Forza Horizon 5 Preview Reactions: "Familiar", "Evolutionary", and "4 With Cacti"

[o000o]

When I think about it though, I think part of the issue for me is also that I simply don't have the same amount of free time anymore. So when I do have a free evening do I want to go out for a meal, do I want to watch a film or TV program, do I want to relax to some music and open a bottle of whisky, perhaps read a book or do I want to pop a game on.

When I was younger I often could spend a couple of hours gaming and then watch a 2 hour movie, then spend a bit of time doing something else. But I just don't have that free time anymore and I think in some way, that puts me off games that will take considerable time to get the most from.

Combine that lack of free time, with new games that tend to primarily be a rinse and repeat of what came before and I think the racing genre is in a bit of a corner for me. I love it, I love cars, I have loved racing games all my life, but if I am going to play a game, I find that I'm far more drawn to quick fixes these days. Not that I don't play racing games anymore, I still do, and I still get enjoyment out of them, just not for as long or as much as I used to.

I know people will have less free time when they got older, but I hope that this won't mean that games will take the route for players who had less free time such as making the campaign significantly shorter (which GT6 kinda is... made in mind for less free time thus short) or, showering the player with rewards such as dozens of fast cars in a very short time.

GT7 so far offers literally nothing new of significance at all. Just cars and tracks, everything else they've shown so far, other than minor things, is from the past games. The fact GTS changed the focus a bit doesn't change that.

It might be what people want but it's bringing nothing new to the table, at all. So far anyway, since it's also not released and fully unveiled either.

What'd you say for other racing games such as Horizon 5 here? And there's also something like WRC games where the developer did little to nothing regarding the game's physics from 8 to 10.

 

[Famine]

I disagree completely I've watched multiple things and read multiple things saying nothing but good things, besides sometimes the wheelspins.

Well, we linked to every article we referenced in our article to show where the things that weren't saying nothing but good things were, so...

 

[GilesGuthrie]

I'm looking forward to FH5. I played a lot of FH4, and really loved it, although I think I have now done pretty much everything I'm interested in. Since I live in Edinburgh, it had a real hook for me - after all, who hasn't daydreamed about hooning around their home town? (As an aside, being an Edinburgh resident gave me a real competitive advantage in the Eliminator)

So I'm really interested to see how the same game (but not in my backyard) feels.

 

[immayeetmysel]

I played fh3 and 4 and for me fh3 was so much better not in all ways but for the majority it was, but one of the main things that I didn't like about 4 was the map the UK just felt all the same and no diversity compared to fh3 with its jungle, out back, city etc so I'm really looking forward to this as I think that's what mainly let fh4 down

 

[ToyGTone]

Honestly, I'm not really that hyped about Horizon 5. It's probably not going to be a bad game by any means since FH4 is pretty decent but i feel like Horizon 1 & 2 had some kind of magical atmospheric vibe to them that slowly became lost with later titles. I can't point my fingers at exactly what or why I'm not interested that much in FH5 but it's something.

I don't know, i guess i couldn't justify spending $100 to get the proper full game with all of the contents. I might just play it a bit through game pass and that's it.

 

[ImaRobot]

Oh right. Enough of the semantics and stop putting words into my mouth.

Never did. You literally said something and I responded to it. Stop trying to make it out to be something it isn't.

 

[Samus]

What'd you say for other racing games such as Horizon 5 here? And there's also something like WRC games where the developer did little to nothing regarding the game's physics from 8 to 10.

Well no that's what I'm saying, neither seem to be adding anything majorly new but he suggested GT7 was in a better position in that regard. I don't see how it is.

 

[UKMikey]

If the anticipation for GT7 is higher, I suspect it's because it's been eight years since GT6. I figure Playground Games's developers would have more time to spend on change and innovation if they only released an instalment once or twice per console generation.

 

[ScottPuss20]

That doesn't sound like putting words into anyone's mouth. He responded directly to what you said.

Personally I don't know how many people will reject the new game because you can't get out of the car and walk around or because it's too easy to progress. I doubt it'll be a significant number of people for PG to care enough to make such changes this generation.

Test Drive Unlimited's casinos, extensive character customisation and general lifestyle simulator elements were somewhat lost on me to an extent. What I remember most was the inferior driving feel compared to Forza, because driving's what I spent most of my time doing in the game.

GT7 so far offers literally nothing new of significance at all. Just cars and tracks, everything else they've shown so far, other than minor things, is from the past games. The fact GTS changed the focus a bit doesn't change that.

