Forza Horizon 5 Review

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Here is our review of Forza Horizon 5, which takes players of the popular racing game franchise for a Mexican adventure.

Here is my review of Forza Horizon 5, as reviewed on PC (Steam) using a controller. RaceDepartment has a Forza Horizon 5 forum where RD users can share, ask, or just chat about this racing game.

The latest installment of the massive Forza franchise is releasing worldwide in the coming days. Forza Horizon 5 sets the familiar open world racing title in Mexico this time. Fun is once again the focus, with developer Playground Games challenging the player to race with others in a variety of multiplayer modes, beat the AI in the massive array of single player races, or just explore the large Mexican map to find new challenges and hidden items and locations. However you choose to play it, FH5 delivers on what millions of players around the world have come to expect.

Graphics

Forza Horizon 5 is undeniably gorgeous. While many racing game fans consider the British setting of Forza Horizon 4 to be among the best-looking racing games ever released, it looks comparatively gray and dull next to the bright and colourful landscape of Mexico. To complement the stunning scenery, the 500+ cars available at release are all nicely detailed. The lighting is also impressive to look at, and FH5 will likely have you reaching for the screenshot key early and often.

Xbox users have voiced issues about FH5’s graphical limitations on console, as they are forced to choose between Quality mode which offers improved visuals at a lower frame rate, or Performance mode which offers the inverse. The PC version is instead highly customizable and limited by hardware. As tested on my 3900X/6800 XT system, I was able to achieve a consistent 72FPS on Ultra settings at 3440x1440 resolution. Steam recommends an Intel i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 1500X CPU, 16 GB RAM, and an NVidia GTX 1070 OR AMD RX 590 GPU, so even the recommended hardware isn’t outrageous.

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Sounds

A focus of Playground Games since the 4th Horizon has been to improve the sounds of the cars on offer. And while I haven’t had the chance to listen to the engine notes of even half of the over 500 cars on offer, the ones I have listened to sound good. I’ve yet to find a car that meets or exceeds the level of sound we might hear in RaceRoom Racing Experience or one of the many impressive sound mods for Assetto Corsa, but given the breadth of vehicles available in FH5, what Playground has achieved here is very nicely done.

Besides the engine notes, there are several other sounds that elevate the experience in Horizon 5. Much of your time in this game is spent with the car radio blasting music, occasionally interrupted by one of your virtual friends at the Horizon festival informing you of a new potential adventure. And thankfully neither becomes annoying. The music sets a fun tone, and the voice acting is well done. Finally, the environmental noises as you slide sideways around corners, smash through residential fencing, crossing rivers in the jungle, or just sit idle and catch your breath after a marathon session of any or all of the above are well done.

Driving Experience

Sim racing purists will need to pass on Horizon 5. Dropping out of an airplane in your Ford Bronco in the first minute of gameplay and hitting a jump that would have made Evel Knievel blush should be all you need to know about the realism of the driving experience here. Playground Games has clearly prioritized fun over accuracy in the Horizon franchise, and little has changed on that front since FH4.

There are, of course, fundamental vehicle physics that are well implemented. Sports cars outperform SUVs, off-road vehicles handle better on dirt surfaces than road cars, and so forth. But you’re never far removed from launching a passenger car off the side of a mountain and landing after several seconds of hang-time with only a cracked windshield. If players are to enjoy FH5, expectations of simulation-level physics will need to be suspended.

NOTE: some users are experiences errors when trying to map their inputs to a wheel and pedals set, and I was among them. I will edit this review at a later date with information about the force feedback once the game is patched.

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Gameplay Experience

From the first launch of the game, players are dropped into the deep end of the Mexican Horizon car festival. There is only an hour or so of exposition and plot-building, and then we're off to explore a big free roam. The menu system isn’t outstanding, but the small percentage of time spent out of your car is mostly spent referencing your map. Thankfully the map is easily accessible, but it definitely feels cluttered with the volume of quests available. Logically laid out sub menus in the game allow you to customize your graphics and sound experience, map custom controls, and manage your car fleet.

