Forza Horizon 5’s next Series, themed around automotive YouTube channel Donut Media, is to be detailed during the Forza Monthly live stream on Thursday November 3.
It hasn’t been a particularly well-kept secret — other than the precise time it will arrive — with Donut Media itself accidentally revealing just about every broad stroke of the update in a podcast back in August.
That means that we largely know what to expect from the update already, although the details of the Donut-themed playlist remain under wraps until the stream.
Podcast host James Pumphrey stated during the original version of the cast that the update will include what Donut Media calls the “Hi Car/Low Car”, “Hi Truck/Low Truck”, and “Money Pit” cars.
For those who don’t follow the channel, they consist of two Nissan 350Zs modified with expensive (“hi”) and cheap (“low”) parts respectively, two Toyota Tacoma Overlands modified in a similar style, and a track day NA Miata and a rally-mod E36 328. We can expect all six vehicles, although that has yet to be truly confirmed.
In addition, Pumphrey revealed that “they scanned our faces!”, further clarifying that this meant Nolan Sykes, Zach Jobe, Jeremiah Burton, Justin Freeman, and Pumphrey himself had their likenesses scanned by PG. This probably means they will appear in the game in some capacity — likely as NPCs.
That rather strongly suggests a special new Horizon Story based on Donut Media and the Hi/Low and Money Pit shenanigans, similar to the Top Gear Horizon Story from Forza Horizon 4.
What else might be coming along is something of a mystery. Unusually the header images for the Monthly stream appear to show cars already in the game — a Mitsubishi Starion and what might be a Koenigsegg Jesko, although that’s far from clear — when all previous streams have, in some capacity, revealed new cars coming in the update.
Additionally, the official Forza social media accounts have posted up more clues about future plans by way of a “Torben Tuesday” teaser, featuring Playground Games senior designer Torben Ellert.
This month’s whiteboard has proven close to indecipherable, save for the sticky notes detailing future Series that indicate a dual Series 15/16 update which, like S2/3, will cover the studio’s break for the holidays.
However, there’s also a QR code which leads to a crossword puzzle, and the social media posts themselves contain three crossword-style clues with emojis. Four down is the obvious “Donut Media”, while three across is “Rocket Bunny”, suggesting the return of the Japanese bodykit manufacturer. One across reveals “Ray Tracing” (on PC only), which could mean real-time raytracing in regular gameplay on PC versions of the game.
A further six lines on the crossword are as yet clueless, as is much of the community regarding what the answers may be — with a number of equally good suggestions to fit the known letters in the absence of any further hints.
The Forza Monthly show will start at 1600 UTC — and be aware if you live in a territory that has recently shifted time zones as a result of daylight saving time — on Thursday November 3. That will give just under a week’s worth of anticipation as S14 itself will get underway at 1430 UTC on Thursday November 10.
See more articles on Forza Horizon 5 Game Updates and Forza Monthly.
