Forza Horizon 5: General Discussion

[Edax 76]

Absolutely bloody loving Epitaph Records. Great tunes for my taste.

 

[sw3g005]

I don't think the target audience for Forza would be remotely suitable for betas with their bugs and generally unpolished experience. Forza is aimed squarely at Gamepass numbers and is meant to be an Xbox seller, after all.

I didn't mean it as in "Forza should do open betas", I meant it more as in Premium Edition allowing you to play the game early. Arguably that's an ever better example than ETS2's open betas, though then again, as I said in the comment, many people play ETS2's open betas simply cuz they get to enjoy an update early, so it's still a decent enough example, atleast in my opinion.

Anyway, if say PG would employ a "similar" strategy, it wouldn't be that they literally would release unfinished early version of cars that they're gonna feature in a more complete state later, but rather that they do the series as usual and then a series or two later they make the series cars available for everyone regardless if they participated in the series or not - it's just that I thought of ETS2's open betas as proof that PG releasing series cars for everyone later wouldn't harm the engagement/profitability of the game. I admit I may not have made that part clear in my post, so I'm sorry about that.

 

[Animedeaf]

Okay, I tried to enter the Rally Adventure expansion in Forza Horizon 5 several times, but this didn't work.

What will I do?

Edit: Never mind. I have to wait until 2PM.

 

[pclark06]

If it's an exodus like this, something tells me it isn't the game that's the problem but the company. Then whether it's company structure, the company's relationship with Microsoft, even work culture, I don't know.

Speaking of ETS2 though... I'd argue the game's open betas are proof that PG could release cars after their dedicated series without losing "player engagement". Why? Simple - early access is a surprisingly powerful thing. ETS2 open betas attract a bunch of players, even ones who aren't very interested in bug reporting simply cuz they get to enjoy some of the perks of the upcoming update (map reworks, new gameplay features etc) early. If PG added playlist cars in a latter series through say wheelspins (if not the series directly after, maybe the one after that?), I would not be surprised if a similar phenomenon occurs, with player engagement for the series being impacted very little (if at all) and with players being able to access cars that they couldn't get their hands on in time maybe it'd quell atleast some of the negativity around the game. Sounds like a win-win situation in my book.

Microsoft does do betas with other games too - Flight Simulator's which are "closed" but honestly are pretty easy to sign up for with the Xbox Insider Hub. I sometimes test their updates ahead of time and it obviously doesn't decrease my engagement with Flight Sim

 

[strela]

Have they realized that Horizon 5 can be somewhat stale or something?

Or, and this is just my opinion, they just grow tired of all the backlash. Because no matter what they do we will always tackled hard anything they do.

Maybe I'm wrong but since FH4 there is no way you can make a positive post on the official forum without being labelled as fanboy or even worse. Now here on GTP the atmosphere is better sure but that specific forum will always be their main source of information. People tend to forget things but I remember clearly when Retro Krystal was active on forums and Discord. She wasn't the best person for the job, but she was trying harder than she should. Still she was literally forced to quit. This is just one small example of toxic fan base. I would really like a honest opinion of any mod over there about their users, but I know it will never happen.

I myself grow really tired of all this recycle, copy pasta, it's a dead game, we spend our hard work money and other things. I can only imagine how they feel. Because they care. Maybe more than any other big studios. I would quit too.

I'm maybe really a fanboy but I have several reasons to prefer FH4 and 5 over any others Horizon and not a single one is about my feelings. This 2 games are probably my best/favourite racing games ever made. And I'm really sad because I'm afraid this series will end and we will get just another 20h game with story and progression...

How I miss the good old times when developers could just make games without trying hard to please everyone every time.

 

[PJTierney]

Still she was literally forced to quit.

Without getting into the gossip side of things (because I’ve read rumours and such but can’t verify anything of course), I don’t think it was player feedback that made her want to leave. She clearly enjoyed working on Forza.

Pretty much the entire “old guard” of community people left Turn 10 and Playground Games between 2018 and 2020, Mechberg, Helios, Co Pilot, Retro, and later Johniwanna in 2022.

 

[TheOE]

I looked at Discord and Reddit throughout the day and I’m shocked to see at least 100 posts asking the same questions. Are people just not able to do small amounts of research (e.g. Googling, Schrolling down a post) and only want to get their answers put onto a silver platter? It gets worse by the year, absolutely mindblowing…

 

[FoxMulder]

What the heck is going on? Why are they leaving? Have they realized that Horizon 5 can be somewhat stale or something?

they’re 5 games in and have dialed in the formula over 10 years. It may be stale to people that played every game or even a couple, but there probably just isn’t going to be massive changes or risks at this point with the franchise.

FH6 will be on the new engine, look amazing, and get 10/10 reviews with this same gameplay.

 

[-Fred-]

Still she was literally forced to quit.

