Forza Horizon 5

marcbrophy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118117942#Comment_118117942

I mean why not, worth a trip down memory lane :)

Icyseanfitz

Loved 4, wonder will this feel too samey as it though

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118120946#Comment_118120946

More of the same, but a much more interesting and varied environment to race around in. And lots and lots of little improvements it seems. Also, expect a big bump up in graphics and sound quality on series s and x.

https://youtu.be/fuB2MnG9sCE

TheAnalyst_

If I purchase the VIP pack do I get to play the game pass version?

https://www.xbox.com/en-us/games/store/forza-horizon-5-vip-membership/9pknfftnwtbg

marcbrophy

The game pass version will unlock on Tuesday.

If you are talking about being able to play early, then no. That's either the Premium edition or or the Premium add-ons linked below:

https://www.xbox.com/en-ie/games/store/forza-horizon-5-premium-add-ons-bundle/9mz0sr207mg8

xtal191

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118123086#Comment_118123086

You can get it for a little over €30

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/gamepass-subscribers-forza-horizon-5-premium-add-ons-bundle-inc-early-access-xbox-one-series-xs-pc-ps2418-at-xbox-store-iceland-3818411

TheAnalyst_

Cheers, I worked it out myself. This version was required but unfortunately I paid 45euro with gamepass discount.

https://www.xbox.com/en-ie/games/store/forza-horizon-5-premium-add-ons-bundle/9mz0sr207mg8

Went and bought the premium add-on. I'd probably buy the dlc anyway so might as well get it all up front and cheap. I don't spend much on games since gane pass, but if ever there was a reason for dropping g €45 it's Forza. The game does not disappoint. I wonder though is the 3 year gap between FH4 and FH5 too short. Only seems like yesterday I was playing FH4....oh wait that's because I was playing it yesterday 🤣

PsychoPete

Put a few hours into it today, my first thought was this has a horizon 1 feel to it. Map is very good with plenty of variations in terrain. Wouldn't be a horizon game without a ridiculous amount of cars. Looks so so good aswell. Some big names in the soundtrack like Deadmau5,Foo Fighters, Dua Lipa, Beastie Boys, The Killers, Gorillaz, Royal Blood

Royale with Cheese

Have played a bit of it. So far feels like more of the same, which isn't a bad thing. I've tried both graphics quality and performance modes and have decided to go for graphics. I don't really feel you need a higher frame rate for racing games and one of the best parts of this series is admiring the scenery.

marcbrophy

Why do I keep hearing the gap between 4 and 5 is too short? It's the longest gap there's ever been between Horizon games 😀

I've 15 hours in the game already and it's great fun 😊

CatInABox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118129937#Comment_118129937

It's probably got something to do with FH4 still being an active game in some ways. New content was still dropping until quite recently, and people probably feel that it's still "new" in some ways.

One of the downsides of Gaming as a Service I suppose, moving from one game to the next game just doesn't feel as fresh, like the Division 2, a better game at launch than the first, but just didn't capture the imagination as much as the original, partly I feel because the original was being updated right up until release.

dreamers75

FH5 holds current title of Best Looking PC Game 2021, jesus its stunning.

Also more of the same kind of gameplay so thats good.

PsychoPete

I've put about 12 hours in so far. Completed all the road races,Goliath,Colossus,danger signs and speed traps so far. I forgot how long it takes to get all the cars, in FH4 I had one of every car so I will be doing the same with FH5. The game and scenary looks absolutely incredible

Don't know how many hours but pretty much playing this flat out every spare second I get. What a fantastic game. Absolute 100% pure gaming entertainment. Perfectly balanced in every respect not too much, not too little...just right.

I was thinking about what I said about the game coming out while FH4 is still active on my playlist, I've actually dipped into a FH4 session and I'd happily keep both on my drive and dip between the two depending on which region/scenery I fancy playing. They should do something similar to hitman and combine them all into the one game/launcher.

dreamers75

Unlocked the Goliath and thought "**** that!" thats a Saturday job, what are average times in using normal cars not Koeniseggs etc? Game says its 54km normal race of about 4km takes about 3 minutes in normal cars.

On PC and the only issue I had was when I was disconnected from Online (happened a few times) I had some micro stutter which I can assume is the game trying to reconnect. The game was averaging 90fps in 4k Extreme, CPU @35% GPU @40% temps were fine (9900K and 3080)

Did one PVP race and got smoked :D

Loving the Hoonican you are given at the beginning, alternating between that and an AMG63 and M5.

PsychoPete

I done every race in a R34 GTR class b, can't remember how long the Goliath took me but the Colossus took me around 20 minutes I think it was

johnny_ultimate

Played the first few hours. It’s ‘more of the same’ to the point it almost feels like an expansion pacK or DLC! Having played a fair chunk of FH4 earlier this year, this definitely is an iterative sequel than a bold and ambitious one. I mean, it’s still an awful lot of fun, but can’t help but wonder what else Playground have up their sleeves at this stage!

