Forza Horizon 5: General Discussion

[VXR]

Glad I don't have to do anything to receive the Sport Classic, but a shame they've twisted my arm to get the two runabout Chinese cars and the 4.0 RS!

I'm just lazy now, I don't want to work for new cars.

 

[RageRacer]

Season Rewards

In response to feedback from our players, we have scaled back the Season Rewards challenges for each season to ensure that players can complete all challenges more easily. As a result, each week and season will feature a unique set of content, for example: Season 4's Battle Royale mode will have only one challenge; in addition, each week's Season Reward will award the vehicle needed for the following week's event, and Season 4 will Season 4 will regularly feature open vehicle restrictions to allow for more options.

In addition to the many Chinese models described above, there are several other vehicles in the Season Rewards waiting to be unlocked and added to the garage.

If their statement is correct, probably all future 25 point rewards will be autoshow cars. (Or an carrior mode exclusive cars?)
The "feedback" we sent them and the "feedback" they read seem to be very different.

That is absolute BS. If those people don't have Xbox Live Gold, so they have no choice but to resort to the Auction House just to get them? I had to because I got the game for Xmas and the only one I need is the Aventador SVJ. The ridiculous prices of the exclusive cars in the AH is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[Apple Slipper]

That is absolute BS. If those people don't have Xbox Live Gold, so they have no choice but to resort to the Auction House just to get them? I had to because I got the game for Xmas and the only one I need is the Aventador SVJ. The ridiculous prices of the exclusive cars in the AH is absolutely ridiculous.

I honestly agree. I don't have XBOX Live Gold either, so this isn't fair for us non-XBOX Live Gold players.

 

[LumpiestFish]

Pretty disappointed that Sport Classic is Car Pass car, not so keen that they’ve gone back to having returning cars as apart of the Car Pass.

Looking to the Mazda though, that’ll be sweet.

 

[WanganDream]

That is absolute BS. If those people don't have Xbox Live Gold, so they have no choice but to resort to the Auction House just to get them? I had to because I got the game for Xmas and the only one I need is the Aventador SVJ. The ridiculous prices of the exclusive cars in the AH is absolutely ridiculous.

Yes, and you're lucky to even be able to find the exhibit in the first place.
I reloaded the AH for dozens of minutes to buy a second AT37 and AT38 to use in different classes because I've always liked them. But there were no listings.

Totally awesome game.

 

[breyzipp]

The Chinese announcement also includes other content for Season 4, but since many members of this forum, including myself, are probably not fluent in Chinese, it's probably best to wait for the English announcement for these.

I’m fluent enough in Chinese to understand what this means:

2012 款保时捷 911 GT3 RS 4.0

Ooh yeah! 👍😎

 

[TheAdmiester]

That's screen-space reflections.

Essentially, it's mirroring what you see on the screen and distorting it so that it appears reflective. Almost every game does it these days, it's most obvious in racing titles.

The best way to tell if a reflection is ray-traced or not is to see if it's reflecting something (preferably in motion) in real-time that's not on the screen.

It's not screen space reflections, it's more or less just a flipped image of the previous frame. It's been in use since FM4 at least, and even PGR 4 does it, way before SSR was a thing.

 

[RageRacer]

Yes, and you're lucky to even be able to find the exhibit in the first place.
I reloaded the AH for dozens of minutes to buy a second AT37 and AT38 to use in different classes because I've always liked them. But there were no listings.

Totally awesome game.

I mean, I only bought 6 exclusive cars from the AH such as the Delorean, Aventador J, RAESR, Maserati 8CTF, Italdesign Zerouno and the Mugen Civic CRX (This one was a pain the butt to get it in the AH). It is impossible to get the Aventador SVJ because people just snap it quickly. (Not that the car is important to me anyway, but eh)

Still so annoying that they are locking new exclusive cars for people who play online and give out players cars from the autoshow for non Xbox Live Gold players. What a way to treat your people. It's either play online and get the new cars, or get stuffed.

 

[Justuxful]

Idk how to feel about this update, I’m conflicted about it.

First of all, the 911 Sport Classic in the car pass is a big disappointment and red flag. All the cars so far have been great and new to Forza, so seeing a 360 era return makes me worried they don’t go down the FH4 car pass route of filling it with returning cars. Could’ve added the new Turbo S if they really wanted a 911 to add…

Also the Golf R Mk 7.5 is a bit of a useless facelift addition imo, as we could’ve, or rather should’ve got the Mk8 one instead. Or if not that, then there are plenty of other super hatches we could’ve got instead. We have two generations of the RS3 missing, the new A45 AMG, the new Focus ST. Or if they really wanted a VW R model, there’s plenty of others we could’ve got instead. Arteon R or Touareg R anyone?


