The celebration of modern-day motoring extends into its third week with the latest season of Forza Horizon 5’s “Modern Horizons” Series that’s available now.
It’s the 35th Series of the game to date, rapidly approaching its third anniversary as it’s set to become the only active game in the series soon. Unsurprisingly, modern cars are the focus, with the majority of challenges requiring vehicles made no earlier than 2010 and rewards to suit.
That includes the latest new cars to the game, with five available as rewards across the series. As usual you’ll need to score 20pt in each season for each of the first four, and 80pt in total across the series to score the fifth.
Additionally there’s five — or some might say three — new cars available through a new DLC pack, which looks like it’s arrived one month late as it focuses on famous movie and TV cars of the 1980s and 1990s.
Elsewhere there’s a little well-earned time off for the environments team as the map has reverted to its standard form for the month, with no makeovers.
Table of Contents
- Series 35: Modern Horizons
- Series 35 Winter/Dry Season Rewards
- Series 35 Winter Playlist: Forzathon Events
- Series 35 Winter Playlist: Season Events
- Series 35 Winter Playlist: Challenges
- Series 35 Winter Playlist: Monthly Events
- Series 35 Winter Bonus DLC Events
- Series 35 Winter Forzathon Shop
Series 35: Modern Horizons
This month’s motoring is more motor-y than most, with both reward cars this Series packing a range of electric powertrains. In fact they share eight motors between them.
At 80 points you’ll collect the Kia EV6 GT. This is Kia’s first car in FH5 and, perhaps a little surprisingly, the brand’s stated successor to the Stinger.
While resembling the original EV6 on the outside, the GT is almost completely reworked underneath and sports significant chassis, suspension, and braking changes. That’s to enable the car to deal with nearly 600hp of electric propulsion.
Outstripping that, if a little more on the concept side, is the 160-point car. The RAESR Tachyon Speed packs in six electric motors (a little odd for a four-wheeled car) worth a combined 1,250hp. It ought to be good for 240mph, although that’s only on paper — and not quite as fast as recent marks set by real cars.
Series 35 Winter/Dry Season Rewards
At 20 points this series you’ll net yourself the Toyota GR Yaris, which is making its long, long overdue debut in the game.
This little hot hatch is actually a homologation model for a car that — due to largely unavoidable regulation changes — never raced, but the car designed for the rally stages makes for an excellent road weapon too. The recipe includes around 260hp from a 1.6-liter three-cylinder engine and a switchable all-wheel drive system.
At 40 points you’ll have another chance to score the Autobahn-crushing Mercedes-AMG E63 — which, despite the name, actually sports the four-liter, turbo V8 AMG engine.
Winter will run until 1430UTC on Thursday July 11, while Series 35 will continue for another week until the same time on Thursday July 18.
Series 35 Winter Playlist: Forzathon Events
The latest subject of the Forzathon Weekly Challenge is a bit of a surprise as it’s almost entirely vaporware some seven years on from its first announcement. Nevertheless, get hold of a Saleen S1 — originally planned for a 1,500-car per year production run but still waiting on car #1 — to get Driver’s Car underway.
It’s a surprisingly lengthy process this week too. First up you’ll need to win a circuit race from the Road Racing Series (marked in blue on your map) twice; that could be two different ones or the same one twice if you like.
After that, go out and earn six Stars at any Speed Zones in the S1, before an odd final challenge to earn ten Wreckage Skills — from smashing destructible items — inside one minute to complete the event. That will grant you the five Playlist points and 80 Forzathon Points.
Series 35 Winter Forzathon Weekly Challenge: Driver’s Car
- Car: Saleen S1 ’18
- Chapter 1: Own and drive the Saleen S1
- Chapter 2: Win two Road Race circuit events in the Saleen S1
- Chapter 3: Earn six stars at Speed Zones in the Saleen S1
- Chapter 4: Earn ten Wreckage Skills in one minute in the Saleen S1
- Reward: 5 points, 80FP
The seven Daily Challenges this week are quite a varied bunch. As usual a new challenge unlocks each day at 1430UTC, and you have a full seven days — even into next season — to complete each of them for a point apiece.