It might be what people want but it's bringing nothing new to the table, at all. So far anyway, since it's also not released and fully unveiled either.

Never did. You literally said something and I responded to it. Stop trying to make it out to be something it isn't.

Guess I'll buy it then. That way you won't view me as a hypocrite or assume that I've passed on it!

 

[LumpiestFish]

One pretty major addition that myself and probably many others have forgotten about is the Event Lab. May only be an evolution of the Super 7 to some, but has potential to be pretty game changing in my opinion. I do worry there might be a reason that we haven‘t seen or heard anything about it since E3 though.

 

[willbsn13]

One pretty major addition that myself and probably many others have forgotten about is the Event Lab. May only be an evolution of the Super 7 to some, but has potential to be pretty game changing in my opinion. I do worry there might be a reason that we haven‘t seen or heard anything about it since E3 though.

I think it's going to be pushed back a month or two, much like FH4's route creator was pushed back a month.

 

[Nielsen]

So many personal favourite cars not included. I’ll skip for now and see how it develops over time.

 

[VXR]

I mean, I wish it would have an actual Cactus (1.6 HDI represent.)

 

[queleuleu]

Horizon is just running into the same problem GT(and Motorsport) ran into.
Although if i have to be honest,the way Horizon's roads are laid out is kinda boring.And i know that later entries are way more popular but god i wish they went back to the street racing vibe of Horizon 1.

My biggest problem with roads in the FH series : roads serve no purpose. They are just roads and not a way of joining two points A and B. I can't describe this feeling with better words, that's just how I see them and it explains why they look often boring.

That said, IMO Forza Horizon is the most beautiful car game today, the most "complete" and the most popular series. FH2 is my greatest next gen experience on PS4/XB1. I want to be hyped for FH5 but I can't. Maybe I'm just bored by the FH formula? It looks amazing with the latest supercars and for some reasons I just don't care about the new game. I will buy FH5 but I know what to expect.

 

[CitroenCX]

I've been saying the same things about the series but as soon as I do everybody hates it. My signature is what it is for a very good reason. The modern games are a shallow imitation of the first two games. They have brilliant engines, look rather nice (although 4 looked a bit boring in places because of the lack of variety, which FH5 is thankfully fixing), and the selection of cars is nice, but the games do not justify their own existences. All of the new content could have been added to Forza Horizon 2 or 3. The series has no personality anymore, which makes me look at the first game, which was horribly flawed and horrifically ugly, with even more love for trying something new and having actual progression and incentive to keep playing. There is no reason to complete Forza Horizon 4 because the game hands you everything on a plate from the start. I have between 60 and 70 million in the bank in that game, and no idea what I'm supposed to do with it. I have almost every car in the game. And I couldn't care less about it.

It's just not the same anymore. It's a fun sandbox, and my friends have had loads of fun with the games (particularly 2 on the Xbox 360 and 4) but, for me at least, I don't see a reason to buy Horizon 5. If I wanted a sandbox, there are loads of games that do it better. Minecraft, Train Simulator and Burnout Paradise for example. It will sell brilliantly and get critical acclaim (like pretty much every Copy+Paste title), but I'll have to pass on it. I paid £80 on Forza Horizon 4 and I didn't get what I paid for. I won't be making the same mistake again. For the money I'd spend on FH5, I could buy a handful of DLCs for Train Sim World and get a far more enriching, enjoyable experience, made by developers who care about their game. So, naturally, this is the choice I'm making. I could spend £80 on FH5 for a game I've already played four times, or the TGV Réseau and other stuff I'll enjoy more.

Completely agreed.
I was thought about to try the game out but when you put it like that then I really don't want to do it anymore maybe when I'm desperate for some open world racer action.
As I mostly play solo and then game threw cars and money at you like that meant I probably going to suffered from a lot of "going through the motions" experience with it.
FH4 and FH5 sounds like products so polished that you never imagined a smile coming out of one while playing, it lacks personality and certain playfulness that arcade racer needed to have.
Feels very ticked in the boxes.
Fans obviously will love more of the same and but I don't after awhile I need them to take chances it can't be just new map and cars.
The game will get very high scores as usual those that did previews seemed pretty set in for what kind of review they will give the game.

 

[mastergracie]

Always knew that this would happen. Choosing México was also a big mistake in my opinion, too similar to Australia. If only they would've picked Japan instead people might have been more forgiving. Of course this game won't tank but it seems MS is taking the Ubisoft route of copy/paste games which will definitely alienate a lot of people. But hey, casuals don't care about that so profit?

