A hallmark of Forza 4 is that it is easily accessible to a novice racer.  It has a menu system that would not confuse a small child, yet is still challenging to an adult. You will not need to worry about a complex series of licenses that you will need before you can begin your first race.

New players to the Forza series, or perhaps players looking to get a leg up on the competition, can look here for few helpful tips on how to make the Forza 4 experience more enjoyable. The drifting, especially in Rivals Mode on the Japanese tracks, will require patience and, as with previous iterations of Forza, lots of practice.

Depending on the settings of the game, there is already a tendency with some cars to swing out in a race, but to do this on purpose while maintaining speed takes focus and skill. This time around, the drift feature seems more accessible to new players, but does require a frustrating amount of skill, at first, to keep a totally clean lap.

TIP: Maintaining a clean drifting lap is essential. Do not bump into a wall, do not spin out, and do not even think about using the rewind feature. It will not do you any good, no matter how high your score is, because it will not count. Do not be afraid to fiddle with the settings either.

Free Play is always an easy way to get some practice without being dragged into a seven race championship in World Tour mode. The fictional track in the Bernese Alps is a special treat because of its changes in elevation, off-camber (against the natural mountain curvature) turns and wide, blind corners.

Players who have played the Forza 4 demo will surely recognize this track and take advantage of that knowledge the first time they see this in Career Mode.

TIP: The edges of the Bernese Alps track are outlined, but do not slow the car. Take advantage of this in practices and races.

Throughout the whole game, it pays to be picky. To do so, you will need a car from a specific manufacturer and use it in the races that have an Affinity Bonus. The Affinity Bonus is an advantage for those auto enthusiasts who collect every car in the game and use every upgrade possible.  Just a single hour of play will yield 100 percent of a single manufacturer’s upgraded parts for free.

TIP: Pay attention to the cars you select when you get reward vehicles. Randomly selecting whatever car looks fast may hinder your future affinity levels if you are forced to use them, due to the way the World Tour mode adapts to each car you are currently racing.

Anyone who has played the third Forza game for over a few hours will earn bonuses as well. Loyalty has its privileges since the bonuses imparted to players who import their profile get a huge credit bonus and a starter car that is not so slow you will go to sleep driving it.

Tip: The World Tour mode will adjust one or two tracks to your new car, while still giving you options to race against lower class opponents in the cars that you have already won.

Following the racing line all the way through the game may seem like the ideal way to go, and for some, it will certainly have its advantages. Beginning with the racing line will give you the ideal color-coded speed you should be doing through each corner, and it tells you where to turn in and accelerate out. However, do not blindly follow the racing line or the AI racer in front of you, because it will slow you down.

Tip: A better way to use the settings is to have the “braking line only,” preferable to many intermediate drivers and those who are brave enough right off the bat to go at the game full throttle. Use only the braking line, and you can learn the course more intuitively from the start without the very bright, neon green arrows.

Following the tire tracks, instead, makes the experience of racing in Forza much more natural and allows for greater variation in driving style. While there is an ideal line for every track, there are some corners that have allowances for slight shifts in the racing line and driving style depending on the type of car being used.

A car with better acceleration might allow for harder braking, rapid turn into a corner that decreases speed, then hard acceleration out. In other cases, a car with lower acceleration, but higher top speed, might be served by being cornered. This maintains a higher overall top speed. Both are successful strategies and a number of variations do exist, so racing lines are not entirely 100 percent static in the game.

TIP: Before you buy it, do a test drive in Free Play. Learn the car’s personality, and see if you can work with it. This is an easy step many forget.

As a general note, instead of hugging the inside corner during a turn which reduces speed-per-turn, use the Apex Cornering Method. It is the accepted practice by most racing professionals today. The Apex Corner derives its name from how a car should turn in from the outside under moderate braking, just barely brushing the top, or apex, of each corner, then accelerating hard out.

While this method might not be the shortest distance between two corners like science would suggest, maintaining the highest rate of speed-per-turn is the actual key here. Incidentally, the tire marks already laid into each track are those of the Apex Corner.

TIP: Off-camber turns, as mentioned above, are especially fun using the Apex Turn because of the greater change in elevation.

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About the author

Calvin Li
Calvin is currently a Politics and Entertainment writer, as well as the Assistant Gaming Editor for Toonari Post. He holds a Master's Degree in History and a Bachelor's degree in Marketing. A Native New Yorker, he enjoys speed reading and eating, as well as exploring, snowboarding and bowling.