It’s a weird look back at last season first, as you’ll need to take a photo of your character wearing the Retrowave Outfit for Feeling Cyber, Punk. Don’t worry if you didn’t collect it; it’s available as a reward for the California Hills Raceway EventLab this week too.
After that, run a Time Trial by maintaining a speed of 85mph or more for a full two minutes in any Modern Rally vehicle. To the highway!
Earn Your Stripes next by banking a total of 100,000 Skill Score in Guanajauto. This doesn’t need to be done all at once — thankfully, as there’s lots of ways to lose it in the city — so feel free to do it in dribs and drabs.
Go to any Danger Signs and earn six stars in the Halo-sourced AMG Warthog to see Flying Cars of the Future next. If you don’t have the car, it’s in the Forzathon Shop this week.
Invite other players to Come Ride With Me and complete a Horizon Tour — requiring Xbox Core as it’s a multiplayer event.
Make the Perfect Slice by earning ten Lumberjack Skills after that. You’ll score this by smacking — hard — into fallen branches, which you’ll find mostly in the forested regions of the south and east.
Finally, show you’re good at Keeping Those Tyres Clean by earning five Clean Racing Skills (for… racing clean) in any Cross Country event.
Series 35 Winter Daily Challenges
- July 4 – Feeling Cyber, Punk: Take a photo of your character wearing the Retrowave Outfit
- July 5 – Time Trial: Maintain a speed of 85mph for two minutes in any Modern Rally vehicle
- July 6 – Earn Your Stripes: Bank a total of 100,000 Skill Score in Guanajuato
- July 7 – Flying Cars of the Future: Earn six stars at Danger Signs in the AMG Warthog
- July 8 – Come Ride With Me: Complete a Horizon Tour
- July 9 – Perfect Slice: Earn ten Lumberjack Skills
- July 10 – Keeping Those Tyres Clean: Earn five Clean Racing Skills in any Cross Country event
Series 35 Winter Playlist: Season Events
There’s just the one Multiplayer event this week, requiring either an Xbox Core subscription or a PC — on which it’s free — in order to take part.
As a permanent fixture since the pre-launch Playlists, you shouldn’t be surprised to see that’s The Trial. This week it’s a series for S1 Class (801-900PI) McLaren cars from the 2010s for a Road Racing event.
The format remains that of a best-of-three race challenge, pitting you and up to five other human players against a squad of six “Unbeatable” AI, and your goal is to hit the best total team score each race.
To that end, each player on each team scores 100pt for each opponent from the rival team that they beat, but nothing for beating a team-mate. That means you should be helping as many of your team as possible to get to the highest position possible in order to outscore the AI as a squad, not tripping over each other.
With the compact circuits and relatively high speeds this week, it may be a challenge to win inside two races due to wayward team-mates. However the overall victory, however long it takes, is worth 10pt and an AlumiCraft C10.
The Trial: 2010s Classic
- Car: S1 Class, McLaren, 2010s
- Location: Guanajuato
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 10 points, AlumiCraft C10
Eight challenges line up on the solo Playlist, with two PR Stunts, three Seasonal Championships, two EventLabs, and Horizon Arcade.
For that last one you just need to head to any Horizon Arcade zone (the pink circles on the map) from any of the five themes — Air, Chaos, Drift, Speed, and Wreckage — and complete three rounds of stunts to earn yourself three points. Other players may join you, if you play in Horizon Life mode, and the goals scale by the number of participants. Hopefully they don’t join for the start then do nothing…
The PR Stunts across the series are open to any vehicle so long as it doesn’t exceed 998PI at the top of the S2 Class. As usual, both of this week’s are worth two points and a Super Wheelspin.
As you’ll be looking at setting personal bests, neither of the two this week are a massive challenge. 177mph through the Pequeno Puente (“little bridge”) Speed Trap in Mulege could require a little cross-country hill descent to start with, and you just need to stay on course and avoid trees to hit the 35s marker for the Barranco Trailblazer down the east side of the volcano.
For EventLab there’s two custom routes — one on the mainland, one on EventLab Island — and you’ll need to beat the AI in races on both to score three points and a bonus prize.