 

[o000o]

Always knew that this would happen. Choosing México was also a big mistake in my opinion, too similar to Australia. If only they would've picked Japan instead people might have been more forgiving. Of course this game won't tank but it seems MS is taking the Ubisoft route of copy/paste games which will definitely alienate a lot of people. But hey, casuals don't care about that so profit?

Then again, if place like Japan is picked, then it'd have the feeling that FH5 will be too similar to other open world games instead, which are mostly had big cities as the location.

FH has perfect reputation and definitely won't alienate people though, this is one of the few place where FH got more criticisms, including the previous ones.

 

[o000o]

(mistake reply)

 

[skazz]

For me, after many years of only using racing games with a wheel I needed something I can play and enjoy with the controller. For some reason the Forza Horizon series just works exceptionally well with controller to the extent that even with my awful controller skills I can have the feeling of being in control which I miss in most other racers, even the semi-serious ones.

Having played FH1, FH3 and FH4, I would disagree with most of the people complaining about no progress or other issues. I can clearly see gigantic steps forwards in each game in the areas I care about most: numerous modern available cars, physics which is simplified but not unbelievable, quality visuals, a large varied map with freedom to drive anywhere. Since I don't care about the story mode and I don't want ultra realistic but controller-unplayable physics in my Horizon, those "gaps" are not an issue.

Switching back to FH3 now, I can recognise that while the Australian scenery was probably a little less varied but more interesting than the UK, the car physics/handling improvements in FH4 clearly stand out, and I much prefer the event presentation in FH4 too. So if Horizon 5's Mexico offers all the little improvements from FH4 along further improved physics model, an even larger map and even better 4k/HDR visuals, it will be worth every penny.


Note: According to various YouTube testers, the physics improvements in FH5 are easy to feel, and among other things s2 cars will feel like s1 cars from FH4 in terms of speed, twitchiness and control. Maybe finally Forza's fastest class will feel more realistic

 

[UKMikey]

Always knew that this would happen. Choosing México was also a big mistake in my opinion, too similar to Australia. If only they would've picked Japan instead people might have been more forgiving. Of course this game won't tank but it seems MS is taking the Ubisoft route of copy/paste games which will definitely alienate a lot of people. But hey, casuals don't care about that so profit?

Which people? I suspect the people who complain that the game isn't set in Japan and the people who will complain if a Japan set version isn't a perfect representation of a Silvia/Supra-laden neon lit drift heaven would have fairly overlapping circles on a Venn diagram.

Why try to please the kind of people who will never be satisfied with what Horizon represents when you can go after the huge majority of people who are satisfied with its direction instead and make more cash? That doesn't strike me so much as pandering to casuals as sound business sense. But if profit were all PG was concerned about, the critic and user review scores would start to tank.

To me there's still enough soul and enthusiasm in the game to prevent its total ubification. What the franchise needs is competition, not weeaboos.

 

[TokoTurismo]

Which people? I suspect the people who complain that the game isn't set in Japan and the people who will complain if a Japan set version isn't a perfect representation of a Silvia/Supra-laden neon lit drift heaven would have fairly overlapping circles on a Venn diagram.

Why try to please the kind of people who will never be satisfied with what Horizon represents when you can go after the huge majority of people who are satisfied with its direction instead and make more cash? That doesn't strike me so much as pandering to casuals as sound business sense. But if profit were all PG was concerned about, the critic and user review scores would start to tank.

To me there's still enough soul and enthusiasm in the game to prevent its total ubification. What the franchise needs is competition, not weeaboos.

Preach it brother. 👍

 

[mastergracie]

Which people? I suspect the people who complain that the game isn't set in Japan and the people who will complain if a Japan set version isn't a perfect representation of a Silvia/Supra-laden neon lit drift heaven would have fairly overlapping circles on a Venn diagram.

Why try to please the kind of people who will never be satisfied with what Horizon represents when you can go after the huge majority of people who are satisfied with its direction instead and make more cash? That doesn't strike me so much as pandering to casuals as sound business sense. But if profit were all PG was concerned about, the critic and user review scores would start to tank.

To me there's still enough soul and enthusiasm in the game to prevent its total ubification. What the franchise needs is competition, not weeaboos.

I don't know man, people can get fed up with a series very fast and unexpectedly. Remember Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero or even Need for Speed all franchises that were on the top of the world and tanked badly. Oversaturation is a thing.

