Forza Horizon 5 is a racing video game set in an open world environment based in a fictional representation of Mexico. The game has the largest map in the entire Forza Horizon series, being 50% larger than its predecessor, Forza Horizon 4, while also having the highest point in the Horizon series. The map was described by creative director Mike Brown as one of the most diverse Forza Horizon maps the team has built. The map contains an active caldera volcano, jungles and beaches, ancient Mayan temples, and towns and cities such as Guanajuato. Players can explore the open world freely, though they can also compete in multiplayer races and complete the campaign mode.
Both the cars featured in the game and the player character can be extensively customised. Players are able to create custom liveries and tunes for cars, and perform engine swaps, drivetrain swaps, or install body kits on certain vehicles. The game is the first in the franchise to support ray tracing on cars . This is Your Open World - Create your own expressions of fun with the powerful new EventLab gameplay toolset including custom races, challenges, stunts, and entirely new game modes. Customize your cars in more ways than ever before with new options such as the ability open and close convertible tops, paint brake calipers, and more. Use the new Gift Drops feature to share your custom creations with the community.
This game is set to feature the largest map yet in the Forza Horizon series. On top of this, the developer promises a new Expedition mode and a new feature called Events Lab. This feature allows players to create their own game modes, experiences, and races. Unfortunately for PlayStation players, it seems unlikely this series will ever get across consoles. Create your own expressions of fun with the powerful new EventLab gameplay toolset including custom races, challenges, stunts, and entirely new game modes.
Meet new characters and choose the outcomes of their Horizon Story missions.Take on awe-inspiring weather events such as towering dust storms and intense tropical storms as Mexico's unique, dynamic seasons change the world every week. Keep coming back for new events, challenges, collectibles, and rewards, and new areas to explore. No two seasons will ever be the same.Play on Xbox Series X and Xbox One consoles. A new Forza Horizon game always comes with at least a handful of new features and improvements over its predecessor, but Forza Horizon 5 delivers even greater amounts of content to players. The extra year of development Forza Horizon 5 got over previous entries in the series clearly helped things along because there is a lot about which to talk.
Not only has Playground Games baked in significantly more content into Forza Horizon 5's base game, but it's also given the community a way to add essentially infinite new events and races to Forza Horizon 5 over time. FH5's online features have seen significant improvements to more completely connect players all around the world. Hop on in and pick from over hundreds of world-class cars and begin your horizon adventure today. Create your own expressions of fun with the new EventLab gameplay toolset including custom races, challenges, stunts and new game modes.
Use the Gift Drops feature to share your custom creations. Forza Horizon 5 has finally hit consoles and computers for all users , so racers ready for the latest racing experience can enjoy some truly impressive graphics and customization options. One of the things we love about Forza is how friendly its various Tours and racing matches are, from trying out different competitive modes to joining a team and making your way through a world tour together.
Keep in mind thatHorizon 5 also includes Kudos and Gift Drops to share with the community, so teamplay is a core aspect for many gaming modes. Being the fifth instalment in the series, Playground Games has taken huge steps to make the driving experience more immersive. Starting with the map size, which is 50 per cent larger than Forza Horizon 4, the game features countless locations such as an active volcano, jungles, beaches, ancient Mayan temples, and the narrow, colourful streets of Guanajuato. Besides the standard campaign mode, players can take part in online multiplayer races and explore the open world with no restrictions. Xbox gavean extended gameplay of "Forza Horizon 5" during E3 2021, showing off some of the locales, different modes, and social aspects.
One of the biggest changes to the gameplay is the Horizon Arcade, which allows players to queue up to play wacky mini-games and challenges. The infamous battle royale racing mode from "Forza Horizon 4" returns, meaning that fans can still participate in the chaos of The Eliminator. In this chaotic mode, cars fall from the sky to engage in races, with the loser of the race being eliminated from the competition.
Even when FH5 players have gotten through the majority of content in the base game, Forza Horizon 5's multiplayer is grander and more accessible than ever before, with a nearly endless amount of content to explore. You can run it at 60 frames per second on Xbox Series consoles, or there's a 30fps mode that further boosts the graphical features; I personally find it hard to play racing games at 30fps, but each mode delivers a convincing presentation. Forza Horizon 5 also introduces a brand new Horizon Arcade. This consists of a series of mini-multiplayer games strewn across the map.
One of these mini-multiplayer games is called "Piñata pop" where the Horizon Festival's cargo plane drops piñatas. The goal is to pop as many piñatas as they can with the help of other players. It also introduces the "EventLab", a toolset in which players can create custom games, races, and more depending on their personal preference. According to Brown, it is an AI assistant that tracks the current statuses of players, helping them to link with other players online and play together.
