The second Series of Forza Horizon 5 starts today, with the Summer/Wet season rolling around again. There’s a new set of Festival Playlist challenges and events for players to dive into, as well as some changes to the landscape appropriate to the festive season.
If that wasn’t all quite enough, there’s eight brand-new cars coming to the game for everyone over the next four weeks, all popping up as rewards for completing parts of the Series 2 Playlist, so you’re going to want to keep busy ticking off the challenges.
Although most players are likely used to it by now, FH5 has a slightly different format for seasonal events. Where players would complete events for percentage completion as in FH4, each events has an attached points score in FH5. There’s 266 points in total available this Series, with 68 available in the Summer season.
Series 2
With the new Series comes new main prizes, and this month they’re… a little different.
If you manage to rack up 120 points across the entire Series, you’ll be rewarded not with a brand-new car, but with an item of clothing. It’s no ordinary outfit though, as it’s the exclusive, “Legendary” Gingerbread Outfit.
Consisting of a brown morph suit adorned with icing buttons and a bowtie, the Outfit allows you to race around Mexico as fast as you can; no-one can catch you, you’re the Gingerbread Man.
That promise will greatly aid you with the second Series prize, the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ.
The SVJ — Sport Veloce Jota — was the most extreme Aventador ever made when launched in 2018, featuring more power, less weight, and an advanced adaptive aerodynamics system. It set a new benchmark for production car lap times at the Nurburgring too.
You’ll need 200 points across Series 2 to get it, which means it’ll drop during the Spring/Hot season even for the most dedicated players, but what a way to see out the year.
One additional new feature for this season is Horizon Secret Santa. This community effort requires players to be as generous as they can be, by sending cars to other players in Gift Drops. If the playerbase sends enough cars to one another, they’ll unlock two prizes for everyone, with the Santa Outfit at 50% of the target, and a mystery car (which, rumor has it, will be the Peel P50) for 100%.
Series 2 will run through to 1430 UTC on Thursday January 6, 2022, when it’ll be replaced by Series 3. For the Summer/Wet season challenges below, you have until 1430 UTC on Thursday December 16 to pick up as many points as you can.
Challenges
You’ll again get a chance to play the newest challenge type in the core game this week — though it will be familiar to FH4 players with the Fortune Island expansion.
The Treasure Hunt will require you to perform certain actions in order to unearth a “clue”: a red circle marked on your map that indicates where you can find a treasure chest.
However, this week’s event seems a little tetchy. While the clue seems obvious enough — requiring you to score three stars at Trailblazers (whether one, one three times, or three different ones) — there’s reports across the community that it isn’t triggering for anyone who has already hit three stars on all Trailblazers… which is a lot of people, as there’s an Accolade for exactly that.
That’s a bug which affect Series 1 as well, stopping a lot of players from completing three of the challenges across the Series. Some users are reporting success by beating their own personal best on a Trailblazer, but we’ve not been able to replicate that. We’ll keep an eye out for a resolution, but if you are able to complete it then the chest will appear near the Cascadas de Agua Azul.
This week’s Photo Challenge takes place at the hub for Secret Santa. You’ll need to head into Mulege and take a snap at the Horizon Wonderland near the center of the town. Make sure you either take a 1997 Lamborghini Diablo SV with you, or photograph someone else’s as they try, and you’ll complete the #MerryLilLambo challenge, and pick up two points and a “Smile! You’re on Camera” Forza LINK message.
The Eliminator sits in what looks to be its permanent spot, worth two points and, this week, a “Last Man Standing” LINK message, for finishing 30th or better. This can be stacked with the Daily Challenge on Friday, if you fancy being efficient about it.
A new Horizon Open challenge appears this week, with players required to complete any Horizon Open Racing event. Just bring up the Online section in the pause menu, pick Horizon Open Racing, and complete a session for two points and 25,000cr.
As it’s a new Series, we also see a new Monthly Rivals event. This challenge only needs you to set a clean lap time of the Cathedral Circuit in Guanajuato (watch out for the tunnel walls!), in the provided DeLorean DMC-12. You can start this challenge directly from the Playlist menu, and it’s worth four points added to each of the four seasons.
