Forza Horizon 5 review: PS5 Pro is the best version of this Xbox game
Forza Motorsport is a premium racing sim that gives hardcore racing fans the opportunity to wrangle with a variety of powerful engines with realistic feedback and physics. You might not be able to test drive millions of dollars worth of cars in a day in real life, but it’s more than possible in Forza.
If you’re a PlayStation user, you won’t miss out on Forza Motorsport too much thanks to the legendary PlayStation exclusive, Gran Turismo. But if you’re looking for a different driving experience, a simplified, open world arcade-inspired racer that includes hundreds of vehicles, courses and event types to dive into, then PlayStation players haven’t had a premium title to jump into — until now. Forza Horizon 5 has made its debut on PS5, and it’s better on PS5 Pro than any other console.
While the Forza Motorsport games are racing sims at their core, Forza Horizon is designed to appeal to more casual racing fans, while still offering all of the technical challenges that die-hard fans desire. Forza Horizon 5 is the latest game in the series, and one of the very best. Set in a sunny section of Mexico, Horizon 5 has you tearing down streets, through fields, and over mountains. You can attempt the perfect lap in each course, sure, but the point here leans towards bombastic fun.
Missions include the usual assortment of races, drag events, drift challenges, timed missions, and more, but in addition to that are some more out-of-the-box events. Tours across the open world landscape give you a moment to appreciate just how detailed every inch of Mexico’s terrain is, while challenges to achieve the biggest, longest possible jumps will see you speeding off of mountain cliffs at 200mph. Don’t worry, your car (and driver) is entirely invincible — you might get a few dents, but nothing you can’t drive away from.
More than three years on from its original release on PC and Xbox consoles, Forza Horizon 5 still feels like an incredibly refreshing game to play. When you’re not racing against NPC foes or online opponents, you’ll be tearing through dust storms, driving parade floats up mountains, and drifting around the desert. The sheer variety is impressive — and almost daunting — and that doesn’t even include the DLC.
The benefit of playing the game first on PS5 is that you don’t have to wait for DLC to release. The game received two DLC packs, Hot Wheels, and Rally Adventure. Rally Adventure is aimed directly at rally racing fans, asking you to listen intently for each bend and twist in the road. It’s a beautiful love letter to yet another racing genre.
Hot Wheels, meanwhile, places miles upon miles of giant, bright orange Hot Wheels track in a mountainous region and asks you to zip around it like a tiny plastic car. It’s a striking change of pace, and it really feels exhilarating for the first races. Of course, you’ll soon realize that Fast Travel is free in the Hot Wheels environment because miles of plastic track can actually become quite tedious. Still, it’s a fantastic first impression, and a solid addition to the meaty overall Forza Horizon package.
This is one game from Microsoft Game Studios which actually runs best on the competitor’s hardware instead of Xbox. The PS5 Pro version of Forza Horizon 5 manages to boast a high resolution while maintaining 60 fps, or you can opt for some ray tracing features that are unique to this version of the game. It’s not just the same Series X game you’ve seen before, it’s clear that the game has been adjusted for the strength of the two PlayStation consoles. If you want the best console version of Forza Horizon 5, it’s on PS5 Pro.
Source: espn.com