Playground Games has revealed that we’re all going to be full of beans when the next Forza Horizon 5 game update arrives later this week, to introduce the “Cars & Coffee” series.
Series 36 of the game brings about the caffeine theme with — of course — a bunch of new and interesting cars, some of which are once again squirreled away in an add-on paid DLC pack, as well as a little world makeover with the “Coffee Shop Location” and some new items and costumes.
The update for Series 36, Cars & Coffee, is set to arrive on Tuesday, July 16, in the evening for European players, and here’s what you can look forward to grinding for over the next four weeks.
Forza Horizon 5 Series 36 New Free Cars
The five-car pattern continues through the next Series, with one brand-new car available for scoring 20 points within each of the four seasons and the fifth for netting 80 points any way you can through the whole Series.
Aston Martin’s latest Zagato tie-up is the headliner, as the 80pt prize by way of the Vanquish Zagato Coupe. This big GT car sports that famous double-bubble roof, as well as a monster V12 engine to drag it past the 200mph mark.
Even that pales next to the performance of the Summer reward car, with the Lamborghini Aventador LP780-4 Ultimae swinging by. The name obviously implies that it’s the very last or very highest development of the car, but then the Aventador-based Countach LPI800-4 has something to say on both counts…
There’s two classic Volkswagens up this month too, with the Thing available in the Spring (someone was on the caffeine for that one) and the much less well-known SP2 coming up in the Autumn.
This sporty number is unique to South America, built in Brazil and based on the Type 3. The 65hp, 1.7-liter pancake engine wasn’t necessarily the most potent, and did give the SP2 the local nickname of “Sem Potencia” (“without power”). Nonetheless, it’s a reasonable fit for the locale.
That leaves us with our favorite (free) car of the Series, the Mazda MX-5 RF. This targa-topped version of the fourth-generation Mazda sports car packs one of the coolest roof mechanisms around, as well as a 181hp version of the straight four engine.
Forza Horizon 5 Series 36 New Paid DLC Cars
If you like your Japanese Domestic Market vehicles, the new four-car DLC pack will suit you down to the ground. Priced at $/€4.99, the JDM Jewels pack adds four absolute treasures to the field.
Naturally we’re going to start off with the Autozam AZ-1, a mid-engined, gull-winged sports car from Mazda made to fit into the keijidosha — or “kei” car — regulations. That meant a maximum size for both car and engine, in capacity and power output, and usually resulted in very earnest bricks. Mazda wasn’t exactly down for that sort of thing — although it was originally a Suzuki project, as with many Autozam vehicles.
If it’s bricks you like, the car pack has two. First is the Nissan Stagea, which is a station wagon based on the Nissan Skyline and even comes with an R34 front clip swap in the game. There’s also the Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution, created to homologate the car for the Dakar rally’s T2 class. As a minor note, it has the Americas (and Spain) model name of Montero applied instead of Pajero for… well, let’s say “reasons”.
Finally there’s a quasi-sports car that’s not greatly different from the AZ-1 in spirit and execution. The Sera is based on Toyota’s larger Starlet hatchback and hides a 100hp, 1.5-liter engine. And butterfly doors, because why not?
Forza Horizon 5 Series 36 Cosmetics & Collectibles
The traffic circle at the bottom of the Autopista becomes the “Coffee Shop Location” this month, with a new look.
There’s a new building, adorned with the murals you’ll find elsewhere in the game, as well as new Cars & Coffee-themed artwork, and several locations to shoot your car. In fact multiple vehicles can get their photographs taken (hashtag #filter) with different platforms allowing for groups to show up.
That theme continues to a night-time drone show in the location, as well as a new clothing item you can unlock in the first week: the Coffee Cup outfit. A couple of new badges — a teacup and a coffee cup — will also be available for car collection.
You’ll also be smashing through coffee cups as a new collectible of the same design pops up during the Winter season — although please dispose of them sensibly in the real world, and consider re-usables. That’s also one of six new Cars & Coffee items that’ll be added to EventLab this update.
Forza Horizon 5 Series 36 Other Changes
There’s not a lot else in the update, aside from the usual small fixes to cars introduced in the previous update. “General performance and stability fixes” are also highlighted, which may well be the new “various other issues have been addressed”…
You should be able to download the update and begin to be able to access the content — including the DLC pack — from around 1600 UTC on Tuesday July 16. Series 36 itself will go live at 1430 UTC on Thursday July 18.
Additionall, PG teased the following Series, Series 37, which goes by the name of “High Performance Dailies”. It’s not entirely clear what we can look forward to there, but there’s the promise of some new race routes…
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