Forza Horizon 5

[Rare White Ape]

Apparently this game has a map and it was revealed via a tweet.

https://twitter.com/forzahorizon/status/1424784335845068802?s=21

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8XZzEKWQAAPerS?format=jpg&name=large

[Tom Servo]

Wow, Baja California moved a fair bit.

[Jason]

I will likely very much miss Scotland, but this looks fun too!

[GreatScawt]

Excited for this. They've been doing some Forza live sessions to show some things off (also where the map was originally revealed and triggered the Twitter post).

[Tom Servo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ9iT5R2Jas&t=11s

[Phil_SS]

Looks awesome. I wish I could find an Xbox Series X.......

[Rare White Ape]

Do you have a decent PC at hand?

[21Kid]

Looks awesome. I wish I could find an Xbox Series X.......

Ditto

[Phil_SS]

Do you have a decent PC at hand?

Nope. And I don't want one. :)

[Rare White Ape]

Typical Forza Horizon opening gameplay is typical, and it's filled with lots of satisfying, serotonin-squirting moments engineered to be delivered just at the right moment.

And it has an ORANGE CORVETTE. KEEF! GET ON IT!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPgUk3NZcbI&ab_channel=Xbox

[Kchrpm]

I know, I saw! The manufactured, over the top and completely fake excitement of these games just doesn't work for me anymore. But that wide body Vette is sweet.

[Tom Servo]

I thought that 911 looked familiar, just saw this at the Petersen a few weeks back.

https://i.imgur.com/beBCJzU.jpg

[Rare White Ape]

FH5 is now available for pre-download, at least on the PC Game Pass app. Dunno about Xbox because I ain’t playing it on that pffffft

[Tom Servo]

Or if you bought it from the MS Store. They also now charged my card.

[Blerpa]

Bought FH5 Premium Edition on Steam (could not stand the idea to have to do with Microsoft Store and its borked cloud saves sync once again) and I'm going to live stream the game start on Twitch by the 5th of November.

Best farewell post ever:

"Well, it finally happened: I finally got caught racing my way across Britain.
The list of charges is insane: street racing, destruction of property, hundreds of counts of wreckless endangerment, etc; the British government seized all of my assets including a dozen houses and over 800 automobiles.

All I've been left with is a few personal items that easily fit into a moving van.
That's what I've been reduced to.
Me, the owner of countless exotics and supercars, two dozen Truenos (very hard to get here in Britain), a gaggle of Typhoons and more, now forced to rent a van.

I'm supposed to be moving my clothing and personal items to an apartment while I await my trial, but I'm fleeing to Mexico.
I had a couple cars that were still in delivery that I've managed to have diverted to Mexico, where they will be waiting for me.
I'm on my way now to ship my personal stuff and jump on the first flight out of here.

If all goes according to plan, by Friday I should be in Mexico at the rendezvous point to pick up my C8 and Bronco. I think there may be a Supra there as well but I couldn't verify if I caught that shipment on time with the new address.

It's been fun my british friends, and I hope we can somehow, someday meet again."

(Derrick Morrow, by Forza Horizon 5 Fan Group on Facebook)

https://i.imgur.com/Dn6dK8I.jpg

[Jason]

I have a feeling I'm still going to dick around with FH4 instead of FH5, simply because I prefer FH4's locale... but I am excited to see what FH5 looks like natively

[Rare White Ape]

I’m excited to put Hospital Records on and never change the radio station.

[Rare White Ape]

Reviews are out and people love it.

“Horizon is a joy Pez dispenser that never needs to be refilled”


https://youtu.be/mf27UvZ-8JQ


https://youtu.be/fuB2MnG9sCE

[Tom Servo]

Well, wish I could say that I was having the same luck as that reviewer when it comes to crashes. I still haven't made it through the opening sequence without a CTD.

EDIT: Yeah, I can't take that sequence a fourth time in a row. Guess I'll wait for the first patch.

EDIT 2: Looks like I'm not the only one.

[Rare White Ape]

Umm, so, I had no idea it was out today. I’ve still got 10 GB of day 1 patch left to download :(

[Rare White Ape]

Never mind, today is the early access day. The rest of us have to wait until Monday.