Photo Challenge: #MerryLilLambo
- Cars: Lamborghini Diablo SV 1997
- Location: Mulege
- Challenge: Photograph the Lamborghini Diablo SV at the Mulege Holiday Market
- Reward: 2 points, “Smile! You’re on Camera” LINK
Horizon Open: Road Racer
- Cars: Any
- Location: Horizon Open Racing
- Challenge: Complete a Horizon Open Racing Event
- Reward: 2 points, 25,000cr
Monthly Rivals: Cathedral Circuit
- Cars: DeLorean DMC-12
- Location: Cathedral Circuit, Guanajuato
- Challenge: Post a Clean Lap
- Reward: 16 points (4 added to each season)
The Eliminator: Battle Royale
- Cars: Any
- Location: The Eliminator
- Challenge: Finish 30th or better
- Reward: 2 points, “Last Man Standing” LINK
Treasure Hunt: Blazing Thunder
- Cars: Any
- Location: Trailblazer (any)
- Challenge: Score three stars at any Trailblazer; locate Treasure Chest
- Reward: 3 points, 50,000cr
Season Events
EventLab makes a return this week with a challenge called “Bowling in the Deep”. You’ll need any A Class (up to 800PI) Rally Monster to enter the challenge.
It’s a relatively simple affair, involving an race against the AI, but the winner isn’t the first across the line. Instead you’ll need to register the highest score, by knocking down bowling pins on your route.
A good chunk of the race takes place on platforms suspended above Copper Canyon, and there’s a little surprise in store midway through the route that we won’t spoil at this point… but keep your Rewind handy You’ll win the Elf Hat for the highest score, as well as the three Playlist points.
This week’s three PR Stunts are a Danger Sign, a Speed Trap, and a Speed Zone. The Danger Sign ought not to be too tricky, as you’ll need to launch an S1 Class Rally Monster a mere 213m from the sign in the sand dunes on the west side of the map. This is also the case with the Speed Trap, which is right by the Stadium, and needs just 100mph to complete, in any B-Class Classic Muscle car.
You’ll need to head east to the Speed Zone, just outside of Playa Azul. Pick up any A Class car from the Rods & Customs category and keep an average speed of 100mph — barely two stars for this Zone — to claim victory. Each PR Stunt carries two Playlist points and a Wheelspin as a reward.
It’s a quick set of Seasonal Championships this week, carrying their usual five points apiece, and each consisting of three races against the AI.
Yule the Boss is a Street Race event, with three races in any S1 Class Ford Mustang, and a classic 1969 Mustang as the prize, while Toys Under the Tree is a road race event for S1 Class Track Toys. There’s a slightly more unusual prize, with a Red Nose clothing item for all you Rudolph fans.
Finally there is a Dirt Race series, called Good Tidings We Bring (though we aren’t sure why it’s not “Glad Tidings”), for B Class Modern Rally cars up to 700PI. The Ford Fiesta #14 Rahal Letterman car is a proper prize though.
The final four events either need you to play on PC, where online multiplayer is free, or have an active Xbox Gold subscription on your console to access online multiplayer modes.
Horizon Tour and Horizon Arcade return as usual, each consisting of a co-op field of players to either work towards a common goal (Arcade) or to out-point a grid of AI racers (Tour).
The Trial is one of the game’s harder events, forcing you to face down a team of “Unbeatable” Drivatars. Not only that but you’ll need to work as a team, and that means players who know how to take the AI out if necessary but also how not take out their team-mates.
This week’s event will put you into B Class cars (up to 700PI) in the Offroad category, so tune anything you like from that section up to B700. If your team beats the AI over the best-of-three races, you’ll win 10 points and the Elf outfit, to fill your Dudley Moore/Will Ferrell cosplay dreams.
Playground Games is back again, and despite the thumbnail showing the stadium you’ll be mucking about in Ek’Balam. You can pick any car you like from any category so long as it slots into the A Class — and given Ek’Balam’s terrain, you’ll likely need something off-road capable. It’s the usual co-op, team vs. team, best-of-five match of Zombies, King, and Flag Rush games, but you only need to finish to take the three points and a Chevy Bel Air.
