Several tuning guidelines for model predictive control proposed in literature have been converted into suitable tuning rules and investigated with the help of simulations of two typical transfer functions and a nonlinear unstable chemical reactor as well as a real-time laboratory turbogenerator control application. A modified version of a supervisory performance tuning procedure has also been applied to explore the possibility of application of auto-tuning in model predictive control. A new tuning procedure is finally presented on the basis of the results obtained using several previously existing tuning guidelines.