Forza Horizon 5 Review: Gameplay Videos, Impressions, Car List, Tracks, More

In many respects, the arrival of Forza Horizon 5 means the king is back.  

Or at least, that's the expectation going into the latest effort from developer Playground Games in a storied franchise that just keeps getting better. This one has to follow up on Forza Horizon 4 from 2018, which continued the ascent for the series with a 92 Metacritic rating. 

Complicating the challenge is the fact that this is the first next-generation effort for the storied series, which only creates more hype for a game that prides itself on being a superb open world with photorealistic immersion. 

This time, Horizon tackles the setting of Mexico and, with the benefit of an extra year of development, soups up not only the breathtaking visuals, but the gameplay and slate of modes, too. 

Gameplay

Like its predecessor, Horizon 5 can be the strictest simulation experience players desire. 

But it's the most flexible racing game out there. 

Whether it's twisting tight turns through city streets, drifting through a jungle or mixing it up in the mud during a fun arcade-styled minigame, Horizon again offers a "something for everyone" approach.

Players who want to turn off any or all assists and bask in the glory of the faithfully recreated gameplay on a vehicle-to-vehicle basis, braving the various track environments as they go, can 100 percent do so. But Horizon is just as capable as an arcade-style title—to the point of racing along a volcano and just having a blast. 

Like last time out, the shared world will boast changing seasons (that change weekly for all players) and the surfaces again alter a car's performance based on the weather. We're talking massive downpours of rain that slicken roads, to sandstorms that dramatically alter visibility and so much more. Hitting a patch of leaves in the fall season, once again, sends things into a tailspin. 

Similarly, just as it did for the UK setting of the last game, different seasons tend to open up maps more, whether it's making frozen bodies of water driveable or snowbanks melted. While players across the board maybe don't universally like the seasons system, there's no denying it freshens things up in an interesting way on a weekly basis. 

On the tracks (or off-road, you get the idea), Horizon overall feels like more of the same from the last game—and given how that one felt, it's quite the compliment. Handling is tight and weighty, and the A.I. is again very fair and smart, though higher difficulties do seem to feature a ton of contact while making passes. 

But there are smaller tweaks to point out. Braking is more refined this time out. Instead of an instant application, there's gradual braking allows players even more control. Slowly depressing a trigger to ease into a brake is more applicable than ever now. 

As always, the standard-fare Forza simulation is all here for players who want to seek it out. Fine-tuning every little aspect of a ride before a given event is a game in itself. And it all matters dearly if that's the path a player chooses. Compensating for the weekly seasonal weather at a given moment for a certain style of event isn't simple, but it is stunningly in-depth and important in a way that shows up on final leaderboards. 

Really, it's incredibly impressive how much the gameplay side can change to fit a given player's need or desires. A player who wants to skip the wealth of tuning, roll with a simple control scheme and assists and just have a blast will get exactly what they're looking for. And the simulation-seekers won't find a better experience and reflection of skill, either. 

Graphics and Presentation

In Horizon 4, popping into a photo mode was darn near something capable of being its own standalone release—things looked that good and the immersion as a whole was that deep. 

Horizon 5 just amplifies that through natural, expected upgrades for a new release with a dash of that next-generation horsepower. 

Once again, the "Horizon" car-and-music festival is the backdrop for the whole ordeal, though this time it all goes down in Mexico. The opening drive, a staple of the series now upon initial bootup, is again jaw-dropping. But it also makes a point to showcase a verticality element to the world that is simply staggering and fun to toy with while out exploring. 

Most of the time, Horizon 5 is a showcase of what the next generation can really do. It's not an exaggeration to suggest the eye candy and immersion will sometimes steal a player's attention and cause a mishap (thank goodness for the rewind feature, which Forza made a genre staple years ago).

Each event or moment in the open world feels like the game is just bragging about what it can do. Maybe it's billowing smoke off in the distance from a different biome. Or maybe crossing a river shoots up a stunning display of water to both sides of the vehicle and briefly splashes the camera following it, too. Or maybe it's seeing the first wisps of sand flit across the dashboard, signaling an incoming, towering sandstorm that forcibly shoves the vehicle back and blinds the driver. 

Like any game touting an open world these days, it offers the gamut of environmental experiences. We're talking lush jungles, stretches of desert and yes, those mountain ranges off in the distance are indeed reachable. There are a touted 11 biomes, and they're all stunning in their own right. More populated areas feature some detailed city blocks, while more nature-esque trips offer impressive depth that encourages exploration. 

Perhaps more important than anything else is stressing the impressiveness of the vistas—the draw distance is maybe one of the biggest we've ever seen in a game, so it's pretty thrilling to see something so far away, gun for it and actually reach it. This always takes place under some wow-worthy skyboxes with natural weather patterns that really just make for an "experience it to believe it" showcase for the new consoles. 

It is a little noticeable how few regular cars populate the explorable environment. Ditto for pedestrians/general human life. But it's not necessarily an immersion-killer as players can justify it by way of the festival itself—folks are excited and tuning in to the events. And indeed, there are a ton of onlookers at the starting line for big events. 

