During the Bethesda and Xbox Games Showcase on the 13th of June 2021, Forza Horizon 5 was unveiled, and it got a lot of attention.
First, it wasn’t the next Forza Motorsport title – which has been in the works for a couple of years now – and second, it was set in Mexico! Some had guessed that the next addition to the Horizon franchise would be set in Mexico due to clues being dropped both in the Forza Horizon 4 game and on the official social media accounts, whilst many fans of the franchise expected the next release to be set in Japan, which had been the consensus since the release of Forza Horizon 4.
Just four months from release, we’ve watched the trailer, examined the gameplay, and analysed all the literature from Xbox to let you know which features in this very exciting new title you should know about.
It’s Mexico, baby!
With the main hub of the game being Guanajuato, a real-life city, the development team have done a fantastic job of recreating iconic and recognisable buildings and settings of this beautiful place. The vibrant city is just one of the areas to race in. There are in fact 10 more biomes: the arid hills, which has a lot of rolling hills and pockets of trees; the canyon biome, where the sounds of the cars reverberate as players drive through; the farmland biome, with a gorgeous array of colours from this idyllic agriculture land; the jungle biome, a dense tree-ridden setting that has many hidden temples; the living desert biome, filled with cactuses you can smash with your car; the desert sand biome, with dunes, lots of dunes; the rocky coast biome, with amazing views and a coastal resort; the tropical coast biome, think palm trees and sandy white beaches; the swamp biome, with mangroves to plough through and shallow waters to race around; and the volcano biome, with its mountains and snow, a great place to get some air.
How is it possible to fit so many biomes into a FH game? Simply put, this map is enormous. You thought the British setting of FH4 was big? Well, the world of FH5 is 1.5x bigger.
As well as providing a vast area to race around with your mates, Playground Games has considered how to improve FH5 during the last three years since the launch of FH4. Their solution is to give players more creative freedom, more ways to customise their cars and characters, and more ways to play.
FH5 launches on Xbox, Xbox Cloud gaming, and PC on 9th November 2021, and it will be available to Game Pass subscribers from day one. If you are interested in FH5 and these great new features, you can preorder the game now and make sure to join our Forza Horizon 5 community on RaceDepartment as well.
First, it wasn’t the next Forza Motorsport title – which has been in the works for a couple of years now – and second, it was set in Mexico! Some had guessed that the next addition to the Horizon franchise would be set in Mexico due to clues being dropped both in the Forza Horizon 4 game and on the official social media accounts, whilst many fans of the franchise expected the next release to be set in Japan, which had been the consensus since the release of Forza Horizon 4.
Just four months from release, we’ve watched the trailer, examined the gameplay, and analysed all the literature from Xbox to let you know which features in this very exciting new title you should know about.
It’s Mexico, baby!
With the main hub of the game being Guanajuato, a real-life city, the development team have done a fantastic job of recreating iconic and recognisable buildings and settings of this beautiful place. The vibrant city is just one of the areas to race in. There are in fact 10 more biomes: the arid hills, which has a lot of rolling hills and pockets of trees; the canyon biome, where the sounds of the cars reverberate as players drive through; the farmland biome, with a gorgeous array of colours from this idyllic agriculture land; the jungle biome, a dense tree-ridden setting that has many hidden temples; the living desert biome, filled with cactuses you can smash with your car; the desert sand biome, with dunes, lots of dunes; the rocky coast biome, with amazing views and a coastal resort; the tropical coast biome, think palm trees and sandy white beaches; the swamp biome, with mangroves to plough through and shallow waters to race around; and the volcano biome, with its mountains and snow, a great place to get some air.
How is it possible to fit so many biomes into a FH game? Simply put, this map is enormous. You thought the British setting of FH4 was big? Well, the world of FH5 is 1.5x bigger.
As well as providing a vast area to race around with your mates, Playground Games has considered how to improve FH5 during the last three years since the launch of FH4. Their solution is to give players more creative freedom, more ways to customise their cars and characters, and more ways to play.
Updated UI
The UI is changing for FH5, and for many fans of the franchise, this will be a welcome change. The UI for settings and options has remained mainly the same for several years. With the new UI, players will find it easier to tune and paint their cars – it has been completely overhauled and will make everything in FH5 more efficient and streamlined.New car customisation options
Playground Games has promised to offer over 100 new wheel rims, new visual options, and thousands of new performance upgrades. For many fans of the franchise, this will be welcome news as the customisable options have vastly stayed the same since FH3.New character customisation options
Despite some fans of the FH franchise not caring what their character looks like, Playground Games has enhanced the user experience and provided several new options. FH5 gives you far more control over your character: players can alter voices and pronouns, and there’s even the ability to add prosthetic limbs.EventLab
We’ve left possibly the most exciting new feature until last. With EventLab, players can edit the game, and we aren’t talking about the event editor of FH4, where players were restricted to creating events in pre-existing tracks – this is a do-what-you-want editor! EventLab provides players with access to buildings, objects, and tools to create anything from their imagination – the world is the limit!FH5 launches on Xbox, Xbox Cloud gaming, and PC on 9th November 2021, and it will be available to Game Pass subscribers from day one. If you are interested in FH5 and these great new features, you can preorder the game now and make sure to join our Forza Horizon 5 community on RaceDepartment as well.
