Forza Horizon 5 – A Breathtaking, Fun, and Enormous Racing Sandbox

I've spent some time playing Forza Horizon 5 now, and it's been fun in general. If you like racing or just like roaming open worlds in pleasant cars, there's much to appreciate here.

What I Enjoyed

First of all, the game is beautiful to look at. The Mexico-themed map is huge and highly diverse — everything from beaches and jungles to deserts and cities. Lighting, weather, and seasonal changes all contribute to making it feel very much alive. Drifting through a thunderstorm or watching the sun set over the mountains is never a repeat experience.

The car selection is also fantastic. There is a massive list of cars, from supercars to off-road pick-ups, and they all drive differently. The driving is smooth and rewarding, both on controller or steering wheel.

I also appreciate how flexible the game is. You can be a specialist for serious races, drift competitions, off-road competitions, or even just cruise and complete stunts. There's no compulsion to follow a strict path, which makes it very accessible for casual players as well.

What I Didn't Like:

All that notwithstanding, the game is not perfect. The online features are a hit or miss — sometimes matchmaking is too slow, or connectivity drops. Not game-breaking, but annoying when playing with friends.

Also, even with tons to do, some events and progression systems become repetitive after a while. The game just showers you with rewards all the time, which is great initially but eventually seems like it starts to feel like a bit out of challenge sense.

Do I Recommend It

Indeed. Forza Horizon 5 is as much fun to play as there is for racing games, specifically if you love open-world exploration and a gentler approach to driving. Even if you are not a committed racing fan, it's certainly worth checking out for just how well and cleanly made it is. Just beware of a tad online goofiness and some repetitiveness on occasion.

here i will leave the cat, friends who pass by can pet it and give it a thumbs up
　　　 　　／＞　　フ
　　　 　　| 　_　 _ l
　 　　 　／` ミ＿xノ
　　 　 /　　　 　 |
　　　 /　 ヽ　　 ﾉ
　 　 │　　|　|　|
　／￣|　　 |　|　|
　| (￣ヽ＿_ヽ_)__)
　＼二つ

I've got what i feel like is some pretty stupid high hours in racing games on FH4 ( 100 something ) and like 25 in FH5 already in like 3 days. its not really that great, its just that theirs nothing else to play right now. My issue(s) with forza is the game has no progression based system, this game also you can just buy cars with MTX vouchers, so theirs not really any grind or sense of progression, esp since they give you some straight off the bat. You can also get the best cars pretty much with RNG gacha system on forza games, which is one of the main ways to get "rare" vehicles, and also kind of stupid imo. about 5 hours in i got a car valued at 13 million ~ on the auction house, which can buy pretty much all the best cars in every class in online mode, essentially defeating any sense and purpose of "grinding" or progression like a typical racer such as need for speed. I also had used my vouchers straight off the start and had all my fave cars from FH4 already pretty much an hour or two into the game, also valued at several million dollars.
HOWEVER ~ this game does everything better then FH4, from graphics to gameplay. Online mode actually works relatively well, in FH4 in between races you should expect a 10 minute loading time or waiting period, and theirs 3 races per match aka unplayable online. Since its a newer game you have newer cars, the cars are faster then in FH4, its currently updated semi-reguarly still, and lets players vote on the new car season. I doubt ill buy FH6 whenever it comes out, its really just the same game as FH4, except different cars and the online works. if online gets scuffed like FH4 on FH5 someday, ill probably just give up on the franchise entirely personally.
The stories trash, the same meta-ish cars are the same mostly from FH4, so yeah the forza series is a bit like COD. just rinse and recycle but switch it up ever so slightly to call it a different game. No regrets buying it though, as online mode actually works properly, and i unfortunbately missed out on the DLC packs on FH4, so on fh4 i pretty much "completed" the entire game and was stuck in a corner. just please dont spend money and support the MTX DLC's. the premium edition doesnt even include all the dlc cars and youll still have a good bit of cars locked behind a paywall. crazy stupid, i know.