Forza Horizon 5 Xbox Series X Preview

October 12, 2021 at 10:26pm
By Jason Stettner

I was quite fortunate to be invited to take a look at Forza Horizon 5 well ahead of its full release. It was a special content creator setup where I was able to freely explore the vast lands of Mexico within this latest entry of the open world racing series. It was a demo presenting a set amount of racing content, one I replayed a few times for different types of coverage as it would essentially restart each time I left the game.

I experienced the game on Xbox Series X with a primary focus on the performance mode that provided a 4k resolution at 60fps with HDR support. I’ll note that a quality mode also existed that provided a 4k resolution at 30fps with HDR support. The quality mode also had higher visual effects and ray tracing within the Forzavista system.

With that, it was really exciting to experience this large scale environment that featured a variety of unique biomes. Being content creator focused I was able to capture gameplay for this scenario and you can watch a full hour long adventure that focused on the open world element of play. It has the opening segment that showcases various environments and then free driving to present the scale of this landscape.

This felt very much like a natural continuation of the previous entry. They doubled down on the scale of the world while having hundreds of cars and far more distinct races being present. The races have more atmosphere and ambience, with that being mirrored throughout the various events that take place. For example, barn finds now have you driving a truck to deliver them.

You may have a photo op in the middle of a desert storm. Just some examples to note the minor evolutions to the formula. There’s also now more cinematic type moments when it comes to adding a bit of a story. I was count driftula as a chosen title which was funny.

For taking on some current social themes you’re able to choose preferred pronouns. Furthermore on customization they have many prosthetic options and a number of templated character models to choose from. There were a selection of unique races to try out, these were rather fun but the most enjoyable time was just checking out the vast world in play here.

It’s filled with secrets to discover, distinct spots to drive to and a thrilling sense of excitement. It’s got one gorgeous backdrop and having that higher frame rate in the open world was bliss. It was very impressive, with some rolling weathering and other aspects of the environment that shift to mix things up. You get fast cars, crazy action and all the thrills of the Horizon festival that you could ask for.

This was of course based on a decently short venture into the experience, but it feels as though it could be the best racing game ever made. It has that potential already, it was really fun to play. It refines and improves upon what came prior, while leaning into aspects of the local culture it’s aiming to represent. It may very well be a tourism showcase of sorts.

The cars handle very well, and this feels like a good next generation showcase of what the console can do. From the vast draw distance, to having that high resolution and not having to sacrifice frame rate. I do anticipate that I’ll be reviewing this one ahead of launch, so stay tuned for that and other coverage. You can check out our review of the previous entry below or check out the general hub for additional content based on the franchise.

Read our Forza Horizon 4 Review
View our Forza Hub