Greetings girls and guys! It's M3Honsho again, and this time I'll explain in detail the process of creating a new car from the development point of view - how to allocate the stats of your car and choose the right pieces. I'll also cover the pre-race part of customization, the Car Setup (which unlike the previous part applies also to Team Cars).

Since this part is absolutely straightforward and not difficult at all, I'll just cover the steps necessary to get your personal car!

First of all, from the main menu click the Create Car button, on the bottom right corner of the screen (last button in the Garage bar).

Then you'll need to choose the Car Class...

...and the Performance Group! Keep in mind that the price is different depending on the Group but the Groups share the same cost across all Car Classes, and it includes the allocation of all the Perfomance Points (but do not include the cost of Engine, Tires and all the visual stuff).

You'll move to Car Blocks selection. Just find a combination that you really like, because it's the only part of a car that can't be changed after the purchase! You can randomize them as many times as you wish, or select one by one!

And finally, the powerful Car Editor! Have fun with decals, paint, sponsors, etc! You can always edit the car and add stuff, but a complete repaint will cost you quite some Credits, so try not to do an ugly job! You can always complete the car later, so don't be under pressure to do all the work in one time!

And finally your car! Yeah, in this screenshot I'm showing a Team Car, but the screen will be the same! (minus the racing number part).

When you're done, your car will be shown in the main menu! If you click on the thumbnail you'll be shown exactly these informations: 0 PP allocated, but the full number waiting for you! Just click on the second icon (the one with the "notification") and you'll be brought to the...

...or one of the best Victory features out of the racing track! Probably, when you'll get for the first time on this screen

you will be overwhelmed with informations. But fear not, we're here to learn!

Starting from the right side you can see a series of values about your car, like Horsepower, Torque, Lateral Grip, Weight and other stuff.. these are updated in real time when changing something of your car, and represent real data calculated by the game, but don't worry about the real values! The most important use of this part is to see what you are actually changing of your car when modifying a parameter!

Then, on the left, we have the most important part, the Performance Points! On this side you can see the actual allocation (as shown in this screen) or, if you still have to assign some points, you will be shown two buttons on the side of each bar, a Plus and a Minus. Unless you confirm your allocation you can freely modify it, so try to check the various parameters! Your 60 (or 50, or 40) Performance Points can be allocated in any of those areas, with a maximum of 20 PP per area:

• Power: it's quite obvious, this values improves the strength of the car! Higher values of power translate in a better acceleration and a better top speed.
  
• Brake: this value improves your braking system. Improving this will not only reduce your braking distance, but also reduce the possibility of locking the wheels while braking!
  
• Grip: self-explainatory, more points here will improve the cornering ability of the car, allowing you to lose less speed in the corners and run through them faster.
  
• Traction: another straight-forward area, this influences the tire slipping while gaining speed. More points allow you to reduce tires spinning while accelerating at lower speeds and gears.
  
• Weight: this is kinda unusual. The value allows you to reduce the car's weight; you'll also have to remember though that car weight depends also on the Car Class! Points in this area will improve many things: better acceleration, brakes enhancement and also improvements in grip and traction, but the improvements are lower with respect to one point in the specific area.
  
• Aerodynamics: a simplified value compared to the real world, but very important! This influences the efficiency of the car in exploiting air flows; translating to tangible stuff, improves top speed, improves acceleration at higher speeds and grants you better aerodynamic values in the setup (more on this later). Keep in mind though that aerodynamics stuff works at high speeds, so its impact in a slower car will be less tangible than in a fast car.

Then we have the Tires and Engine selection. There are 9 available for both, 3 tiers from three different manufacturers. A manufacturer will offer always the same "performance distribution" across the different classes, while the higher tiers within a class will have slightly better performances. For example, a Brahn tier 1 (cheaper) engine will have a certain horsepower and weight with a specific torque distribution, while a Brahn tier 3 (the most expensive) will have slightly more horsepower, will have a lower weight and will maintain the same torque distribution. Useless to say, you should aim at the best components.

The three engines manufacturers are:

• GRE: GRE engines will have the lower horsepower of the pack, but counterbalance this with the lowest weight and a brutally high torque available from the lowest RPM range (which can sometimes bring traction problems at lower speeds).
  
• Brahn: Brahn engines are the most powerful of the three, at the expense of weight and very low torque on low RPM (try to keep the engine high, or you'll lose many seconds in a lap). Still, the raw power is really good.
  
• Moldoch: these engines are in the middle between the previous two: good HP, good weight and a decent torque distribution.

The three tires manufacturers are:

• Tireco: this manufacturer will provide the best raw performances (on grip and traction), but the worst handling between the three (more under/oversteering in most situations).
  
• Nashville: exactly the opposite of the previous one, this type will give you a very stable and simple to drive car - at the cost of a worse car performance.
  
• Marcelli: as you can predict, these tires are exactly halfway between the previous two and offer a good compromise, without excelling in anything.

Just a few tips, separated from the rest of the section, in order to help you with your first custom cars.

