FORZA HORIZON 5 THIS SERIES REMAINS THE PINNACLE OF THE FORM

Phil Savage: Once again, Playground Games has stitched together a massive patchwork representation of a place, and filled it full of theme park delights. There’s the Baja Desert, where you can smash into cacti to build up a massive skill combo. There’s La Gran Caldera, an active volcano with twisting dirt roads and a mountainside that’s just begging to be used for offroad stunts. There’s jungle and farmland and a big airstrip for drag races.

In short, Forza Horizon 5’ s Mexico makes for a varied car playground. In terms of construction, it’s much the same as Australia and the UK before it: different biomes that prioritise fun over realism, and that are filled with enough races, challenges and collectibles to keep you exploring for hundreds of hours.

Yes, we could have given Forza Horizon 5 a ‘Best Racing’ award and been done with it, but to do so would have been to miss the point. The racing is a part of the Forza Horizon series, sure, but more than that it’s an enthusiastic celebration of videogame driving. Cars are handed out like RPG loot, and they’re used for more than just its vast series of checkpoint races. There are ‘PR stunts’ that each celebrate a different discipline, from drifting to doing inadvisably massive jumps. There are sidestories that set you specific goals as you’re transformed into, for instance, the stunt driver of some ridiculous action blockbuster. There’s even a surprisingly decent battle royale mode.

In most games, a giant open world full of icons would exhaust me. But in Forza Horizon 5, each is a guarantee of something fun to do in a car. If you love racing games, this series remains the pinnacle of the form.

Jacob Ridley: Ahead of Forza Horizon 5’ s release, I was still playing Forza Horizon 4. I never really put it down. So the fact that Forza Horizon 5 feels very much a shinier version of that same game, well, that’s all I could’ve asked for.

There’s a ton of beauty in the Mexican map and a whole lot to do. Though, saying that, I found I spent my first few hours on a joy ride for no other reason than the thrill of the drive and the beauty of the landscape.