Track Tire

Lore & Background

In the Forza world, tire compounds are treated with the same reverence as engine builds and aerodynamic kits. The Track Tire represents the moment a driver steps out of the casual, Sunday-drive mindset and into the world of structured, repeatable performance. It is the compound you see on the cars that line up for a timed run at a local circuit, the ones whose owners have spent an evening in the garage swapping rubber before a Saturday morning session.

Across the Horizon open-world entries, the Track Tire is part of the broader tuning ecosystem where players can mix and match components—suspension geometry, brake pads, exhaust systems, and tire compounds—to build a car that suits their driving style. The Track Tire slots into that philosophy as the 'serious but not extreme' choice. It rewards clean, committed cornering and punishes sloppy inputs less harshly than a full slick, making it the compound most players gravitate toward when they first start chasing lap records.

In the Motorsport series, where the focus is tighter on circuit racing and tire management, the Track compound occupies a similar niche: it is the tire you would run on a tarmac circuit that is fast but not a dedicated racing surface, giving you the confidence to carry more speed through medium and high-speed corners without the extreme wear and sensitivity of a race slick.

In Their Own Story

The garage at the back of the Horizon Valley workshop smelled of hot rubber and machine oil. Mara wiped her hands on a rag and set the new set of Track Tires on the lift, their tread pattern catching the overhead fluorescents in a sharp, angular pattern. She had been running street rubber for three weeks, and the car had been sliding out of the hairpin at the ridge road like it had a mind of its own. Tonight, that changed. She torqued the lugs, dropped the car, and felt the slight increase in sidewall stiffness through the steering wheel as she rolled it forward. The first corner was the same one that had been eating her time all week. She braked later, turned in harder, and the rear end simply... stayed. No drama. No correction. Just rubber biting into tarmac with a low, confident hum. She exhaled, smiled at the empty garage, and pulled the fire extinguisher from its bracket just in case. Then she put the car back in gear and went for another lap.

Reader's Guide

Track Tire is a universal tuning component in the Forza franchise, not tied to a specific model, year, or class. It is available as a purchasable upgrade for the vast majority of vehicles across both the Forza Horizon and Forza Motorsport series, typically found in the tire or compound section of the tuning menu.

Stock performance snapshot: fitted to a mid-range car, the Track Tire raises the handling and grip ratings by a modest but meaningful step above the stock Street compound. You will feel it most in corner exit traction and mid-corner stability. Top speed is essentially unchanged; the car is not lighter or more powerful, it simply grips better. The handling rating typically ticks up one notch on the in-game scale.

Tuning levers and trade-offs: Because the Track Tire is a single compound choice rather than a multi-part system, the main lever is simply whether you choose it over Street or Race rubber. You can pair it with any suspension, brake, or aero setup. The trade-off is that it is not the absolute maximum-grip option—Race or Slick tires will out-grip it in sustained, high-load cornering—but it is more forgiving, wears slower in Horizon's open-world driving, and is available on a wider range of vehicles than the top-tier compound. In Motorsport titles, tire management matters more, and the Track compound offers a middle path between the durability of street rubber and the peak grip (but rapid wear) of race slicks.

Build philosophy: Fit the Track Tire when you want the car to feel like it belongs on a circuit without asking you to drive it like a Formula car.

Did You Know?

• In the Forza Horizon open-world games, the Track Tire is one of the most cost-effective upgrades you can buy early, often available for a few thousand credits and delivering a noticeable handling bump on any car.
• The tire compound choice is independent of the car's class, meaning a modest economy car on Track Tires can corner more confidently than a supercar still on stock street rubber.
• In Forza Motorsport entries, the visual tread pattern of the Track Tire is subtly different from both the Street and Race compounds, letting players identify the setup at a glance in the pit lane.
• Many players treat the Track Tire as their default 'daily driver' compound in Horizon, reserving the Race/Slick option for dedicated time-trial or circuit challenges.