Forza Link can also link players' GPS systems if they accept the invitation from another player. But there are possibilities for even more modes thanks to the new Eventlab. The new toolset lets players create their own races, game modes, and gameplay experiences, with a whole suite of customisation options. Allowing you to explore fictionalised Mexican landscapes by car, users can drive hundreds of the world's greatest vehicles with complete freedom.
Whether undergoing challenges, embarking on an expedition or racing other players, you can enjoy customising your races, stunts, cars and more. Like many other Xbox games that span generations, Forza Horizon 5 supports Xbox Smart Delivery. This means you have to buy Forza Horizon 5 only once for Xbox consoles, and Xbox will automatically download the best possible version of the game for the console you're playing on, at no additional cost.
This also includes Xbox cloud saves, meaning there's full cross-progression between generations. Forza Horizon 5 is also an impressive test case for Microsoft's cross-generational hardware strategy. I played the game for several hours on my Xbox One X, and it doesn't feel compromised compared to anything else on the console. It's still a better-looking game than 3 and 4, and it looks more or less the same as the Series X version's 60fps mode — just running at half the frame rate. The One X is generally a machine designed for 4K/30fps games, and that's what you get here with Forza Horizon 5.
Would the Series X game have looked even better if it didn't have to run on Xbox One consoles? Maybe, but it's hard to complain about the performance on either platform. If you're an arcade racing game purist, Burnout Paradise has a lot to answer for. Ever since, virtually all big-budget arcade racing games have been made in the shadow of Paradise, with most tracks consisting of lines drawn across vast, explorable maps. Forza Horizon 5 also features a brand-new weather system, where players will be able to experience different climates in different parts of the country.
Additionally, you are also introduced to the Horizon Arcade, where you can play a series of mini-multiplayer games spread across the map. The new Forza Horizon is here, but the word "new" must be handled with care. For the most part, the fifth part is the same as the fourth. The content has just swelled in all aspects, the career has deepened its storytelling and fans of multiplayer and shared experiences have even more options to get rid of it.
This is the fullest part ever with the potential to entertain you for years to come, and since the four are among the best racing games of all time, its slight evolution can't be any different. However, Forza Horizon 5 is on another level on Xbox Series X and it's one of the few games where I prefer the 30fps quality mode to its 60fps equivalent. The increase in fidelity and the more graceful LOD transitions combined with the upgraded visuals elevate it significantly beyond performance mode. True, it's not 60fps but the motion blur is the best I've seen in bridging the gap.
Of course, it is possible to play this game at full frame-rate with Series X's mixture of high, ultra and extreme settings - and that's where the PC version comes into play. We'll be reporting back on our testing and experiences there soon. Developer Playground Games has quite the track record when it comes to optimizing its games, and the latest Forza Horizon installment is no exception.
As expected, there are graphical and performance differences between the platforms with the PC version running the game on maximum settings on an NVIDIA RTX 3080. Interestingly, however, is that the Xbox Series X matches the highest PC settings in the game's quality mode (4K@30FPS). The Series X also supports a performance mode that runs the game in 4K resolution at 60FPS – this mode decreases the quality of reflections, ambient occlusion, shadows texturing, and vegetation in order to maintain a steady framerate. Similar multiplayer content from previous games will be included, allowing players to partake in a variety of street races. More modes will be included, including the ability for players to create their own races and game modes. Here, "crossplay" means that, when playing, you can match with gamers who are on PCs or other Xbox systems.
That greatly improves the pool of gamers to draw from, which makes it easier for races to fill up and get started. It also makes it easier to play with friends who may prefer to use their PC racing setups — and vice-versa for those who enjoy racing on a console in front of their TVs. To an extent, cross-saving is also supported, so some gamers are able to switch between PC and console without losing progress. Unlike other games though, the latter is achieved by dynamically dropping some of the graphics settings rather than resolution, so you still get a 4K experience, but with fewer terrain elements, shorter draw distances, that sort of thing. Some will prefer the expanded frame rate and see that as a necessary trade-off, but we have to say that the 30fps quality mode still plays very well indeed and you get the maximum visual effect, to boot.
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Convertible cars have existed in Forza Horizon games before, but with FH5 you're able to put the top off or take it down with the click of a single button, even when you're out in the wide FH5 world! If there's one thing that brings Forza Horizon players together like nothing else, it's the sheer level of creative freedom afforded by the games. Forza Horizon 5 is the most customizable and inclusive Forza Horizon yet, with nearly infinite replayability thanks to new player tools and features. Players have control over their cars, in-game characters, races, and even full-blown unique events you can't find anywhere else. Forza Horizon 5 is akin to a "car-lovers sandbox," and lets you play however you want.