One of the few facets of Forza Horizon 5 that I found annoying, and the only one worth mentioning in this review, are the loading screens. The load times are longer than many titles on the market, but excusable given the massive map the runs seamlessly once you're in game. The issue I had with the loading screens was the boring visuals. While in game, pressing the up arrow on your controller brings you to a photo mode that creates stunning images at nearly any moment of time in FH5. But Playground Games has limited the loading screens to a few repeating images that make load times feel even longer.

On the multiplayer front, Horizon’s simple, fun and popular experience is hard to beat. There are multiple modes, including simply challenging a fellow player to a race, playing tag, elimination races, and group races. Sales of the Horizon series have been incredible in the four preceding titles, and FH5 should enjoy a similar level of popularity and give players a great online racing experience with others around the globe for years to come.

For those that prefer solo play, Horizon 5’s map is littered with races, quests and exploration areas. It does feel more like a collection of interesting things to do than a career or storyline at times, but there are at least three things that keep things perpetually interesting in FH5.

Firstly, the prospect of saving enough credits to buy your dream car. Maybe your first car will be that stunning red Ferrari you've always had your eyes on. And then your dream Lamborghini. And that cool new Project One. And on it goes. Buying and testing the 500+ car on offer is one of the best features here.

Secondly, customizing those cars. The upgrade and customization options in FH5 are comprehensive, and it makes the already large car selection feel almost limitless. Most of the major components of your vehicles can be changed out and upgraded, along with the paint and decal scheme of each vehicle.

Lastly, once you have a garage filled with cars you’ve always wanted to say you own, and then customized them to your liking, it’s time to drive. Forza Horizon 5’s large and detailed map holds so much potential for fun just in exploring. Whether you break the 200mph barrier in your hypercar, use a pickup truck to scale the side of a volcano, or cruise through the beautifully rendered towns, just driving in FH5 is fun enough unto itself.

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Summary

Forza Horizon 5 carries on the well-established traditions we’ve come to love in the series. Everything is set up to ensure that you find fun in the game early and often. For those looking to channel an inner action hero instead of an inner racing driver, FH5 provides a perfect solution. It’s undeniably entertaining, thoroughly gorgeous to look at, and the enhancements to the sounds and vehicle customization represent progress in a series that could rightfully be apprehensive to change their recipe.

Hours of enjoyment lie ahead for anyone with a taste for racing and cars. Whether you play against other real players, AI, or just cruise around in your fantasy dream car, this is a great game. It may not be groundbreaking, but Forza Horizon 5 still ranks among the best racing games I’ve ever owned.

Good
  • Gorgeous visuals
  • Massive open world map
  • Huge car selection
  • Fun. Fun. Fun.
Bad
  • Bugged control setup
  • Boring load screens
Help the community and leave your own review

As always, we want to hear the reviews of the community. If you own FH5, click this link directly or the hit the Submit your Review button at the top or bottom of this article and share your review with us. Good, bad or indifferent, let the community know your thoughts on the newest Forza Horizon title.

Or, leave a comment below with thoughts and questions about this racing game.
About author
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

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Pros: - Looks fine
Cons: - Cringe story and characters
- Feels like a FH4 DLC
- Awful, stiff physics
- Repetitive and boring. A carbon copy of the older games
- Online is the usual Forza affair. I hate it. Some love it. Hit and miss
I hate the game. Under the coat of flashy visuals, it's boring and repetitive.
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Pros: - Open world that feels larger than the previous game. Dunes are nice, though hard to get the "Dakar/Baja" feel. Addition of drift roads are nice, good gravel roads, and a very tight and twisty main city. Good variety
- Looks fine. Not a huge step up to put it that way, but still looks fine.
- It's fun. S2-cars geared for circuit racing sticks to the ground, S1 RX-style cars can be drifted around on the RX-style tracks. Scandi-flick is possible.
- Nice that it's possible to pick up for 25min to have just a fun little race or two.
- Great to get actual progression of the game while in a convoy, means that it's possible to progress through the game with your mates. Makes it a social easy to pick-up game in a day who may be stressful.
Cons: - BUGS. And a lot of them... For a game which basically are Horizon 4, with expansion one in a new setting, there is a lot of bugs that really shouldn't be there.
- Apparent controller issues. Myself, I just use an xbox controller for games like this, but noticed issues when the gearbox and/or pedals were connected to the PC. Had to disconnect them.
- At times it feels like an unpolished map-expansion to FH4.
- Lancia and Alfa gone, but Lancia needed to complete all accolades in the game.
- Framerate issues after 1-hour+ of gaming, but only on high graphical settings.
- Random freezes and crashes (similar to FH3 and FH4).
- "Story" quests cannot be taken co-op anymore. It could in FH4. (and 3 I think).
The game that wanted, the game that promised, the game that bugged off.

