💡 Want to play Forza Horizon 5 right now? No download needed — just head to the cloud gaming section on the right and start driving.
Release Date: November 9, 2021｜Developer: Playground Games｜Publisher: Xbox Game Studios｜Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, PS5 (April 2025)
Some games pull you in and never let you go.
Forza Horizon 5 is one of them. It doesn’t pressure you into races, doesn’t push you to grind, and doesn’t even demand that you “play” it in any traditional sense. All you have to do is pick a car, hit the gas, and go to Mexico.
That’s how it ended up with over 53 million players — on a game that came out in 2021.
Map Size Isn’t the Point — It’s What’s In It
Horizon 5 moves the festival to Mexico, with a map roughly 50% larger than its predecessor. The colorful streets of Guanajuato, the deserts of Baja California, the volcano, the rainforest — you can go from city to desert to mountain to jungle without a single loading screen.
That’s the real difference between this and most racing games: you’re not circling a track — you’re exploring a living world.
The dynamic seasons cycle every week — dry season, rainy season, dust storms, tropical storms. The same corner handles completely differently in the rain than it does on a clear day. Weather conditions are incredibly varied, ensuring no two drives feel the same.
902 Cars Means You’ll Never Know What to Drive Next
The game launched with over 400 cars. As of April 2025, that number has grown to 902. What does that mean?
It means you can play for dozens of hours and still not have driven a third of your garage. It means you can completely change your driving experience on a whim — take a hypercar down the highway one day, tear through the dunes in an off-roader the next, or cruise through town in a compact city car the day after.
Over 100 licensed manufacturers, from classic vintage models to the latest supercars. And you can get them in all sorts of ways: race rewards, seasonal playlists, barn finds, the auction house — the more you drive, the more cars you get, and the more cars you get, the more you want to drive. It’s a perfect loop.
Two DLCs, Two Completely Different Kinds of Insanity
Hot Wheels throws you onto orange plastic tracks suspended in the air, complete with 360-degree loops and high-speed stunts. Physics take a backseat to pure fun.
Rally Adventure drops you into muddy jungles and gravel roads for a hardcore off-road experience — slippery mud, loose gravel, bumpy rainforest trails. It’s the polar opposite of Hot Wheels.
Together, they easily add dozens of hours of content.
Why Did the PS5 Version Sell So Well?
This is the wildest part of the Forza Horizon 5 story.
On April 29, 2025, a 2021 Xbox first-party game landed on PS5. The results: 2 million copies in its first month, 3 million in three months, and over 5 million total. Among all Xbox games ported to PS5, Horizon 5 alone accounts for about 60% of total sales.
Because PS5 players discovered this might be one of the most approachable and replayable open-world racers available on the platform.
A four-year-old game, ported to a competitor’s console, outselling brand-new titles. That’s what happens when a game is good enough to make people forget about platform loyalty.
What Actually Makes It Great?
You’re barreling through a rainy corner in a rear-wheel-drive supercar. The rear tires break loose. You feel the wheel shudder, the screen shake, the engine roar — and then you counter-steer, floor it, and the car slides through the corner, rear end swinging wide, before you straighten out and punch it down the next straightaway.
Forza Horizon 5 isn’t about “simulating reality.” It’s about making driving itself feel fun. The roads are wide enough, grippy enough. The controls are responsive and satisfying. The sound design is powerful and rewarding. You can be terrible at it and still have a great time.
Who Is This For?
Play if:
- You feel a deep urge to fill every slot in your garage (902 cars is a lot of filling)
- You like to just drive around with no particular destination in mind — because the game doesn’t rush you
- You want to experience one of Xbox’s flagship games on PS5 — this might be the best cross-platform showcase yet
- You’re a longtime Horizon fan — this is the most complete entry in the series
Skip if:
- You’re looking for a hardcore, simulation-style racer (this is arcade fun, not a simulator)
- You’re not interested in live-service games — seasonal updates are part of the core loop, not an optional extra
Quick Facts
- Metacritic: 92/100, a benchmark for open-world racing games
- Steam concurrent peak: 81,096 players (via SteamDB)
- PS5 version: Performance mode at 60 fps, Quality mode at 30 fps, ray-traced car reflections on PS5 Pro
- PS5 requirement: Requires a Microsoft account to play
It’s not that it “used to be popular.” It’s that it never stopped being popular.
Copyright Notice:
All game screenshots, character designs, and related materials referenced in this article are the property of Playground Games, Xbox Game Studios, and their respective rights holders.
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