The long nights continue in Mexico, with Series 19 of Forza Horizon 5’s playlists rolling into its second week today.
Going by the name “Midnights at Horizon”, the Series focuses on all things after dark. That covers the whole street racing vibe — which permeates across all event types this month — with lengthened night time to allow you more time to enjoy it.
A world makeover brings blue and pink neons to all things, with the most obvious change coming at the airport in the jungle. This features new illuminated signs, gates, and crates, and a glow-in-the-dark floor decoration using the Horizon 5 twin-snake motif.
This week there’ll also be a new collectible item, along a similar theme, as well as another hunt for a neon sign.
The Series feature four brand-new vehicles, all fresh to the Forza franchise as a whole — allowing for concept car variants — along with the regular Evolving World Accolade for picking them all up. That’ll come if you can score 20 points on each week’s Playlist.
Series 19: Midnights at Horizon
Neither of the two Series rewards are new to the game, but they’re both solid prizes. Their rare appearances and unavailability means they attract high prices in the Auction House, so it’s a good chance to pick them up without paying through the nose or to score a duplicate and earn a few million yourself.
80 points in the Series, which you should cross this week, will earn you the Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 — arguably the definitive non-turbo 997.
It’s based on the already spectacular GT3 RS, which is a pretty high bar to clear. Porsche’s solution was to bump the power up by fitting a larger, four-liter version of the flat six engine, along with chassis tweaks from the turbocharged GT2 RS and some new aerodynamic aids.
Porsche only made 600 examples of the 493hp GT3 RS 4.0, resulting in something of a collectors’ item for a car that was six seconds quicker around the Nordschleife.
At 160 points you’ll earn an even rarer car, with the one-off Lamborghini Aventador J.
For the most part it’s based on the regular Aventador, packing the same 690-hp V12 and sharing every component right up to the window line. After that it diverges a little, as it doesn’t have any windows. Or a roof, or a windscreen — unless you count the small deflectors ahead of the driver and a brave passenger.
Lamborghini made the car just for the Geneva International Motor Show in 2012, and the car was reportedly sold for $2.8m to a collector.
Series 19 Autumn/Storm Season Rewards
The second of the four brand-new cars is available for 20 points this week, with the first of the two Blackwing Cadillacs making its Forza bow.
It’s the CT5 that comes up first, in its performance variant of a performance variant guise. The CT5 is a regular mid-size executive/luxury sedan, which Cadillac made a lot hotter with a 360hp, three-liter V6 turbo to create the CT5-V.
That wasn’t quite enough to take the fight to the hottest German equivalents, so Cadillac fitted a monster of an engine: a 6.2-liter, supercharged V8 good for almost twice that. The result is a Caddy that will rip through speed zones right alongside the M5s, E63s, and RS6s of this world.
In fact it’ll probably make this week’s 40-point car, the Audi R8, eat its dust on a regular basis — though perhaps not on a race track where the mid-engined Audi would show its handling prowess.
You’ll be aiming to pick up the 2013, first-generation model, which isn’t available to buy in FH5. That means you’ll have to wait for the luck of a Wheelspin or its occasional Playlist appearances to own the car.
Audi’s first roadgoing supercar, the R8 is pretty closely related to the Lamborghini Gallardo, including the 602hp 5.2-liter V10 that powers both cars.
Autumn will run through to 1430UTC on Thursday April 13, with Series 19 continuing for another two weeks until the same time on Thursday April 27.
Series 19 Autumn Playlist: Forzathon Events
This week’s Weekly Challenge is a look at an American classic. Despite the name, Corvette Racing, you’ll need to own and drive the 2015 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 to get the challenge underway.
Again, the tasks facing you are not particularly difficult. Firstly you’ll need to photograph the car at the Horizon Street Scene Outpost, then head to any of the three drag strips — at the Festival site, the Aerodrome, or Teotihuacan — and win a Drag Race there.
Finally earn nine stars at Speed Traps in the Camaro to complete the four chapters and earn five points and 80FP — with the Forzathon Points doubled if you own the La Casa Solariega player house near Teotihuacan.