I didn't plan to buy FH5, as I felt it was a map-expansion to FH4, and way too costly. But when every other in my local group of gaming-friends bought it, I wasn't able to resist. (weak me).
I put in way more hours than any of my friends as I knew I would work a lot the next couple of weeks. So when I write this, I have 33 hours in-game.

It still feels like a map expansion, as the game takes the good parts from FH4, and the first expansion, merging it with Mexico. Some cars are missing, but not as much missing as other numbered sequels (yes The Sims, I am looking at you).

When the game works, and especially in convoys with friends, doing racing and fun shenanigans around on the map, it's really fun. It's good for sharing a laugh and cool stuff. We haven't experienced much issues in convoys either. Except from surprisingly many times where not every car loads in. And the occasional "Hey, everyone are just standing still" bugs in races. Those have been rare in 30+ hours of gaming though.

The one bug that is worse than any other, is the "disconnected" bug. This bug just stops your car at a blink of an eye, and you lose every kind of progress you had. A hotfix was rolled out during the early play for premium buyers, which would fix this. Well. It removed the message for "disconnected" - which didn't make sense, as every time that message came, the online racing worked fine, we could all see each other in the convoy etc. So what was disconnected, we never know.

The message was removed, the bug is still there. It's irritating at the best of times. But when one accolade you need is to score a 2million skill points chain, then a sudden random stop with no error is just game-ruining.

The bug is proudly presented here:

It sadly ruins any kind of fun experience when stuff like that happens. To channel my inner Sebastian Vettel... "Honestly, what are we doing here??"

The game has proper potential. But needs urgent bug fixing, an addition of some cars and the first expansion to the game should be larger than in FH4.

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Pros: Graphics look great
Sound is good
Telemetry is available
As of 11/17/21 Wheels and related peripherals finally work. I am using an Accuforce Pro V2 wheel, Fanatec CSP V3 pedals, Fanatec Handbrake, Thrustmaster TH8a shifter, and Next Level Racing Motion Platform V3. The combination is outstanding.
Cons: Couldn't play premium edition from 11/5 to 11/17 due to Controller disconnected/Please reconnect issue.
Updated: Controller disconnected. Please reconnect issue solved with 11/17 FH5 Patch.
No VR: I think the developer could make up for the lack of wheel support and other miscellaneous PC bugs by adding VR in, the same way they did it with MSFS.
Now that the title with increased wheel support actually supports wheels on a PC, I have upgraded the review score to 4 stars. I am now positive I will spend hundreds of hours in this game.
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Pros: - Beautiful and rich world. Just as advertised.
- Even has some Union Island vibe :D
- Better difference road / offroad handling compared to FH4
- Simpler interface compared to FH4
- Liberty to explore
- Liberty to compete almost any events with the car you like
- Lot to collect, should suit the taste of everybody, and feels rewarding
- Challenging driving without assistance
- Photo mode feels like i'm Larry Chen
- No need to finish 1st at everything in order to progress
Cons: - "You have been disconnected" noise...
- major one : the coop is a mess. "convoy" is the only solution to drive with a mate. Who keeps disappearing in freeroam, and there's no common gps
- no split screen
- Few minor bugs, nothing ruining the experience so far. One fatal crash in 8 hours.
- not many old cars
- auto exposure a bit broken in cockpit view, outside appearing too bright in some cars
- Everything feels a bit too fast (or am i getting old ?!) the finishing line animation for example, or the progression & cars available at the very beginning - but as mentioned in pros, feel free to compete with slower cars, for a more progressive experience and a "start at the bottom" kinda thing
- just like FH4, slow to process auctions. It should be background request queue rather than few seconds loading each click.
- can't remove "drivatars" in freeroam offline
- mandatory microsoft account
And a few ideas to improve :
- speed traps and lap times, should have a result per class
- odometer in external view
- dark mode interface

