slows down your acceleration and braking, Now we have to think how many times I do sharp turn with very low speed, and accelerate from very low speed (spa 1st corner & last chicane) Or do I mostly run on high speed track and carry the speed trough the corners (alps).
If you carry a lot of speed you don’t need to have as responsive car, but then again, the additional weight won’t slow you down as it’s so small amount.
If you go trough many tight and twisty corners you need more responsiveness, how ever the weight will slow you down
Therefore, you need to experiment, and have a compromise between acceleration and responsiveness.
Then there is cases like FWD. the power goes out from the front end, and you are “dragging” the rear end around and thinking about it, the less weight there is, the better grip you will have while accelerating, Now you really want to avoid the extra weight, but then again you might need that responsiveness boost of chassis reinforcement.
And then there is my favorites, The old cars, Specially old muscle cars.
Ever seen top fuel dragster setting off? Yes they might lift their front wheels when that 2000hp engine releases all it has.
But more than often they lift only 1 wheel, that is cause of the tubular frame twists and it twists between the engine and the rear axle, only few feet apart from eachothers. still the twist will be seen in front of the dragster, when other front wheel is few inches off the ground first 60 feet! Admittably the rear suspension is also slightly twisted from the same reason. Which increases the indication of the twist that’s not actually there, at least so visibly.
Now think about 60’s or 70’s car, specially Front engine RWD layout. you don’t need 2000 hp. you only need 100hp for it to be there.
If you are getting chassis flex from cornering, acceleration, with firm racing suspension, the chassis will flex. and it flexes a lot. Therefore you highly likely want to have that full rollcage.
I advocate anything that improves weight distribution. That said, I seem to get my best results from using sport chassis reinforcement over a full cage.
Why aren’t cams a first upgrade option?