[Tom Servo]

You'd think I'd have learned from FH4. Pay for the fancy one and get early access, spend entirety of early access waiting for a patch that'll make it playable.

[Rare White Ape]

I see others playing this on PC right now. With any luck, you’re unique, and it might be fixable with a settings tweak.

[Jason]

I very much enjoy that I “pre downloaded” the game, but when I went to go launch it, I needed another 20gb download :lol:

[Tom Servo]

The thread of people with crashes is pretty active on forzamotorsport.net. Unfortunately, most people seem to be saying it's their antivirus, and I don't run BitDefender or Avast or any of that.

I'll try a couple of things from there today, hopefully one of 'em works.

EDIT: Looks like, at least for now, running it as admin is working. I finally got past the prologue and now I never have to hear all about how we're going to be friends in Mexico ever again.

[GreatScawt]

I somehow had it patched and ready. It worked right away at exactly 12:00AM here.

Tom - do you run any On-Screen Displays? Or anything that hooks into your game to display FPS / hardware temps / other data?
I found that if I ran PrecisionX when booting FH4, it would barely get past the first splash screen before crashing. I had to make sure that was completely closed every time.
But if admin does the trick, even better. :up:

Game has been running pretty solid for me. The graphical improvements are noticeable, and it's hitting 90-130 FPS at all max settings at 1440p. The sound improvements (I guess the ray-traced sound, specifically) deserve a shout out. I was driving around just... beeping. And it really does sound way better compared to FH4. Also, while in a race, I noticed improvements in regards to directional sound and sound density with the other engines. All the cars hammering the throttle at the beginning, I could barely hear my own! And I can absolutely tell when someone is back left or back right when racing, just based on engine sound.

Quick screens from last night. Ray-traced reflections can be seen with the spokes reflecting off the brakes in the second shot, in Autovista.
https://i.imgur.com/kZlQRqW.png
https://i.imgur.com/VOcu7My.png

[Tom Servo]

The only overlay I have is the one that nvidia puts on. I'm not even sure how to turn it off. Otherwise, no other overlays or broadcasting stuff or anything like that. My setup's pretty boring. I'm fine with admin for now, hopefully that holds!

I haven't had much of a chance to play it at any decent volume. I'm looking forward to hearing what sounds like vastly improved audio.

[Tom Servo]

Haven't had a crash since I started running as admin, so I'm happy enough.

Graphics are really nice, though I think maybe I was spoiled by FH4 Horizon running 4K. It's good, and noticeably better, but it still kinda looks like Forza Horizon to me. That said, I haven't been through all the biomes. I can say that the various plants and shrubs around look more "there", for lack of a better term.

I haven't noticed much of an improvement to the audio. It might be that I have shitty speakers. Will try to use some wired headphones tomorrow.

I do really like the lego-expansion style "tons of little achievements" model, reminds me of ACNH and the miles goals. Weird change - your current amount of credits isn't visible when doing a wheelspin, so you don't get to see what your recently gotten gains do to your total.

Also, weird bug - until the game asks you the name you want to be referred by, subtitles of your character talking will show up as coming from the person you're talking to, not yourself. Was very confusing for the first part of the game.

[Tom Servo]

Well, one crash now running as admin, same error code. Still, overall stable enough to play. This morning I forgot to run as admin and it crashed almost immediately.

Another weird bug. I was cruising in one of the new Supras at about 150 and just suddenly slammed to a halt. Didn't hit anything, middle of the road, and there was like a 1/4 second insanely loud tire screech noise. It was a little bit dizzying having the landscape going by really fast with a bit of motion blur and suddenly slamming to a stop, with the blur taking a second to catch up to what had happened.

On the plus side, tire smoke looks so much better now.