I think the cons/pros sum it up pretty much.

I really hope they fix this. The coop is messy, is a deal breaker for me. There's your missing star :(
Not having split screen is absurd in 2021. The good memories with friends on the nintendo 64, and having social interactions is behind us !
Despite a few minor issues and few visual glitches, it remains the perfect relaxing game with a controller and a couch

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Comments

Not doing like EA with The Sims, and removes exp.packs from earlier games to re-release them.
Well looking at how the car list was shortened drastically, I kind of have my doubts about this. They removed about 13 cars each from Porsche and Ford alone. They could re enter through the forzathon though which wouldnt be that bad.
 
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Loved all the Horizon games, especially 2. I thought the handling in 2 was better than 3 & 4, it felt more planted and weighty, so hoping 5 feels slightly more like 2, i will find out soon as its pre-loaded on the series S, i am massively looking forward to this unlocking tomorrow :)

Sofa / 50 inch TV / Forza Horizon 5 / curry / beer = great fun soon to commence!
 
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Premium
Well looking at how the car list was shortened drastically, I kind of have my doubts about this. They removed about 13 cars each from Porsche and Ford alone. They could re enter through the forzathon though which wouldnt be that bad.

It still has 58 Fords though, and that's not counting the Hoonigan-Fords which is under "Hoonigan" nor Formula Drift-Fords.
Already the 11th there will be 4 cars in the Forzathon, where one is exclusive, so there is cars around :)

EDIT: This is by going off the "Car Collection" list. But unless a car is named differently from different places in the game, not every car shows up there O.o
 
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As a brazilian, i dont think you sound racist at all. And im almost sure that if it was in Brazil the same thoughts would come to yours (and others ppl minds). I think its just a matter of misinformation, ´cause here in Brazil and Mexico im sure, there are extremely rich regions, with tons of top imports.

Yes, and I know there are safe zones in Mexico, safe for tourism etc. But also some dangerous ones I hear, where cartels rule, gangs and violence is common and someone might get easily robbed. In the northern states near the border, and some others here and there.

And as I understand FH maps, it's "representation" of the whole country, in miniature form. Like UK was, it had elements from all around England, combined into fictional map. So, then, you'd be driving "the whole Mexico" so to speak, in dangerous states too.

But doesn't really matter, it's just a game where cars do impossible jumps :)

And I'm sure there's something beautiful in every culture, urban areas look charming and very different from Edinburgh. Maybe my problem is the often dry terrain, it doesn't look as inviting as lush fields of UK.
 
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I bought via Steam, refunded.
The ffb on tarmac is awful. Truly awful.
I got a force in opposition to the direction I was turning, that's all. Forget any kind of information being fed back to you, it simply isn't there. Road noise? Hysterically funny even thinking of it after 5 minutes of play.
If there's something to hit, the wheel does something. Driving at 200mph on tarmac? Steering wheel was dead in my hands.
So maybe that's why the ffb is better off road, bumps are modelled.

My prediction is the game will be condemned by wheel users...eventually.

Maybe it'll be patched and things will improve, but I won't find out!
 
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I have MS Store version, using SC2 Pro with EmuWheel and FFB is quite informative on tarmac and off road, with road effects, slides shudder, tires load in turns, understeer lightening, etc,. physics is simplified, but force feedback feels more intuitive than on some recently released sim titles.
 