Second of all, we have yet another FH4 car (the 4.0) that should’ve been in FH5 from launch, but was clearly removed to pad out the festival playlist just like the other obvious missing cars that have either returned or will return in the future. Idk how more players aren’t upset about it, it’s absolutely not a licensing issue, but just laziness and artificial lengthening of the games lifecycle.


Third of all, the new cars for the playlist are still at the top of reward requirements, which is so damn annoying. I don’t get why they changed it from how it was in FH4 where the new cars where the easiest to obtain to make it as fair as possible for all. It’s also unfair for players who don’t have Gold, it’s really unacceptable and I hope they change it back to the FH4 way with the next series.


And finally, the Chinese pandering is a bit off putting to me but there’s not much we can do, money talks. Just gonna have to deal with it, first thing I’ll be doing is applying a Taiwan flag on the Nio and the van when I get them The MGs get a pass, since the XPower is British and I’ll just pretend the MG3 is British too


As for positives, the rest of the new cars are great and I’m really looking forward to all of them! The Nio and the MG XPower look awesome, the MG instantly reminds me of Downtown Run, maybe someone else played that game apart from me Also the World Cup sounds interesting, I’m excited to see what that’s all about, and I’m hoping for lots of fixes in this update since it’s been so long since the last one.

Anyway, just my two cents. Sorry for the long post but I’ve had a lot of thoughts about this update and just needed to put it all to writing.

 

[Famine]

The MGs get a pass, since the XPower is British and I’ll just pretend the MG3 is British too

The first models came out of Longbridge, so you can

I've found it weirdly popular in pockets (especially in Wales) and completely absent anywhere else. You never see just one - it's none or five.

 

[cosme]

I think I'll just stop playing seasonal playlists at all. I though about it before and this update just solidifies my decision. Frankly there is so much more content in the base game, I just don't see any reason to spend so much time and getting back just one or two nice cars when I can actually do something more interesting. I don't think the playlists in general are a bad idea but their limited time nature and the current balance between time required and rewards is definitely not right.

I'm also getting tired of waiting for them to fix the traffic and online, it was funny driving empty roads for the first couple of times but the emptiness of the map is just sad now.

 

[breyzipp]

I guess I’m in the minority then if I say I’m super excited about the new cars for Series 4? 🤷‍♂️

If you would ask me to make a top 100 wanted car list there wouldn’t be a single Chinese car in there. Yet here I am being excited for those Chinese brands. The Forza car list has always been a very diverse list for me, from old vintage cars that almost fall apart when you look at them to modern day track monsters and everything in between. But the same goes for regional diversity. I love in Belgium but I totally loved the Australian car focus with FH3. Prior to FH3 I’ve never even heard about Holden, fast forward to today I have watched a 1.5 hour documentary about the rise and fall of Holden.
The majority of our car list is either European, American or Japanese so any car brand outside of those 3 big regions is very welcomed for me. Chinese cars? Sure! Next some Russian cars please.

I‘m a car pass owner as well and I’m not too fussed about a 360 era car being in the car pass. Sure a brand new to franchise car would be better but hey… we got a bunch of brand new cars as playlist rewards as well so it’s not that big of a deal and certainly doesn’t feel like a scam to me.

In regards to FH4 cars being left out of the FH5 release roster and now returning via festival events, it was that way in FH4 as well with cars from prior games. Sure you could look at it as content being held back only to later being drip-fed back to us. On the other hand over 500 cars at release date was a nice number as well, I don’t mind playing the weekly festival playlist for months - if not years - to get the missing cars back, as long as eventually we do get them back (I’m looking at you BMW 507, Mercedes 280 SL and many other beloved classics).

 

[cosme]

The majority of our car list is either European, American or Japanese so any car brand outside of those 3 big regions is very welcomed for me. Chinese cars? Sure! Next some Russian cars please.

Yeah, I got nothing against more cars from other regions. Out of the upcoming cars I'm most excited about Wuling Hongguang S somehow

But I guess I'll just buy it in the AH or in forzathon shop when it's there.

And some Russian cars would be fun to have of course, although can't see any use for them except for a bit of laugh. Maybe if the location of a future game or DLC is a country where there are a lot of Russian cars it will make sense - Cuba for example.

 

[Ali]

I think I'll just stop playing seasonal playlists at all. I though about it before and this update just solidifies my decision. Frankly there is so much more content in the base game, I just don't see any reason to spend so much time and getting back just one or two nice cars when I can actually do something more interesting. I don't think the playlists in general are a bad idea but their limited time nature and the current balance between time required and rewards is definitely not right.

