Forza Horizon 5: General Discussion

[FoxMulder]

I feel like it could be both; licensing occurs on a game-per-game basis I think (wouldn't surprise me if it's easier/cheaper to do it that way), and PG probably feel some kind of pressure to please Microsoft by 1. releasing a new game and create engagement, 2. continue to generate interest by drip feeding cars over time, and 3. have some of said cars be past cars cuz licensing is a [REDACTED].

Thinking about it, this alone could be one reason (if not the reason) why it's been rumored that FH6 might be the last Forza Horizon (atleast for a long time) - licensing cars per game is just so tricky and costly that it's easier to just have one game and keep it going as long as possible. After all FH4 did eventually get a whole slew of cars that wasn't present at launch (including Mitsubishi AND Toyotas), some of which not even FH5 has gotten yet.

Now whether that's even remotely likely to happen or not... that's a different story.

With Forza on Gamepass, it just makes sense to turn these into long time service games instead of rotating releases each year like they used to be.

 

[Nacho Libre]

Can you imagine a future Forza Horizon title similar to Fortnite (Forznite? Please don't kill me ) in the sense that it has seasons longer than the current updates, and every season brings a new/expanded/modified map and timed events with free/paid content? I'm fully aware that the Crew 2 does something like that, and say what you will, I've found it does some things better than FH.

 

[Morbid65]

I got mine now! I will get its regular XPower (in-name only) 6 eventually whenever I can.

Surprisingly it handles superior as well, just like the L&C 03 TCR. I hope this makes it to the FM reboot.

Not sure why it would surprise you that it handles good given it's a literal race car, but yeah the TCR cars do drive quite nice in FH5. I particularly like how they can actually lift the inside rear tire in hard cornering. Gives the cars a better sense of suspension travel and roll than previous Forza games have, an area they have always lacked whether a Horizon title or Motorsport title.

It's a real shame they have made both of the TCR cars "exclusives" that need to be earned through the playlist, as they would be cool cars to use for a different experience for some of the weekly playlist stuff. An MG vs L&C racecar rivalry would be a more interesting weekly set of events than most of this junk we get. Sadly, since anyone who missed out on them in the playlist wouldn't be able to participate, no go on that.

I'm kind of inclined to think that we are only getting the TCR cars in FH5 because they were already worked on for FM8, as we know several TCR cars were available in the XB1 version of the FM8 beta test because it was one of the divisions to race, including the VW Golf TCR as well. Horizon typically isn't the place for race cars but we have got a few over the years, but almost all of them have been copy/pastes from a Motorsport title. My guess is we will have the MG6 and 03 TCRs in FM8, along with some more.

Never seen a Stinger in real life.......oh and love ya more 😘.

I'm pretty indifferent to Kia in general, but I have to say it is a pretty striking car in person. It feels big, wide and low, definitely more of a "presence" than most cars in its segment.

I'm in the US but I've only seen maybe 2 or 3 of them up close. Seen a few sitting at a dealership when I drive past, but that's not quite the same as standing next to a car.

Can you imagine a future Forza Horizon title similar to Fortnite (Forznite? Please don't kill me ) in the sense that it has seasons longer than the current updates, and every season brings a new/expanded/modified map and timed events with free/paid content? I'm fully aware that the Crew 2 does something like that, and say what you will, I've found it does some things better than FH.

If they were to do that, they would probably need to go to an actual microtransaction model.

I think the way it sits now, we are kinda getting the worst of both worlds. We paid our money for the game, yet we get the tedious repetition of weekly playlist "challenges" for dripfeed content that is generally considered an annoyance in service games that is tolerated because of the fact that you didn't have to pay for the game and you have occasional bigger content drops.

Nearly all those games with microtransactions have bigger chunks of content occasionally, because the development is paid for by the microtransactions.

I think the closest thing we have to comparing to PG's attempt at being a service model is probably GTA Online. It's also a title that isn't F2P because we had to buy a $60 game to play it, and they also use the dripfeed model to put out new cars and content, but GTA uses the Shark Cards as microtransactions. In GTA though we end up getting a bundle of new vehicles at the start along with (nearly) weekly car releases, new job types, new maps/layouts for existing job types, new minor missions and side things, sometimes new weapons, double money events, all to go along with whatever the big part of the update was (new business with new mechanics, new characters and storyline for the new missions).