The core is still rock solid though, so that’s a big advantage. The scenery is (personal preference) much more interesting and diverse than FH4. The big change so far is they’ve really added that extra dash of spice to the showcase events. Not that they were subtle before or anything, but there’s a bit more of a sense of ‘this is a big event’ now, with a dash of extra story / writing setting the scene.

Also: smashable billboards forever!

Akrasia

It's like the driving sections from GTA if they bothered to put in Actual physics

When I picked up Horizon 5 the opening sequence was like an unbelievably awesome version of Sega Outrun from the 80s

Does this happen again in the rest of the game? Doesn't seem like it but I've barely scratched the surface

johnny_ultimate

The opening sequence ‘montage’ is sort of a FH trope. I’m only a bit into this but it’s generally something that happens at the start and that’s it. Mainly designed to show you the different environments right off the bat.

The Showcase and story events then are the big spectacle activities - you usually get a preview of some of them in that initial teaser!

dreamers75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118144215#Comment_118144215

There are more expeditions and PCgamesn called them

"These new activities are the Horizon Showcase’s studious cousin, taking the premise of a tightly scripted adventure and slowing the pace down to something more meditative, inviting you to appreciate the view as you scour areas for objectives."

Its more of a subtle guided drive than a full on race, you can repeat them for faster times.

quokula

Played a bit of this yesterday, it does feel more like an expansion pack than a new game. Some of the scenery is beautiful but when you're racing and focused on the racing line and the checkpoints you could easily forget it's not just another race in FH4. Despite the scenery looking different, it's strangely similar to FH4 in practical ways with similar feeling road and highway layouts, similar obstacles and driving through a jungle breaking through small foliage and avoiding the big trees feels absolutely identical to how driving through a forest in the UK did. And of course the cars all feel exactly the same, and there's no new ones of note. I was hoping for a bit of representation for EVs since they've exploded in popularity over the couple of years since the last game but there's very little in there. I haven't been up the big mountain yet outside of the intro though so that should feel new at least.

It's fine, it's lightweight breezy fun and all very competently put together and polished, but they've been releasing the same game over and over for a few years now. I don't understand why they haven't got the same kind of critical backlash that Ubisoft did for Far Cry because this feels much more egregious to me. I'm also a bit disappointed that, while it's certainly good looking, it doesn't feel remotely like a generational leap on my Series X. I'm still waiting for a big first party title on the console that doesn't just feel like a last gen game at increased resolution. Some of the first party PS5 stuff feels near magical with the instant load times of entire cities, while on similar SSD hardware FH5 still feels laborious just to switch out your car. I'm sure if I put it side by side with the old game on XBOne you'd see the difference, but it's nowhere near what I expected.

For the next game I hope they spend a bit of time on quality of life improvements like that, and maybe push the boat out with features that would really lift the game up like splitscreen or a more considered career mode. But if it's the same game in another location again it will be hard to get excited.

brady12

really like it after playing last two nights but some amount of console crashes / freezes playing it on series x🙈

marcbrophy

I knew this would fúcking happen!

I've just driven every road I can see on the map and my final total is 563/578 😢

H3llR4iser

Tried this out on GamePass on PC last night...basically, it's the same game with slightly improved graphics (at least on PC, it's a far cry from Horizon 4 on the Xbox One), but the setting is miles ahead of that of Horizon 4, which might as well have been set in the local Tesco car park. Also the concept of the "seasons" is gone - I guess it caused a lot of "dead time" as people usually avoided playing when it was "winter" in game.

The whole overbearing stupidity of the Horizon series is still there, and it's unfortunately more insistent that a Jeova's witness ringing your doorbell at 8am on a Sunday. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the series exists and I have no problem with a bit of harmless, brain-dead fun on 4 wheels - what I really dislike about it is the fact it forces the player through it. The opening sequence with the "airplane drops" is Fast&Furious level cack and I'd have been glad to skip it. Every few minutes some utterly hopeless bellend with a squeaky, hyperactive grown up children voice screams in my ears to tell me "there's a new [insert idiotic stunt here] available! LOOK!". And the "advancement missions". Oh dear. Spent 45 minutes absolutely destroying invaluable Mayan ruins (more to that later) in a 4x4 to find an insufferable moron who thought he could fly a crop duster in a storm.

I wish they added a "free" game mode where you can disable all of the unnecessary rubbish and cruise around the scenery in peace, listening to some uninterrupted music without an utter pillock of a "DJ" constantly screeching about the "what will the Horizon guys have in store for us?" and cr@p of the same making.

