Forza Horizon 5

Terrible enjoyable rubbish game.

I unlocked the Jag barn find in a story mission related to it, so could be that you still need to do that one. Think it was the jungle expedition one.

I'm enjoying the game and it runs really well and looks pretty damned good on my few year old PC but i am total bobbins at it and i cannot see myself inflicting my utter lack of skill on the online community for a long while.

I also wish there was more customization of my avatar, not that it matters and holy crap HOW in gods name did some of these models get through to release? Most of the facial animation is worse than Andromeda and borderline Source Film Maker meme quality. It also has the issue of the portrait not matching the character at all. It's hilarious. At least i have made someone that i can stand to look at on the odd occasion i see them.

I can see myself dropping into and out of the game for a long while though and as the last Forza game i played was Forza Motorsport 3 it's all new to me.

Something else I noticed. One of the in-car views gives the impression that you are driving a car without a bonnet! No matter what sort of supercar you are in it feels as if you are in an Isetta.



Even watching that picture makes me think you can peel off the front and just sit down. Like below!

After a couple of long sessions, Forza Horizon 5 is the best game I've played since... Well I can't remember the last time I played a game as good as this.

It was immediately apparent that the handling model is greatly improved from FH4, which tbh felt a bit weird particularly drifting and braking round corners. FH5 just feels like a proper normal racing game model.

I love the music stations. FH4 set the bar pretty high, but this matches it. Whether racing in events or just tooling around, the soundtrack accompanying is perfect, on every station.

The map very quickly fills up with stuff, as does the menus with things to do, but as opposed to Ubi you won't give an iota of a fuck with 1000% proof amazing gameplay being injected into your eyes, ears, veins, and every available orifice. It's like, there's awesome shit to do here, over there, and oh look there's even more awesome shit to do over there. There's also pages of unlocking things to guide your efforts, so you feel a bit bewildered by how much there is to do, but not too lost and clueless, which leads to apathy per Ubisoft games.

Just a short list of gripes: RNG wheelspins too often yielding shitty pointless tat is back, surely a focus group could have told them to improve that. Banging into solid Drivertar vehicles is annoying. The ability to get in on early access via just buying the expansions rather than the full game could have been better explained.

Overall just a phenomenal game that I'll be playing for years to come. And a technological masterpiece, considering it's been released on base Xbox One also and runs ok according to DF. Another ridiculous, click bait review by EG not giving it top marks due to it being iterative. Fuck those twats, I hope they are all unemployed real soon.

It's probably just me, but I'm finding the in car view much more useable in this than in 4.

If any of the boards look particularly impossible, just remember FH4 and leave them for a different season perhaps winter, that might unlock different ways to get to them, also once you've purchased all the houses. Just leave them and come back later. Yeah I saw the one under the main motorway bridge.

There have been a couple that require you to drop of a mountain or whatever. Instant rewind is your friend.

Had a blast over the weekend, really enjoying the island and often find myself just driving without any route set, exploring for the sake of it. The icons can be overwhelming, but found myself using the filter and picking off a few events of the same type in a row then switching it up.

Had a LOT of disconnects from the servers though, which has resulted in loosing progression towards the Festival Playlist which is a bit annoying, but hopefully they will be ironed out soon.

Tried it with a Logitech G920 and whilst it's a lot better that FH4 was, most cars are really hard to drive, masses of oversteer and I don't seem to be able to judge counter steer at all so constantly spin out. Will have to try and find some setup guides as it has potential, but the pad controls are so good I may not bother.

Handling model changes are really noticeable between cars and I've been having an absolute blast in a Mitsubishi Evo which matches my driving style perfectly. Flinging it round corners with the most satisfying drifts with just the right balance between feeling in control but on still on the edge.

Is it normal that the pad vibration is turned off every 2 or 3 (or so) hours of playing this? I assume it‘s to make the battery last longer, but I am using brand new eneloop rechargeable batteries. Not noticed that with any other game, but then there hasn‘t been anything to play for more than 2 hours on the Series X until now.

Certainly seems the biggest in the whole series. I was hoping there was something ridiculous from the volcano, but it's tame in comparison.

I know that board and it’s actually less painful than you’d think! I used the Ford Hoonicorn Mustang for most of the ones I’ve done so far, it accelerates quickly off road. That one you need to start sort of parallel to the motorway on the same side as the board.

Set your region in the console or pc settings if you want to start it now, New Zealand is the usual for 12 hours head start, or Kiribati on pc for 13 hours.

I’ve been dipping in and out all day and the world has been completely empty, I’ve still not managed to get into any MP games either. Good job the single player is brilliant.