Vibration is where some of the cars really separate themselves in terms of feel. But more notable on the presentation and immersion front is the again incredible sound design, with all sorts of different classes of vehicle well represented. The directional sound work, such as only having a cheering crowd on the right side of a vehicle, is downright impressive.

It's hard to stress just how impressive this area is across the board. Even ducking into first-person mode from inside a vehicle at a moment's notice realistically muffles all sounds. A fitting soundtrack based on the game's themes just tops off what feels like a really underrated part of the immersion. Little video game-isms like displaying notable player stats, like number of wins, occurs during loading screens. 

Features and More

The Festival backdrop again weaves in a campaign mode framework, though that too is all about mostly letting players handle it however they see fit. 

Over the course of gameplay, players will unlock Horizon Adventure Chapters while their created avatar pursues a Hall of Fame. The task confronting them is six festivals aimed at player agency—players can choose when and how to tackle the six. 

While basic-sounding, which is borderline expected for a racing game campaign, the world isn't without its story, and it's worthwhile seeking it out.

The aptly named Horizon Stories flesh out both the cast of characters and the extensive world itself. This can be as simple as something akin to an escort mission where the player takes a friend to a destination on the map. Along the way, said friend gets a ton of characterization while explaining things about the world, such as details about the country itself or background story expanding on the festival. 

Players can also choose to go on Expeditions, which are really just an excuse to go on a massive road trip across the countryside. It's a tour de force of the impressive transitions between biomes and relaxed fun. 

Overall, there's a solid gameplay loop here that works with the foundation provided by past games and others outside of the racer genre. 

Pop-up races and challenges come across the radio for players to tackle, and popular favorites like Speed Zones and Speed Traps return. There are also public events, like collaborating with a matchmade lobby to knock over pinatas on a course. 

And one of the big-ticket items is EventLab. Think of it like Forge mode from the Halo series. The community will pop in there, create custom game modes, tracks and more and share them online. It's already fun to browse the custom selections and is sure to be just another thing that keeps the game's player base healthy for a long, long time. 

Overarching progression feels more like a video game than ever, which isn't such a bad thing. By collecting all of a certain brand or category, for example, players will unlock some sort of mystery reward. It's just another nice little added incentive for players to go out collecting one of the game's 400-plus cars beyond just doing it for the sake of doing it.

And on a car-to-car basis, skill trees for each vehicle again return. It's not too dissimilar from a familiarity feature with guns in a first-person shooter, where more time spent with a particular car means unlocking bonuses like more points from skill chain combos.

As for online competition, it's housed in a mode called Horizon Open. This time out, skill-based matchmaking is out, with the goal being a more accessible online mode for all players. That, so far, doesn't offer too big of a shakeup, as uber-competitive players are going to seek each other out anyway.

It's clear some of the next-generation juice went into expanding customization for a player's created character. There is an expanded list of items across the board during avatar creation, whether it's pre-made faces or a laundry list of items. 

And while avatar creation got a mention as an upgraded element to this year's game, it doesn't even come close to competing with vehicle customization. 

As it shouldn't. 

Forza fancies itself a love letter to car aficionados, and it is. There is a dizzying number of customization options for the game's 400-plus cars, and we could list off endless examples that would stretch longer than this entire review. Just know that if a player wants to dream it up, it's probably possible. Everything from swapping out entire engines to cosmetic flairs that can impact on-road performance are there for the using. 

Rest assured the options are just as in-depth as the tuning or customization menus, too. 

Forza Horizon 5 is a massive game with its open world and plethora of features, but also in install size crossing the 100GB mark on console. However, Xbox has launched console cloud gaming for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. For gamers who want to maximize their storage space and don't want to stream their games using the cloud, the official Seagate expansion card is available. Considering games such as Forza Horizon 5, Gears of War 5 and soon Halo Infinite are designed to keep gamers playing daily, every bit of storage space is crucial. That's why options like console cloud gaming and the expansion card are proving to be essential for gamers. Xbox makes it extremely easy with the cloud, plus the expansion pack is effortless with its plug-and-play design.

Horizon 5 is approachable as any other thanks to a set of gameplay customization options that continues to set an industry-wide standard. Players have free reign to control the difficulty of the opposing A.I., as well as display options like suggested path lines and near-endless assistance options, from stability controls to assisted braking and beyond. 

Conclusion

In the wake of Forza Horizon 4, it was fair to wonder how Playground Games could improve upon the formula. 

Now we know. 

Again leaning into modern video game progression systems with quick-hitting activities, tight controls and a suite of options and control styles to fit any player's need, Horizon 5 is the most accessible racing game on the market. 

It doubles as the deepest. That awe-inspiring recreation of literally hundreds of vehicles with staggering tuning and customization options makes it a simulation in the strictest sense of the word, too. And thanks to smooth design that eases players into relying on fewer assists as they continue, those casual fans lured in by the world-class presentation and just plain fun could develop into hardcore simulation players in time, too. 

As ambitious as ever and leaning heavily into the power driving the new consoles, Horizon 5 didn't need long to feel like one of the best new next-generation releases out there—and it's a crown other racers can only hope to steal.