Forza Horizon 5 (PC, Xbox, Gamepass)

[Snowy]

Well that was a pleasant surprise.

Before I upgraded to Win10, one of the big drivers to do so (pun intended) was Forza 4. I have put a tonne of time into the game and bought the collectors edition. I got so much value from it that despite Forza 5 being a Day 1 gamepass title, I bought the Premium Edition via CD Keys some months back - I enjoy these games so much I am happy to do my bit to bankroll them.

Anyhow, hadn't realised that I had early access with the premium edition, so been playing it today. Set in Mexico, it looks and plays exactly as you would expect, just more Forza, spankier graphics with the same core game at its heart.

That's me sorted for months to come!

[Raid]

I used to really enjoy... one of the Forza games (I think it may have been the third Motorsport), but I'm not sure I could go back to that handling model anymore. It was really moreish at the time, but I think Project Cars is more my jam these days.

[Snowy]

I like the sims too, Assetto Corsa and Project Cars are both really good, but they require more from you. The Forza games are perfect for when you just want to switch off and have some fun.

[Rusty]

I really enjoyed 4 (That's the one set in the UK right?).
Spent ages trying to get my steering wheel set up for it and it worked to a degree, when just pootling about, but for actual racing it really needed my xbox controller plugged in

[DjchunKfunK]

How is the progression in this one? In 4 I felt that spinning the wheel messed things up a bit as you could end up with a really powerful car very early on.

[Raid]

I like the sims too, Assetto Corsa and Project Cars are both really good, but they require more from you. The Forza games are perfect for when you just want to switch off and have some fun.

The satisfaction for me comes from the precision of nailing a perfect lap. I've spent far longer in practice and qualifying than I have in races over the last couple of months since I started getting back into it. You also don't get the option of VR in Forza, and I don't think I could go back to a flat screen.

I'm actually replacing my decade-old Logitech G27 (which I swear always felt knackered - the thing is clunky as hell) this week or next with some nice new Fanatec gear, so I'll probably be doing a fair bit of driving in the near future.

[Snowy]

I'm actually replacing my decade-old Logitech G27 (which I swear always felt knackered - the thing is clunky as hell) this week or next with some nice new Fanatec gear

You are clearly earning too much in that new role then Chris

How is the progression in this one? In 4 I felt that spinning the wheel messed things up a bit as you could end up with a really powerful car very early on.

Well the game deliberately doesn't hold you back from getting some exotica until you have put a load of time in, which I am a big fan of. In the races etc you get the categories that your car has to sit within which keep it fair, but in the new game the Horizon Events that pop up each week now have the same categories against them, so you can't complete the speed cameras with the same face-melting race rocket for example.

[Raid]

You are clearly earning too much in that new role then Chris

And you, Ian, have a legendary wit.

One of the joys of having a very low-cost social life, no children, no commute costs, a small mortgage and a pet that's extremely cheap to run means I can splurge on stupid, expensive gaming toys.

[Snowy]

I am curious, having covetously looked at their setups in the past - what level of spend are you looking at?

[Raid]

Fanatec launched a new direct drive wheelbase this year which is about half the price of every other direct drive wheelbase on the market, so the cost of entry dropped quite significantly. It's still not by any means cheap though. The stuff I'm buying comes to about £800:
- The CSL DD wheelbase with the optional boost kit that takes it from 5Nm peak torque up to 8 (as a comparison the G27 I've been using has a peak torque of 2.7Nm)
- The Clubsport Formula 2.5x wheel, which is more expensive than I ideally wanted, but some people have an issue with the plastic quick release (the bit that mounts the wheel to the base) breaking, and while you can upgrade those quick releases to the metal one that comes with my wheel, it makes the cheaper ones almost as expensive as the one I'm getting.
- The CSL pedal set, their new low-end option that I can upgrade at a later point.

You also realistically need something decent to mount it to. They do offer a desk mount as an optional extra, but from what I've read it's not particularly sturdy, awkward to mount, and makes the wheel stick out a long way from the desk. You can add further cost by including stick shift and handbrake modules, and the pedal set I'm buying doesn't include a clutch pedal. I'm perfectly happy with paddle shifters and auto-clutch, partially because I don't drive and don't have any sort of experience with fully manual gearboxes.

[Rusty]

Ok. Forked out for MS Game Pass just to play this. I bought 4 when it came out ... that would have paid for nealy a year's subscription anyway..
Annoyingly I can't get the game to even start. It loads the warning screen, then transitions to the intro video and quits out everytime.

The only thing I haven't done (after following numerous ideas off of google) is restart the PC so I'll give that a go.

[Snowy]

Did you get it working Rusty? I am thoroughly enjoying it, and have had some real 'wow' moments. One race has a mountainside jump in it that gave me a twinge of vertigo while another had you burst out of a tunnel onto a spectacular bridge which made me exclaim out loud.

It is not all happy sailing though. I played countless hours of Forza 4 and never noticed any cheating on the behalf of the computer opposition. I raced them at Pro level and it was always judicious use of the handbrake coupled with taking corners faster than the coloured racing line indicated was wise that let me gain ground. In 5 though, particularly in some of the set-piece races, it engineers photo-finishes where you inch ahead at the last moment to win by a whisker. On the mountainside race mentioned above, I was racing against two monster trucks. I was initially alerted when one popped a wheelie and went zooming ahead. I won the race by a whisker but decided to run it again - exactly the same result. Now I won't deny that the first result was a real buzz, but I thought I had managed to nail it. Second time around I felt quite robbed to be honest.

Thankfully it seems to be contained to the set piece races rather than the rank and file that make up 99% of the content - I hope that remains the case.

[DjchunKfunK]

The Showpiece races were always scripted in 4.

I enjoyed bits of what I played last week, but as an open world game with no real progression it was always going to have a limited shelf life for me.

[Snowy]

Never knew that. I think that the AI in standard races is actually better than the last outing. They will really battle for position, going for some really banzai late braking, which can lead to mistakes being made and opponents spinning out, rolling etc. The cars have also had the artificial balancing from 4 removed, with proper flips and rolls resulting from physics as you would expect (it could happen in 4 but more often than not you landed on the wheels rather than the roof).

I am actually considering dropping the difficulty, as to be competitive at high difficulty the main way to achieve it is to convert the drivetrain to 4WD which robs the cars of their flavour. May go for easier difficulty and avoid any tuning that changes the drivetrain.

[Rusty]

I had one last try and after disabling pretty much everything, I realised I had one app still running... my Corsair keyboard utility. I turned that one off and it ran...
Haven't tried it with my wheel yet but it's pretty much a cut n paste from 4 to my eyes. Just a slightly less interesting region but then I did love playing in the UK