As we cruise around Mexico in a car emblazoned with Xbox logos and listening to Halo music on the radio, it’s fair to say Forza Horizon 5 being on PS5 feels a little surreal.
Many will already be familiar with the open world racing game, seeing as it’s several years old at this stage, but for those who’ve never touched the series, can it be said that PlayStation players have been missing out? Yes and no.
Yes, because it’s probably the best game in its field, with a stunning sandbox to explore and some seriously smooth driving. No, because the intervening years have seen impressive alternatives like The Crew Motorfest and Need for Speed Unbound fill the gap.
However, despite some excellent effort from the competition, it’s clear now that Forza Horizon has been leading the pack all this time.
This is the latest entry in the open world racer franchise that does away with any meaningful story and puts the emphasis on driving. There’s a racing festival in Mexico, and you’re a driver in attendance, heralded as some kind of vehicular virtuoso.
The game begins apace and rarely lifts its foot off the gas. The first thing you do is sample various car classes across different terrain, setting the tone for a carefree driving experience.
Initially, it’s honestly quite overwhelming; there are so many events peppered across the vast map, and you unlock dozens if not hundreds more as you reach certain player level thresholds and open up the Horizon festival’s different hubs. To look at the map after a few hours of play is quite daunting.
The game is so eager to lead you from one thing to the next it can be hard to truly comprehend what’s even on offer. Essentially, there are distinct event types, like road races, drag races, off-road excursions, and PR stunts — think speed traps and massive jumps.
Another layer on top is all FH5’s online and user-generated events. There are limited-time events that count towards your progress in the game’s current season, spots in which you can collaborate with other players to complete mini objectives, and much more.
Adding to that feeling of pin-balling around the game is the pace at which you unlock new cars. The game has money in the form of Credits, and so far, not once have we felt the need to spend any of it, because your garage grows almost on its own. We have nearly 100 cars so far and couldn’t tell you how we unlocked most of them.
Not to labour the point too much, but you’re also earning XP for your own player level, gaining skill points to unlock perks on a per-car basis, and earning wheelspins, which are essentially loot boxes, at seemingly random intervals.
Again, the game has so much stuff going on that it can feel bewildering at points. However, once you’re used to FH5’s relentless onslaught of activities, the sense of freedom and fun comes to the forefront, and it becomes a real automotive playground.
All those events we mentioned are satisfying to tick off, even if the AI’s difficulty can feel inconsistent at times. Regardless, though, races are engaging thanks primarily to the excellent driving at the core of the game.
It’s sim-cade territory, striking a wonderful balance that rewards calculated braking and racing lines but doesn’t totally neuter the fun of big, juicy drifts. Impressive is how consistently fun the driving is across the hundreds of included vehicles, yet they all do feel quite distinct.
The handling holds up across road and dirt tracks, with the world offering ample amounts of both. Mexico is a gorgeous place to explore and surprisingly varied — picturesque towns with twisting streets, swamps and jungles hiding ancient ruins, and an enormous volcano that’s very fun to hurtle down.
Indeed, the game looks stunning; we played predominantly in performance mode, which feels like a locked 60 frames-per-second, and it never faltered from a crystal clear image. The quality mode is your usual trade-off of higher resolution at the expense of frame rate, and while it’s perfectly playable, we’d recommend performance mode, as it feels much nicer with negligible difference to the graphics.
Overall, once you’re past the overwhelming opening hours, there’s so much to sink your teeth into here. Aside from the countless races and events, there’s the evolving seasonal content, extensive car tuning and customisation, and the ability to create and share liveries, events, and more with the community.
It’s about as fully-featured a racing game as you could reasonably expect. While that brings with it a cluttered map, some fiddly UI, and constant inane nattering from NPCs, the upshot is clear — a racer with unparalleled variety and a real sense of fun.
Conclusion
Forza Horizon 5 might be a few years old, but its vast amount of activities, robust feature set, and superb driving model mean it’s still out in front. It isn’t perfect — it can feel bloated and overwhelming, the AI is frustrating at times, and the characters and dialogue are a constant weakness. However, behind the wheel, tackling its myriad events and exploring the beautiful open world, it’s hard to not be convinced by its optimistic personality and sense of fun. Despite its late arrival on PS5, it still feels showroom fresh.