Of about 3 hours I played, I spent probably 2 just driving around a DeLorean at motorway speeds (well, anyone who knows how the DeLorean performs, will know it's not that easy to go PAST these speeds 🤣), which is the real strength of the game and something no other series can offer (TDU came close to it, but it wasn't as polished). Did the occasional race with different cars, but racing in Horizon does nothing for me, it's more "Dukes of Hazzard" than racing; Thing is, it's not really a "racing game" like the journalists/reviewers stubbornly call it but rather its own genre, something like a "car adventure game" .

The one actual criticism about the environment is that it's completely and totally desolate. Hardly any people or traffic around and all is very static...well except for the occasional player-driven hypercar flipped on the roof passing you at 350kph going the wrong direction.

Finally I gotta say...the setting in Mexico does make for a bunch of hilarious things. First of all, the complete and utter disregard for anything sacred/ancient/cultural...Mayan ruins? Priceless remains of an ancient mysterious culture that has been already ravaged by foreign invaders? Sure, let's throw in a bunch of brain-dead millionaires with hypercars and 4x4 to leave tire marks and crash into anything 🤣.

Not to mention the few times you actually see a pedestrian standing around...I can't help but imagine their conversations: "Hola Hector, que pasa?" - "Todo bien Miguel! Horizon festival is in town!" - "Tell me about it hombre! It's great! Yesterday, a billionaire skinny-jeans wearing hipster gringo in a 5 million dollars hypercar crashed through our multi-generation home, which my great-grandfather built, and flattened grandma under his tires! Such a show!"

EDIT: One major thing...no Alfa Romeo in the game yet (licensing issues, as far as I understand). Bummer...but also means I might get to drive some other cars for once 🤣

PsychoPete

Last night I done 50 laps of Goliath, well not me technically but I got the Senna and set steering to auto,brakes to assisted, traction control on, stability control on, full driving line, no damage and automatic gearbox. Once you hold down the RT, the game will do all the braking and steering. I taped down the trigger and left it over night, took about 9 hours. Each lap is about 11 minutes, easy way of ranking up levels and money as its something like 30,000 xp per lap. Also plug in your controller. I dunno if its really worth it to be honest but it's handy xp and money by just leaving the console run over night

dreamers75

The willy jeep is a much faster way of getting cars ( i dont care of XP just want cars :) )

Did one real lap of the goliath in my AMG @ 10.54

marcbrophy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118159364#Comment_118159364

I was tired and blurry-eyed when I posted this at 3am this morning.

I've been back on just now and found 10 more that I missed.

The achievement pops at 573/578 😲

I'm not too bothered if I find the final 5 or not now 😁

PsychoPete

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162558#Comment_118162558

Not getting the last 5 would really bother me

marcbrophy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162582#Comment_118162582

Got them! All 578/578 now. First time I've got all roads in the main game since Horizon 2 I think.

Zero-Cool

Me reading this thread as a PlayStation owner...

Jordan 199

^ Time to invest in a Series S dude.

Royale with Cheese

https://www.thegamer.com/trans-players-respond-to-forza-horizon-5-deadnaming/

This is an outrage.

Actually the game did call me by my first name when I first booted it up which I found a bit weird as I'm pretty sure I never gave it my real name in any previous Forza, that explains why.

That's the problem with pandering, it's never going to be enough.

PsychoPete

Does it not use the name you picked in FH4? I just assumed that was it, didn't even think twice about it when I heard it

marcbrophy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118163027#Comment_118163027

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162926#Comment_118162926

Or even an Xbox One S! There's one going for 150 on adverts! 😎

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118163122#Comment_118163122

Actually, that might be better than series s as it has a disk so would serve as a gamepass machine and BC for old games i missed. Hhhmmmm

dreamers75

I never played 4 tbh its like 3 but better looking, its a casual racing game and I am fine with that.

quokula

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118163067#Comment_118163067

I wouldn't use the word "pandering" as any move towards accessibility and inclusivity is only a good thing. I do find Forza's particular implementation quite grating though as it's clearly nothing more than corporate box ticking from people who don't care, making sure you can choose you pronoun and switch any limb for a prosthetic, but heaven forbid anyone who's old, overweight or generally not conventionally good looking could be represented.

Lots of things about the game grate me tbh. I think it's because it's the exact same game I've already played multiple times, all the little UX problems that they still haven't bothered fixing really annoy me.

Why can't I buy / upgrade my car for the race I'm about to do, rather than drive across the map to a festival location then drive back? There is no reason for it at all.

When I finish a race in 2nd and want to restart to try for 1st it warns me unsaved progress will be lost. Which progress was unsaved? Do I lose the credits for finishing 2nd? Do I lose the XP for the feats performed during the race? Am I better off not restarting but instead continuing, going through a bunch of menus, then returning to the start line? Why can't the game just save my damn progress before it restarts?