In Horizon though, without any microtransactions to help fund things for its comparatively small playerbase we get... a "new" car every week, and occasionally we get a new story where some people we don't want to listen to babble at us while we just drive a car from point A to point B and then get some stars and try to rush through so we get the prize and never have to touch it again. We don't get any tracks, we don't get any new race types, we don't get any new game mechanics, we don't get any replayable content that will be used to compliment other parts of the game.

I'd rather see them either just be a paid game with paid DLC, or go full F2P microtransactions with more significant updates that the microtransactions pay for, than be stuck in this tepid middle ground.

 

[Stupornaut]

I'm kind of inclined to think that we are only getting the TCR cars in FH5 because they were already worked on for FM8, as we know several TCR cars were available in the XB1 version of the FM8 beta test because it was one of the divisions to race, including the VW Golf TCR as well.

Wait, where'd you get that info? The only car lists I can find are basically just a roundup of the cars spotted in last summer's trailer.

 

[0x15e]

@nukleabomb @skazz maybe I’m just worse at the game than you are so they take me longer. 😆

Its main campaign is certainly more intense and involving, but I had much less of an incentive to play Forza Horizon 1 a year after release than Horizon 5. 1000 Club... no thanks. That's what I'd call a "constant slog".

Yeah this replay is only the second time through for me. Definitely not much for post game content. Just generally more fun to play while it’s fresh.

I didn’t find FH5 (and 4 even less so) as engaging. It took me over a year to actually finish the forced tutorial in 4. I had just lost interest and forgotten about it. And that was pre-game pass so I’d actually bought it.

I’m not saying they’re bad games. They just feel tedious to me at times.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Jumped into Horizon 5 today, hadn't played it since swapping my Series X for a PS5. Decided to give the Xbox cloud streaming a go through the native app on my Samsung TV.

It works surprisingly well to be honest. I don't have the best Internet around, I live jn a relatively rural location in Norfolk, UK, my phone gets 70 Megabits download and 18 megabits upload at quiet times. I played for a good hour, did a few events, some tuning and driving around and it was, overall, a good experience. There were times where the quality noticeably dropped as the connection struggled (I was playing midday on a Saturday to be fair to it). But for the most part it looked like a good 1080p, I used performance and it did well at 60fps with no frame drops (outside of connection related drops).

It's a way I will definitely play the game, I was expecting it to be difficult to enjoy and stuttery but it isn't, and even looks good.

Can't have both consoles? Thus is a very good compromise.

 

[Famine]

Saw a beautiful red Stinger GT outside my dads work today

Never seen a Stinger in real life....

I'm pretty indifferent to Kia in general, but I have to say it is a pretty striking car in person. It feels big, wide and low, definitely more of a "presence" than most cars in its segment.

I'm in the US but I've only seen maybe 2 or 3 of them up close. Seen a few sitting at a dealership when I drive past, but that's not quite the same as standing next to a car.

Anyone for a bit of envy? I've driven... I think three of them (one red, one black, one grey), all the V6.

While I'm thinking about it, who writes the car descriptions @ManteoMax? I've seen a few with typos before (eh, there's like 700 description; there'll be typos), but the use of the phrase "nothing to snuff at" for the MG6 Xpower has absolutely killed me.

The phrase is "nothing to sniff at", referring to the act of turning one's nose (and exhaling slightly) in disgust. Snuff means to extinguish, and pretty much the only examples of the phrase being used with "snuff" instead are mistakes or puns in reference to the ground form of tobacco.

Or, you know, murdersex.

 

[The_Greaser]

I hate to bring bad news but Kia already has ended production of the Stinger with their Tribute model. Sad indeed.
Also, about this "nothing to sniff at" thing, this sounds like what SCS did with their promotion of ATS and the Mack Anthem in 2020.

