Off-road builds need soft, compliant suspension to absorb bumps and jumps, combined with enough grip to handle loose surfaces. Rally tyres are essential. Ride height should be raised to clear obstacles, and the suspension should soak up rough terrain without unsettling the car.
Upgrade priority
The general order for a off-road build. Exact picks scale with class and car, but this is the order that matters.
- Engine Swap or Power Upgrades Power wins off-road. Faster acceleration out of corners and up hills makes a bigger difference than marginal handling gains. A strong V8 or turbo engine is the foundation.
- Rally or Off-Road Tyres These compounds are designed for loose surfaces. Road tyres on dirt lose massive amounts of grip. Essential for any competitive off-road build.
- Race Transmission Unlocks gear ratio tuning. Short gearing is critical off-road for strong acceleration between obstacles. You rarely reach top speed, so shorten everything.
- Race Differential Unlocks front, rear, and centre diff tuning. Moderate lock lets individual wheels find grip on uneven surfaces without pushing wide.
- Race Suspension Unlocks spring rate, damping, and ride height. Soft springs and maximum ride height absorb bumps and clear obstacles without bottoming out.
- Race Anti-Roll Bars Unlocks ARB tuning. Soft, balanced ARBs let each wheel move independently over rough terrain, keeping all four tyres on the ground.
- Tyre Width (Both Axles) Wider tyres provide more surface area on loose ground. Widen both front and rear equally for balanced grip.
- Weight Reduction Lighter cars are more agile over rough terrain and less likely to bottom out on jumps. Spend remaining PI here after power and handling.
- Race Brakes Unlocks brake balance tuning. Lower priority off-road as you brake less, but useful for controlling the car on steep descents.
Best value per PI
Spend here first
| Upgrade | Why |
|---|---|
| Centrifugal Supercharger | Currently the single biggest performance-per-PI item in FH6: it adds huge power for far less PI than it should, almost certainly a bug. If your car can fit one, it is the strongest power upgrade available until it is patched. Expect it to be nerfed in a future update. |
| Race Exhaust | The best power-per-PI upgrade in the core engine tree. Install this on every build. |
| Race Intake | Second best power-per-PI in the engine tree. Pair with Race Intake Manifold to unlock its full gain. |
| Race Ignition | Very cheap PI for consistent gains across the whole rev range. |
| Sport or Race Flywheel | Often free performance: on many cars the weight saving outweighs the PI cost, so PI stays flat or even drops while throttle response improves. Watch the PI counter when you fit it. |
| Sport or Race Driveline | Typically 1 to 3 PI for 10 to 25 kg off the rotating drivetrain. One of the quietest bargains in the shop. |
| Race Transmission (10-Speed) | A 10-speed race gearbox keeps the engine in its power band and cuts time lost between shifts. The extra ratios are cheap PI for a real acceleration gain, and let you tune final drive precisely to the track. A meta pick on almost every build. |
| Tyre Width (Both Axles) | Wider rubber is cheap PI and directly adds grip on loose surfaces where every bit of contact patch counts. |
| Weight Reduction | The best PI-to-performance conversion overall: one upgrade improves acceleration, braking, and cornering at the same time. |
| Lighter Rims | Reduces unsprung and rotating mass for very little PI. Experiment with rim style and size while watching the PI counter. |
Poor value, usually skip
| Upgrade | Why |
|---|---|
| Race Displacement | The biggest single power gain but also the most PI-expensive, typically 30 to 60 PI. It usually pushes you past your class ceiling for marginal benefit. |
| Race Pistons and Compression | High PI cost and shifts power toward high RPM, making the car peakier to drive. |
| Positive-Displacement Supercharger | Costs more PI than a comparable turbo for similar output. Only worth it when you specifically need instant low-end torque. |
| Race Camshaft | Sacrifices the low-end torque you rely on for loose-surface driving. Use street or sport cams instead. |
| Road Suspension Parts | Sport and race suspension hurt off-road builds. Fit rally or off-road suspension only. |
| Drag Tyres (Outside Drag) | The Series 2 patch removed their cornering grip while keeping the PI cost. The old cheap-PI drag tyre exploit no longer works anywhere except the drag strip. |
Adjustment tips
- If the car bottoms out on jumps, raise ride height and soften springs further.
- If the car slides too much on loose surfaces, reduce tyre pressure and soften ARBs.
- AWD is strongly recommended for all off-road builds.
- Shorter gearing is almost always better off-road as you need acceleration, not top speed.
- Skip aero on off-road builds. Downforce does little on loose surfaces and the PI is far better spent on power or weight reduction.
- Rally tyres are usually enough up to A class. Move to full off-road tyres at S1 or on very rough routes where you spend most of the race off the racing line.
- On landing from big jumps, throttle down slightly before touchdown so the wheels match ground speed. A tune cannot fix a full-throttle sideways landing.
Best Off-Road cars by class
Best S2 class Off-Road cars
The strongest S2 class off-road picks right now.
Best S1 class Off-Road cars
The strongest S1 class off-road picks right now.
Best A class Off-Road cars
The strongest A class off-road picks right now.
Best B class Off-Road cars
The strongest B class off-road picks right now.
Best C class Off-Road cars
The strongest C class off-road picks right now.
Build any of these in the tuning calculator, or read the setting guides for the detail behind each number.