FM7 & FM2023: Set Telemetry Output to Dash, Not Sled

# Forza Motorsport 7 & Forza Motorsport (2023): Set Output Format to Dash, Not Sled

If you have set up a Forza telemetry app before, you already know the routine: put the console and the phone on the same Wi-Fi, switch the game's data output on, type in an address, open the app. On the Horizon side that is the whole job. On Forza Motorsport 7 and Forza Motorsport (2023) there is one more field on the same screen, and it is the single most common reason a dashboard connects and then never moves.

That field is Output Format, and it needs to be Dash. Not Sled.

Why this setting matters more than it looks

The two games can broadcast their telemetry in two different formats. TachoDash reads the Dash format. If the game is set to Sled, the data still leaves the console — the console will happily confirm everything is configured — but it is not data the dashboard can use, so the app connects to a stream that never produces a moving needle.

The symptom is deceptive: nothing crashes, nothing warns you, and the app looks like it is running. You get a dashboard that sits at zero. Most people at this point start re-checking their IP address, their Wi-Fi, their router, and their phone — all of which were already correct. The answer is usually one dropdown two lines above the field they were staring at.

Set it up

The steps are the same as on the Horizon titles, with the format change folded in.

1. Put both devices on the same Wi-Fi network. The console running the game and the phone or tablet running TachoDash have to be on the same network. A phone on mobile data will never see the console.
2. In game, open Settings → HUD and Gameplay → Telemetry.
3. Turn Data Out ON. It is off by default.
4. Set Output Format to Dash. This is the Forza Motorsport step. Skip it and the rest does not matter.
5. Enter your phone's IP address. Find it in your device's Wi-Fi settings — the IPv4 address of the network you are joined to.
6. Pick a port outside 5200–5300. Any number works as long as it is not in that range; the game accepts a port in that range without complaint and the data then goes nowhere useful.
7. Open TachoDash and pick a theme. With the game running and the format correct, the dashboard moves as soon as you are on track.

You do this once per game. The game remembers the setting, so switching between FM7 and Forza Motorsport (2023) means doing it twice — once in each title — not every session.

Confirming you got it right

The test is motion, not a message. If the revs climb when you accelerate and the gear indicator changes when you shift, the chain is complete: game → your network → app.

Three situations that look like failures but are not:

• Menu screens are quiet. Telemetry does not keep streaming while you sit in menus or pause. A frozen dashboard there is expected.
• A frozen reading on a stopped car is correct. Stationary car, stationary numbers.
• A new network breaks the address. If your router hands out a different IP, or you move the console to another room's network, the game is still sending to the old address. Re-enter the current one; the format setting does not need touching.

If it is still not moving

In order, because each check assumes the one before it:

1. Format set to Dash? Confirm it did not revert after a game update or a settings reset — this is the first thing to re-check, not the last.
2. Same Wi-Fi? Not "the same house" — the same network name, on the phone as well as the console.
3. Address current? Compare the game's IP field with the phone's address right now.
4. Port outside 5200–5300?
5. A live session running? Data flows from driving, not from the front end.

If all five hold and the dashboard is still still, close and reopen the app — that re-binds its listener — and check that no other app on the phone is holding the same port.

The two Motorsport titles are not identical, but the setting is

Forza Motorsport (2023) is also called FM8 — same game, two names, and the same requirement. Forza Motorsport 7 predates it by years and looks different on screen, but the telemetry screen is in the same place and the format dropdown does the same job. If you keep both installed, set the format in both; a setting you fixed in one title does not carry over to the other.

After the setup is done

The network work is the tedious part. What you get on the other side is a dashboard for the screen you already own: a phone on a mount, a tablet beside the wheel, an old handset on a shelf. TachoDash ships a growing library of themes — different typography, needles, colours and layout logic, some close to a modern digital cluster and some analog and vintage.

Two settings are worth finding early: units are independent (km/h or mph, bar or psi, each set on its own), and theme parameters can be adjusted, so colours can be tuned to your rig without leaving the app.

For the Horizon versions of this setup — which skip the format step entirely — see the FH5 and FH6 connection guide. If you want the overview first, start with what TachoDash is.

Get TachoDash

TachoDash is available on the App Store and on Google Play. Browse the theme library or use the download page for both store links.

TachoDash is an unofficial fan-made project, not affiliated with Playground Games or Microsoft.