Forza Horizon 5 is a racing game created in 2021 by Playground Games and released by Xbox Game Studios. It is the fifth game in the Forza Horizon series and the twelfth main version in the Forza series. The game is set in a made-up version of Mexico. It was released on November 9, 2021, for Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. This was the last main version of Forza released for Xbox One. The game was also released for PlayStation 5 on April 29, 2025, which was the first time a main Forza game was available on a platform not made by Microsoft.
Forza Horizon 5 was very successful when it was released. It had more than 10 million players in its first week, the largest launch for an Xbox Game Studios game. The game received high praise from critics. It won IGN's Game of the Year award, three awards chosen by a jury at the Game Awards 2021, tied with It Takes Two for the most wins, and received the Racing Game of the Year award at the 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards.
A follow-up game, Forza Horizon 6, is planned to be released on May 19, 2026.
Gameplay
Forza Horizon 5 is a racing game set in an open world that is inspired by Mexico. The game has the largest map in the Forza Horizon series, which is 50% bigger than the map in Forza Horizon 4. It also includes the highest point in the series. The map was described by creative director Mike Brown as one of the most diverse maps the team has ever created. The map includes an active caldera volcano, jungles, beaches, ancient Mayan temples, and towns like Guanajuato. Players can explore the map freely, compete in multiplayer races, or complete the campaign mode. Both the cars and the player character can be customized. Players can create custom paint jobs for cars, change engines, drivetrains, or add body kits to certain vehicles. The game is the first in the franchise to support ray tracing on cars. It introduces a new weather system called "local weather," where players can see storms on one side of the map while experiencing different weather on another. Because Mexico has many different elevations, the game shows multiple climates at the same time. The four seasons still exist but affect the eleven unique biomes on the map. For example, dust storms appear during the dry season, and tropical storms happen in the fall. In the jungle, the environment reacts to the weather, such as leaves flying around during strong winds.
Forza Horizon 5 also includes a new feature called the Horizon Arcade, which has mini-multiplayer games scattered across the map. One game is called "Piñata pop," where players work together to pop piñatas dropped by a cargo plane. The game also introduces "EventLab," a tool that lets players create custom races and games. A new feature called "Forza Link" was added. According to Mike Brown, it is an AI assistant that helps players connect with others online and share GPS locations if they accept an invitation. Accolades, a new feature in the series, let players earn points and prizes by completing tasks. Some vehicles can only be unlocked by completing these tasks. There are over 1,800 accolades for players to achieve.
The Eliminator battle royale mode from Forza Horizon 4 returns, but players now start in a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle instead of a 1965 Mini. The map is designed specifically for this mode. Winning Eliminator is very difficult, and there are 12 guides online to help players achieve the related achievement. Players can also buy in-game houses, such as beachside cabanas or hotels, which unlock rewards like Wheelspins and fast travel. The game includes over 800 licensed vehicles.
Due to licensing issues, cars from Alfa Romeo, Fiat (including Abarth), and Lancia were not in the base game. A car called the Stratos HF Stradale was shown in a video before the game’s release but was removed. On July 17, 2023, it was announced that these Italian brands would return in the Series 24 update on August 17, 2023.
Since its release, Forza Horizon 5 has received many content updates and bug fixes. Monthly updates add new cars, collectibles, horns, clothing, and other items. These updates often have themes, such as the Christmas-themed Series 2 update in December 2021. Some updates also change parts of the map, like the Series 5 update, which added a stunt park in a stadium. The game is the first in the series to introduce map changes outside of seasonal updates.
On March 1, 2022, interpreter videos for American Sign Language and British Sign Language were added to cinematic scenes in a picture-in-picture format.
The Series 13 update, released on October 11, 2022, celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Forza Horizon series. It added new content, including a radio station called "Horizon Mixtape" with 15 music tracks from previous games, recreations of key moments from earlier games, the return of Midnight Battles from Forza Horizon 3, and new achievements. Each of the previous four games’ title screens was recreated in the game world, with each week of the update featuring a different game’s theme.
The Series 14 update, released on November 10, 2022, added a new Horizon Story featuring members of Donut Media. In November 2022, Playground Games closed the auction house after discovering a money-making exploit in the game’s Super7 mode. A patch was released to fix the issue, but the auction house remained closed temporarily to rebalance the game’s economy. In June 2023, a 1956 Chevrolet Corvette and a 2022 GMC Hummer EV inspired by the movie Barbie were added as part of a collaboration with Xbox Game Studios and Mattel.
