Forza Horizon 5 Xbox One gameplay vs Xbox Series X vs PC

How does Forza Horizon 5 Xbox One gameplay compare in terms of graphics with the Xbox Series X and a decent gaming PC? Here is a comparison that shows maybe, just maybe, it could be time to upgrade.

When journalists, influencers and travelling tinkers spent time with the early access preview, we did so without seeing the PC and Xbox One versions. Given that the Xbox One is still used by a lot of players, I know many of you are keen to see how it performs. Will it be another Cyberpunk 2077 situation?

Well, let’s be honest. Forza Horizon 4 looks great even on the ageing Xbox One console. 30 frames per second and 1080p resolution still do the job pretty well. And it really is ageing, remember. The Xbox One release date was at the end of 2013.

However, Forza Horizon 5 is even more visually impressive. Has a combination of clever scaling, resolution trickery and sacrificing a few goats been enough?

All is not well on the Xbox One Forza Horizon 5 version

Well, there was only one way to find out. Here is Forza Horizon 5 Xbox One gameplay alongside the Xbox Series X version and my high-end PC with an RTX 3080. Click play above!

I have scaled up the 1080p Xbox One gameplay to match that of 4K, otherwise it would look like a tiny box with black borders. I did this to show you the maximum 4K resolution of the Series X and PC.

However, the frame rate and other visual quality differences should be obvious. Especially as all Xbox One console variants are locked to 30 frames per second, according to the developer.

Let me know what you think about each Forza Horizon 5 version in terms of visuals. Personally, I was happy playing Forza Horizon 4 on my Day One Xbox One and Forza Horizon 5 is similar. Input delay and all.

Some Forza Horizon 5 tasks are bags of fun

But once you play it on a good PC or the Xbox Series X, wow is it difficult going back. The 1:30-plus to load the game compared with Quick Resume, the 19 seconds to go from the map to the Autoshow. Both icky. Let’s just say you get very familiar with your pre-race ‘Showboat’ animation.

And visually, well I will let the footage do the talking. As you will see later on, all is not flawless for the Xbox One version as my hyperspeed Vocho VW Beetle reveals.

Click the play button above to watch the video and feel free to check out my PC specs.