Weekly Challenge: Corvette Racing
- Car: Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 ’15
- Chapter 1: Own and drive the Camaro Z/28 ’15
- Chapter 2: Take a photo of the Camaro Z/28 ’15 at the Horizon Street Scene Outpost
- Chapter 3: Win a Drag Race in the Camaro Z/28 ’15
- Chapter 4: Earn nine stars at Speed Traps in the Camaro Z/28 ’15
- Reward: 5 points, 80FP
Your seven Daily Challenges come along at the rate of one each day — at 1430UTC — and allow you seven days to complete each one, including running into the next Series if applicable. As usual, each is worth one point and 10FP.
It’s a Barrel of Laughs first, as you’ll need to earn three Bonus Barrel Skills at Aerodromo en la Selva. This requires you to hit three oil barrels, which you’ll find in the various hangars.
There’s three Jaffa Cake-themed tasks next. You’ll need to complete the Canyon Expedition — which you’ll find near Playa Azul — to finish the first, Full Moon.
Head to Teotihuacan and earn three stars at the challenging Pyramid of the Moon Speed Zone to complete Half Moon.
That leaves you with Sunday’s challenge, Total Eclipse, which requires you to take one photograph of the Mitsubishi Eclipse.
Earn five stars from any Speed Traps next — which you can pair with the Camaro challenge above — to finish off It’s a Trap!
Make a Scene on Tuesday by earning six Drift or E-Drift Skills at the Horizon Street Scene Outpost. Just get sliding around the site and the roads alongside it to complete.
Finally, make it a Not So Silent Night by beeping your horn four times during any Street Race.
Daily Challenges
- April 6 – Barrel of Laughs: Earn three Bonus Barrel Skills at Aerodromo en la Selva
- April 7 – Full Moon: Complete the Canyon Expedition
- April 8 – Half Moon: Earn three stars at the Pyramid of the Moon Speed Zone
- April 9 – Total Eclipse: Take a photo of the 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
- April 10 – It’s a Trap!: Earn five stars from Speed Traps
- April 11 – Make a Scene: Get six Drift or E-Drift Skills at the Horizon Street Scene Outpost
- April 12 – Not so Silent Night: Beep your horn four times in a Street Race
Series 19 Autumn Playlist: Season Events
The eight events on the solo Playlist this week are a slightly different mix, with three Seasonal Championships, three PR Stunts, and two EventLabs.
Each of the PR Stunts remains in the recent open-category format, allowing S2 Class (901-998PI) limits — though you can also use lower category vehicles — with no other restrictions. They’re each worth the usual two points and a Super Wheelspin.
You shouldn’t find any of the targets a particular challenge, with 250mph at the Oceano Azul Speed Trap, 180m at the Hotel Danger Sign, and 33,000pt at the Giro Encorvado Drift Zone — at the Festival site — all within easy reach of the S2 cars.
The three Seasonal Championships — each three-race series running against Highly Skilled AI — require you to top the final points table, and each gives five points to your season total.
In the Air Tonight is a Cross Country event, for A Class (701-800PI) Unlimited Offroad cars, awarding a Holden Sandman for victory. Racing in the Moonlight heads to the streets, with B Class (601-700PI) Retro Sports Cars eligible and a Porsche Cayman reward. You could take that prize to Twinkle Twinkle Little Porsche, a Road Racing Series event for A Class (701-800PI) Porsches which gifts an Infiniti Q60.
Each of the new EventLab challenges involves a cityscape makeover to their respective locations, with three points for completing each.
Horizon Midnight Scene creates what looks like Los Angeles around the Gran Puente bridge, with a short sprint course for A Class (701-800PI) vehicles and a Super Wheelspin when you reach the finish. Slippery When Wet is more of an oriental city feel and heads offroad too, with S1 Class (801-900PI) Rally Monsters eligible and an Audi RS7 for completing the laps.