 

[skazz]

Jumped into Horizon 5 today, hadn't played it since swapping my Series X for a PS5. Decided to give the Xbox cloud streaming a go through the native app on my Samsung TV.

It works surprisingly well to be honest. I don't have the best Internet around, I live jn a relatively rural location in Norfolk, UK, my phone gets 70 Megabits download and 18 megabits upload at quiet times. I played for a good hour, did a few events, some tuning and driving around and it was, overall, a good experience. There were times where the quality noticeably dropped as the connection struggled (I was playing midday on a Saturday to be fair to it). But for the most part it looked like a good 1080p, I used performance and it did well at 60fps with no frame drops (outside of connection related drops).

It's a way I will definitely play the game, I was expecting it to be difficult to enjoy and stuttery but it isn't, and even looks good.

Can't have both consoles? Thus is a very good compromise.

I spent a couple of months in early 2021 using xCloud streaming of FH4 before I got my Series X. Thankfully I live close to the main Azure datacenter which runs xCloud in Europe so pings were low, latency was fine and visual quality was generally decent - as you said a good 1080p although compression artefacts could happen on some sessions.

Looking back, the biggest issue was lack of controller rumble support back then. Now that I've played FH4/FH5 heavily for the last 18 months on Series X and PC, I wouldn't want to lose the trigger rumble motors and their very useful effects to tell you when you are losing traction under braking or acceleration. But it seems like that was recently fixed as long as you are playing from a Windows PC? https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help...ange-controller-vibration-xbox-one-windows-10


I had a few connection drops during my time with it, but most of the time you could reconnect and rejoin your session in progress (the game had just automatically paused when connection was broken). Which is pretty much perfect.

 

[MagpieRacer]

I spent a couple of months in early 2021 using xCloud streaming of FH4 before I got my Series X. Thankfully I live close to the main Azure datacenter which runs xCloud in Europe so pings were low, latency was fine and visual quality was generally decent - as you said a good 1080p although compression artefacts could happen on some sessions.

Looking back, the biggest issue was lack of controller rumble support back then. Now that I've played FH4/FH5 heavily for the last 18 months on Series X and PC, I wouldn't want to lose the trigger rumble motors and their very useful effects to tell you when you are losing traction under braking or acceleration. But it seems like that was recently fixed as long as you are playing from a Windows PC? https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help...ange-controller-vibration-xbox-one-windows-10


I had a few connection drops during my time with it, but most of the time you could reconnect and rejoin your session in progress (the game had just automatically paused when connection was broken). Which is pretty much perfect.

Interesting that you mentioned the controller rumble. I just assumed that because I'm playing on my Samsung TV using the native Samsung app and a PS5 dualsense controller that the rumble wouldn't work, but it does, and it works really well. Obviously it doesn't utilise the dualsense trigger trickery but the haptic motors give a really nice feedback on FH5 that I wasn't expecting.

Also, the touchpad on the dualsense can be used like a mouse touch pad for navigation, very handy.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Opinion here, and one I'm trying to offer constructively: So I finally played some FH5 recently - at a friends house who has the game. To be honest it was about what I was expecting...pretty visuals, and marginally better sound design (sound accuracy is a different question) but overall it felt exactly the same as the last one. Perhaps the handling felt a little bit better, but that could honestly be the difference between XSX at 60FPS an XBO-S at 30FPS. I played it for maybe an hour before I decided I didn't like the map very much. If you can see it you can drive to it...and once you drive to it there's nothing to do except drive around it...there is no compelling reason to explore or even for the game to be open world...same as the previous 4 games. Once I reached that determination, I had no desire to play the game anymore. I hope Mike Brown is off to come up with something more engaging in this space and I'm basically doing Hail Marys that TDU SC will recapture some of the role playing and immersive magic of those original games and that both of those things will give the PG development team (whoever is left) some kind of motivation to actually develop the FH franchise because this series has reached "unplayable" for me, sadly.

 

[Morbid65]

Wait, where'd you get that info? The only car lists I can find are basically just a roundup of the cars spotted in last summer's trailer.

Info that has trickled out about the tests from people who participated in them. With the NDAs and stuff I really doubt you are gonna find a list anywhere.

