The Forza series, at least at the very beginning, was all about crafting a simulatory racing experience for Xbox on a similar level with Gran Turismo on PlayStation. Numerous Forza Motorsport titles have essentially attained and surpassed that goal since the series debut in 2005, but the series has also expanded into appreciating car culture at a more base level. The Forza Horizon series was born from that desire on the Xbox 360 back in 2012, and since then, has been going very strong as the "Horizon festival" has expanded across the world. This year, Forza Horizon 5 is bringing the festival to Mexico, with a slew of innovations thanks to a longer development cycle.
Early last week, Game Rant was provided the opportunity to witness a hands-off preview of Forza Horizon 5 ahead of Gamescom 2021, and what was shown is certainly a promising iteration on the Horizon lineage thus far. Carrying with it the vast expanse of launch content and post-launch support plans, while learning from Forza Horizon 4's excess in player freedom, Forza Horizon 5 promises a similar degree of player freedom alongside a more structured campaign and meaningful progression. Detailed upgrades to the game's physics, an expansive new world map, the return and evolution of seasons and dynamic weather, all culminate in a greater Horizon experience.
Much like the cold open inaugural races in every Horizon game before it, Forza Horizon 5 drops players straight into the muddy jungles and wispy coastlines of Mexico. Whether it's being airlifted by a cargo plane into the jungle with an upgraded baja-ready Porsche, or taking to the highway in a Corvette Stingray, all of the usual trappings of Horizon races are there. However, the world of Forza Horizon 5 gets a massive upgrade thanks to next-gen technology.
The racing world and biome diversity in Forza Horizon 5 is certainly upgraded in both scale and scope from the previous Forza Horizon 4. While the London setting was the first to introduce seasons, as a method of implementing dynamic weather and conditions, Forza Horizon 5 appears to be taking things up a notch. With Just Cause-like weather events like the prominently featured sandstorms, Forza Horizon 5 introduces several new and challenging obstacles for racing and exploring its version of Mexico. These dust storms in particular limit visibility, forcing players to think on the fly and rely on reaction speed during tense and blinding storms.
Given the tropical landscapes within real-life Mexico, Forza Horizon 5 is doing its best to emulate that setting. Driving through the jungle requires vehicles with offroad prowess, which is part of the reason why the Ford Bronco Badlands is one of two Forza Horizon 5 cover cars. The demo in particular showed off environments on the Gran Caldera volcano, mixing together snowy and slippery vertical landscapes alongside the exotic active volcano brewing at the center of the mountain.
Mike Brown, the Creative Director for Forza Horizon 5, made a point to emphasize this is the highest point in any Horizon game to date. Brown emphasized the methods of photogrammetry and other technology that Playground Games used to faithfully recreate the South American country. The development team is also partnering with professional Mexican racers, Mexican actors, writers, and artists in helping research car culture influenced by Mexican car enthusiasts and fans.
Playground Games also mentioned that later on this week, the development team is planning to release the launch car list for Forza Horizon 5, including the aforementioned Bronco and Mercedes-AMG One cover cars. Brown did not elaborate on how many cars are launching with the game, but players can likely expect a number similar to the 450+ cars that launched with Forza Horizon 4.
One interesting tidbit shared by Brown, related to the Mercedes-AMG One as well as other cars in the game, Forza Horizon 5 is planning into implement the various "modes" that most sports cars feature in real life. In the AMG One's example, players can activate sport mode in-game, and actively watch the car lower its suspension and deploy its spoiler as it would in person. This Forza Horizon 5 preview did not feature any additional cars with that capability, only confirming that players could do so with several cars in-game.
Brown did elaborate that these new modes were born out of the additional development time that Playground Games spent tweaking the suspension and driving model for Forza Horizon 5. Citing the benefits of an extra year, alongside adapting to the Covid-19 pandemic/working-from-home development environment, the team ended up rebuilding the game's suspension model to improve immersion.
Additionally, Brown elaborated on the new EventLab systems coming to Forza Horizon 5, which are community-fueled side events that players can customize. EventLab essentially acts as an "in-depth rule editor," according to Brown, which was designed around some of the same tools Playground Games used to develop Horizon initially. EventLab is meant to be a sort-of stage and scenario designer that players can utilize to create custom races/events across the Forza Horizon 5 map. Playground Games had previously shown off this mode in a previous trailer, showcasing a bowling alley-esque custom event that showcased what players could create in EventLab.
Overall, this preview of Forza Horizon 5 mostly emphasized the degree of replayability that Playground Games wishes to inject into the latest entry. While the campaign is being designed to be a bit more structured compared to the open-endedness of Forza Horizon 4's campaign, that doesn't mean players will be on rails the whole time.
Even outside of race variety and player choice, things like sandstorms and weather effects have potential as interesting ways to shake up the core racing gameplay dynamically, so long as it's done right. There is a fine line between gameplay variety and annoyance, but based on the preview alone, the seasons and weather effects in Forza Horizon 5 are a promising iteration on Forza Horizon 4. Blended with the already-expansive variety of race types in previous Horizon games, the fifth Horizon game is only enhancing the degree of flexibility its racing formula can emphasize.
Forza Horizon 5's Mexico setting appears to be iterating on the Horizon formula in meaningful ways, and should be enticing for Horizon fans. EventLabs seems to follow the GTA Online-esque formula of customizing the gameplay experience in wacky ways as well. Forza Horizon 5 is certainly taking ambitious steps to iterate on the racing formula, which could genuinely make this one of the best Horizon entries to date.
Forza Horizon 5 releases on November 9, 2021, for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.