Danger Sign: Desert Dunes
- Car: S1 Class, Rally Monsters
- Location: Dunas Blancas
- Challenge: 213m/699ft
- Reward: 2 points, Wheelspin
Speed Trap: Estadio
- Car: B Class, Classic Muscle
- Location: El Estadio Horizon
- Challenge: 100mph
- Reward: 2 points, Wheelspin
Speed Zone: Riviera Maya
- Car: A Class, Rods & Customs
- Location: Playa Azul
- Challenge: 100mph
- Reward: 2 points, Wheelspin
Event Lab: Bowling in the Deep
- Car: A Class, Rally Monsters
- Location: Guanajuato
- Challenge: Knock Down the Most Bowling Pins
- Reward: 3 points, Elf Hat
Seasonal Championship: Good Tidings We Bring
- Car: B Class, Modern Rally
- Location: Los Jardines
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 5 points, Ford Fiesta #14 Rahal Letterman
Seasonal Championship: Toys Under The Tree
- Car: S1 Class, Track Toys
- Location: Tierra Prospera
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 5 points, Red Nose Clothing
Seasonal Championship: Yule the Boss
- Car: S1 Class, Ford Mustang
- Location: Bahia de Plano
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 5 points, Ford Mustang ’69
Horizon Arcade
- Car: Any
- Location: Horizon Arcade (any)
- Challenge: Complete the Event
- Reward: 3 points
Horizon Tour: Co-op Championships
- Car: Any
- Location: Horizon Tour
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 3 points
Seasonal Playground Games: Ready, Set, Glow
- Car: A Class
- Location: Ek’Balam
- Challenge: Complete the Championship
- Reward: 3 points, Chevrolet Bel Air
The Trial: Elf on the Shelf
- Car: B Class, Offroad
- Location: Guanajuato
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 10 points, Elf Outfit
Forzathon Events
This week’s Forzathon Events Weekly Challenge will see you driving one of the lesser-known Japanese sports cars. Not that the model itself is a particular secret — it’s the Nissan 240SX — but where the early “Zenki” and late-model “Kouki” are known outside the S13 inner circles, this week’s car is the middle generation “Chuki”. Buy and drive the 1993 car to get “Future Classic” started.
After that you’ll want to get upgrading, as you need to hit 175mph in the Nissan (usually only capable of around 130mph) to complete the next stage.
Your next challenge in the 240SX should be one that should come more naturally to the car. Pick up 10 “Ultimate Drift” skills — that’s a drift that goes on and on, through Great, to Awesome, and finally Ultimate — with the Nissan.
Finally you’ll need to enter and win four Street Race events to complete the challenge and secure five Playlist points and 80FP.
As usual, the Daily Challenges are each worth one point (and 10FP), with a new one dropping each day and running for seven days rather than the three days of FH4.
That starts with Break the Bank, which needs you to successfully bank 250,000 Skill Points — and although it doesn’t actually say in the description, this needs to be a single chain.
Triple Drop will follow on Friday, and the requirement is simply to drive three different cars in one game of The Eliminator. Update: We’ve confirmed that this needs you to collect three different cars from car drops. Neither the starting Beetle nor any cars you upgrade to after a head-to-head challenge count.
Saturday’s challenge is No Signal. This will have you smashing up five phone booths to complete the task, and there’s plenty in Guanajuato for you to crash into.
On Sunday you’ll be able to start on Designed to Win. It’s a pretty simple challenge to win any Cross Country Race in an Offroad category car.
Go Wild starts next week off, and this only needs you to take a picture at the Horizon Wilds Outpost. Photo tasks can be a little tricky in FH5, so you might want to snap a few just in case.
Tuesday unlocks the Mixology challenge. You’ll need to find and complete three different Event Blueprints — there should be some available at every race start point on the map — to get the point.
Rounding out the week is In Three Minds. This requires you to buy three cars from any method used to buy cars.
Rack up 25 points across any of the events this week and you’ll unlock the Mercedes-AMG E63, while the 1938 Maserati 8CTF grand prix car is the reward for picking up 45 points.
There’s a bit of a twist in the Forzathon Shop this week, keyed to the Secret Santa mission in Series 2.
You’ll now find four vehicles in the Shop, rather than just two, and not only are they all available for you to buy, you can also send them to other players. Simply go to buy the car, select “Purchase as a gift” and choose who you want to send it to — a friend, or a random other player.
The four cars are all pretty potent too. Coming in at 200FP is the brutal Ford Shelby GT500, while the Ford Performance Bronco R is on offer at 300FP. Bugatti’s first comeback hypercar, the EB110 Super Sport, appears for 400FP. All can also be picked up in the Autoshow for credits, so we wouldn’t recommend any of them other than to send them as gifts for the Secret Santa.
One that isn’t available through ordinary means — Wheelspins, Playlists, and the Shop — is the Forza Edition Mercedes-Benz Tankpool Racing Truck. It’s a bit steep at 600FP considering its rather niche usefulness, but does come with a Destruction Skills boost.
As usual, there’s also the regular Wheelspin for 80 Forzathon points, and a Super Wheelspin for 300FP.
Featured image courtesy of T0MMY3688.
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