While there is a story and full-blown campaign with the Horizon Adventure, Expeditions, and smaller Horizon Stories, it's still up to players how they progress and what path they take. All in all, the focus of Forza Horizon 5 is the vast arsenal of cars, the wide variety of races and events, the sheer level of creative freedom available, and the deeply integrated online multiplayer gameplay. Playground Games has delivered their latest masterpiece with Forza Horizon 5, which features the series' most diverse map and largest car list yet. Forza Horizon 5 somehow fulfills its ambitious promises to be the best open-world racer right now, and one of the best racing games in general. Terrible online, on which, in principle, the whole game is tied, disconnects and few players in sessions who, moreover, disappear.
Crucially, there are advantages to playing Forza Horizon 5 on Series consoles that aren't just about graphics or frame-rate. Hosting the game on SSD makes for a more streamlined experience on Series consoles - and it's noticeable right from the beginning of the experience. The intro drive is a Playground staple, a spectacular preview of the action to come.
It's a glorious, seamless, load-free experience on Xbox Series machines, but Xbox One consoles simply can't deliver the data for each new stage in time, leading to second pauses from one segment to the next. It looks the part, but the loading delays interrupt the flow and don't leave the best impression. While these transitions are indeed instant on the new consoles, there is still loading in the main game but it's much faster than last-gen console equivalents - around 3x to the better in my tests.
It's time to explore the vibrant, ever-evolving landscape of Mexico with limitless driving action with Forza Horizon 5 on Xbox consoles, PC on Windows and Steam, and Xbox Game Pass including console, PC and Cloud Gaming . Forza Horizon 5 invites you to discover living deserts, lush jungles, historic cities, hidden ruins, pristine beaches, canyons, and a towering snow-capped volcano while you lead breathtaking expeditions across the vast landscape. Detailed in the Forza Horizon 5 FAQ page, the developer has noted that the game includes cross-save support, irrespective of the platform they're playing on. There is one exception as players who have purchased their copy via Steam will not have access to the feature. This is Your Horizon Adventure - Lead breathtaking expeditions across the vibrant and ever-evolving open world landscapes of Mexico with limitless, fun driving action in hundreds of the world's greatest cars. Though there is no way of playing any Forza game on a PlayStation, those players certainly have other options.
PlayStation offers several alternatives for those looking to scratch the racing game itch. The Need for Speed franchise is a great option for PlayStation players. Need for Speed Heat is available right now across consoles, and it throws players into an open-world environment known as Palm City. As you play the game, you'll earn experience points through skillful driving. Level up to unlock cars and outfits at home bases you acquire as you uncover the map. In these first few hours, I tested cars like the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Coupe, Ford Bronco, and Toyota GR Supra.
The driving itself still sits at a nice sweet spot between mainline Forza's stodgy driving simulation and a more accessible, forgiving arcade racing game like Need for Speed—especially if you activate the assists. Forza Horizon 5 is one of the biggest Xbox games of the year, and Playground Games' latest spin-off could be the best game in the entire Forza series. The new game takes us to Mexico across 11 different biomes, each unique and with altering conditions depending on the season, and art from local Mexican creators gives it a layer of cultural authenticity.
You'll be able to play it very soon with the standard edition, and you can even start playing it now if you bought one of the more expensive versions. And if you have Game Pass, you can play the whole game for free. Sometimes, I like a game just because it's fun to vibe with. This racing wonderland version of Mexico is charming, thrilling, and fun to explore. With locations that include volcanic mountains, vibrant towns, and glittering oceans, each square mile of this open playground offers amazing sights. But sometimes a game can be so pretty that it helps you appreciate an experience that you would normally feel mild about.
For example, I'm not the biggest racing game fan in the world. When I do enjoy a racer, it's usually a more arcadey experience like Ridge Racer Type 4 or the more recent Cruis'n Blast. If you haven't been making the most of early access, the countdown is very much afoot for the full release of Forza Horizon 5 - the launch time is mere hours away! Keep on reading our handy primer and we'll tell you when, and how, you can start playing this epic new racing sandbox game set in Mexico. Forza Horizon 5 is the first Forza Horizon game to embrace ray tracing, which enables accurate and true-to-life tracking for lights, shadows, reflections, and much more. Forza Horizon 5 supports ray tracing on Xbox Series X|S, although it's limited to the Forzavista mode, where players can admire their cars in their full ray-traced glory.
Forza Horizon 5 is packed with a ton of new mini-games, all of which fit under the Horizon Arcade banner. Instead, they happen dynamically all over the Forza Horizon 5 map as public events while you're driving around with other players. Players can participate in these spontaneous events to earn Forzathon Points.
