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Tune

The fields that matter

29 fields in five tabs. Each one says what it does and what range cars of its class use. Four of them decide the straight line.

Reading a field

Every field of the Handling Editor has the same parts. Here is Drive force on the stock Sultan:

  1. 1. 0.260: click to type an exact value
  2. 2. Drive force slider: drag between the lowest and highest value
  3. 3. Sport cars: 0.22-0.45: what the game uses for this class
  • The name, and under it the name in handling.meta, here fInitialDriveForce.
  • The value at the right. Click it, type a number and press Enter, or click elsewhere. Typing gives exact values.
  • One sentence on what the field does.
  • A slider between the lowest and highest value the editor allows, here 0.05 and 1.2. A typed value outside them is set to the nearest end.
  • The range cars of the same class use, and once you change the value, stock 0.260 → 0.320 in green.

Links on the field reference pages open the editor with a car and a field already set, for example /fivem-handling-editor?car=sultan&field=fInitialDriveForce&value=0.32.

The five tabs

The 29 fields sit in five tabs above the list:

  • Engine

    Drive force, Max flat velocity, Drive inertia, Upshift rate, Gears, Drive bias front

  • Aero

    Drag coefficient, Downforce modifier, Mass

  • Grip

    Grip, peak, Grip, sliding, Slip angle range, Grip bias front, Low-speed traction loss

  • Brakes

    Brake force, Brake bias front, Handbrake force, Steering lock

  • Suspension

    Spring force, Compression damping, Rebound damping, Upper travel, Lower travel, Ride height, Stiffness bias front, Anti-roll bar, Anti-roll bias front, Roll centre front, Roll centre rear

The game's handling.meta has 55 fields on this level. The editor shows the ones that change how the car drives; the field index explains all of them.

Class ranges and the amber warning

For Drive force, Max flat velocity, Drag coefficient, Grip, peak and Grip, sliding, the line under the slider shows the lowest and highest value that vanilla cars of the same class use. Outside that range the line turns amber:

  1. 1. outside Sport cars: 0.22-0.45: a warning, not a limit

It is a hint, not a limit. A drag car or a race series may want values no vanilla car uses. Ranges exist for these classes: Super, Sport, Muscle, Sedan, Compact, Sport Classic, Suv, Off Road, Motorcycle, Emergency. The built-in classes Coupe and Service, and every uploaded file, show no range line.

Fields that need a respawn

Three fields are read when the game creates a vehicle: Max flat velocity, Gears and Mass. The editor marks them needs respawn under the name.

  • In game, these only change on a car spawned after the new handling loaded.
  • Every other field can also be set on a car that is already driving, with SetVehicleHandlingFloat. See Test it in game.
  • The fxmanifest.lua of the download lists your changed fields in both groups.

Top speed and acceleration

Four fields decide the straight line. Here is what one change at a time does to the stock Sultan (173 km/h, 5.88 s to 100):

  • Drive force
    fInitialDriveForce

    Change:0.26 → 0.32
    Top speed:181 km/h
    0-100 km/h:4.90 s

  • Max flat velocity
    fInitialDriveMaxFlatVel

    Change:145 → 160
    Top speed:183 km/h
    0-100 km/h:5.56 s

  • Drag coefficient
    fInitialDragCoeff

    Change:8 → 7
    Top speed:178 km/h
    0-100 km/h:5.83 s

  • Gears
    nInitialDriveGears

    Change:5 → 6
    Top speed:173 km/h
    0-100 km/h:5.85 s
  • Drive force is the push. It helps everywhere: launch, mid-range and top speed. Too much only spins the wheels when grip runs out.
  • Max flat velocity sets the gearing. Each gear covers more speed, but the gain shrinks as drag grows. Needs a respawn.
  • Drag coefficient is air resistance. Lower it to raise top speed without touching the launch.
  • Gears only splits the same speed range into more steps. It does not raise top speed.
  • Mass is not on the list: the push is per kilogram, so mass changes collisions, not acceleration.
  • Upshift rate sets the shift time: 0.9 s divided by the value, without drive meanwhile.

For the reasoning behind each, see the pages on fInitialDriveForce, fInitialDriveMaxFlatVel and fInitialDragCoeff.

Grip, brakes and steering

  • Grip, peak

    Cornering grip before the tyres let go, roughly in g. More makes the car faster in corners.

  • Grip, sliding

    Keep it about 10 % under peak. Above peak breaks the grip curve.

  • Grip bias front

    Above 0.5 the front sticks more. The editor allows 0.3 to 0.7; 0 or 1 in a file makes wheels vanish.

  • Drive bias front

    0 is rear-wheel drive, 1 front. Anything from 0.1 to 0.9 is all-wheel drive, which the lap estimate rewards.

  • Brake force

    Only helps up to a quarter of peak grip. Above that the tyres are the limit, not the brakes.

  • Steering lock

    A good match is slip angle range × 1.25 + 10 degrees. Drift setups run 60 and up.

In the quick start, peak grip went from 2.35 to 2.55 and sliding grip from 1.95 to 2.30. The lap estimate dropped by about 2 s from that alone.

The full reference

The editor is the tool; these pages explain the file behind it: