Forza Horizon 5 Series 43 Preview: Two Minutes to Midnight

The next new Series in Forza Horizon 5 has been revealed, and it comes with the clearest indication yet yet from Playground Games that full support is nearly at its end.

Players had been a little underwhelmed by Series 42, which brought just one new vehicle to the game — after getting used of 4-5 cars updates each month — and put some of the rewards behind an effective paywall thanks to the focus on multiplayer events.

However, those fans who hoped it was on the weaker side due to being released during studio’s downtime over the Christmas break will perhaps be disappointed by Series 43 not being significantly improved on that front.

In fact there’s not a great deal to dig into for the Series as a whole, although there is one high note as well as a very firm signal that there’s not much life left in the title after a little more than three years of what’s been solid support with more than 350 cars added.

Probably the most notable change coming with S43 — officially called Midnight Muscle, for reference — is the ability to change the game’s opening movie. You’ll be able to select from seven different cinematics that have been introduced over previous series or, if you can’t pick, leave it on shuffle.

They comprise the standard intro, the reworked FH1-FH4 intros seen in the anniversary update, and the title sequences for the Italian Automotive and Horizon Retrowave series which proved rather popular.

In terms of other new stuff, there’s a pair of new vehicles coming in the update which we assume will be Playlist rewards — likely one in the first season and one as the first overall Series reward.

While we don’t yet know how you’ll acquire them (or have any images of them in-game), we do know that they’ll be the 2022 Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock and the 1995 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R. That certainly adheres to the “muscle” part of the series name, with both cars being limited-edition models worked over by their brands’ in-house tuning arms, but for very different track uses.

That aside, new things are not in the picture this time round. The series theme itself seems to borrow heavily from Midnights at Horizon, with the return of the neon lights, airport makeover, extended night time, and props like the Neon Tank and neon cube.

More notable though is what’s teased for Series 44 and on, as PG gives control over the Playlist to fans.

Each Series, starting in S43, there’ll be a three-week voting period to choose one of two former Playlists to return. That will then appear as the next Series, although not necessarily always in the exact previous form as PG will add events for the expansion maps if they didn’t previously have them, swap out some EventLab creations, and alter rewards to include Backstage Passes.

The first player choice is between High Performance and Italian Automotive, and that will open on Thursday January 30 — following the update which is due to land on Tuesday January 28.

In an accompanying announcement, PG does note that “there’s still more coming to Forza Horizon 5 in the near future”, but we suspect — all things considered — a Forza Horizon 6 announcement is not too far away either…

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