Forza Horizon 5
Developer Playground Games
Publisher Xbox Game Studios
Format PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series (tested)
Release Out now
Can you suffer whiplash sitting on a couch? Set a crash test dummy in front of Forza Horizon 5 and you’ll find out. One second you’re sinking into a sun-lounger position, drinking in HDR rays and the almost overwhelming fidelity of the Mexican landscape; moments later you’re jerked into that forward hunch of intense concentration as you scream a Lamborghini Sesto along a liquorice lace of coastal tarmac. Factor in neck-craning as you drift the rim of a volcanic basin and your vertebrae get a more vicious workout than your analogue stick. Forza’s open-world spin-off has always bounced us between the meditative zen of exploration and shrieking daredevil danger, but rarely have those extremes been as far apart as they are here.
A lot of that is due to Mexico, giving both its largest map and a greatest hits of destinations past. Australia’s dunes and rainforests are an obvious touchpoint, only now with side-missions about tracing an explorer’s footsteps to draw fun from the setting. The sea-hugging highways bring back and amplify the -ish glee of haring up the Gold Coast. After Britain’s country lanes, Playground clearly relishes a chance to let rip on freeway sprints – all shallow curves and hold-your-nerve straights that bring the series close to capturing the frantic pace of . Between the lines, the rolling vineyards of France become agave crops to churn up in the name of skill chains, while climbing the volcano’s peak provides highlight; an event type only possible on Playground’s vast canvas and lent even more grandeur by new-gen draw distance. The plunging slopes from atop La Gran Caldera are such a rush we don’t mind them being reused several times, nor that driving back up for a second go is such a long and precarious slog (until you unlock the much-needed fast travel).