 

[Populuxe]

BeamNG Drive but it’s a Forza Horizon trailer.

 

[nukleabomb]

Info that has trickled out about the tests from people who participated in them. With the NDAs and stuff I really doubt you are gonna find a list anywhere.

Is there someplace where all that nda info is pooled together? Not that it matters too much in the grand scheme of things, but it's interesting to read.

 

[unfairlane]

Opinion here, and one I'm trying to offer constructively: So I finally played some FH5 recently - at a friends house who has the game. To be honest it was about what I was expecting...pretty visuals, and marginally better sound design (sound accuracy is a different question) but overall it felt exactly the same as the last one. Perhaps the handling felt a little bit better, but that could honestly be the difference between XSX at 60FPS an XBO-S at 30FPS. I played it for maybe an hour before I decided I didn't like the map very much. If you can see it you can drive to it...and once you drive to it there's nothing to do except drive around it...there is no compelling reason to explore or even for the game to be open world...same as the previous 4 games. Once I reached that determination, I had no desire to play the game anymore. I hope Mike Brown is off to come up with something more engaging in this space and I'm basically doing Hail Marys that TDU SC will recapture some of the role playing and immersive magic of those original games and that both of those things will give the PG development team (whoever is left) some kind of motivation to actually develop the FH franchise because this series has reached "unplayable" for me, sadly.

Sad but true. Only thing I do is to get those 20points now and then IF there is a classic car I need to grab. And I`m still having fun hotting up old cars, finding or making a cool paintjob and then go hunting hypercars in freeroam. Wonder how many hypercars I`ve outraced in my 70 Mercury Cyclone equipped with my 1350hp "roadrage"-setup? The old Mercury gives enormous(!) payouts in driftevents for some reason, so even if I`m no drifter I do get big respect if I show up.

My setups are soft and must be driven in 1st person view to give any meaning, but in the hands of a skilled driver ther`re biig fun!
Here`s some of my latest:

1970 Mercury Cyclone Roadrage: 148 923 357(my fav) My most driven car by far

1958 Plymouth Fury Roadrage Mk3 372 159 857 - a new fav, (with areo, winged warrior: 807 337 151)

1970 AMC Rebel Roadrage:142 206 075, Winged Monster: 582 500 166 S1 roadracer:942 675 868


With a hot classic like these in my hands I`m like a boy, raging around having fun. Wasn`t that what it was meant to be?

 

[RYAN]

Still patiently waiting for Alfa and more importantly as a huge Rally fan Lancia to come back. I miss using my S4 GR.B complete with Toivonen/Cresto livery for every available Rally Monsters Dirt race like I did in FH3. Then ofcourse in Retro Rally in FH4 by using the GR.B aero parts on the standard S4.

Please PG, She's so beautiful.
(Plus it would complete the main 5 Group B collection)

Be interested to Know if the actual Group B S4 that was part of Blizzard Mountain in FH3 and is in FM7 had the correct Dual Turbo/Supercharger setup actually modelled in game that the real car had. For how much I drove the car in FH3 I still dont remember.

 

[pez2k]

Be interested to Know if the actual Group B S4 that was part of Blizzard Mountain in FH3 and is in FM7 had the correct Dual Turbo/Supercharger setup actually modelled in game that the real car had.

Nope, the game engine doesn't support having multiple types of forced induction at once. It'll have been a single turbo car, probably with some supercharger whine baked into the engine sound.

 

[The_Greaser]

I wish we could play with those Lancias but sadly, there's still no resolution regarding the FCA Italia brands. That and something about Alfa Romeos being banned in Italy due to emissions bugs or something like that (I don't know if it's true or not).

It is very much possible that any of those brands won't return at all in FH5.

 

[L8 Apex]

I wish we could play with those Lancias but sadly, there's still no resolution regarding the FCA Italia brands. That and something about Alfa Romeos being banned in Italy due to emissions bugs or something like that (I don't know if it's true or not).

It is very much possible that any of those brands won't return at all in FH5.

That's still my theory why there were never any VWs in FH3, as it came out right around the time Dieselgate blew up. Another parallel: Other brands from the parent company did make it in (Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini and Porsche).