 

[Famine]

Which people? I suspect the people who complain that the game isn't set in Japan and the people who will complain if a Japan set version isn't a perfect representation of a Silvia/Supra-laden neon lit drift heaven would have fairly overlapping circles on a Venn diagram.

Why try to please the kind of people who will never be satisfied with what Horizon represents when you can go after the huge majority of people who are satisfied with its direction instead and make more cash? That doesn't strike me so much as pandering to casuals as sound business sense. But if profit were all PG was concerned about, the critic and user review scores would start to tank.

To me there's still enough soul and enthusiasm in the game to prevent its total ubification. What the franchise needs is competition, not weeaboos.

I saw this just yesterday. Seems appropriate:

​

 

[Silver Arrows]

I don't know man, people can get fed up with a series very fast and unexpectedly. Remember Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero or even Need for Speed all franchises that were on the top of the world and tanked badly. Oversaturation is a thing.

The only example you gave that could even come close to 'tanking badly' and being so pilloried for being the same thing, only evolutionary as some in this thread are trying to prescribe Horizon as being, is Tony Hawk, and that's because the series was already in a good place by having a rock solid gameplay foundation from the beginning that eventually, what was added to the games wasn't really that revolutionary or even evolutionary, just stuff to add to the back of a box.

Guitar Hero (and Rock Band) died because the fad for peripheral-based rhythm games ran its natural course, and the diminishing returns for potential new players considering the upfront cost for the game, alongside DLC, was becoming apparent. NFS in the spiritual sense died the second they asked Criterion to make Hot Pursuit 2010 - and since then, both EA and the developers, whoever they may be, are too scared to ever do anything actually unique and interesting lest it turns into The Run or Prostreet and just bounce off between street racers and supercars in exotic locales until the heat death of the universe.

Again, the only reason most people are 'fed up' with Horizon as a series is because the game hasn't been set in Japan yet, and their wants (mainly, tuners and the latest up to the minute hypercars) aren't the entirety of the Car Pass and the post launch content. It's clear Playground and the Horizon series are succeeding with casual players at a rate no other racing game barring Mario Kart because of the desire to present a game as realistic enough, and why change that just to make a bunch of sim players happy? That's the quickest way to tank your audience.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Again, the only reason most people are 'fed up' with Horizon as a series is because the game hasn't been set in Japan yet, and their wants (mainly, tuners and the latest up to the minute hypercars) aren't the entirety of the Car Pass and the post launch content. It's clear Playground and the Horizon series are succeeding with casual players at a rate no other racing game barring Mario Kart because of the desire to present a game as realistic enough, and why change that just to make a bunch of sim players happy? That's the quickest way to tank your audience.

I think there's plenty enough room to appreciate that Horizon exists and still be disappointed with the direction (or lack of it) the franchise has. My overwhelming feeling towards the game is that it's basically good entertainment in the same way that a well crafted Netflix series or a pop song is. A solid piece of something produced by a talented group of people - but without a real sense of passion. Forza Horizon games are not the work of an auteur. I don't think it's unreasonable to accept that but also not be satisfied with that.

 

[UKMikey]

I think there's plenty enough room to appreciate that Horizon exists and still be disappointed with the direction (or lack of it) the franchise has. My overwhelming feeling towards the game is that it's basically good entertainment in the same way that a well crafted Netflix series or a pop song is. A solid piece of something produced by a talented group of people - but without a real sense of passion. Forza Horizon games are not the work of an auteur. I don't think it's unreasonable to accept that but also not be satisfied with that.

How many mass market race game auteurs are there? I can only think of one, and he's not interested in open world sandboxes. Consequently, I suspect you'll be dissatisfied with this franchise for some time to come.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

How many mass market race game auteurs are there? I can only think of one, and he's not interested in open world sandboxes. Consequently, I suspect you'll be dissatisfied with this franchise for some time to come.

You don't have to remind me.

 

[UKMikey]

Two if you count Geoff Crammond but he hasn't made a game in nineteen years.

 

[Samus]

Baffling to me that someone wants a game to be massively controlled by one person. It can work, but far too often it doesn't. It doesn't matter how much of a genius one person is, more brains and more ideas is usually always better for a project and i don't see how you can say that a team can't/doesn't have passion.

 

[UKMikey]

Baffling to me that someone wants a game to be massively controlled by one person. It can work, but far too often it doesn't. It doesn't matter how much of a genius one person is, more brains and more ideas is usually always better for a project and i don't see how you can say that a team can't/doesn't have passion.

Everything is cool when you're part of a team.