Playground Games has made some significant tweaks and changes to its sequel in this UK based sandbox successor. If for some reason this is your first ever Horizon game, don’t be intimidated by the sheer amount of things you can do in the game. Instead, get a hold on to things with this Forza Horizon 4 Beginner’s Guide.

Forza Horizon 4 has come out with a bang, with reviews talking about how good the game is, and what a beautiful sequel it is to Horizon 3. The Forza series keeps on trucking whether you prefer the Motorsport version, or the arcade adventure of Horizon, you can really go wrong with if you love the Horizon series.

Forza Horizon 4 – Beginner’s Guide

This guide will focus on the every general thing you need to grasp on when you first start the game. From earning skills, to buying cars and houses, we have got you covered.

Buying Houses

In Forza Horizon 4, there is only one big festival site in the map, just south of Derwent Reservoir. This unlike Horizon 3, doesn’t require you to fast travel to festival sites, instead you are given the option to buy houses that you can fast travel to other regions of the map. This will cut down your travel time if you do not wish to drive long routes to your destination.

There are about 10 houses that you can buy in Forza Horizon 4, and each can be used as a fast travel location once bought. Though, bear in mind that fast travel will cost you 10k per visit if you fast travel.Properties as such in the game range from a variety of houses like cozy cottages in the country side to a massive Edinburgh Castle. But don’t aim big, as buying the castle will cost you 15 million credits, instead look for a humble little property you can use to fast travel, modify cars, customize characters etc.

In the beginning of the game, you will be given a Gables estate after completing one of the early stunt missions, which at least gives you the option to fast travel to Uffington White Horse Region. If you plan to buy something reasonable, look for Sunflower Meadows which only costs 200k credits and get you a base near Ambleside.

Towards the beachside you can buy Thatch Corner near Astmoor, which is also reasonably priced at 500k.

Read more if you want more help, with this detailed Forza Horizon 4 Houses Guide.

Don’t Over Rank Your Cars

Forza Horizon always gives you an option to apply ridiculous upgrades to your cars. This in Turn increases your rank and makes your car achieve incredible launches and top speed.

We would suggest to not over rank your car even though it may seem like an attractive option. If you have upgrade a D rank car to S1, the AI will adjust to the same setting and will make racing for you that bit hard.

Car ratings aren’t important when racing with AI in single-player events. So even with a D ranked car, you can have a lot of success in certain events as the AI will adjust with the same specs as your car.

Custom Car Setups

Instead of over ranking your car, and upgrading it to maximum, focus on using custom setups to make your car perform better on certain tracks. Let’s say you are going to race in a high speed, long straight track, set your down force low to get that little bit of top speed that can give you an edge in over taking an opponent.

Tweak between car setups, look what’s best for your car’s performance based on the track you are about to race on. While stock cars will perform as they should and not cause you any trouble, applying car setups give you that upper hand in competitive racing.

Skill Sets for Each Car

Unlike in Forza Horizon 3, Skill sets don’t cover all the cars in Forza Horizon 4. Instead, you will have to individually purchase each skill for each ride that you own.

Always set your priority for your go-to vehicles that you use frequently. Purchasing skills sets for these vehicles will make your car and performance that much better.

Skills can be purchased from Car Mastery panel that can be found under the Cars tab from the main menu. Different Vehicles have different skills set, but most skills are linked to boosting your car’s drift scores, increasing your influence points when you drive a specific car, or even earning a free Wheelspin when you spend enough on a vehicle.

Barn Finds

Barn finds have been a feature in the Horizon series for some time now. It usually holds up a classic car rotting inside a barn covered in dust and rust. When you do find one and restore the car, it turns into a unique car that can also be sold for ridiculous prices online.

Keep in mind you need to buy certain in-game properties to unlock selected barns. Once you do, locate and drive to these rusty barns where you will be rewarded with classic cars that they will have inside once they have been restored to their formal glory.

If you want a detailed guide on locating classic cars in barn finds, read our Forza Horizon 4 Barn Finds Guide.

Wheelspins

Wheelspins are granted after you level up in the game, and each one give you a chance to earn new cars, cosmetic items for your character, or even credits.

Wheelspins can be easily overlooked. If you don’t use your wheelspins, you will be missing out on a millions f credits that can be used to buy cars and properties in the game. Make it a habit to check on wheelspins when they are available to you. You never know where you might get lucky and earn a sweet reward in each wheelspin.

That’s it for our Forza Horizon 4 Beginner’s Guide. If we missed anything, post it in the comments below.