EventLab: Horizon Midnight Scene
- Car: A Class
- Location: Gran Puente, River Scramble
- Challenge: Finish the race
- Reward: 3 points, Super Wheelspin
EventLab: Slippery When Wet
- Car: S1 Class, Rally Monsters
- Location: Palacio Azul, Emerald Circuit
- Challenge: Finish the race
- Reward: 3 points, Audi RS7
Danger Sign: Hotel
- Car: S2 Class
- Location: Palacio Azul, Hotel Danger Sign
- Challenge: 180m
- Reward: 2 points, Super Wheelspin
Drift Zone: Giro Encorvado Drift Zone
- Car: S2 Class
- Location: Horizon Festival, Giro Encorvado Drift Zone
- Challenge: 33,000pt
- Reward: 2 points, Super Wheelspin
Speed Trap: Oceano Azul
- Car: S2 Class
- Location: Club de Opalo, Oceano Azul Speed Trap
- Challenge: 250mph
- Reward: 2 points, Super Wheelspin
Seasonal Championship: In The Air Tonight
- Car: A Class, Unlimited Offroad
- Location: Horizon Festival, Festival Cross Country
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 5 points, Holden Sandman
Seasonal Championship: Racing in the Moonlight
- Car: B Class, Retro Sports Cars
- Location: Gran Pantano, Coast Run
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 5 points, Porsche Cayman
Seasonal Championship: Twinkle Twinkle Little Porsche
- Car: A Class, Porsche
- Location: Guanajuato, Copper Canyon Sprint
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 5 points, Infiniti Q60
There’s just one multiplayer event in the season events this week, for which you’ll need an Xbox Live Gold subscription — unless you play on PC — in order to access.
Of course that’s the permanent fixture of The Trial, again in the Stock Showdown format we’ll see across the series. You’ll need a totally standard Vauxhall Corsa VXR ’16, at 584PI, for the event, which will see you in a best-of-three-race championship for a team of up to six humans against six “Unbeatable” AI.
Each player on each team earns 100 points for each opponent they beat, but there’s no reward for beating team-mates. That means you’ll need to help each other out as much as possible while hindering the AI.
It’s another Road Racing event this week, with the high-grip surface and low power cars combining to make for a relatively controlled field (chronic understeer aside). The evenly matched field could be a spanner in the works with dozy team-mates but it should be a win in two races, for ten points and an Aston Martin Vantage S.
The Trial: Stock Showdown Vauxhall Corsa ’16
- Car: C Class, Vauxhall Corsa VXR ’16
- Location: Tierra Prospera, Tierra Prospera Circuit
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 10 points, Aston Martin Vantage S ’13
Series 19 Autumn Playlist: Challenges
There’s just two Challenges this week, consisting of the regular Photo Challenge and a Collectibles event.
We’re hunting neon tanks again for the photography this week, as you’ll need to locate a brightly lit sign depicting the FH5 mascot. This week it’s at the Universidad de Guanajuato map marker, on the south side of the s-bend.
Take a photo of any Track Toy alongside Tank and you’ll complete #NeonCity, to earn two points and the Porter Robinson track Language for Horizon Mixtape.
Collectibles features a new item, the Horizon Neon Cube. You’ll be able to find these sprinkled around Valle de las Ranas — the location of The Eliminator — and you’ll need to smash ten to complete Lights Out and earn three points and a Festival Sombrero.
Collectibles: Lights Out
- Cars: Any
- Location: Valle de las Ranas
- Challenge: Smash 10 Horizon Neon cubes in Valle de las Ranas
- Reward: 3 points, Festival Sombrero
Photo Challenge: #NeonCity
- Cars: Track Toys
- Location: Guanajuato, Universidad de Guanajuato
- Challenge: Photograph any Track Toy at the Neon Tank in Universidad de Guanajuato
- Reward: 2 points, Porter Robinson – Language track
The two Rivals challenges continue in their month-long slots. Each offers four points for completion, giving one point to each of the four seasons in the series regardless of when you complete them. That means you can get them ticked off as early or as late in the Series as you like.
Although labelled as Rivals events, you don’t need to beat any times; you only need a clean laptime at the tracks indicated, using the vehicles provided to you, so keep it clean to pass the challenge.
Your challenges require you to complete the Bola Ocho Circuit in Guanajuato in the new Lexus LC500 for Monthly Rivals, with Forza EV using the new Rimac Nevera at the Bahia de Plano course.