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I have MS Store version, using SC2 Pro with EmuWheel and FFB is quite informative on tarmac and off road, with road effects, slides shudder, tires load in turns, understeer lightening, etc,. physics is simplified, but force feedback feels more intuitive than on some recently released sim titles.

Default settings?

In FH4 on tarmac the FFB was quite decent (really, even compared to sim titles). But not with default, which had loads of damping going on. Had to do pretty extreme settings tweaks, to make it work
 
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FH2 and FM4 actually had *really* good FFB, believe it or not. Since then, it's gotten progressively worse with every installment.
Forza Horizon 4 basically used Forza Motorsport 4's physics which made me feel FH4's ffb is even better than FM7...
 
I think its just a matter of misinformation, ´cause here in Brazil and Mexico im sure, there are extremely rich regions

I'm also Brazilian and I disagree with you, in the name of a foolish nationalism you are giving wrong information, Brazil as well as Mexico are underdeveloped economies with a lot of inequality and social problems, this example you showed from São Paulo is indeed a special day where a few playboys get together to pathetically show their cars, nothing more.
 
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Forza Horizon 4 basically used Forza Motorsport 4's physics which made me feel FH4's ffb is even better than FM7...
FM7 FFB was SOOO much better than FH4, and better than FH5 still, are you sure you are not confusing some titles.
But in the end they all are just different shades of grey and do not come close to good sims force feedback.
 
Had a good session on this last night.

Cant say i was blown away as i was expecting to be, the LOD pop in on 60fps on Xbox makes it unusable for me, its just too distracting! so 30fps it has to be, which is a real shame.

It kept crashing on the PC so couldn't even try that version, although i believe FH is best played on a sofa via a console and a pad.

I hope Playground can sort the LOD pop in on 60fps, although i wont hold my breath!

Surely they should have just paired back the detail to a level where LOD pop in isn't needed, i hate these design choices they make purely for screen shot purposes as opposed to gameplay.

It was still a really fun experience, but not quite as wonderful on the graphics front as i was expecting.
 
Real world is often not fun.
Not trying to be rude here but this is something that only somebody who's suffering from depression would say. The real world is a LOT of fun, if you want it to be.
Are you into driving? Buy a Miata. They're dirt cheap and a LOT of fun. You will enjoy it a LOT more than ANY simulator or arcade game.
Are you into motorcycles? Buy a dirtbike, find some nice offroad trail and enjoy it. They're cheap, durable and a very good exercise as well.
People must stop separating real life from FUN. Fun doesn't exist only in the virtual world.
 
Not trying to be rude here but this is something that only somebody who's suffering from depression would say. The real world is a LOT of fun, if you want it to be.
Are you into driving? Buy a Miata. They're dirt cheap and a LOT of fun. You will enjoy it a LOT more than ANY simulator or arcade game.
Are you into motorcycles? Buy a dirtbike, find some nice offroad trail and enjoy it. They're cheap, durable and a very good exercise as well.
People must stop separating real life from FUN. Fun doesn't exist only in the virtual world.
You think every single aspect of the "real world" is fun? Sure it would be fun to have a Miata (if I could afford it at the moment), but wait, petrol is 1,7€/l where I live, that is certainly not fun. And that is only regarding driving.
 
Game refusing to download on game pas pc for me, i had a power outage midway through download yesterday, now im just getting errors when i try download.
Tried everything suggested on their support effort of a page.
 
FH5 Steam with SteeringWheel +shifter +handbrake ? (multi-usb)
Maybe someone can already give an answer, as in the fifth series with multi-USB connection?
I have a Steering wheel, Pedals, Gearbox and handbrake, and on the fourth series in the steam all this did not work together.

This problem seems still to exist in 5 in the Steam version
No problems reported on the Microsoft Store version
 
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Game refusing to download on game pas pc for me, i had a power outage midway through download yesterday, now im just getting errors when i try download.
Tried everything suggested on their support effort of a page.
I think I had something similar downloading from MS Store. Go to Windows Settings/Apps/Windows Store/Advanced Options, click Repair. Restart PC, go back to MS Store or XBox app to download.
 

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