Forza Horizon 5 Is nearly Here!

I first got Forza Horizon 4 just 10 months ago, for Christmas 2020. But, due to various lockdowns, I feel I have known this game a lot longer, and I have definitely explored a lot more than I would've expected. But more on this later.

What's new in FH5?

First and foremost, the map. Over the past 3 years, Forza players have got used to being in the UK, the home of the game's developers - Playground Games. They've been driving on the left, admiring glorious Cotswold stone, and pelting up and down the 'M68'. Which means that Mexico is going to be a huge change.

The full map for the wet season (Summer)

The full map for the wet season (Summer)

Look at the size of the map! Complete with 2 coastlines, a sizeable river, a handful of jungle landscapes, various hills, mountains, deserts, airstrips, the festival site, houses and, of course, 'La Gran Caldera', Horizon's first Volcano. As well as all this, it looks like Forza have finally taken their community's advice and have built a motorway(/freeway/highway/autopista/autobahn/autoroute/الطريق السريع/whatever you want to call it) first, and then built the map around it, making it the longest motorway (or whatever else) in the game yet.

Next - the cars. Playground Games creative director Mike Brown said that Forza Horizon 5 will have more cars at launch than Forza Horizon 4 did. This includes the Welcome Pack and the Forza Edition vehicles. The current tally of announced cars reaches 505, with an extra 18 Forza Edition vehicles and 5 Welcome Pack vehicles, making a total of 528, and keeping Mike Brown to his promise as FH4 launched with only 460. (By the time the final car was added to Forza UK, the total was just over 750). Below is the full car list.

More Fords than you can shake a stick at.

There's plenty of new traffic cars too, as well as some of our old favourites from pervious Forza Horizon games. They are:

2011 BMW X5 M (driveable), 2017 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 (new traffic car, drivable), 1975 Ford Bronco (new traffic car, driveable), 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor (new traffic car, driveable), 2009 Ford Fiesta Zetec S, 2011 Ford Transit Diesel, 2012 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon (new traffic car, drivable), 2010 Mazda Mazdaspeed 3, 2018 Mercedes-Benz X-Class (new traffic car, drivable), 1992 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4, 2014 Playground Box Truck, 2014 Playground Bus, 2014 Playground Flatbed Truck (driveable in event), 2005 Subaru Legacy B4 2.0 GT, 1963 Volkswagen Beetle (new traffic car, driveable), 2003 Volkswagen Bora, 1996 Volkswagen Golf GTi VR6 (driveable). Quite an impressive group, with plenty available to buy from the Autoshow.

New features to be excited about

As well as the new map, cars and traffic cars, you can also access plenty of new features to improve your Forza Experience. The following list is from the Forza Support website FAQs.

Horizon Story - Experience a deep and rewarding campaign, where you will meet new characters and determine the outcome of their Horizon Story missions. You will take on expeditions across the map, battling the elements in hundreds of the world's greatest cars.

Forza LINK– The new AI assistant that intelligently tracks your status, the people you meet online and then helps you Link Up and play together.

Horizon Arcade – With 130 challenges spanning 12 total game modes Horizon Arcade invites players to journey to Arcade markers across the map to engage in various challenges and mini games.

EventLab – The incredible new toolset that allows you to create your very own races, game modes and game play experiences – you customize everything – right down to the fundamental rules of the game.

Horizon Open – Refines the traditional Forza Horizon PvP experience with an emphasis on lower friction and fun by unifying it under one banner, allowing players to seamlessly jump into sessions for Racing, Games, Drift, Eliminator and more and stay until they have had their fill.

Horizon Tour – See players jump into races from anywhere across the world, meeting up with other players to race against Drivatars on Average difficulty. This mode captures the experiences of a car-meet, with players meeting up in the world to race and having the option to continue together to the next Tour location in the world.

Vehicle Customization – A complete UX overhaul to bring the experience in-line with modern image manipulation software. We have also added 100 new rims, hundreds of new visual upgrades, and thousands of performance upgrades.

Character Customizer – Improved to provide players with a more diverse cast of selectable characters. New customization options include the ability to customize hair style and color, select prosthetic limbs, choose pronouns, select from different voices and the ability to purchase clothing with credits.

Kudos – A social currency awarded between players for positive acts, unlocking flairs that can be attached to a player’s label and visible to others.

Gift Drops – Send and receive gifts from the community. You can take one of your cars, apply upgrades and a paint job and then drop it as a gift to another player.

And plenty more, including the use of convertible roofs on cars. The following video shows gaming vlogger 'The Dart' removing the roof on a Ferarri Portofino.

What do you need to know about FH5?

Most notably, it is the largest ever map featured in a Forza game. As well as this, it has the best graphics of any Horizon game ever, with better dynamic lighting, more realistic water, and the far-off detail is incredible.

As I've said, the car list is the biggest ever and there are more EVs than ever before, including the addition of the Porsche Taycan Turbo S.

Weather has also received a huge upgrade. Now with monsoons, dust-storms and, of course, the blazing Western Sun.

My Forza 4 Experiences and Opinions

When I first got Forza I was unbelievably impressed. The game I frequented before was The Crew 2. Whilst only being 2 months and 30 days older than FH4, the latter is quite a lot more advanced, in terms of graphics and features. I was blown away by the fact I could drive past places I've really visited (Broadway Church for example) and the realism of the cars was incredible.

As well as this, The Crew 2 doesn't seem to give enough guidance at the beginning of the game. Also, you can't sell cars, and the Ubisoft counterpart's Autoshow equivalent is not as well arranged - being done by price rather than by brand or even age.

Ubisoft's The Crew 2

Ubisoft's The Crew 2

When (and how) can you play?

If you spend £54.99 for the standard edition, you can play on November 9th. But, for £84.99 (the Premium Edition) you can play on the 5th. Deluxe Edition is also available, but you still have to wait for the 9th to play.

You can buy the game for PC (Windows), Xbox One, Xbox Series X as a disk or digital download code.

Separately, you can buy the Car Pass (£24.99), which delivers one new car per week for 34 weeks and 8 Formula Drifts to get you started, the Premium Add-Ons Bundle (£39.99), which includes the Welcome Pack, the Car Pass, a VIP Membership and two game expansions when they become available, and the VIP Membership alone (14.99), which 'features exclusive rewards that give your game a boost and make you stand out at the Horizon Festival'. Not sure about the prices on some of those but it really is set to be a great game.

YouTube Videos that showcase FH5's Unique Gameplay

The ones above are particularly good as they show you what to expect for the first part of the game.

The above shows features that were announced.

In short...

Forza Horizon games are awesome. I've been playing 4 all year and it's the best game I've ever played, and 5 is going to be even better. I have pre-ordered it and might buy the Premium Add-Ons bundle after I've experienced the game a few times.

Do you plan on/hope to play Forza Horizon 5, or do you prefer other games?