Forza Horizon 5 Cosmetic Tips and Tricks

Last Update: November 3, 2021 2:59 PM /

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Forza 5 Customization

At the heart of the Forza series is the ability to collect and deeply customize your dream cars. The Horizon series offers you the ability to freely customize the cars in your collection with a multitude of colors and vinyls. Whether you’re a fan of Batman or want to slap popular anime characters all over your car, there are always tons of designs to choose from, and the game itself gives creative players the option to create new designs to their heart’s content. If you are looking to get into cosmetics, check out this guide below for some quick tips.

Forza 5 Paint

Forza Horizon 5 Car Customization - Start With Painting Your Car

To get started, try to sort out what colors you want your car to be on a base level. You can, of course, get more detailed when applying vinyl to create specific effects, but having a base coat is going to save you a lot of time. You can paint different parts of your car in different colors, like the hood and sides of your car. Forza offers several different coat types like:

  • Matte
  • Wood
  • Two-tone
  • Copper
  • Carbon Fiber

Each one can give your car a different feel, be sure to use the advanced color options when painting your car to ensure you are getting the exact color you want. Even after applying vinyl, the paint on your vehicle can be changed without removing any of your hard work.

Forza Horizon 5 Car Customization - Get Comfortable With Layering Preset Shapes

The real part of customization comes with the vinyl group section of the customization menu. While this is one of the best ways to make designs, you can always just make decals by designing directly on top of your favorite car. This is where the magic really happens, and wraps are created.

If you have worked with digital paint programs, then the setup may look a little familiar to you. You are going to be working with layers to create your unique designs. You can’t freely draw, but there are tons of preset shapes, including the basics like circles, ovals, triangles, and squares. Here’s a quick breakdown of the system:

  • You can have up to 3,000 layers placed into one vinyl creation.
  • The newest vinyl layer will have priority over the older layers; you will essentially be stacking the shapes on top of each other.
  • You can freely move, shrink, grow, and skew the shapes to your liking.
  • Each layer can be a different color than the last.
  • Be sure to save the finished designs and size as needed when applying to your favorite cars.
  • Be vigilant when using letters to ensure that they are all lined up correctly and are the same size.

Even the most simple designs, like creating certain racing logos, can take hours of your time. You can delete a layer at any time, and the system makes it simple to clean up any mistakes with ease.

  • Quick Tip: When removing a layer, always double-check to make sure you are on the right one.

If you want to get really serious about lining everything up perfectly, then you may even want to get a notebook and write down the coordinates that you are setting your vinyls at.

Horizon 5 Vinyl

Forza Horizon 5 Car Customization - How to Keep Designs Symmetric

If you are working with a line where you need several pieces to all be the same size and shape, then you are going to want to make use of the copy and paste tool. This will let you copy the shape of your current layer and use it to create a new layer.

  • Quick Tip: Pay special attention to the curvature of the car, as this will affect image placement.

If you are trying to line shapes up at an angle, you can use a ruler to ensure that everything is on par. Since the Horizon customization system works off of coordinates, measurements will be your best friend when creating detailed designs. Some cars will be easier to work on than others as things like spoilers can get in the way of your design.

Forza Horizon 5 Car Customization - Importing User Made Vinyl Groups is Quick and Easy

If you love the looks of custom cars but don’t have the time to build your own design, then check out the Vinyl group section of the game. This will allow you to search for vinyl designs that other players have created using keywords and download them to use on your own car.

You CAN Import Designs From Previous Forza Games into Forza Horizon 5

Yes, if you had a design that you made from a compatible Forza game, you can import the design into Forza Horizon 5 using the design importation menu, Here is the list of compatible Forza games you can import from:

  • Forza 5
  • Forza 6
  • Forza 7
  • Forza Horizon 2
  • Forza Horizon 3
  • Forza Horizon 4

Remember that if you aren’t the original owner of the vinyl you’re trying to import, then the design won’t be available.

Forza Jurassic Park Jeep
Credit: BitterLlama on Imgur

Forza Horizon 5 Car Customization - How To Make Ultra Detailed Designs

If you have spent any time browsing designs, then you have probably noticed that some cars have incredibly detailed characters and scenes on them. The process for making these designs can take dozens of hours but can be done with a bit of patience. Many of the detailed designs are made using the game’s vinyl group program and a PC program that places a transparent stencil of the picture over the cars.

  • Quick Tip: If you plan to do an advanced design, start with the most obvious shape and work your way down to the finer details.

Players will place the matching shapes on their screens using the stencil to ensure accuracy. Players who don’t own the PC version will often use transparent paper stencils to accurately recreate these designs. Many of these designs will either get close or hit the 3,000 layer mark.

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


Jessica Thomas
| Staff Writer

 

Jess is an otaku at heart who spends most of her time gaming, reading manga, and collecting anime figures. She has worked for several big names… More about Jessica

More Info About This Game
In This Article
Game Page Forza Horizon 5
Developer
Playground Games
Publisher
Xbox Game Studios
Release Date
November 5, 2021 (Calendar)
Genre
Racing
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