California Hills Raceway is an odd racetrack, infested by snowpeople and subsidence, staging an event for B Class (601-700PI) cars from the 2010s and awarding (even more oddly) the Retrowave Outfit from last Series. Ark Drift City Dash GP is a long, convoluted course with a very incongruous final section hosting a one-lap race for A Class (701-800PI) Rally Monsters and gifting a Lexus RC F.
The three Seasonal Championships are the usual three-race events against “Highly Skilled” AI. In each case you’ll need to top the points table at the end of the racing to earn five points and a bonus reward.
There’s a bit of a mix this week, starting with S2 Class (901-998PI) Hypercars in the Sprinting to the Finish Street Racing series with a Rimac Concept Two as a prize. Elsewhere it’s much slower in B Class (601-700PI) cars. You’ll need a Lancia for Lancia Me This!, awarding a Land Rover Velar, and any Korean car for Light as a Chevy which gift a 2015 Corvette.
Speed Trap: Pequeno Puente
- Car: S2 Class
- Location: Mulege
- Challenge: 177mph
- Reward: 2 points, Super Wheelspin
Trailblazer: Barranco
- Car: S2 Class
- Location: Gran Caldera
- Challenge: 250m
- Reward: 2 points, Super Wheelspin
EventLab: Ark Drift City Dash GP
- Car: A Class, Rally Monsters
- Location: Riviera Maya
- Challenge: Win the Race
- Reward: 3 points, Lexus RC F
EventLab: California Hills Raceway
- Car: B Class, 2010s
- Location: EventLab Island
- Challenge: Win the Race
- Reward: 3 points, Retrowave Outfit
Horizon Arcade: Mini Games
- Car: Any
- Location: Horizon Arcade (any)
- Challenge: Complete three rounds of Horizon Arcade
- Reward: 3 points
Seasonal Championship: Lancia Me This!
- Car: B Class, Lancia
- Location: Gran Caldera
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 5 points, Land Rover Velar
Seasonal Championship: Light as a Chevy
- Car: B Class, Korea
- Location: Club de Opala
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 5 points, Chevrolet Corvette Stingray ’15
Seasonal Championship: Sprinting to the Finish
- Car: S2 Class, Hypercars
- Location: Cordillera
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 5 points, Rimac Concept Two
Series 35 Winter Playlist: Challenges
Three Challenges await this week, as The Eliminator joins a new Treasure Hunt and the regular Photo Challenge.
You’ll need an Xbox Core subscription for the multiplayer Eliminator of course, but the challenge remains to finish 30th or better in any one round of the event — usually a case of surviving (or hiding) a couple of minutes or around the first play zone shrink. It’s worth two points and, unusually, a Zenvo TSR-S.
The Photo Challenge, #SandyTrails, marks the recent expansion in Korean cars by requiring you to snap one of them. You can photograph any car from any (either) Korean brand, so long as it’s in the Dunas Blancas area — which we think you can probably do during the Light as a Chevy seasonal. That’ll earn you two points and a Breaking Shatter car horn.
For the Treasure Hunt you’ll need to get artsy. The Clue isn’t too tricky to decipher, but in essence you’ll just need to paint the body of any Pagani vehicle. You can freely ignore the colors mentioned: we went purple (obviously).
Doing that will reveal the location of the treasure chest, which is on a hillock just south of the sunken church in the Sierra Verde reservoir. Lucky it’s the Dry Season, really. Smash it to earn three points and 100FP.
The Eliminator: Battle Royale
- Cars: Any (provided)
- Location: The Eliminator
- Challenge: Finish 30th or better in The Eliminator
- Reward: 2 points, Zenvo TSR-S
Photo Challenge: #SandyTrails
- Cars: Hyundai/Kia (any)
- Location: Dunas Blancas
- Challenge: Photograph any Korean car at Dunas Blancas
- Reward: 2 points, Breaking Shatter Horn
Treasure Hunt: Body Arts
- Cars: Pagani (any)
- Location: –
- Challenge: Paint the body of any Pagani; find and smash the Treasure Chest
- Reward: 3 points, 100FP
Series 35 Winter Playlist: Monthly Events
If you’ve not yet checked them off your list, there’s two Monthly Events available across all four weeks of the Series. You can complete them at any time to earn one point in each season (whether completed or not), for a total of eight points for the pair.