Hopefully the history doesn't repeat itself with Abarth, Alfa, Fiat and Lancia never being added to FH5 but, I agree, every month/update that goes by without them the chances get more and more remote...

 

[UKMikey]

Wasn't the Italian branch of Stellantis undergoing restructuring at the time the game was launched and that's what led to MS being unable to secure the licence(s) for their brands? That's what I heard but some kind of official statement one way or the other from one of the parties concerned sure would be nice.

 

[nukleabomb]

That's still my theory why there were never any VWs in FH3, as it came out right around the time Dieselgate blew up. Another parallel: Other brands from the parent company did make it in (Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini and Porsche).

Hopefully the history doesn't repeat itself with Abarth, Alfa, Fiat and Lancia never being added to FH5 but, I agree, every month/update that goes by without them the chances get more and more remote...

The next update is Japanese themed. Makes perfect sense to bring alfa and lancia back/
On a serious note, i wonder if Forza Motorsport is also affected by this (the 2020 trailer had a stratos iirc). Will the launch of FM also bring alfa and lancia back to FH5? There was also the Fiat S76 barn find added a while back to the files, so maybe they have plans for the future?

 

[UKMikey]

The next update is Japanese themed. Makes perfect sense to bring alfa and lancia back/
On a serious note, i wonder if Forza Motorsport is also affected by this (the 2020 trailer had a stratos iirc). Will the launch of FM also bring alfa and lancia back to FH5? There was also the Fiat S76 barn find added a while back to the files, so maybe they have plans for the future?

Keep hope alive.

So long as Stellantis doesn't decide to punt(o) the asking price for licensing their brands into the stratosphere (sorry).

 

[Famine]

Wasn't the Italian branch of Stellantis undergoing restructuring at the time the game was launched

All of it - Stellantis has unified all of its press offices into one, and it's played merry hell with getting cars out of them!

 

[The_Greaser]

And it ruined any presence of getting French cars back in U.S. Soil.

 

[RYAN]

Its strange if it is Stellantis to blame concidering we do have Jeep, Peugeot, Dodge, Ram, Maserati, Opel, Vauxhall Etc?

 

[Apple Slipper]

Its strange if it is Stellantis to blame concidering we do have Jeep, Peugeot, Dodge, Ram, Maserati, Opel, Vauxhall Etc?

It's mainly the FCA Italy part of Stellantis that isn't budging with licensing for Forza at the moment. Maserati is the exception though.

 

[-Fred-]

The roadgoing MG6 XPower looks and drives like what the Nismo Sentra should have been had Nissan had money or people that actually cared.

 

[Famine]

Its strange if it is Stellantis to blame concidering we do have Jeep, Peugeot, Dodge, Ram, Maserati, Opel, Vauxhall Etc?

But no new ones.

The manufacturer can't break existing licensing agreements unilaterally, so the cars that are covered by current contracts remain. It's simply not making new ones or renewing those that have expired.

Even the recent appearance of the Giulia in GT7 isn't necessarily a good sign; it may have been licensed in 2020 before Stellantis formed.

 

[The_Greaser]

So you're sayin' the existing brands under Stellantis can't have new licensing agreements anymore? I guess we're not allowed to have the MC20, new products from Ram etc. in Forza anymore.
Tell them I hate them, Farnsworth said.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

But no new ones.

The manufacturer can't break existing licensing agreements unilaterally, so the cars that are covered by current contracts remain. It's simply not making new ones or renewing those that have expired.

Even the recent appearance of the Giulia in GT7 isn't necessarily a good sign; it may have been licensed in 2020 before Stellantis formed.

I don't have a horse in this race, so to speak...but has Stellantis offered a reason why they aren't making new agreements? Do they have an exclusive deal with somebody? It seems like a really great marketing strategy to have your cars in a game like Forza Horizon so I'm not understanding why they wouldn't want to. I've always wondered how the licensing works - do the manufacturers pay the developers for the exposure? Or do the developers pay the manufacturers for the IP usage? It seems like a mutually beneficial relationship to me.