The game’s first expansion, Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels, was released on July 19, 2022. It was accidentally leaked three days before its official announcement. The second expansion, Forza Horizon 5: Rally Adventure, was released on March 29, 2023. It includes a new map, off-road vehicles like trophy trucks and buggies, and a new career mode. A car pack expansion titled Forza Horizon 5: Fast X – Car Pack was released on December 5, 2023. It features vehicles from the 2023 movie Fast X, the tenth film in the Fast & Furious franchise.
Development
Forza Horizon 5 was created by Playground Games. The team aimed to make a game much bigger than earlier versions. They selected Mexico as the game's setting because of its wide variety of landscapes. To add authentic details, the team worked with Mexican artists to design in-game murals and Mexican musicians to create the game's music. A group from the team also traveled to Mexico to collect real-world data about light and the sky. The game used photogrammetry data to make its virtual environment look like real places. For example, the rocks on the side of a caldera volcano are shown in great detail. Even small objects, like the spines of cholla cacti, are visible in the game (this feature is currently only available on Xbox Series consoles).
To create more realistic sounds, Playground Games changed from using traditional looping audio to a granular synthesis system. This change required the team to record over 320 unique engine sounds, capturing every sound from when an engine starts to when it reaches maximum speed and stops. To get high-quality recordings, they used flat-response microphones with special padding to avoid distortion from loud engine noises. They also used stereo and ambisonic microphones placed in car cockpits to record detailed sounds inside vehicles. The developers worked with audio companies to build a custom library of engine sounds, background environments, and collision effects, ensuring all sounds were specifically recorded for this game. The soundtrack can be played using Dolby Atmos technology.
Forza Horizon 5 was introduced during a presentation by Microsoft and Bethesda at E3 2021. The game was released for Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X and Series S on November 9, 2021. A version for PlayStation 5, developed by Panic Button, was released in 2025. This marked the first Forza game to be released on a PlayStation console and on a home console that is not made by Xbox.
Reception
Forza Horizon 5 received "universal acclaim" according to Metacritic, a website that collects and summarizes game reviews.
Game Informer praised the game’s social features, such as comparing scores. One reviewer wrote, "I often saw my friend achieve higher speeds, which made me want to try the challenge again." Ars Technica highlighted the game’s visuals, calling them "next-gen" and noting that the game’s bright and vivid HDR effects made the environments, such as cities and sunsets, look extremely detailed. Rock Paper Shotgun mentioned that while the car handling made the game too easy, new features like the EventLab creator and Super7 events were well-received. A reviewer said, "Even if the game feels familiar, the formula has been perfected." Eurogamer praised the game’s open world set in Mexico, describing the map as "a wonder" with rich, colorful environments, including swamps, deserts, canyons, and vibrant neighborhoods.
Polygon noted that the game allowed players to adjust difficulty and handling settings but felt there were too many events and activities at once. A reviewer compared it to "two teenagers constantly sending messages." The Verge said the game’s progression system was easier to understand than in previous versions, allowing players to choose what to do next. A reviewer added, "You can pick which events to unlock as you play, making it easier to track your progress."
Forza Horizon 5 was named Game of the Year by IGN. Before its release on November 9, over 1.2 million players had accessed the game by purchasing the premium edition or add-ons bundle through Xbox Game Pass. Video Games Chronicle estimated the game’s revenue before release to be between $54 million and $118 million. The game reached the top of Steam’s weekly charts for the week of November 1 to 7, 2021. Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, announced that more than 4.5 million people played the game within 24 hours of its launch, the largest launch for an Xbox Game Studios game. It also had three times more players online at once than Forza Horizon 4. On November 18, the official Forza Horizon Twitter account reported that over 10 million people played the game during its first week, the highest number for an Xbox game in history. Forbes writer Erik Kain credited the game’s success to its availability on Xbox Game Pass, cross-platform play between Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, cloud gaming support, and the game’s high quality. Two months after its release, on January 9, 2022, the game reached 15 million players, breaking the previous series record. Seven months after its release, the game had attracted more than 20 million players.
After its release on PlayStation 5, it became the second best-selling game in the US for April 2025.