Why does switching cars take so long, put you through multiple loading screens, and reset your position? You should be able to switch cars easily in free roam in the way you can switch transport in Rider's Republic. It makes it an absolute chore to switch to the correct road / offroad car you need for a nearby PR Stunt.

The whole issue of different car classes, offroad, race, drag and drift tyres and setups, races that are categorised by class but PR stunts that aren't, just causes tons of headaches and micromanagement. Faster car switching would certainly help but there's probably more that could be done to make all the management around this less painful.

I've joined an online race once so far, the random race mode. It said class was S2 on joining so I picked my McLaren Senna, the only S2 car I had at the time. I was then left sitting in free roam waiting to join the race for about 8 minutes - I say free roam but it's some kind of lobby where you can't do stunts or make progress on anything while you wait, just drive around the empty map randomly. Then when the race finally started it was a dirt track with no option to change car so I was left with a car that was completely undrivable. I still finished in the top half mind you because most other players were in equally unsuitable cars. I haven't bothered going back to multiplayer since.

And as others have said, all the voice overs are super annoying with their over the top self praise of everything, it really comes across as trying too hard.

johnny_ultimate

The Eliminator’s an excellent battle royale mode when it works… but two out of three times now none of the other cars have been visible on the map :/

Played around five hours today so far. I just don't know what it's meant to be. It somehow feels too difficult and too easy at the same time.

A lot of the maps would benefit from repeated playing or a co-driver, but the former doesn't feel like it's encouraged. Every race feels like a side mission so why perfect it.

Dirt Rally with my wheel and VR might be technically more difficult, but at least you know where you're meant to go.

TheChrisD

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118159364#Comment_118159364

Lemme guess, the ones you were missing were dirt roads that you hadn't driven down in their entirety, and you can't tell on the map because they're represented by broken lines?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162926#Comment_118162926

You could also just get a PC or mobile device and play via the cloud with Game Pass Ultimate?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118163468#Comment_118163468

You can definitely now buy a car before the start of a race, it offers a "buy a recommended car" option after your garage recommended and your current car (which should really be the other way around tbh).

If you're restarting a race from the X button without going back to the overworld first; the entire previous race is wiped in terms of credit gain, XP gain, and win/podium on your player stats.

Zero-Cool

TheChris, cloud would be ideal but there doesn't seem to be enough catalogue available for it. I was hoping to hold out for when cloud matches the full catalogue of console/pc but it might be some way off. No interest in getting a pc. So it's either a series s or one s in the race at the moment. Black Friday night have some interesting deals.

PsychoPete

Finally made it to the hall of fame today. I done the 50 lap Goliath afk trick three times over the last week, ended up with about 6 million xp,nearly 700 wheel spins and about 30 million in credits. On a mission to fill that car collection and only a few of the rare cars left to go, its a bit of a pain trying to track them down

marcbrophy

Lemme guess, the ones you were missing were dirt roads that you hadn't driven down in their entirety, and you can't tell on the map because they're represented by broken lines?

@TheChrisD They were dirt roads, yes. They were ones that were on green pieces of land that the un-driven grey tended to blend into the green with my particular colour blindness 😁

Polar101

Finding the game pretty fun now (took a few hours to get in).. but there's not much difference to FH4, just more things to unlock. Maybe a bit too much, it's hard to get excited about "you have unlocked 209 accolades out of 1890" or whatever.

Had to turn the radio DJs off, I think they could have toned the chirpiness down a bit, can't do anything without someone screaming AMAZING, GREAT every 30 seconds. I get that Mexico is a lovely place, but this is meant to be a game, not a tourism ad.

Graphics-wise, I couldn't tell any difference between FH4 and FH5. 5 has nice storm effects, and trees and fences break now, but that's about it. I was kind of expecting some more next-gen, so that's a bit disappointing. Played on both the PC and Series X.

Still, it's part of Game Pass, so it's not like I had to pay extra to play it.

Jordan 199

Wow!! The Colossus is a fantastic event.

quokula

quokula

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118165999#Comment_118165999

You're correct that you can buy a car, but you can't upgrade it which with the way performances classes work in Forza means it's worthless. I find it so annoying with seasonal events, you rock up to a race only to find it needs a class A modern sports car or whatever, so you need to spend 10 minutes driving to the nearest horizon location, buying and upgrading the car you need, and driving back before you can play. Then on more than one occasion in FH4 I'd arrive back only to discover I'd misremembered the category during all that busywork and bought a "retro muscle" instead of a "classic muscle" or whatever.

ShaneU

Same old problem with this series, I've only turned the game on and they're throwing Lambos at me. i've got 6 cars in my garage already including a $1m McClaren Senna and I haven't even raced another car yet. There's zero sense of achievement. Roll on Gran Turismo 7 where I'll probably start off in a second hand Yaris and work my way up.