I'm also getting tired of waiting for them to fix the traffic and online, it was funny driving empty roads for the first couple of times but the emptiness of the map is just sad now.

I haven't touched any of the seasonal stuff after unlocking the Aventador SVJ, and I've honestly been enjoying the game a lot more since then.

I really want the Wuling Hongguang S and MG3 though, so I guess I'll have to suffer through more seasonal crap

 

[RazorSharkz]

I'm pretty hyped for these Chinese cars, but I'm still waiting for the Mexican car culture representation to show up a bit more. They did such a great job with the UK and Australia.

 

[andievo]

Oh no, I thought the Chinese cars will come as free DLC, now they will take a month to collect…… As a Chinese, I'm excited about Chinese new cars, but please don't take up the slots for new cars in festival playlist…… And less new cars to collect in season 4…… There better be various tuning options for the MK7.5 Golf R, or else it will be rather pointless. Why sport classic in car pass, thought that will be a playlist car though……

 

[Stang616]

What strikes me as odd still is that we haven't seen anything about these cars outside of China.

 

[Silver Arrows]

I feel like this might spark some decent debate:

Jeff Gerstmann of Giant Bomb's Top 10 of 2021

I don't think there's too much to really say about Forza Horizon 5 other than that it continues the legacy of the previous Horizon games while changing up its progression process in ways that make the game feel more inviting and open, rather than always funneling you into boring, pre-fab events. The game uses its environment really well and, you know what? It's just a pleasant, beautiful video game. It's joyous in the way more games used to be.

I generally trust Jeff's word a lot, he's been a veteran of the games industry and has been around the block more times then you and I have had hot dinners, plus he seems to have a good eye on the general winds of the game industry's changes (The entire Kane and Lynch debacle transitioning to Giant Bomb) but seeing this comment about FH5 does bring up an interesting paradox that I noted in the pre-release hype build up, and also now:

There's an interesting divide between the game's industry singing the praises of FH5, warranted, and generally being very positive about the game, and then the general reception of the game for those who play racing games a lot (who may also be in the games industry, or may not be) being much more critical of the game, especially once launch rolled around. It really just underlines how much of a tight rope act Playground is on when it comes to appealing to the casual or even non-interested racing game player (which they have succeed with, in droves) and generally pleasing the hardcore racing game player or fan of the series (which I think is clear that they have not)

 

[sesselpupser]

I'm still waiting for the Mexican car culture representation to show up a bit more

What do you mean? They put a recycled model of a USDM VW Beetle in there, what more could you possibly want?!

 

[DivitLad]

Got a Konisseggg Jesko, seems my I5 cpu can't deal with it doing over 300mph too long , had a warning once, can see glitching in the scenery, few lock ups aswell. wish they would get a patch out too sort the memory leaks etc.

 

[the13PeSK]

What strikes me as odd still is that we haven't seen anything about these cars outside of China.

...Sure? 😈

 

[WanganDream]

What strikes me as odd still is that we haven't seen anything about these cars outside of China.

Probably the purpose is to market to the Chinese market.
Since this update includes the addition of Chinese voice-overs, it's clear that they want to aggressively appeal to this huge, untapped market.
And for those of us in the rest of the world, we'll just have to wait for Forza Monthly on January 31st.

I don't know if they will continue to do these updates for China, but if they are willing to do so in the future, that is a bit of fun for me.
The Lynk&Co 03 Cyan Edition would definitely be one of the fun saloons, and Hongqi is one of the brands that offers the most Chinese-like luxury saloons.
And many brands from other countries have also produced models exclusively for the Chinese market, including Buick and Lincoln, brands that are lackluster in other parts of the world but retain their old glory in this country.
Finally, and this is a personal reason, I really welcome these more unique and unusual models.
I know that Lambo and Ferrari are very popular, but I get bored with the latest models and variants of these brands all the time. For the time being, I'd like to give the Huracan and Aventador a rest.

Well, most importantly, the FH5 is set in Mexico, not China.
It is of course a prerequisite that they never forget that.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I feel like this might spark some decent debate:

Jeff Gerstmann of Giant Bomb's Top 10 of 2021


I generally trust Jeff's word a lot, he's been a veteran of the games industry and has been around the block more times then you and I have had hot dinners, plus he seems to have a good eye on the general winds of the game industry's changes (The entire Kane and Lynch debacle transitioning to Giant Bomb) but seeing this comment about FH5 does bring up an interesting paradox that I noted in the pre-release hype build up, and also now:

There's an interesting divide between the game's industry singing the praises of FH5, warranted, and generally being very positive about the game, and then the general reception of the game for those who play racing games a lot (who may also be in the games industry, or may not be) being much more critical of the game, especially once launch rolled around. It really just underlines how much of a tight rope act Playground is on when it comes to appealing to the casual or even non-interested racing game player (which they have succeed with, in droves) and generally pleasing the hardcore racing game player or fan of the series (which I think is clear that they have not)

Yeah. When I hear the guys at digital foundry say stuff like "I don't even like racing games, but I love Forza Horizon" it makes you wonder who the game is really for.

