Playground Games has dropped the first major update aimed at improving the in-game experience for players in Forza Horizon 5.
It’s pretty hefty for a “hotfix”, weighing in at close to a gigabyte on Xbox consoles, but that’s because the update addresses several issues that have been present in the latest iteration of the open world racer since entering early access earlier this month.
Originally earmarked for release last week, the team at PG delayed the hotfix until today as an issue popped up at the last minute that required more testing before release.
Probably the biggest single issue addressed is that of the game’s online modes. Horizon Arcade has particularly benefitted; players will recall that completing all three rounds of the limited-time events were nigh-on impossible as it was pretty common to enter the co-op mode by yourself even if other players were in the Arcade zone.
Now, after the update, we can safely report this is no longer the case. Driving into the starting area no longer puts you in a standalone session, and other players no longer disappear after the fact. For those unable to complete this week’s Festival Playlist challenge for the Arcade — now is your chance!
Other online issues addressed include the quite irritating issue whereby the player car would suddenly stop dead when disconnecting from Horizon Life, breaking whatever event, skill chain, or accolade you were doing at the time. Horizon Life connection stability itself has also been improved.
Several issues that could cause the game to crash have also been addressed, along with one where the player could literally fall through the bottom of Mexico in certain instances.
VIP players will also notice fixes for rewards from player houses, including the free VIP house (La Casa Solariega) not being free in some instances, and not giving the Forzathon Points boost in others.
While Playground gives with one hand, it also takes away with the other. An early exploit to generate infinite Super Wheelspins, applicable to a variety of cars but particularly centered on the 1945 Willys MB Jeep, has been removed.
Another glitch which allowed players to buy cars they ordinarily couldn’t through the Car Collection screen has also been removed.
You can find a full list of patch notes in the comments thread for this article.
Featured image courtesy of ImaRobot.
