Forza Horizon 5 Review

Article Reviews (4)
Latest User rating
aka2k
Pros: - Looks fine
Cons: - Cringe story and characters
- Feels like a FH4 DLC
- Awful, stiff physics
- Repetitive and boring. A carbon copy of the older games
- Online is the usual Forza affair. I hate it. Some love it. Hit and miss
I hate the game. Under the coat of flashy visuals, it's boring and repetitive.
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Ole Marius Myrvold
Staff
Premium
Pros: - Open world that feels larger than the previous game. Dunes are nice, though hard to get the "Dakar/Baja" feel. Addition of drift roads are nice, good gravel roads, and a very tight and twisty main city. Good variety
- Looks fine. Not a huge step up to put it that way, but still looks fine.
- It's fun. S2-cars geared for circuit racing sticks to the ground, S1 RX-style cars can be drifted around on the RX-style tracks. Scandi-flick is possible.
- Nice that it's possible to pick up for 25min to have just a fun little race or two.
- Great to get actual progression of the game while in a convoy, means that it's possible to progress through the game with your mates. Makes it a social easy to pick-up game in a day who may be stressful.
Cons: - BUGS. And a lot of them... For a game which basically are Horizon 4, with expansion one in a new setting, there is a lot of bugs that really shouldn't be there.
- Apparent controller issues. Myself, I just use an xbox controller for games like this, but noticed issues when the gearbox and/or pedals were connected to the PC. Had to disconnect them.
- At times it feels like an unpolished map-expansion to FH4.
- Lancia and Alfa gone, but Lancia needed to complete all accolades in the game.
- Framerate issues after 1-hour+ of gaming, but only on high graphical settings.
- Random freezes and crashes (similar to FH3 and FH4).
- "Story" quests cannot be taken co-op anymore. It could in FH4. (and 3 I think).
The game that wanted, the game that promised, the game that bugged off.

I didn't plan to buy FH5, as I felt it was a map-expansion to FH4, and way too costly. But when every other in my local group of gaming-friends bought it, I wasn't able to resist. (weak me).
I put in way more hours than any of my friends as I knew I would work a lot the next couple of weeks. So when I write this, I have 33 hours in-game.

It still feels like a map expansion, as the game takes the good parts from FH4, and the first expansion, merging it with Mexico. Some cars are missing, but not as much missing as other numbered sequels (yes The Sims, I am looking at you).

When the game works, and especially in convoys with friends, doing racing and fun shenanigans around on the map, it's really fun. It's good for sharing a laugh and cool stuff. We haven't experienced much issues in convoys either. Except from surprisingly many times where not every car loads in. And the occasional "Hey, everyone are just standing still" bugs in races. Those have been rare in 30+ hours of gaming though.

The one bug that is worse than any other, is the "disconnected" bug. This bug just stops your car at a blink of an eye, and you lose every kind of progress you had. A hotfix was rolled out during the early play for premium buyers, which would fix this. Well. It removed the message for "disconnected" - which didn't make sense, as every time that message came, the online racing worked fine, we could all see each other in the convoy etc. So what was disconnected, we never know.

The message was removed, the bug is still there. It's irritating at the best of times. But when one accolade you need is to score a 2million skill points chain, then a sudden random stop with no error is just game-ruining.

The bug is proudly presented here:

It sadly ruins any kind of fun experience when stuff like that happens. To channel my inner Sebastian Vettel... "Honestly, what are we doing here??"

The game has proper potential. But needs urgent bug fixing, an addition of some cars and the first expansion to the game should be larger than in FH4.

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F
Pros: Graphics look great
Sound is good
Telemetry is available
As of 11/17/21 Wheels and related peripherals finally work. I am using an Accuforce Pro V2 wheel, Fanatec CSP V3 pedals, Fanatec Handbrake, Thrustmaster TH8a shifter, and Next Level Racing Motion Platform V3. The combination is outstanding.
Cons: Couldn't play premium edition from 11/5 to 11/17 due to Controller disconnected/Please reconnect issue.
Updated: Controller disconnected. Please reconnect issue solved with 11/17 FH5 Patch.
No VR: I think the developer could make up for the lack of wheel support and other miscellaneous PC bugs by adding VR in, the same way they did it with MSFS.
Now that the title with increased wheel support actually supports wheels on a PC, I have upgraded the review score to 4 stars. I am now positive I will spend hundreds of hours in this game.
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Ben O'Bro
Premium
Pros: - Beautiful and rich world. Just as advertised.
- Even has some Union Island vibe :D
- Better difference road / offroad handling compared to FH4
- Simpler interface compared to FH4
- Liberty to explore
- Liberty to compete almost any events with the car you like
- Lot to collect, should suit the taste of everybody, and feels rewarding
- Challenging driving without assistance
- Photo mode feels like i'm Larry Chen
- No need to finish 1st at everything in order to progress
Cons: - "You have been disconnected" noise...
- major one : the coop is a mess. "convoy" is the only solution to drive with a mate. Who keeps disappearing in freeroam, and there's no common gps
- no split screen
- Few minor bugs, nothing ruining the experience so far. One fatal crash in 8 hours.
- not many old cars
- auto exposure a bit broken in cockpit view, outside appearing too bright in some cars
- Everything feels a bit too fast (or am i getting old ?!) the finishing line animation for example, or the progression & cars available at the very beginning - but as mentioned in pros, feel free to compete with slower cars, for a more progressive experience and a "start at the bottom" kinda thing
- just like FH4, slow to process auctions. It should be background request queue rather than few seconds loading each click.
- can't remove "drivatars" in freeroam offline
- mandatory microsoft account
And a few ideas to improve :
- speed traps and lap times, should have a result per class
- odometer in external view
- dark mode interface

I think the cons/pros sum it up pretty much.

I really hope they fix this. The coop is messy, is a deal breaker for me. There's your missing star :(
Not having split screen is absurd in 2021. The good memories with friends on the nintendo 64, and having social interactions is behind us !
Despite a few minor issues and few visual glitches, it remains the perfect relaxing game with a controller and a couch

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