How to Tune handling.meta in FiveM (Beginner's Guide)

A car can look perfect and still drive like a brick. The fix lives in handling.meta — the file that defines how a vehicle accelerates, grips and brakes. You don't need to be an engineer to make meaningful improvements.

Where handling lives

Each add-on car has a handling.meta in its data folder, with one HandlingData block per model. Edit the block whose handling name matches the car you're tuning.

The fields that matter most

• fMass — vehicle weight. Affects momentum and how it shrugs off collisions.
• fInitialDriveForce — raw acceleration. Small changes have big effects.
• fDriveBiasFront — drivetrain: 0 = RWD, 1 = FWD, 0.5 = balanced AWD.
• fTractionCurveMax/Min — peak and low-speed grip.
• fBrakeForce — stopping power.
• fSuspensionForce / height — stance and how it soaks bumps.

A safe tuning workflow

1. Change one value at a time.
2. Restart the resource and test the same stretch of road each time.
3. Note what each change did before moving on.

Common goals

• More grip: nudge fTractionCurveMax up slightly.
• Driftier feel: bias drive rearward and reduce rear traction — great for a drift server.
• Snappier launch: small fInitialDriveForce increases.

If the car sits wrong or sinks before you even touch handling, that's a model issue, not tuning — see fixing vehicle errors. Want cars that already drive well out of the box? Our sport and supercar lineups come with sane handling.