ForzaTimes

As part of bringing you the latest tuning and racing news, ForzaTimes will interview people that have had an impact on the community. Being a member Tuning AG definitely meets the criteria.

Anyone that has tried to build and sell a car will agree that marketing the releases of one of the Tuning Marketplace’s biggest garages correctly is no easy task. Last month, we sat down with RavageRule, Tuning AG’s Marketing Manager, to find out how tough it really can be.

FCF iNFERNO: For those that don’t know… What is Tuning AG?

RavageRule: Tuning AG is the largest garage in the Forza community, just to point out the obvious. What people don’t see is how we work in the garage. The entire team works together to paint and tune cars, paying close attention to detail to ensure the community gets the best cars on the market. Tuning AG is split into a few divisions: Tuners, painters, drivers, sellers, and marketing. These divisions communicate well and work together on each project, making sure every aspect of the cars are to the highest standard before releasing them to the community.

FCF iNFERNO: So how long does it typically take for a car to go from concept to release? (also, How many man-hours would you say the average car has during creation?)

RavageRule: Being Tuning AG’s marketer, I usually only work with finished cars. Cars usually take a couple weeks to develop from stock cars to fine tuned AG machines. There’s really no way to say how many man-hours go into a car because the number of people working on it always changes between cars.

FCF iNFERNO: That makes sense. How did you become AG’s marketer, and what are your primary responsibilities?

RavageRule: Well, I’ll give you the short version of the story. I started out with my own garage known as RRT. I produced only 3 cars, taking every step myself. When it came down to advertising my cars, I found myself having more interest in marketing the cars than producing them. Because of my own marketing success, I sold huge quantities of cars that I still see people racing to this day. I then decided that I wanted to move my marketing abilities to an established garage. I tried talking Swiftwolf 2 (now known as Swiftwolf R) into taking me into SW2 Tuning, but he turned me down. Next on my list was Gearbox, but I held back on them because Tuning AG was creating hype I couldn’t ignore. I talked to Drizze, discussing with him what I have the capabilities of doing and what I could add to the garage. Drizze did turn me down from Tuning AG at first, so I started tuning special order cars for people. After nearly 3 months, Drizze found me again and offered me the position I previously asked for as the garage’s marketer. Needless to say, I gladly took the position and was warmly welcomed by the great team that is Tuning AG.

FCF iNFERNO: Speaking of greatness, it seems the vast majority of AG’s cars are amongst the easiest-to-drive in FM2. What type of steps does AG take to ensure this?

RavageRule: This is where Tuning AG differs from most of the other garages. Cars are tuned independently, but they’re never released from there. Every car that hits the market must first undergo a Tuning Session. The sessions takes place online with a room full of AG tuners and drivers. The car is driven by every one around it’s primary track and then tweaked between each run, this ensure a fine tune. Every one has their own style of driving and every one wants a car that fits their style, but that’s just impossible. Instead, we ensure the cars we release are easy and fun to drive for every driving style. It’s this that makes our cars so great.

FCF iNFERNO: That certainly explains a lot. Do cars ever get “vetoed” or sent back for more tuning following an online Tuning Session?

RavageRule: Yes, actually. No car is perfect right away. Some cars will go through multiple Tuning Sessions before being released. Some cars prove to be more difficult than others to drive, so the AG tuners have to put more time into them. As far as I know, no cars have really been vetoed, but they do get pushed back on the production. We never release a hard to drive car, it will go through Tuning Session after Tuning Session till it’s perfected.

FCF iNFERNO: Thanks a lot for the interview, RavageRule. You’ve been great. I think we all have a better understanding of what makes AG’s cars so desirable. Do you have any parting words or advice for those looking to get into the tuning biz?

RavageRule: Some words for those looking to get into the biz, huh? Pick a profession to stick with and practice it. There are new garages popping up every day because one person thinks he can do everything, but those garages fail quickly. One person can’t handle every function of a garage. Find an established garage and apply your primary skill. This will get you started and help bring success to the garage you join.

Thank you for this opportunity to let the public get to know Tuning AG a little better and thank every one for their support. We’re glad to bring you all beautiful machines that perform to the best of their ability.

FCF iNFERNO: Our pleasure. Thanks for giving some insight to what’s up over at your shop. Thanks again for giving me a few minutes for the interview. Hopefully I’ll see you on the track soon.