Forza Horizon is a racing video game released in 2012. It was created by Playground Games and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360 on October 23, 2012. This game is the fifth part of the Forza series, which originally came from Turn 10 Studios’ Forza Motorsport games. The game takes place during a fictional event called the Horizon Festival, a street racing competition. Players advance by winning races and increasing their popularity through stunts and other activities. Unlike earlier Forza games, Forza Horizon allows players to explore an open world.
When it was first released, Forza Horizon was highly praised by critics. It led to its own series, with four more games released after it: Forza Horizon 2 in 2014, Forza Horizon 3 in 2016, Forza Horizon 4 in 2018, and Forza Horizon 5 in 2021. A sixth game, Forza Horizon 6, is scheduled to release in 2026. In July 2025, the Forza Horizon series replaced the original Forza Motorsport series. At that time, nearly half of Turn 10 Studios’ employees were laid off, and the studio was restructured to focus on supporting the Forza Horizon series and the ForzaTech engine.
The game was removed from the Xbox 360 Marketplace on October 20, 2016, because its car brand licenses expired. On June 23, 2023, it was announced that online servers for Forza Horizon and Forza Horizon 2 would shut down on August 22, 2023.
Gameplay
Forza Horizon is a game that focuses on casual street racing instead of professional racing on tracks. The game takes place on a map of temporarily closed public roads, which is based on Colorado, a state in the United States. Players can explore an open-world map and participate in different types of races, such as circuit races, off-road rally races, and traditional point-to-point races. The roads include both AI-controlled traffic and, in online mode, other players driving their own cars. Players can challenge other racers they meet to a one-on-one race to a specific location. These races begin at the player’s current location and end at a randomly chosen destination, usually more than 500 meters away from the player and their opponent.
The game includes a skill system where players earn popularity points during races by driving aggressively. Actions like drifting, jumping over obstacles, and balancing a car on two wheels increase a player’s popularity level. These actions can be combined into a combo, which affects how much money players earn after completing a race. As a player’s popularity level increases, new special events are unlocked, such as races against helicopters and planes.
In an interview, Dan Greenawalt, the creative director of Turn 10, said the game was developed with real music festivals, like Coachella, as inspiration. He wanted the game to have a more relaxed gameplay style compared to other Forza games while keeping realistic car handling. The festival and its related activities are a major focus of the game, not just racing.
Speed traps are part of the game, where players can compete to see who can drive the fastest in a specific area. Cameras record players’ times, which can be shared with other players. Rivals can then try to beat the recorded times. A photography mode is also included. The map contains barn find cars, which are rare, old vehicles that players can restore and add to their garage for later use.
Other features include an auto-show where players can buy or sell cars, a garage where players can upgrade their cars manually or automatically, and a paint shop where players can design custom paint colors and car designs. While free-roaming, players may see discount signs. If players break these signs, all upgrades will cost less money from that point onward.
Development
Forza Horizon was created by Playground Games, a British company. Many of its employees previously worked at studios known for making earlier racing games, such as Project Gotham Racing, Driver, Colin McRae: Dirt, Colin McRae Rally, Race Driver: Grid, and Burnout. Playground Games first proposed a new version of the long-unused Project Gotham Racing, but this idea was changed into Forza Horizon. Dan Greenawalt, who leads Turn 10 Studios, said, "I trust Playground Games because I believe they will surprise players with creative ideas. They and we share the same goal: to innovate and meet players' expectations."
Some of the best racing games in the past 20 years have come from UK game studios, even though working with outside developers carries risks. Dan Greenawalt believes taking these risks helps achieve the goals for the Forza franchise.
To build the game’s environment, developers studied nearly 30 real places. After their research, creative director Ralph Fulton said Colorado, USA, was the best choice. Teams traveled to Colorado to take videos and over 50,000 photos for reference. The goal was to create a unique version of Colorado. Design started with a 2D map, which later became 3D models. The game includes different landscapes, such as snowy mountain roads, plains, foothills, and an area inspired by Colorado’s Red Rocks Park. These areas are shown in a made-up way alongside the game’s Horizon festival. Developers said moving between these areas was one of the hardest tasks. The game also includes realistic plants and animals to add depth.
