Series 4 of Forza Horizon 5 starts today, as Summer arrives in Mexico to bring with it a whole new range of vehicles, items, challenges, Accolades, and a brand-new Series theme.
As we heard earlier this week, Series 4 marks the start of the Horizon World Cup. This event will see players take on the various challenges in the Festival Playlist in cars from six nations: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the USA.
Each time you complete an event you’ll score points for the nation’s car you chose. These points will rack up across Series 4, and whichever country wins will generate a prize gift for all players. We’d guess it’s a car in a special livery, but we’ll have to wait and see.
The Playlist has changed accordingly, with fewer online race events (helpful for those without Xbox Live Gold) and no PR Stunts at all this Series; don’t worry, they’ll return in the future, allowing players to resume their relevant Accolade progress.
There’s also a slight change to the strategy for rewards. This Series will bring four new Playlist exclusive cars, and they’re all placed as 25-point rewards. The higher tier rewards have also been reduced to 40 points from 45, and you’ll also find more cars awarded through the individual events — with each season gifting prize cars you’ll need to use in the following season.
Series 4 also sees the full debut of Chinese brands in Forza, and not just Forza Horizon but the entire franchise. That’ll start with the NIO EP9, an EV hypercar which is this week’s 25-point prize and the Series 4 Monthly Rivals car. It’s a busy month then!
Series 4
As Series 4 starts today, the overall prizes are very much a case of look but don’t touch. Even with the reduced points requirement — to 100 and 160 — you won’t be getting your hands on either, with a maximum of 66 points available before the next season arrives.
The Saleen S7 is the first of the two prizes, which you’ll want to look at collecting in the Autumn season. Arguably America’s first true production supercar (Vector barely made 40 cars in total), the S7 packed a seven-liter Ford V8 into a huge but light carbon-fiber body designed by Phil Frank.
It was one of the fastest cars in the world at the time, and still ranks pretty high up the list, but next to the 160-point car, it might look like it’s standing still.
That’s because the Koenigsegg Jesko — named for company founder Christian von Koenigsegg’s father — was designed to crack 300mph, and is this month’s top prize.
Like the Saleen, Koenigsegg’s original offerings used Ford V8s, but the Jesko’s engine is an in-house five-liter V8 developed from the one in the Agera. It delivers almost 1,300hp on pump fuel, through a smart nine-speed gearbox.
There’ll only be 219 points available across Series 4, with 54 available this season (plus another 12 to your total from the Montly Rivals), so you’ll have to wait until next week to sample the S7 if it’s not already in your garage, and until the following week to pick up the Jesko.
Series 4 will run through to 1430 UTC on Thursday, March 3, while the Summer season will give way to Autumn at 1430 UTC on Thursday, February 10.
Summer
You’ll have your first opportunity to win a Chinese car on this week’s playlist, along with a rarity from the Hoonicorn stable.
NIO’s EP9 marks the debut of any current Chinese brand in any Forza series title, and it’s quite the start point. The EP9 is a fully electric vehicle, with a carbon-fiber chassis and four individual 250kW (335hp) motors — one in each wheel.
That means this EV hypercar totes a full megawatt of electric power (1,341hp), which is what helped it to an electric lap record at the Nurburgring Nordschleife, though the fact it used slick tires meant it wasn’t an official road car record.
Only six of these cars have ever been made, but with it being available at just 25 points this week — and exclusive to the Playlist for now — you’ll likely see many more in FH5’s Mexico.
The higher-tier prize is now available at 40 points rather than 45 in previous weeks, and in Summer it’s the Hoonigan “Hoonicorn” V2.
This used to be a first-generation Ford Mustang, until Ken Block got his hands on it. Now it’s a 1,400hp twin-turbo monster with a Roush-tuned 6.2-liter V8 and all-wheel drive. Oh and he’s given it to his 14-year old daughter…
The NIO is a Playlist Exclusive, while the Hoonicorn is only available through season events and any chance appearances in the Forzathon Shop.
With 54 points on offer this week, you’ll need to get through almost all of the Playlist if you want both, but fortunately that’s been made a little easier — especially for players without Xbox Live Gold.
Forzathon Events
The Forzathon Weekly Challenge, worth five points and 80FP, gets the World Cup shenanigans underway. You’ll need to pick up any car from the eligible nations — France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, and USA — to start the “Triathlon of Racing”.
After that, you’ll need to enter and win a Road Racing Series event at any circuit. Note that this is circuits only, and not point-to-point events.
