Forza Horizon 5 Series 40: Horizon Track Day

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This theme is unexpected but very fun. I love getting the Dakar and new Turbo S
 
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Holiday Update. Not unexpected.
 
This explains EVERYTHING about the last few updates. If they were gearing up for this, no wonder the last few months weren't much more than upgrade fodder.

I don't have a choice in the matter. I have to reinstall. Dammit, they knew exactly how to pull me back in.
 
FH5 Series 40 (just caught up cuz I'm a bit busy with IRL stuff at the moment): Also known as the 2023 Porsche 911 extravaganza (love how all of them have the same model year lol). Not bad, if a bit... boring in a way? Still, can't say I dislike the cars themselves:
911 GT3 RS - widely requested, so it only makes sense. Personally I would've been plenty happy with the "regular" GT3 so this seems a bit excessive in my book, but eh. I don't speak for everybody. Cool for those who want it I guess.
911 Rallye/Dakar - Yeeeees. First time I've heard of supposed licensing issues surrounding the Dakar name though. Gotta love licensing.
911 GT3 R - honestly, given what I said about the GT3 vs GT3 RS, I'd much rather have this over the latter given the context. To be fair though, even without any context, it's a damn cool car. More S1 race cars wont hurt.
911 Turbo S - this might be a hot take, but potential fav car of the update here? I do have a soft spot for the 991 Turbo S in Forza so I'll happily take a 992, even more so when it comes with extra customization as icing on the cake. Yum. I want cake now.
Also, last update with a dedicated Let's Go stream before potential refocus towards FH6 development??? Welp, those are some news alright. Guess I have to rely on other YT channels a bit more for Forza news then.
 
Also, last update with a dedicated Let's Go stream before potential refocus towards FH6 development??? Welp, those are some news alright. Guess I have to rely on other YT channels a bit more for Forza news then.
Yeah, I know. I had a feeling they'd have an announcement about FH5's future here but an end to FH5's regular streams is interesting indeed. Betting we'll see only one or two more Series' worth of actual new content after the Holiday Update before they pull the plug on the live service.
 
I'm looking forward to the new Porsche cars.

This does look like we are finally entering end of life for FH5.
 
Rallye? I think the name is Dakar no?
There's something weird going on with licensing or Senegal does not want to play ball with using their capital's name, I guess. Even the 1/64 Hot Wheels is referred to as a 911 Rallye on the blisterpack.
 
As a Porsche Enthusiast, I'm happy to see all the range of the 992 in Horizon.
The 911 GT3 R anyway, needs to be also in Motorsport too :-D

With the 911 Dakar err. i Mean 911 Rally, I expect in future the rival: dat Huracan Sterrato. (Here in my hometown there's Three of Them, i love that Huracan, it's crazy.)
 
Of course if this is the end for Horizon 5, I'm kinda bummed that the HSV GTS-R, Commodore VL Group A SV, Aston V8 V600, Porsche 928 GTS and the Hudson Hornet won't make it to Horizon 5. I bet they're saved for Horizon 6.
 
Remember, we still have the Holiday Update in December, which is still looking like it'll add new cars according to its teaser in the Playlist. Doesn't sound like they're bringing back the Secret Santa thing this year, so it might just be a Playlist consisting of returning or New-to-Horizon cars, but it's still important to keep in mind when we talk about the future of FH5 going forward.
 
There's something weird going on with licensing or Senegal does not want to play ball with using their capital's name, I guess. Even the 1/64 Hot Wheels is referred to as a 911 Rallye on the blisterpack.

I suspect the organisers of the rally have a trademark on the Dakar name, since it's not had anything to do with the city for more than 15 years now. Perhaps Porsche licensed it for the car, but it's not transferable - a bit like the Plymouth Road Runner becoming the 'Muscle Car' back in GT2 due to the character being licensed from Warner Brothers.
 
Not the biggest 911 fan - but can't deny how requested the 911 GT3 RS/911 Dakar were.

The Halo props/sky box for Event Lab is awesome. The Eventlab team have done a great job continually adding props to keep it fresh for creators.