In August 2012, Forza shared a list of vehicles on its social media pages. The list included a 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge, a 2012 Hennessey Venom GT, and a Lamborghini Countach LP500 QV, among others. In September 2012, a season pass was announced for downloadable content (DLC). This pass allowed players to download the first six car packs (six cars each), five exclusive cars, and access to a rally expansion pack released on 18 December 2012. Players could buy individual cars if they wanted. Some cars, called "unicorn cars," were rare and could only be given to players through special events or community actions.
In April 2013, a free DLC pack called the 1000 Club was released. It added new achievements and in-game medals, including two free cars: the Ruf CTR2 and the Ford F100. Each car in the game had about five or six achievements players could unlock. Completing some achievements also gave players Xbox achievements. Forza Horizon received a 12 rating from PEGI and a T rating from ESRB, making it the only Forza game to get these ratings.
In September 2016, Brian Ekberg, the series’ community manager, announced that the game had reached "End of Life" status. This meant the game and all DLC were removed from stores on 20 October 2016. However, in April 2022, the game briefly returned to the Xbox Games Store before being removed again. The DLC was not relisted. In March 2018, Microsoft updated the game to support 4K resolution on Xbox One X consoles. In June 2023, Turn 10 Studios announced that online servers for Forza Horizon and Forza Horizon 2 would close on 22 August 2023. This made online multiplayer unplayable and stopped users from sharing or downloading user-created content.
Soundtrack
The game's soundtrack includes several dubstep songs, with one example being a remix of Avicii's "Levels" by American music producer Skrillex. Three fictional radio stations are included in the game, each playing different types of music. Some songs in the soundtrack are created by well-known music producers, while others are made by less famous artists. Australian artists such as Cut Copy and Empire of the Sun are also featured. Playground Games collaborated with Rob da Bank, the founder of Bestival and a DJ, who helped choose the music and design the festival in the game. In an interview with DJMag, Rob da Bank explained, "I was involved from the beginning as a creative consultant. My role included selecting the music, designing the festival within the game, explaining how the radio stations work in the car, and making sure restrooms are not near food areas."
Reception
Forza Horizon received "favorable" reviews from Metacritic, a website that collects and averages game reviews. Scores ranged from two perfect ratings given by Jeff Gerstmann of Giant Bomb and David Wahlström of Eurogamer Sweden to a 60% approval rating from Philip Kollar of Polygon. Most reviews gave the game an 80% approval rating or higher. It ranked among the top 20 Xbox LIVE titles for the first two months after its release. During the 16th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Forza Horizon for "Racing Game of the Year."
Eurogamer's deputy editor, Oli Welsh, said Horizon is a large, exciting game that finally brings car fans together with realistic open roads. He noted that the control system and realistic driving mechanics allow players to enjoy driving even the slowest cars. GamesRadar's Sterling McGarvey mentioned that some cars lacked precise handling but praised the game's environment and variety of activities. Matthew Kato of Game Informer highlighted the game's visuals, especially the dynamic day/night cycle and detailed environments and vehicles. He also praised the online multiplayer mode, including the Cat and Mouse chase game. Kato noted that guardrails in the open world sometimes block players from creating their own paths during events like races against planes.
Polygon's Philip Kollar criticized the open-world environment for feeling empty and the game's DLC (downloadable content) plan for being expensive and aggressive. He said the game feels "desperate to squeeze your wallet empty" even though the content is not forced on players. Kollar stated that Forza Horizon is best when it stops pretending to be a realistic simulation and instead embraces its arcade-style gameplay.
Non-video game publications also gave the game high praise. The Digital Fix scored it nine out of ten, calling it a new direction for the series that deserves attention. They praised its visuals, summer soundtrack, and variety of racing options, saying it makes a traditionally serious racing simulator fun. The Daily Telegraph gave it four stars out of five, calling it a thrilling and charismatic game. The Globe and Mail scored it eight out of ten, saying it is a fresh approach to racing that balances realism and arcade-style fun. Digital Spy gave it four stars out of five, noting that Playground Games raised the standard for open-world racing games. The Guardian also gave it four stars out of five, praising its "RPG-like popularity engine" that encourages players to perform stunts and take risks instead of just following racing lines.
In Japan, Famitsu gave the game a total score of 36 out of 40. One reviewer said the game's events and public road racing represent a new direction for the series. They noted that earning popularity through drifting and other activities makes driving fun but wished the game had more unique features. Another reviewer said the game is easier to play than previous versions, with more forgiving controls and open-world freedom that makes it more approachable.