Forza Horizon 5 location and release date revealed

The Forza Horizon 5 location and release date have been revealed. Here is what we know so far about the latest Playground Games racer coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC.

Hello and welcome to A Tribe Called Cars. In this video we are nodding to the olden days of this channel, where I played a lot of Forza Horizon 4. Why? Because the first Forza Horizon 5 trailer has been unveiled.

Yes, Forza Motorsport 8 or whatever it will be called is taking a backseat as Forza Horizon 5 cruises into view, with a release date of the 9^th of November 2021 for the standard version or the 5th for the fancier alternatives.

You can check out the complete Forza Horizon 5 car list here. There is some interesting stuff on the way.

Where is the Forza Horizon 5 location?

Glad you asked. The Forza Horizon 5 location is Mexico, where you will enjoy, according to the Xbox blog, “living deserts, lush jungles, historic cities, hidden ruins, pristine beaches, vast canyons and a towering snow-capped volcano – the highest point ever in a Horizon game”. Hope you like heights.

Microsoft continues: “Meet new characters and choose the outcomes of their Horizon Story missions and take on awe-inspiring weather events such as towering dust storms and intense tropical storms as Mexico’s unique, dynamic seasons change the world every week. No two seasons will ever be the same.”

Let’s talk graphics. Ray-tracing does feature but only in the Forzavista mode. Other new stuff includes community gift sharing, Horizon Open, Horizon Tours and the F1 hybrid-inspired Mercedes-AMG Project One hypercar.

Horizon Open is said to take the best elements of multiplayer and mash them all together. Horizon Tour, meanwhile, lets you meet other drivers at car meets around the map and then race against Drivatars. Next, Horizon Arcade focusses on “wild challenges” and minigames such as smashing pinatas.

Those who enjoy creating content can benefit from the new EventLab, which includes a new powerful toolset for creating custom scenarios – whether that is a custom race, challenge, stunt or more.

If you enjoy doing a particular thing in Forza Horizon 5, drifting for instance, something called the Forza Linc system will help you gravitate towards players who like doing the same.

What about customisation?

Turn 10 has been busy with the Forza Horizon 5 customisation too. Expect 100 new rims, hundreds of visual upgrades such as body kits and paint options and thousands of performance upgrades. Take that, Pimp My Ride.

Character customisation has also been overhauled. Expect a more diverse set of characters, customisable hairstyles, voices, clothing, pronouns and even prosthetic limbs. Players with a disability should bear in mind the existence of the Xbox Adaptive Controller.

Saving my favourite addition until last, Gift Drops let you create Barn Finds. Yes, you can tune, customise, paint and hide a car somewhere on the Mexico map for other players to find. Maybe I will hide a tuned steed from the A Tribe Called Cars stable. Could be fun.

How will Forza Horizon 5 look?

Those with an Xbox Series X can enjoy 4K 30 frames per second, sadly not silky smooth 60FPS unless on PC, while the Xbox Series S is limited to 1080p 30FPS.

There is, however, a 60FPS ‘Performance’ mode, the resolution of which is unknown. I am guessing it will be dynamic, with busier scenes kept smooth by dropping to fewer pixels on screen.

The icing on the Forza Horizon 5 cake is that you can play it from the release date on Xbox Game Pass, the monthly gaming subscription service from Microsoft you can join for as little as £1 and then the usual price of £10.99 or equivalent in your currency a month.

Is Xbox Game Pass good?

In case you are wondering if Game Pass is any good, well, Yakuza: Like a Dragon was just added. Coming up are Dungeons & Dragons Dark Alliance, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Hades, Twelve Minutes, Psychonauts 2, Aragami 2, Sable (not Fable), the Anacrusis, Back 4 Blood, Age of Empires IV, Halo Infinite, Shredders, Among Us and more.

Xbox Cloud Gaming will mean you can play Forza Horizon 5 on mobile and tablet, too, while a Steam version will exist in case you want to avoid the Microsoft Store. Although in doing so you may lose cloud saves between console and PC.

Something those with a smaller budget could consider doing is playing the standard version of Forza Horizon 5 and pay for the Premium Add-Ons Bundle for all DLC plus early access.

Just know that when you stop paying for Game Pass you will have to renew or buy the game outright to make use of your separately purchased DLC. Although by then Forza Horizon 5 might be cheaper and/or have been on sale.

And that is it for Forza Horizon 5 news. I will be playing this a lot on the channel so be sure to like and subscribe, maybe even donate. It helps me keep making videos. Hopefully, I can get my hands on a preview copy.