Going to miss Autumn/Winter as I'm going on holiday - hoping the 911 Dakar and 911 GT3 R will come to the Backstage pass at some point in the next year so I can grab them.

Overall, pretty good update and a bit more meaty than the last few updates which is nice. Though with the news that livestreams are ending for FH5 updates - I think the updates are going to get smaller going forward until support is eventually pulled. We'll see though
 
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Not the biggest 911 fan - but can't deny how requested the 911 GT3 RS/911 Dakar were.

The Halo props/sky box for Event Lab is awesome. The Eventlab team have done a great job continually adding props to keep it fresh for creators.

Going to miss Autumn/Winter as I'm going on holiday - hoping the 911 Dakar and 911 GT3 R will come to the Backstage pass at some point in the next year so I can grab them.

Overall, pretty good update and a bit more meaty than the last few updates which is nice. Though with the news that livestreams are ending for FH5 updates - I think the updates are going to get smaller going forward until support is eventually pulled. We'll see though
Best part of it for me aside from the 911s (it's me, hi, I'm a 911 fan) is that Hide and Seek isn't required for the Playlist this month. Was kinda getting tired of doing it every week, especially for a Bronco Raptor I already had. I've never engaged with EventLab, so the Halo collab isn't that appealing to me, but I'm definitely happy for those who wanted those parts.

As for the streams ending, I bet they'll just use Series trailers as the primary means of communicating update news going forward, like FM2023 does, and blog posts for the actual news. It'll mean having to keep an eye out for them, since those only go up om update day, but I suspect we'll get used to it.
 
Best part of it for me aside from the 911s (it's me, hi, I'm a 911 fan) is that Hide and Seek isn't required for the Playlist this month. Was kinda getting tired of doing it every week, especially for a Bronco Raptor I already had. I've never engaged with EventLab, so the Halo collab isn't that appealing to me, but I'm definitely happy for those who wanted those parts.

As for the streams ending, I bet they'll just use Series trailers as the primary means of communicating update news going forward, like FM2023 does, and blog posts for the actual news. It'll mean having to keep an eye out for them, since those only go up om update day, but I suspect we'll get used to it.
Honestly fine with them moving to streams, especially if it saves them time & resources just moving to articles/teaser trailers.

I still think we'll get new content until Series 46, which I think will be the last update with "new to Horizon 5" cars. Could easily end earlier though, but hoping there is still a little left in the tank until the inevitable FH6 announce.
 
Overall, pretty good update and a bit more meaty than the last few updates which is nice.
You think so? I felt like it was about as barebones as it gets: four cars, some EventLab props (lifted, per their own description, from Halo's Forge mode), three music tracks (lifted from a related game), and a return of both a Stadium makeover and a Collectible from previous seasons.

S39 gave us four cars, Horizon Backstage, new Achievements, a new Collectible, and a new clothing option.

S38 gave us four cars, Hide and Seek, new Accolades, a new Collectible, a new clothing option, new badges, and a new Stadium makeover.

S37 gave us four cars, a new Collectible, a new clothing option, and new race routes.

S36 gave us five cars, a DLC pack, a new Collectible, a new clothing option, new badges, a new location on the world map, and new EventLab props.


After speculating in the various update posts previously that the shift from five new cars (four seasonal, one series) to four, the lack of DLC packs (much though I hate them), and the addition of Horizon Backstage passes all meant a refocus towards end-of-life, the relative absence of... anything didn't really change my mind. It was a surprise, but at the same time it made sense, that they also announced the "pause" (end) of Let's Go.

The Christmas Series looks like it'll be more of the same if they're putting a Showcase Remix into the top four items and I concur with other posters who say Secret Santa looks like it's not coming back (not enough new cars remaining to give a big prize). As the team will be taking a break over Christmas/New Year, we're likely to get December and January's updates together as with previous years.

We're also going to be changing our weekly coverage of the Playlist from S40 onwards. I already pared it back quite a bit from S38, but I'm probably just going to do one overall post for the month from now on and lean away from the fine detail. When they start recycling old Playlists like they did with FH4 I'll stop entirely - but hopefully we'll have FH6 to talk about then!
 