The first thing that comes in mind is that many of the top drivers use the same (or with very little variation) build. While I use them too, and it's true that are better than other builds, my advice is to NOT copy them straight as the first thing to do. These builds are extreme, and requires very good driving ability and a great knowledge of every detail in the tracks. Also, to perform at their maximum, they require you to modify manually the in-race setup, which can be not suitable for a beginner. So learn the tracks, the car, improve and then use them if you want!

Generally, Power is really important, but so are the other areas. Probably Brakes and Traction are the one often overlooked by many, since great driving skills along with the extra points in the other areas can bring better performance, but leaving them at 0 points is a big mistake for newcomers in my opinion.

But how to adapt a car to your style? You must experiment with Car Creation, there's nothing else to do. A good starting point are the Team Cars: they are quite cheap, and with a somewhat balanced PP distribution. Once you learn the effect of the various areas, you should start questioning "Do I need more acceleration? If yes, from where can I remove points?" and so on, for every aspect of the car. One you feel you have a good grasp of a build, create it! There will be some unsatisfying cars, but it's all part of Victory! Learning how to build and what to modify is one of the best feeling in the game!

(Also, the most used builds are the best.. but just until a new driver shows up with a different build and starts doing World Records! So there's always an incentive to experiment!)

And here we go with the most advanced stuff in Victory, the Car Setup! Is certainly NOT a thing for new players, but you'll eventually come to this! You can access car setup freely in every race mode (just keep in mind that the time preceding a race is limited, so is your time to edit the setup), and the values will always be the same:

Let's begin!

Downforce
That's the value affected greatly by aerodynamics, as I mentioned before! You can move your downforce towards the Speed or the Grip value. Values oriented towards Speed will improve the acceleration and top speed of your car, at the cost of grip, while the opposite is valid for Grip values. This parameter should be adapted to the track: the most technical ones will require a bigger downforce (grip), while the faster should be entered with a lower value. Aerodynamics plays a big role, since with a high numeber of PP allocated there you will be able to have more grip without losing in speed or have the same grip while ALSO improving acceleration an top speed!

Gears
This value will affect the gear ratio: one aimed towards Speed is useful on tracks with longer straights, while an "Acceleration" value will bring more value in tracks with lot of turns. What you should aim for is to reach the RPM limiter at the end of the longer straight, in order to maximize both acceleration and reachable top speed. Keep also in mind that in races with other people the drafting effect will improve your acceleration, so on some tracks you should have longer gears to exploit your opponents! You can leave this value to the game to set, but once you get here is better to modify it on your own!

Aerodynamics Balance
This value influences the handling of the car at higher speeds. You can set the car to Understeer or Oversteer (or be neutral). The handling will also be affected by Tires and PP distribution, so you should check your balance after every change.

Mechanical Balance
Take what I just said for the previous value and apply it to lower speeds. Since they affect different speeds, you should balance between them, or adapt to your driving style and car characteristics (for example, you may want the car to steer a lot on low speeds but be really stable at higher speeds).

Suspensions
You can change the suspensions of your car to be stiffer or softer, depending on your driving style and the track. Soft suspension will allow you to go through bumps, kerbs and uneven surfaces without losing speed, but having the suspensions too soft can cause the bottom of the car to touch the asphalt and lose speed on some parts. Hard suspensions will improve car's handling and performances on even surfaces, especially at high speeds, but will cause trouble on the other parts.

Brake Bias
You can set the brake bias to be stronger on the front or on the rear of the car. A front brake bias will improve car stability when braking, but will cause some understeer; also, a brake bias moved too much on the front will reduce brake effectiveness. A rear brake bias instead will cause "oversteering" if the car is not straight while braking, as the rear wheels will start to slide; this however can be beneificial in some tracks.

Unfortunately, unlike the previous tips section, there's nothing I can suggest you besides some really basic stuff.

First of all, remember that the setup should be adapted to your car, your driving style AND the track. Probably you will find a good "general balance" for your car, and then fine tune it to the various circuits you are going to race in. Try the various parameters in Hot Lap Challenge, since you can modify them at any moment and without the pressure of competition.
Last, but not least, once you learnt the various aspects of the setup, try not to change them by various steps at once. Always vary them by one or two units maximum, and verify their impact. If you are still not satisfied you can proceed further, but going straight to the extremes does not allow you to have a good idea of the changes.

In this section we are sharing some descent easy to drive competitive setup for newbie.

Long Track:

Short and Very Short Track:

Perfect Hybrid one-fit All:


All these PI distribution use the same Car Setup except for gear that must be ajusted to each map.


25 PI Formula Apprentise car setup:


Note: These are some Pi distribution I've developped in order to provide the most stable handling feels you can play.
If you drift tomuch change the mechanical balance to 0 or -1 instead of +1.
Hope this help and these are for formula only:

• v1.2: Add the Shared Formula PI Distribution and Car setup.
  
• v1.1: included the new changes in tires
  
• v1.0: first edition of the guide, Victory patch 0.10.167