For me (owned FH1, FH3, and FH4) the racing is not that good. It's serviceable. The handling is pretty intuitive (minus my gripes about MR and RR cars) and the AI is OK, the routes are OK, the car selection is solid. But I never find myself really enjoying the driving like I would in AC or even FM/GT titles where I might hotlap a particular circuit just for the joy of it.

As an open world game, again, it's serviceable. There's very pretty graphics, a generous world size, and some exploration to do. But it's pretty shallow. I don't know how they could deepen it without fundamentally changing the nature of the game (like...getting out and walking around would be huge, but that would require a lot of thought to implement correctly), but if you are to compare the level of interactivity and accessible areas with a true open world game like Skyrim or even GTA V, there's a tremendous difference. Even compared to a mainline GT title with their career modes, museum aspects, multiple locations, etc, FH feels pretty minimal. And with no real sense of progression nor story to speak of, it feels even more shallow.

So what's left is the social aspect...which admittedly I haven't really touched, but I guess adds some mileage for some? With the addition of the route builder & S7 in FH4 and Eventlab in FH5, this is the arm of the FH experience that seems to be getting the most attention from PG and the franchise seems to be drifting towards jump-in-and-play online-arcade model that titles like CoD and Fornite revolve around. It's hard to blame PG as that's where the money is. I'm almost certain that there is enormous pressure from Microsoft to turn Forza Horizon into the racing game version of Fornite.

Ultimately, the franchise has always been a game that, after the exploration honeymoon period ends, I play for an hour or two at a time, maybe once a week, but in none of them have I ever found myself really drawn into it like I was with FM4/GT5/PCARS/AC for the joy of driving nor GTA V/Skyrim/Fallout for the open world depth.

I'm not sure exactly who FH is for, but I can say with some certainty that it isn't for me.

 

[Famine]

...Sure? 😈

How "very soon" is Monday?

 

[Populuxe]

...Sure? 😈

Referring to the meme you attached, I find that “adding in cars the playerbase actually wants” always translates as “adding in cars that I want.”

 

[Stang616]

...Sure? 😈

Well, I don't follow their Twitter and never saw the official announcement, it wasn't on their YouTube nor on the official forums.

Referring to the meme you attached, I find that “adding in cars the playerbase actually wants” always translates as “adding in cars that I want.”

100% agree. It's the same on all of their communication platforms. "We want x,y,z,", "we don't want this...", etc. Every time there's always people that disagree and make the whole statement untrue, lol.

 

[PJTierney]

Referring to the meme you attached, I find that “adding in cars the playerbase actually wants” always translates as “adding in cars that I want.”

Also, if anyone ever says "we need" when it comes to gaming, what they really mean is "I want".

 

[Populuxe]

Well, most importantly, the FH5 is set in Mexico, not China.
It is of course a prerequisite that they never forget that.

I agree with you on just about every point. Yes, these cars are meant to boost sales in China. I don’t care. All four cars look like fun. Especially the MG X-Power. I’ve been wanting that in a Horizon game since the beginning. I just want to be assured they are keeping their focus on Mexican car culture. Hopefully the first expansion will include more indigenous cars. That would go a long way towards reassuring me.

 

[Stang616]

I agree with you on just about every point. Yes, these cars are meant to boost sales in China. I don’t care. All four cars look like fun. Especially the MG X-Power. I’ve been wanting that in a Horizon game since the beginning. I just want to be assured they are keeping their focus on Mexican car culture. Hopefully the first expansion will include more indigenous cars. That would go a long way towards reassuring me.

Mastretta would be nice, but I'm also hoping this opens the door to bring back the classic MG cars.

 

[prousonhairy]

I think the reviewers/mainly positive reviews are different then the people who do the weekly grind for the cars each week. The game is excellent, I mean there were bugs and still are, but I feel like they’ve done a decent job of ironing them out for the most part.

My really only major gripe with the game, is doing the same stuff over and over each week just to not miss out on a car. Maybe they feel like that’s a way to keep the player numbers up, or keep people interested. I feel like it’s starting to come off as lazy and I am super bored with it. There needs to be way more variety of events if they are going to keep doing the series like this. I feel like once a month for an exclusive car would be fine, or some other system all together.