Forza Horizon 5 Should Hit PlayStation

Simply put, there's nothing quite like Forza Horizon 5 on the PlayStation 5. While other games have tried to capture its essence, none have quite hit the mark.

Take The Crew Motorfest for example. It's embraced a festival vibe, making it the closest competitor to the Forza Horizon series. Yet, it still falls short of the unique experience Forza Horizon 5 offers.

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown? It's a no-go. Although the Forza Horizon series owes a nod to the pioneering MMO racing style of the original Test Drive Unlimited, Solar Crown's always-online nature without a solo mode doesn't compare to the seamless offline and online play Forza Horizon has offered since 2014.

Need for Speed Unbound boasts an impressive customization suite, outshining Forza Horizon in some aspects. However, its focus on high-speed chases makes it less of a direct competitor.

Forza Horizon 5 stands alone as the champion of modern open-world racing games, and it's now available on PlayStation 5 for the first time. Its expansive and breathtaking Mexico map, drift-friendly vehicle dynamics, and an enormous garage of over 900 cars, including cult favorites not found in other racing games, are all now accessible to PlayStation users, many experiencing these features for the first time.

The reaction from the gaming community has been exhilarating to observe.

This influx of new players is something the team at Playground Games has eagerly anticipated. Art Director Don Arceta expressed 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 eager to see the creations PlayStation 5 players will make with Forza Horizon 5’s extensive Event Lab customization tools. "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 adds. "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."

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

The PlayStation 5 port is as technically impressive as its Xbox and PC versions, a remarkable achievement given the game's size and the fact that its engine was never 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," Arceta explains. "So when we brought it to the PS5, it was no small undertaking. It was quite a huge task."

The port was developed by Panic Button in collaboration with Turn 10 and Playground Games. "The PlayStation 5 version was developed by Panic Button, in collaboration with Turn 10 and ourselves, but Panic Button did an amazing job," says Arceta. "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, I've always seen the Forza series as the home of the most diverse and exciting collection of cars. The idea of new players discovering their favorite cars in Forza Horizon 5, cars that other racing games haven't offered, is thrilling.

Lead Game Designer David Orton highlights the game's vastness as a key attraction for new players. "The breadth of Horizon is quite staggering," says Orton. "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."

He adds, "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 shares his vision of success, saying, "For me, a victory would be, like, ‘I can’t believe I’ve never played this game before.’ 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, adding, "Yeah, I think it’s that. 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 barriers between console communities are starting to crumble, and with Forza Horizon 5 now on PlayStation 5, one major wall has come down. Let’s hope it’s not the last.