Forza EV: Bahia de Plano
- Cars: Rimac Nevera (Provided)
- Location: Bahia de Plano, Bahia de Plano Circuit
- Challenge: Post a Clean Lap
- Reward: 4 points (1 added to each season)
Monthly Rivals: Bola Ocho
- Cars: Lexus LC500 (Provided)
- Location: Guanajuato, Bola Ocho Circuit
- Challenge: Post a Clean Lap
- Reward: 4 points (1 added to each season)
Series 19 Autumn Bonus DLC Events
Four extra events are available on the Playlist for DLC owners, consisting of two for each pack. These are not required for 100% Playlist completion, but give a little boost towards your goals.
There’s one PR Stunt in each location, with a Danger Sign in Hot Wheels and a Speed Zone in Rally Adventure. As with the main map, you’ll need an S2 Class (901-998PI) car, and each is worth two points and a Super Wheelspin.
The Reservoir View Speed Zone in Rally Adventure is on the tricky side, but with enough grip and a downhill run you should hit the 95mph target. Meanwhile 580m is well within the capabilities of any S2 for the Ice Crash Danger Sign in Hot Wheels.
Each DLC also hosts a three-race Seasonal Championship too, worth five points apiece. You’ll need a B Class (601-700PI) MINI for the Mini-Utes to Midnight event in Rally Adventure, with a Grit Reapers cap as a bonus prize. A Class Super Saloons are up for Night Swift in Hot Wheels, with an Audi RS2 as a reward.
Hot Wheels Danger Sign: Ice Crash
- Car: S2 Class
- Location: Hot Wheels Ice Cauldron, Ice Crash Danger Sign
- Challenge: 580m
- Reward: 2 points, Super Wheelspin
Hot Wheels Seasonal Championship: Night Swift
- Car: A Class, Super Saloons
- Location: Hot Wheels Ice Cauldron, Dragon’s Fall Speed Circuit
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 5 points, Audi RS2 ’95
Rally Adventure Speed Zone: Reservoir View
- Car: S2 Class
- Location: Sierra Nueva Epitaph Radio Tower, Reservoir View Speed Zone
- Challenge: 95mph
- Reward: 2 points, Super Wheelspin
Rally Adventure Seasonal Championship: Mini-Utes to Midnight
- Car: B Class, MINI
- Location: Rally Adventure Senda de Montanana, Valle de Pozas
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 5 points, Grit Reapers Cap
Series 19 Autumn Forzathon Shop
Cool performance cars from two eras front the Forzathon Shop this week, with two very different characters.
For 500FP (or a million credits in the Autoshow) you can pick up the Porsche Carrera GT, arguably one of the scariest cars ever made, courtesy of a highly strung, 600hp engine and as much race car technology as the company could feasibly fit into a road car.
That includes the mid-mounted, 5.7-liter V10 for which Porsche finally managed to find a home. It was originally developed, then abandoned, as an F1 unit a decade earlier before Porsche tried to fit it to an LMP car that was also subsequently shelved (though the prototype car still exists).
Combined with a full carbon-fiber monocoque, pushrod-actuated inboard suspension, dry-sump lubrication and a ceramic-composite clutch that weighs less than a housebrick, it was a technological showpiece.
The second cars is a little more rudimentary. Dodge’s Challenger R/T is about as classic a muscle/pony car as it gets, consisting of a very large two-door coupe body and a giant engine stuffed into the nose to make the rear wheels turn into smoke.
Although it’ll need some tweaking to realize its road performance in Mexico, the 426ci (seven-liter) Hemi-engined Challenger could put down 425hp to the ground and was perfectly at home on the drag strip and oval.
You’ll need 300FP for the Challenger, but at 210,000cr in the Autoshow it’s arguably better to spend the coin instead.
Store items this week are the Walkie Talkie horn and Apex Predators Hoodie, at 75FP each. The Wheelspin (60FP) and Super Wheelspin (150FP) remain in their usual spots.
See more articles on Forza Horizon 5 Season Change.
