Forza Horizon 5 Should Hit PlayStation

Simply put, there's nothing on the PlayStation 5 that matches the experience of Forza Horizon 5. While other games in the genre come close, none quite capture the magic of this open-world racing phenomenon.

Take The Crew Motorfest, for instance. It embraces the festival vibe, making it the closest competitor to Forza Horizon. Yet, it's still not quite the same.

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, on the other hand, doesn't hit the mark. Although the Forza Horizon series owes much to the original Test Drive Unlimited, Solar Crown's always-online requirement without a solo mode falls short of Horizon's seamless offline and online play, a feature available since Forza Horizon 2.

Need for Speed Unbound boasts an impressive customization suite that outshines Horizon in some areas. However, its focus on high-speed pursuits makes it a different beast altogether, not a direct competitor.

Forza Horizon 5 stands alone as the champion of modern open-world racing, and it's now available on PlayStation 5 for the first time. Players can explore the vast, beautiful Mexico map, enjoy the drift-friendly vehicle dynamics, and dive into a garage with over 900 cars, including cult favorites not found in other racing games. PlayStation users are experiencing this for the first time, and the reaction has been thrilling to watch.

The influx of new players is something the team at Playground Games has eagerly anticipated. Art Director Don Arceta expresses his excitement, saying, "Yeah, I’m super excited. Like, brand new people; for many, this will probably be the first Forza Horizon game that they’ve ever played. So it’s super exciting just to think about that, and think about what *our* first Horizon experiences were."

Arceta is particularly interested in the creations PlayStation 5 players will make using Forza Horizon 5's Event Lab. "We have over 800 props now in the Event Lab, and just seeing what the community’s done with that feature and mode – and the creativity of the community – it’s just mind-blowing," he says. "I’m super excited, once we get into the PlayStation 5 users, about what they'll build, and the creativity that will come from that community."

"You’ll actually get some pretty good Halo content too on the PlayStation, with the event lab props!"

The port to PlayStation 5 has been technically impeccable, matching the quality of its Xbox and PC counterparts. This is a significant achievement given the game's size and the fact that the engine had never been used on PlayStation before. "As you can imagine, because the series has been based around the Xbox environment and architecture, there’s a lot of code and engineering that’s worked with that," says Arceta. "So when we brought it to the PS5, it was no small undertaking. It was quite a huge task."

"The PlayStation 5 version was developed by Panic Button, in collaboration with Turn 10 and ourselves, but Panic Button did an amazing job. So you get that amazing, quality experience that you get on Xbox and PC – now you get on the PlayStation, and it’s just amazing work that Panic Button has done."

As a car enthusiast, the Forza series, particularly Forza Horizon 5, is a treasure trove of unique and exciting vehicles. The idea of new players discovering their favorite cars here is thrilling. Lead Game Designer David Orton highlights the game's breadth as a key attraction for new players. "The breadth of Horizon is quite staggering," he says. "I think what we find is players go in and find what they really enjoy but, because there’s so much freedom, that can really be whatever you want it to be."

"We always pride ourselves on giving the player that kind of agency and freedom to do whatever they want, and the game will reward them and react in that way. I’m really looking forward to players just discovering the breadth of the content. If you just want to do road racing, or if you’re really into Rivals and track racing, you can totally do that. But if you love taking incredible photos, you can totally do that. If you’re into Event Lab, and you want to create content for other people, you can totally do that. Horizon is the space where really everyone is welcome, and there’s something in it for everyone. I think the feeling of people going in and realizing this is more than just a racing game is what’s really exciting for me."

Arceta hopes that new players will be pleasantly surprised by their first experience with Forza Horizon 5. "For me, a victory would be, like, ‘I can’t believe I’ve never played this game before,’" he says. "I think the *surprise*."

"That, for me, is a victory, because once they’re surprised, they’re engaged – and they want to learn more. So I’m really looking for that. The delight from players; just hearing their surprise and hearing their stories."

Orton agrees, emphasizing the welcoming nature of the game. "Yeah, I think it’s that," he adds. "Players who’ve never tried Horizon before – whether that’s because it’s on a different platform, or they’ve just never had the time to do it – to actually jump into this world and realize that it’s actually a really warm, welcoming place that’s full of fun, and finding a home at Horizon."

"Players who’ve never played before realizing that, ‘Oh my goodness, how have I never played this game before? This is incredible.’ That, to me, is a win. We’re about to target a cohort of players who may have never played a Forza title before. There’s a bit of an unknown to how people react to that, but I think when you look at the history of our titles, we’re continually perfecting our craft. We feel so excited to bring this to PlayStation. I think we’re going to bring in a whole load of new players and that’s really exciting."

For racing game fans, the barrier between console loyalties has been broken down with Forza Horizon 5's arrival on PlayStation 5. Let's hope this is just the beginning.