The “Triathlon” part of the title should be getting a little clearer with the next stage, which requires you to win a Dirt Racing Series Scramble event. Again, this is circuits only, not the Trail events that start and finish at different point.
That leaves the final stage which is, as you’ve probably guessed, winning any Cross Country Series race event. The definitions for Cross Country are a little more vague, but we’re assuming it’s another circuit event rather than a point-to-point — we’ll update this article accordingly.
There’s some good news here in that you don’t actually need to go to any special effort to complete this Weekly Challenge. Simply completing the Seasonal Championships — in the right order (Road Racing, Dirt Racing, Cross Country) — will be enough.
As usual, there’s seven Daily Challenges to get through too. There’s a new one each day, and you get seven days to complete it, with each worth one point towards your season total, and 10FP.
That starts off with Put On A Show, which requires you to complete a Showcase. There’s four in total — Blood Sweat and Gears, Buggy and the Beast, Catch Me if You Canyon, and On a Wing and a Prayer — and completing any one of them should complete this task. However these have been glitchy in the past, so it might not work as intended.
On Friday you’ll need to hit 200mph in the Apollo Intensa Emozione to complete That Was Intensa. It shouldn’t be too much of an issue, as the car is capable of far more than that, but you’ll need to own it first — and the Welcome Pack car is eligible.
The Eliminator appears on Saturday, with Elite Athlete requiring you to drive any level four car in the knockout event. It likely doesn’t matter if you get this from a car drop or upgrade into one from beating other drivers, but it needs to be a level four car specifically rather than four or higher.
Pass, Shoot, Score follows on Sunday. You’ll need to score three flags during Flag Rush or Team Flag Rush games in Playground Games. It’s not a one-shot deal, so you can grab the flags across multiple sessions.
Next week starts with a Push-Start. Win any two Road Racing Series circuit events in any Volkswagen to pass.
Tuesday’s challenge, Crafted for Greatness, is to earn five stars from Trailblazers while driving Alumi Craft vehicles. Any Trailblazers will do, even the same one repeatedly.
The final challenge of the week is very World Cup-themed. You’ll need to smash a football to pass Doesn’t Ring a Bell — and there’s a very obvious one in the center of the Horizon Stadium!
Season Events
There’s no PR Stunts this week, or indeed month, as the game focuses on nation vs. nation competition. Instead you’ll be racing three Seasonal Championships — worth five season points each — with specific car lists of eligible C Class (501-600 PI) vehicles appropriate to the World Cup.
Off Track is the first, a Dirt Racing series. This features the Alpine A110, Ford Escort RS Cosworth, Lamborghini LM002, MINI John Cooper Works, Nissan Pulsar GTi-R, and VW Golf VR6. Grab any one, tuned into C Class, and beat the AI over three races to win the Renault Megane R26.R hot hatch.
Sky’s The Limit is a Road Racing series, for the Buick Regal, Jaguar E Type, Lamborghini LM002 (again), Mercedes 190E Evo, Renault Clio Williams, and Toyota 86. Again, any of these tuned to C Class is allowed, and winning the three-race championship against the AI gifts you a 1993 Nissan Skyline GT-R.
Finally there’s Turbo Charged. This Cross Country Series allows you to use any C Class-tuned Honda Civic Type R ’97, Land Rover Defender 2020, Renault 5 Turbo, Ford Bronco 2021, VW Corrado, or — you guessed it — Lamborghini LM002. Take the win to score a Porsche Macan Turbo.
EventLab also appears this week, with the Temple of Doom event set at Teotihuacan. There’s more freedom here, with any B Class (601-700 PI) Modern Rally car allowed to take part. It’s a single-lap Cross Country event, consisting of an obstacle course within cargo contains, worth three points and a 1995 Chevrolet Corvette for completion.
Finally there’s a Showcase Remix. Head to the top of La Gran Caldera to start off the Buggy and the Beast event, which will see you racing down to the stadium against two Hot Wheels monster trucks. It’s worth five points and the Announcer Countdown horn.
