Racing enthusiasts are often as diligent about customizing their cars as role players are about customizing their characters. With so many models, parts, tracks, and racing conditions to consider, it's easy to understand why: even the smallest adjustment can give someone the edge they need to outpace the competition.
Tuning is a major part of all but the most arcade-like racing games. Allowing the player to get their hands dirty in the shop, making small adjustments until their car handles exactly the way they want it to, is a joy in itself. To get the most from one's car in Wreckfest, the player needs to tune it properly, but it's not obvious at first what that process looks like, especially for those new to driving games. Here's everything the player needs to know about tuning cars in Wreckfest.
Tuning Suspension And Gear Ratio
Popular and underrated racing games alike often feature multiple tuning methods. In Wreckfest, Tuning consists of four elements: Suspension, Gear Ratio, Differential, and Brake Balance. Each element has an associated slider in the Tuning Menu, allowing the player to tweak each of these settings to their liking. The Suspension is one of the most complicated elements to adjust when tuning a car in Wreckfest, though it seems deceptively simple.
While a Stiff suspension is better on hard, compact surfaces such as tarmac and worse on soft, loose surfaces such as dirt and gravel (where a Soft Suspension shines), there's more to it than that. Most cars can handle Soft Suspension well, but some of them are vulnerable to rolling over during races if the Suspension is too soft. The only way to get a good feeling for this is to experiment with different cars,Suspensions, and track types to see what works best. When in doubt, leaving Suspension set to Standard is usually a safe bet.
The Gear Ratio can be set between Short and Long, and the player will often need to adjust this slider depending upon the current course, as tracks with long straightaways reward Long tuning, whereas tracks with many turns and fewer straightaways reward Short tuning. If the player has never raced on a given track before and just wants to get a feel for things, there's nothing wrong with setting Gear Ratio to Standard until they get a feel for that track's specific demands.
Tuning Differential And Brake Balance
The Differential can be set between Open and Locked. A Locked Differential improves grip during cornering and accelerations but impairs overall handling, whereas an Open Differential does the opposite. Open is also worse for loose surfaces. In general, Differential can be safely kept halfway between Open and Limited, though racers on dirt tracks or those who want to drift will need to use a Locked Differential instead. In a game like Wreckfest that's neither pure arcade racer nor racing sim, these differences matter.
It is typically best to adjust one's Brake Balance towards the rear. Doing so increases breaking efficiency but also causes some sliding in turns. In Wreckfest, drifting around corners on dirt tracks is not only viable but also preferable in many cases, so leaving Brake Balance about halfway between Rear and Middle is a good bet. With the Brake Balance too far forward, brakes have a tendency to lock, which can spell disaster in a corner. Wreckfest isn't an open-world racer, so the player needs to understand how to contend with their track.
Wreckfest is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Stadia, and Nintendo Switch.