Forza Horizon 5 PS5 Review – Hit the Open Road

The Forza Horizon series dates back to the original Xbox and has served as a counterpart to the track-based Forza Motorsport series. While there are plenty of tracks to race in the Forza Horizon series too, the focus is much grander with a huge open map to explore with varying types of races across scenic locales. Forza Horizon 5 was the latest entry in the series released in 2021 for Xbox platforms and PC, but now the popular franchise makes its grand debut on PlayStation with the release of Forza Horizon 5 for PS5 multiple years later.

If you’re wondering if the game lost a gear or if this is a lazy port, don’t. It’s everything that would-be buyers were hoping for and then some.

South of the Border

The Forza Horizon games have always been impressive for their large-scale maps with plenty to do across them, and Forza Horizon 5 is no different. After exploring exciting locations like Australia and the United Kingdom in the last few outings, Forza Horizon 5 jumps to Central America, specifically Mexico.

Playground Games has once again done its magic to create a fictionalized map of Mexico for players to race across that includes jungles, deserts, beaches, historic cities, and even a volcano. While Forza Horizon 4’s map of the United Kingdom already felt massive, this map is 50% larger than its predecessor. You may worry that a map this large would feel too desolate and spread out, but the world feels dense with plenty of content spread throughout it.

There is never a shortage of things to do in a Forza Horizon game and Forza Horizon 5 is no different. From the very start, you get thrown into an intense race showing off some different vehicles and locations on the map before letting you jump right into the game’s campaign surrounding the Horizon Festival in Mexico. The map features numerous icons showing off different kinds of races such as cross country, road racing, as well as other side missions to complete like speed traps, drift zones, and plenty more. You can thankfully sort these icons on the map to focus on specific missions types if you so choose also.

DLCs Sold Separately

Making this new release on PS5 even better than the game at launch is that it also mixes in other content that came post-release in the original, such as the Hot Wheels and Rally Adventure expansions. Unfortunately, this still requires you to purchase the expansions or get the Deluxe Edition, as this new release on PS5 does not come with them in the base version. While this is the first release on PlayStation, I still feel the DLC should have been packaged into the game for a three-and-a-half-year-old game at this point, but that’s how Xbox Game Studios decided to do it this time. If you purchase the DLC, you will find missions related to both of those very early in your quest, allowing you to go off track and do pretty much whatever you want very early into the game, besides the bevy of already existing quests from the base game.

Even as DLC, I feel it’s worth at least mentioning the quality of the DLC expansions in the game and how they add onto the overall experience. The Hot Wheels expansion is still a brilliant idea that works seamlessly with the Forza Horizon series. I can’t overstate how much fun I had playing with these races and even just racing on the Hot Wheels tracks between missions, as they take place on a separate map from the regular World Map. Even if you have played the Hot Wheels Unleashed games, this takes things to another level and is really a blast.

Rally Adventure is also a lot of fun, though I will admit it isn’t quite on the same level as Hot Wheels. The new tracks here are great, and the races have some high intensity, which can also be very difficult at times, especially in races with the Grit Reapers team.

Between all there is to do on the World Map, the main goal is to earn accolade points by participating in the various races and missions around the map. As you earn more accolade points, you’ll gain access to the next Horizon Adventure Chapter, which will push the game’s story forward by having you help build the overall Festival and Outposts in the game.

With each new accolade points level reached, you get an additional unlock that you can spread around between the different types, including Horizon Festival Mexico, Horizon Apex, Horizon Wilds, Horizon Baja, Horizon Rush, and Horizon Street Scene. The Horizon Festival Mexico is the main stage at the center of everything. Instead, Horizon Apex focuses on Road Racing, with some really cool temple exploration and weather usage within. Those looking for Dirt Racing can look instead at the Horizon Wilds Outpost. Horizon Baja focuses on cross-country racing, while Horizon Rush and Horizon Street Scene focus on PR Stunts and Street Racing, respectively. The goal is to build each of these up, but the order in which you tackle them is really up to you. The only requirement is to complete the tasks within each one, starting with the first and moving down the list with each new unlock you get by collecting enough accolade points.

One aspect of the map that did start to become a bit frustrating was the inability to get missions to start if you had not selected them on the World Map. And then when you go to the World Map and are sitting on top of the location, it would not let me select the mission, requiring me to drive a bit away and then select it, drive back, and then start the mission. This is not a huge deal, but it became a bit annoying after it happened a few more times.

Fast Travel in Forza Horizon 5 is still a bit of a pain because it costs in-game CR to use. However, the point of a game like this is to experience the open road and all the environments, so I very rarely found myself wanting to fast travel. Purchasing houses gives you more fast travel spots around the map besides some other major locations like the Main Festival Site, but you have to be careful how much you are fast traveling due to the cost. You can work to lower this cost though by hitting the Fast Travel Boards found all around the map, with the cost of fast travel reducing to 0 CR if you manage to find all 50 boards. Keep in mind that there are also XP Boards on the map, so do not confuse those for Fast Travel Boards.