While similar to Rivals challenges — with you against a ghost car from a human opponent — you’re not required to go fast or even beat the rival ghost. In fact you just need to set a clean run to complete the event, which means not hitting solid objects, passing through all checkpoints, and avoiding any use of the Rewind button.
A Forza EV event places you into the Hyundai Ioniq 5 for the Linea Costera Sprint point-to-point run, while the normal Monthly Event tries to tempt you into spending money with the DLC Pack Universal Studios Jeep Wrangler Jurassic Park at San Juan Scramble.
Forza EV: Linea Costera Sprint
- Cars: Hyundai Ioniq 5 (provided)
- Location: Costa Rocosa
- Challenge: Post a Clean Time
- Reward: 4 points (1 added to each season)
Monthly Rivals: San Juan Scramble
- Cars: Universal Studios Jeep Wrangler Jurassic Park (provided)
- Location: San Juan
- Challenge: Post a Clean Lap
- Reward: 4 points (1 added to each season)
Series 35 Winter Bonus DLC Events
14 additional points — seven in each location — are available as bonus rewards for owning the DLC expansion packs. As usual that’s a two-point PR Stunt and a five-point Seasonal Championship in each of the two new map regions.
Again, the two PR Stunts both require the same cars as the main map — any car up to the top of S2 Class (901-998PI) — and award a Super Wheelspin too. Both are pretty easy to check off, just requiring a controlled approach across the desert for the 250m leap at Dunes in Sierra Nueva and avoiding a bottoming-out around the loop for the 220mph target at Nexus View in Hot Wheels.
Hot Wheels hosts a Red, White and Blue seasonal for B Class (601-700PI) cars from the USA, with a Maserati Gran Turismo as the bonus prize, while it’s S1 Class (801-900PI) cars from the 2020s for T-Rexing Through Dirt in Rally Adventure and a Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG reward.
Hot Wheels Speed Trap: Nexus View
- Car: S2 Class
- Location: Hot Wheels Nexus
- Challenge: 220mph
- Reward: 2 points, Super Wheelspin
Hot Wheels Seasonal Championship: Red, White and Blue
- Car: B Class, USA
- Location: Hot Wheels Ice Cauldron
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 5 points, Maserati Gran Turismo
Rally Adventure Danger Sign: Dunes
- Car: S2 Class
- Location: Sierra Nueva Crateres Secos
- Challenge: 250m
- Reward: 2 points, Super Wheelspin
Rally Adventure Seasonal Championship: T-Rexing Through Dirt
- Car: S1 Class, 2020s
- Location: Sierra Nueva Valle de Pozas
- Challenge: Win the Championship
- Reward: 5 points, Mercedes C63 AMG
Series 35 Winter Forzathon Shop
It’s hard to imagine a more different pairing of cars in the Forzathon Shop this week, as a modern speedster meets a futuristic — and fictional — off-roader.
For 700FP you’ll be able to nab yourself the McLaren Speedtail, an elongated, three-seat grand tourer meant to evoke memories of the legendary F1 courtesy of its cabin setup and 240mph top speed.
Meanwhile the AMG (not that one) Warthog from the Halo series is available for 450FP. That gives you a combined Autoshow saving of 3.1m credits if you opt to spend your points.
This week’s other store items are the Horizon Raptors Cap, Last Man Standing Forza LINK, and Hot Wheels Ice Horn. A Wheelspin and a Super Wheelspin are also available at their usual 60FP and 150FP respectively.
Series 35 Winter Forzathon Shop
- McLaren Speedtail ’19 – 700FP
- AMG Warthog – 450FP
- Horizon Raptors Cap – 75FP
- Last Man Standing Forza LINK – 75FP
- Hot Wheels Ice Horn – 75FP
- Wheelspin – 60FP
- Super Wheelspin – 150FP
See more articles on Forza Horizon 5 Season Change.
