Pure dopamine. There’s no better way to describe the way Forza Horizon makes you feel than that.
Ripping across the gorgeous scenery of lush and verdant Mexico, where this game is set, Forza Horizon 5 is probably the best of any game at constant rewards. Just driving across the map yields a stream of ‘near miss – 100, top speed – 200, Ultimate Air, 500 – Smactus (for hitting cacti), 1,000 – multiplier 1.2x, 1.4x, – the very act of moving around in this giant open world environment is continually feeding you rewards even if you never enter a race.
The huge sprawling world is your playground, and within it, there are literally hundreds of events to choose from, collectibles to find, and online players to challenge. The game, bolstered by four years of updates, is absolutely bursting at the seams with content – even if you never play online at all.
There are hundreds of races in four categories: road race, off road, cross country and street. Each has its own challenges, with a difficulty you can tailor to your skillset – this is an arcade racer, so if you can play Mario Kart, you can play this, as it has a full range of settings for all skill levels, complete with top notch haptic controller feedback not available on Xbox or even PC.
But don’t mistake accessible for simple. Under the hood, Forza Horizon has an extremely good handling model, with realistic tuning, swappable parts, the ability to turn assists off and a physics engine which can behave like a racing sim or a kart racer, depending on how much or how little handholding you need. For experienced racers, it’s just as fun as it is newcomers.
Between races, the game hurls unlocks at you. Cars and credits come thick and fast – within a few hours I had a garage with Ferraris, McLarens, Bugattis and Aston Martins, along with a few million credits. This is not a grindy sim – you will be absolutely swimming in supercars.
The soundtrack, too, is a constant stream of joy. The game has several in-game radio stations, like Horizon Pulse, Block Party or Hospital Records. Each specialises in different genres – think pop, R’nb’ and drum n bass. Each station has DJs who introduce each song, offer advice, give updates on your personal achievements (as the festival’s ‘superstar driver’) and do a genuinely great job of bringing the game to life and making it feel like a real festival populated by real people. Make no mistake, these aren’t some cruddy AI voices or forced NPC dialogue. The radio stars add a whole dimension of character to the world of Forza Horizon.
Several challenges built into the game offer people to meet too: Drift Club has an enthusiastic south Welshman who loves to thrash Skylines, while Hi Car, Low Car has some fun car influencers taking you through the modding and tuning scene, which are genuinely fun and worth hearing as you aim for 3 stars.
For those going online, there’s also several modes: out and out racing, Playground games (think capture the flag, but with cars), and the Eliminator.
The latter is my favourite – this pitches 100 drivers in a map and forces them to chase down and challenge other drivers (or escape being chased) to unlock faster cars in a series of head to head point to point races across the gradually shrinking map. Think Fortnite, but with cars.
The bottom line is, Forza Horizon 5 is one of the greatest arcade racing games ever made. It’s a game which transcends genres, a bit like Mario Kart, and is a game absolutely everyone can enjoy, from the most hardened petrolhead to the least capable carphobics.
Now that Xbox has effectively gone third party, PS5 owners get to play one of the greatest arcade games ever made, and Forza Horizon 5 is arguably the best in the series.
It’s up there with legends of the genre: Burnout 3 and Paradise, Mario Kart 8, Need For Speed: Most Wanted. It’s as good as any of them – maybe, better. It’s certainly a step above any recent competition – it simply leaves The Crew Motorfest and Need For Speed Unbound trailing in its Mexican infused dust.
The PS5 Pro, where we tested it, is undoubtedly the best way to play on console, too. Panic Button, which ported this version, has done a great job. The 60fps mode looks better than the Xbox version, effectively running the Xbox 30fps graphics settings at 60fps on PS5 Pro. The 30fps mode, meanwhile, adds ray tracing.
The only tiny niggles are the wheel support, which works fine but feels like an afterthought, and some odd censorship on songs (a pop song in the game includes the lyric ‘I’m flying high’ but blanks out the word high, for no apparent reason).
But ultimately, Forza Horizon is one of the best game series ever made, Forza Horizon 5 represents arguably the series’ best outing yet, and the PS5 version is the best way to play.
The fact this previous Xbox exclusive is now available to PS5 players is fantastic news for PlayStation fans because it has instantly become the best playing, best looking arcade racing game on the system right now.
VERDICT – 5/5