A new addition in Forza Horizon 5 is dynamic dust storms and tropical storms, which happen occasionally on the world map or in certain missions. Both storms make visibility a lot harder to see, which adds some difficulty to some missions and driving in general by making your vehicle harder to control. The visual design for these looks really cool in action, and I was always happy to see them pop up on the map as a result. Tropical storms, in particular, were my favorite and one of my favorite new additions in this entry.

Beyond just the storms, the weather effects in the game look fantastic, from the lighting to the shadows and everything else. This is no surprise considering how the Forza Horizon series has always looked gorgeous, and this entry is no less spectacular in that department as a visual showcase. This makes driving around the map between each mission all the more enticing, just to see the rich visuals that make up the various parts of Playground Games’ take on Mexico. For this PlayStation 5 version, there are two graphics modes, the 60fps Performance Mode or the 30fps Quality mode, to choose from, with the PS5 Pro adding further enhancements to them.

There isn’t much to say about the controls in the game, as Forza Horizon 5 maintains that same feel you come to love from past Horizon and Motorsport games. The driving is not easy and will take some major getting used to for newcomers, as the system can be a big unforgiving if you are not careful. However, the level of balance between the different vehicles and how they control is still top notch here. And if you manage to mess something up in a race, you can always use the rewind feature that the series has been known for once again.

The number of cars to choose from in Forza Horizon 5 is still as impressive as when it was originally released, with the post-release DLC making it even more stout. Over 800 different cars are available in the game, so there should be almost anything for anybody, whether you like a Porsche, a Lamborghini, or just a Toyota Supra. I even found it fun to drive a car transport vehicle in one of the game’s missions, as it was a nice change of pace with a much bigger vehicle.

Entering a New Realm

Now new to Forza Horizon 5 across all platforms is Horizon Realms, which brings back 11 of the most popular Evolving Worlds locations on top of a brand new one known as the Stadium Track. This is unlocked a little bit into your playthrough once you really unlock a ton of different options on the world map. You can select Horizon Realms and jump immediately into one of the 12 tracks available by going to the pause menu. For each of these, you have the option to do Skill Mode or Free Mode, where the goal is to earn as much points in the first one and just have fun in the second.

The development team did a great job at picking out some great Evolving Worlds locations for Horizon Realms, which include locales such as Lunar Drift Arena and Dia De Muertos that have drone shows in the air. At the same time, you drive around, a Stunt Park, and even a Summer Party at a mock beach. My favorite, though, is easily the Retrowave Highway that feels straight out of the Miami Vice aesthetic, which is made even better when you crank up the Horizon Wave radio station to go along with it. Honestly, I felt like the weakest of the bunch was the new addition with Stadium Track, but it can still be good if you are looking to do nothing but work on drifting exclusively.

Something to note is that to even play Forza Horizon 5 on PlayStation 5 at all, you also have to have a Microsoft account that you can link to your PSN account. This is a permanent link set for this game and seemingly any future Xbox Game Studios games on PlayStation, which seems a bit extreme. This is similar to how people were temporarily required to have a PSN account for Helldivers 2, even on PC. This is something that never bothers me since I have an account for each platform, but it has caused a big uproar in the past, so it’s definitely worth knowing how it works here before you get the game.

A great feature included in the game is that of cross-play with other platforms, which is very helpful for a game with an already build-in base like this one has. This also includes the ghost racers based on your friends from Xbox, which I thought was a cool inclusion to see those names on PlayStation instead here. Sadly, the game does not have cross-progression though, so you will not be able to bring over your campaign progress or unlocked cars to this platform. Also, what’s really weird here is that if you try to load Forza Horizon 5 on Xbox Series X while it’s running on PS5, it will boot you out of the version you had open first and not let you start it back until the other is closed out entirely. This would make more sense if there was cross-progression, but here it locks you down if say you wanted to have someone else in the house playing on the other platform.

Verdict

Forza Horizon 5 was already a standout in the franchise when it released in 2021, and it is still every bit as good as it was then in its new release on PS5. The visuals are still superb, the racing is still at the top of its game, and there is more to explore and do in the game than ever before. Mixing in the fact that you have access to the DLC expansions from the start, even if you have to purchase them, and the new Horizon Realms content makes the overall package even better. Minus the requirement of a Microsoft account and lack of cross-progression that some may be upset by, Forza Horizon 5 is still one of the best racing games on the market and is well worth jumping into yet again on a new platform or for the first time on PS5.

Score: 9.5/10

Pros:

• Every bit as good as it was on Xbox/PC
• Spectacular visuals and racing mechanics
• Abundance of content across the map
• DLC expansions built in well (even if you must buy them)
• Horizon Realms is a nice inclusion
• Cross-play with other platforms

Cons:

• Prior DLC not included for free
• No cross-progression

Forza Horizon 5 (PS5) was provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.

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