As a Porsche and especially 911 fan, this update couldn't have been much better. Sure, we're not getting the 992 Cup car, but it's still pretty good :P
 
You think so? I felt like it was about as barebones as it gets: four cars, some EventLab props (lifted, per their own description, from Halo's Forge mode), three music tracks (lifted from a related game), and a return of both a Stadium makeover and a Collectible from previous seasons.

S39 gave us four cars, Horizon Backstage, new Achievements, a new Collectible, and a new clothing option.

S38 gave us four cars, Hide and Seek, new Accolades, a new Collectible, a new clothing option, new badges, and a new Stadium makeover.

S37 gave us four cars, a new Collectible, a new clothing option, and new race routes.

S36 gave us five cars, a DLC pack, a new Collectible, a new clothing option, new badges, a new location on the world map, and new EventLab props.


After speculating in the various update posts previously that the shift from five new cars (four seasonal, one series) to four, the lack of DLC packs (much though I hate them), and the addition of Horizon Backstage passes all meant a refocus towards end-of-life, the relative absence of... anything didn't really change my mind. It was a surprise, but at the same time it made sense, that they also announced the "pause" (end) of Let's Go.
Here's my counterargument. For starters, the last three months of streams, including this month, had all been on Fridays. These timeslots are reserved for huge updates with features that don't usually fit into the normal flow of an update--Series 38 added Horizon Hide and Seek, Series 39 added Horizon Backstage, Series 40 is a huge EventLab update. Series 36 was a 'normal' update and so its stream was on a Monday.

To balance these out, the cars we've gotten over the last three months, including, like, 75% of Cars and Coffee, haven't been super-remarkable in the grand scheme of things. Yeah, we got the Evo III, the Camry TRD, the Lagonda, the JZX80 Chaser, and a full-on JDM car pack... but other than that, those updates brought two late-model Ford hatchbacks and a high-performance Durango we could probably have already emulated the performance of with what already exists in-game, a Volvo Polestar from the early 2010s whose model's been sitting around for over ten years waiting to be used, an ug-lee WRX that was so unremarkable it pretty much silenced discussion here for almost a solid week, and now, in Back to the '90s... three returning '90s JDM cars that ultimately aren't that much more than upgrade fodder. Those could at least have been excused by the fact that PG was focused on adding the features their updates came with, but I really do think that three-month stretch was the most lackluster when it comes to new cars.

Now, with Horizon Track Day, not only has that trend of otherwise-unremarkable car updates been broken, we got three highly-requested cars and probably one of the most diverse updates in recent memory. Sure I think there was some wasted potential, even with all these 992s--with the 1993 Leichtbrau and 2007 911 sitting around, you could have had a 911-focused update that drew from all six decades of the car's existence--but this was still a pretty top-tier update. Even if someone doesn't like one 911, chances are there's one or two 911s they will like. If you're into Track Toys, there's the GT3 RS. If you'd rather do rally and off-roading, there's the Dakar. If you're an FM2023 refugee who wouldn't go back to it for anything, or you enjoy the GT3 grid Apex Allstars added, then the GT3 R will more likely than not float your boat. And finally, if you'd rather have a fine blueprint from which to build your own 911 variant, like someone who doesn't care about motorsports and just wants a no-frills 992 911 to build into whatever they want, the 911 Turbo S is right there. It's such a good update that... hell, it even got me to reinstall, y'know?

I do agree that Secret Santa won't be returning. But I'll be interested to see what the future holds, and how long we have left before the final car drops. It's just that, if this is the end of the road for FH5, then they picked a hell of an update to go out on.
 
I see that the Porsche in the picture above have that rare rear pink double-dildo option.
It just ran over Mace Windu so fast that he got duplicated by shutter drag.


As noted in the opening section, I'm trimming the whole thing down to just one basic overview a month now. It's not going to be as comprehensive as the weekly posts but if anyone has any thoughts on improvements other than "put all the things in", they're welcomed.

When they stop doing new stuff and go to repeat playlists like FH4's later stages, I'll stop completely.
 
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