She left on her own, I'm fairly sure. There were very strong rumors at the time that she quit because she was getting stalked/harassed by some online creeps, she dissapeared from all socials and streaming platforms for a few weeks/months after that, if I recall correctly.

Edit: on a more positive note, the update is now out.

 

[skazz]

Well looking at nearly 30 million unique gamertags on the hall of fame is still something special if you are a game creator. Huge numbers.

I'm with @strela that FH4 and FH5 are probably my favourite ever racing/driving games. And this is despite having played every PC sim in the last 20 years, plus various GTs, FMs, FH1 and FH3 (didn't have an Xbox One so missed out on 2). The balance that PG reached with the driving physics together with the map and event structure is so good that I just have a smile on my face every time I play either game.

 

[EngieDiesel]

So I reinstalled FH5 a couple days ago since hard drive space is no longer an issue and I want to at least try the content I paid for well in advance, and apparently the game has completely forgotten that I 100%'ed the Hot Wheels expansion, as it just reappeared on the map and prompted me to do the intro race again, and all the associated accolades are coming up unfinished. It also says I can't do the Trial as I haven't entered the hall of fame, even though I did that like forever ago and have a leaderboard entry with over 600,000 points logged.

Like, I dunno if this is due to me installing on a whole new computer or if the Steam save is desynced with whatever data Microsoft has or what, but it's honestly rather silly. I'm almost tempted to plow through the HW expansion again and see if it gives me a second copy of the reward cars, but I dunno if that's going to trigger a shadowban if my profile re-syncs or what (and honestly I can't be bothered because I didn't really enjoy that expansion much).

 

[FoxMulder]

I just played the eliminator for the first time in a while for the playlist and forgot how diabolical the random logs are.

 

[Edax 76]

Yay I'm downloading the Rally DLC.

 

[ShawnPhillips]

I looked at Discord and Reddit throughout the day and I’m shocked to see at least 100 posts asking the same questions.

As a moderator on r/ForzaHorzion my comment history is now flooded with copy-pasted responses to the same few questions being asked 100s of times.

That place can be insufferable at times.

 

[Beebo]

Without getting into the gossip side of things (because I’ve read rumours and such but can’t verify anything of course), I don’t think it was player feedback that made her want to leave. She clearly enjoyed working on Forza.

Pretty much the entire “old guard” of community people left Turn 10 and Playground Games between 2018 and 2020, Mechberg, Helios, Co Pilot, Retro, and later Johniwanna in 2022.

Oh geez, Johniwanna left too??

 

[FoxMulder]

Yay I'm downloading the Rally DLC.

Very slowly. Why didn’t they do a preload for a 18 GB update people are downloading at once. I’m only getting like 50 Mbps.

 

[sw3g005]

Maybe I'm wrong but since FH4 there is no way you can make a positive post on the official forum without being labelled as fanboy or even worse. Now here on GTP the atmosphere is better sure but that specific forum will always be their main source of information. People tend to forget things but I remember clearly when Retro Krystal was active on forums and Discord. She wasn't the best person for the job, but she was trying harder than she should. Still she was literally forced to quit. This is just one small example of toxic fan base. I would really like a honest opinion of any mod over there about their users, but I know it will never happen.

One thing that ought to be mentioned is since you mentioned FH4, FH4 was the first game to do Festival Playlist. I can't exactly remember if the criticism started beforehand, but it is entirely possible that the Festival Playlist introduced new challenges to the studio related to monthly updates and have said monthly update feature somewhat meaningful content for obvious player retention/money purposes, which I can imagine can be quite stressful. Add onto that a highly toxic community (among a sea of highly toxic racing game communities) - which might've gotten worse simply cuz of the size of it getting increased with the popularity of the franchise - and it wouldn't surprise me if a bunch of people leave because working at PG, with those factors at play, simply burnt them out, and badly.
Then why Turn 10 devs would leave... IDK. Maybe collateral damage from FH fans spilling over to spam negativity over FM aswell?

 

[Edax 76]

Very slowly. Why didn’t they do a preload for a 18 GB update people are downloading at once. I’m only getting like 50 Mbps.

I feel your pain bud, my speeds are pants too 😥

 

[Populuxe]

I won't get home until about 8 tonight, then I can begin downloading. Then I'm going to have to work late tomorrow, too. So at best I won't be able to touch the Rally Expansion for another 36 hours or so.

 

[strela]

She left on her own, I'm fairly sure. There were very strong rumors at the time that she quit because she was getting stalked/harassed by some online creeps, she dissapeared from all socials and streaming platforms for a few weeks/months after that, if I recall correctly.

I remember that she just disappeared suddenly. After being very active.
Look maybe she really left on her own but it was still strange. Maybe she was just tired, because I remember she even had to remind certain users they needed to buy the DLC to get access to that specific content. And of course she needed to check that specific person's account first.

Without getting into the gossip side of things (because I’ve read rumours and such but can’t verify anything of course), I don’t think it was player feedback that made her want to leave. She clearly enjoyed working on Forza.

