Mind the paintwork!
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Dominate down under with our Forza Horizon 3 tips

Planning on hitting the dirt in the outback? Check out these hints to give yourself a head start.
Written by Damien McFerran
5 min readPublished on
After conquering North America and soaking up the rays in the Mediterranean, the Forza Horizon Festival has relocated to Australia for its biggest outing yet.
This year you'll be dodging in between sand dunes, jinking through the jungle and burning rubber amid skyscrapers thanks to the varied Aussie scenery.  Don't think this is a simple sightseeing tour, though – as the ringleader of this global event you'll need to keep your wits about you and impress the fans whenever possible.
To that end, we've put together some essential tips which will ensure you make the best possible impression around the track, on the dirt or in the wet.

Never break the chain

Practically every action in Forza Horizon 3 earns you experience points, including drifting, near-misses, jumps and even trashing the scenery. The real key to racking up big experience bonuses is chaining them together in a cunning combo; each new move adds to your multiplier and as long as you keep that chain going and don't do anything silly – like crashing into anything – then at the end of the sequence you'll get a mammoth haul of XP which will help you level up faster and gain more perks.

Ignore the sat-nav

Anna is the name of your friendly onboard Sat-Nav computer and she comes in very handy indeed, especially when you need to find a nearby race or the nearest PR stunt to win some fans. However, by and large Anna is programmed to obey the rules of the road and when giving you a route will dutifully try and stick to tarmac or well-travelled paths.
Sometimes, if you want to get somewhere fast then you have to break from convention and ignore Anna's advice. Your objective is shown with a marker which is visible in the distance – simply head towards it "as the crow flies" and you'll shave off valuable minutes of travelling.
Taking a top-of-the-range Ferrari through the bumpy Aussie undergrowth might sound foolhardy, but this isn’t Project CARS or Assetto Corsa; you'll get there faster and perhaps find some hidden secrets along the way.

Change cars on the fly

To enter your garage and swap cars you would normally return to one of the many Festival sites dotted around the landscape, but it's actually possible to do this from anywhere in the game – it just doesn't do a very good job of telling you this.
Simply drop the main menu and use the shoulder bumpers to scroll to the Cars menu. You can then select the 'My Cars' option to pick another vehicle. This is very handy if you need to switch cars for a particular event or to nail a certain drift zone, but keep in mind that you'll incur a cost for doing so. If a Festival base is nearby, that's always the more sensible option.

Take to the skies

Struggling to locate bonus boards and barns containing rare, vintage cars? It's time to leave terra firma and put that swanky remote control drone to good use. Once you've unlocked it via the Skill menu, you can use the drone to fly around the landscape and discover lovely bonuses faster. Simply drop to the main menu and select the 'Drone Mode' option in the bottom right corner.

Assign upgrade presets

Upgrading your car is an essential part of the Forza Horizon experience, especially when you consider the wide range of different race types and the skill of your opponents. Tinkering with your ride can become an obsession, but the game thankfully features upgrade presets which can be configured to ensure that you're able to toggle between setups at the push of a button.
Once you've got an arrangement you're happy with, save it as a preset and you can return to that setting even if you have to make changes later down the line for different race conditions.
Where we're going we don't need roads

Where we're going we don't need roads

© Microsoft/Playground Games/Turn 10

Resurrect past glories

If you've already created some amazing custom designs in previous Forza outings then you'll be pleased to learn that you can import both vinyls and liveries from Forza Horizon 2 and Forza Motorsport 5 and 6. It's also worth noting that if you've played those existing games then you'll unlock cars for free within Forza Horizon 3. Loyalty pays.

Riding high

Australia offers a wide range of different racing surfaces, and you'll spend a surprising amount of time dashing through the wet stuff. In these cases, make sure you've got something that's high off the ground as ride height makes a massive difference in water. Try a car like the Bowler Nemesis when you need to race quickly through a river.

Drive in a convoy

You'll earn more experience points if you've got drivers at your side, so whenever you're racing around the game world make sure you recruit allies by tooting your horn at other racers. If you time this correctly they'll follow you in a convoy, and may even challenge you to a friendly race from time to time, which of course bags you XP, cash and fans.

Ride with the best

Recruiting Drivatars to your festival is a big part of Forza Horizon 3, and the better the talent, the more rewards you get. The more credits, experience and fans your allied Drivatars have earned in their own game, the more bonuses you'll receive at the end of races.
Always stay on the lookout for high-level players and add their Drivatars to your stable whenever possible – you may have to bump some of the weaker recruits, but it's a sacrifice worth making.
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