EventLab: Temple of Doom 2
- Car: B Class, Modern Rally
- Location: Teotihuacan
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 3 points, Chevrolet Corvette 1995
Showcase Remix: Opening Ceremony
- Car: Can-Am Maverick X RS
- Location: La Gran Caldera
- Challenge: Win the Race
- Reward: 5 points, Announcer Countdown horn
Seasonal Championship: Off Track
- Car: C Class, “Country Rivals: Dirt Racing”
- Location: Colinas Aridas, Desierto Trail
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 5 points, Renault Megane R26.R
Seasonal Championship: Sky’s The Limit
- Car: C Class, “Country Rivals: Road Racing”
- Location: La Gran Caldera, Volcan Sprint
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 5 points, Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R 1993
Seasonal Championship: Turbocharged
- Car: C Class, “Country Rivals: Cross Country”
- Location: Aerodromo en la Selva
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 5 points, Porsche Macan Turbo 2019
That leaves just the two online multiplayer events for this week. You’ll need to either play on PC or have an active Xbox Gold subscription to take part.
Playground Games this week sends you to the Stadium for the best-of-five set of Zombies, King, and Flag Rush games. You’ll be paired up with up to five other players to face a rival squad of humans for this co-op team-vs-team event.
Car selection is identical to Turbocharged, with C Class dirt racing vehicles from the six nations involved. Completing the event — winning isn’t necessary — will get you the five points and a Range Rover Velar.
For The Trial you’ll be street racing against “Unbeatable” AI Drivatars, and hopefully in cooperation with up to five human team-mates. You’ll need to work together to score as many points as you can as a team while hindering the bots.
This week you’re driving World Cup cars again, still in the C Class, but this time from a Street Racing selection. You can probably guess the Lamborghini LM002 is in the mix again, but the other cars are the BMW M3 1991, Renault Clio RS200, Ford Mustang Boss 302, Mitsubishi Eclipse, and Vauxhall Corsa VXR. The low PI will hopefully generate some more controlled driving.
Win as a team over the three races and you’ll take ten season points and a Lamborghini Miura.
Seasonal Playground Games: Ahead of the Game
- Car: C Class, “Country Rivals: Dirt Racing”
- Location: El Estadio Horizon
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 5 points, Range Rover Velar
The Trial: Just Warming Up
- Car: C Class, “Country Rivals: Street Racing”
- Location: La Gran Caldera, Festival Gatecrash
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 10 points, Lamborghini Miura
Challenges
There’s only a single challenge this week, with no Treasure Hunts and no online events at all. Instead we only have a Photo Challenge, and not an especially tricky one.
All you’ll need to do is grab a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS and head to Tierra Prospera. That’s the huge expanse of fields and farmland that stretches from the stadium to the Eliminator hub, and Guanajuato down to the main highway.
Once there, take a snap of the car and you should be done. The challenge does state that you need to take a photo of the car at the “Tierra Prospera fields” so make sure you’ve got plenty of farmland in shot.
Finally, there’s Monthly Rivals. This challenge remains in place across all four weeks of the Series, with players needing to set a clean lap time in the provided car/track combination to complete it.
This month it uses the new NIO EP9 and the Estadio Circuit, a loop running round the outside of the stadium. There’s some pretty harsh barriers here, notably at the first double-left and the two chicanes, so getting clean with a 1,341hp EV hypercar might be tricky.
Complete the event and you’ll gain four points in each Season in the Series, for 16 points in total. If you choose to do it later in the Series, these points will backdate to earlier Seasons too.
Photo Challenge: #CountrySports
- Cars: Chevrolet Camaro SS 1969
- Location: Tierra Prospera
- Challenge: Photograph the Chevrolet Camaro SS 1969 at the Tierra Prospera fields
- Reward: 2 points, Breaking Shatter Horn
Monthly Rivals: Plaza Circuit
- Cars: NIO EP9
- Location: Estadio Circuit, Estadio Horizon
- Challenge: Post a Clean Lap
- Reward: 16 points (4 added to each season)
Forzathon Shop
Finally this week, we have a new Forzathon Shop, with a some pretty rare supercars.
The headline act this week is a supercar from Denmark (a rare phrase indeed), in the shape of the Zenvo TSR-S. This development of the company’s 1,000hp V8 ST1 features a wacky waving — but not inflatable — rear wing, which shifts about in two axes to maximize cornering downforce.
More conventional is the Koenigsegg CC8S, another high-performance Scandinavian product. The first production car from Koenigsegg, it was the recipe for things to come. It packs a modular Ford V8, good for 655hp thanks to supercharging, which helps it on to a mere 240mph.
Neither car is an exclusive Shop buy, and at 400FP for the 400,000cr Koenigsegg and 600FP for the 1.2m credit Zenvo, you might want to save your points.
If the cars are too rich for your blood, or you already own them, there’s a Countdown Timer horn and a Macarena emote for 75FP each. As usual there’s two spots for the Wheelspin (80FP) and Super Wheelspin (300FP).