Pretty much the entire “old guard” of community people left Turn 10 and Playground Games between 2018 and 2020, Mechberg, Helios, Co Pilot, Retro, and later Johniwanna in 2022.

And now I'm sad again. 😅

 

[ykiki]

I won't get home until about 8 tonight, then I can begin downloading. Then I'm going to have to work late tomorrow, too. So at best I won't be able to touch the Rally Expansion for another 36 hours or so.

I feel ya - I've been in the same boat lately. It might be a case of downloading updates tonight when I get home and finally getting to drive around a bit Friday night... oh wait - that's Mrs ykiki's birthday, so probably not. 🤔 Maybe Saturday?

One bright spot is that my new TV should be arriving sometime on Saturday. Though on second thought, after checking the DATE, maybe I should've scheduled a different day! 😲

 

[EngieDiesel]

So without spoiling anything I will say that having the content gated by racing type instead of car class makes the rally adventure a lot less boring than the HW expansion, but it still feels like I'm being ushered through a theme park ride rather than participating in a motorsports series. I'd akin this more to Fortune Island in terms of overall feel really, just with rally gimmicks dressing up the place instead of viking gimmicks.

Not really what I was hoping for, but at least I don't actively dislike it.

 

[Pepperoncini]

I don’t know what to feel about it. I think I’m done with the series. It felt more of the same. Some cool twists and turns in the first 5 races, but I’m not overly excited about it at all. Blah, it’s me isn’t it?

 

[nukleabomb]

The roads really feel like a cut above the base game. If this is any indication for how FH6's map will be, then consider me sold already.
The rally call outs when the map and racing line are off are really fun, especially in co op with a friend (the illusion of a difficult opponent holds well when you can't see the AI rubberband). Just spent an hour driving SUVs on the Devil's Pass Co op Horizon Rally.

 

[Beebo]

The roads are definitely an improvement over base map here, if fh6's roads are like this I wouldn't complain.

Also, anyone else notice that cars get way dirtier now? I kinda love it.

 

[breyzipp]

I think the map is great judging from what I’ve seen so far. But I can’t ignore this overarching feeling of “been there, done that”. New races… again. Jumping danger signs… again. Smashing piñatas…. again. Collecting progression points to unlock stuff and story chapters.… again. Over-the-top exciting cringe NPCs… again.
*yawn this tough day at work made me a bit sleepy and that sleep seems to have the upper hand, not the excitement of a new FH expansion.

FH3 Blizzard Mountain and FH3 Hot Wheels are still by far the most exiting FH expansions I’ve experienced. All the other ones don’t even come close. I’ll see how this one turns out and I can surely see myself liking it more than FH5 Hot Wheels and possibly even becoming my 3rd favourite expansion after the aforementioned duo, but the fatigue of the repeated formula sure is hitting me. Maybe that fatigue is also caused by the lack of a Forza Motorsport game, we just had too much FH continuity for many years, normally Motorsport breaks the FH timeline for about a year. That didn’t happen since FH4 and now also FH5, both games already have extended lifespans well over the usual 1 year.

Anyways, back to the expansion, my sweet spot in these initial races seems to be C class (of all things ). My most memorable Rally drives so far have been in the 2004 Nissan Pickup #23 Rally Raid (I disliked that thing in the main game) and the 2021 Ford Bronco (of course with the roof opened while this helicopter is blowing lots of sand inside - the festival pays for the cleanup costs right? 😎).

I also have to admit that while I only unlocked the first 2 cars (Focus & Bug), I am looking forward more to unlocking all these expansion buggies and pro trucks more than I initially thought I would.

 

[willbsn13]

I don't agree with every point Hoki makes - especially the one about many games doing base map extensions. I feel like this is very rarely done in the AAA space anymore, especially in racing games. Maps definitely change landscape and evolve, like in Fortnite, Apex and the The Crew, but rarely get bigger - though please prove me wrong, I've probably missed some good examples here.

But he does make some good observations I feel and sums up how I feel about the expansion well.

Another way I'd put it is - This expansion feels very safe. You could say the same about most of FH5 base game as well. Nothing exactly wrong with that, but it's definitely getting repetitive for long time players.

 

[-Fred-]

My only real complaint so far is that stupid helicopter that follows you around and throws dust at your face when it's day and blinds ou at night so you can't see anything. Other than that I feel it's fine, the environment itself is beautiful and the roads are fun. I quite like how the sand dunes are a bit more "grabby" than the ones in the main game, for lack of a better expression.

 

[The_Greaser]

And I've just started!

 

[strela]

but rarely get bigger - though please prove me wrong, I've probably missed some good examples here.

You are not wrong. The only DLC I know that is connected to the main map is Big Surf Island for Burnout Paradise. But technically both DLC for Hot Wheels Unleash are also connected to the main (road) map. 🤣

Will try the expansion tomorrow since I still have 8h of downloading....