[GreatScawt]

That's very frustrating. At least it seems to be a lot less common running admin now.
Just in case you hadn't seen this, Forza Support on Twitter linked to this as a quick guide for crashing issues: https://support.forzamotorsport.net/hc/en-us/articles/360007593074-My-Game-is-Not-Launching-or-is-Crashing-on-PC

My biggest issue is staying connected to Horizon Life, also being looked in to: https://twitter.com/forza_support/status/1457031443251666951
It's intermittent. For majority of the time, it's stuck in a bit of a limbo between offline and connecting. So I end up having just nothing on the streets as a I drive around - no players, Drivatars, or traffic. And trying to manage convoys with a friend has been inconsistent. If we do get into a game and do an event, getting back into Freeroam is always a crap shoot whether I will see him again or have to rejoin.

However, the playground games and multiplayer races I entered never dropped once and played pretty well.

Some clips I took to show off the audio improvements... not the best but the ones that stood out while playing and that I remembered to clip.
First couple clips were a multiplayer race fooling around with the horns. You could hear the sound echoing/bouncing on the canyon in the second clip.
Third clip, when my buddy is driving the Apollo. He's hitting the rev limiter drifting around the other side of the building. You can hear the sound bouncing around the building.
I just can't recall FH4 accounting for that nuance. It's really good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etDQxg8hVFA

[GreatScawt]

Also - a PSA to grab the Solariega house for Double Forzathon points, and the Lugar Transquilo home for the Horizon promo.
Both are free for the VIPs, I think.

And a couple more pics from playing:
https://i.imgur.com/wZkQCuM.jpg
https://imgur.com/JUtQ8Ov.jpg
https://imgur.com/hXuwnSz.jpg
https://imgur.com/tkHGHQD.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/nDwugNo.jpg

[Kchrpm]

Is there cross play in free roam? AKA can you PC snobs slum it with an XBox One lowlife like me?

[GreatScawt]

Yup! And it apparently works quite good on every variation of XBox One / Series consoles

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2021-forza-horizon-5-xbox-platform-comparison


Also - now that I complained of the disconnects, I played a session earlier with no issues. So hopefully that's resolved.

[Rare White Ape]

@GreatScawt, re the sounds, FH5 uses a software tray tracing setup to calculate sound positioning, reverb and echo. Not sure if it’s present on Xbox One consoles.

[GreatScawt]

That's a good point. When I watched them introduce it and market it, I don't think they specified. But the use of the word ray tracing would suggest it requires RT cores, even if it may not be as demanding. Bummer.

[Tom Servo]

Just in case you hadn't seen this, Forza Support on Twitter linked to this as a quick guide for crashing issues: https://support.forzamotorsport.net/hc/en-us/articles/360007593074-My-Game-is-Not-Launching-or-is-Crashing-on-PC

Heh, I saw that. It struck me as a very long laundry list of every random website's "how to fix X" tips.

It's my understanding that the error code I do get is for a memory access violation. I have a hard time connecting that to running as Admin fixing it. Ideally every process is sandboxed to its own memory range and running as Admin shouldn't change that. It does make me think they have some sort of pointer math gone wrong in the source code though.

What I am noticing is that most of the people I've seen report it have some pretty serious hardware. Makes me wonder if it's something specific to some of the more aggressive rendering pipelines, that you might only hit if you turn on a lot of the bells & whistles.

GreatScawt, have you been able to get into the Forzathon Shop at all? I just get an error every time I try, but other network things seem to have stabilized a bit over the past day or two.

[Rare White Ape]

We've all seen it a million times already, the bit in the intro where the cars drop out of the aircraft and make their way to the Horizon Festival in Mexico.

But each time I see that orange Corvette heading for the dust storm it specifically reminds me of Keith and his love of all things orange and all things 'Vette, but also that he mentioned not long ago that he's not keen on the overly sanguine and perpetually sugary atmosphere of the Horizon games.

Well, today I finally got to do it for myself and soak in that atmosphere a bit, and I need to pass a message directly to our real-life 'Vette owning friend: mate, the game's alright and that ay.

Like, it's exactly like the previous Horizon games, which means it's a load of fun. So, it's almost just like Animal Crossing in that sense. Everyone is so happy to be there and you can't help but be drawn into the vibe of everyone being nice and happy. Happy happy happy. It's genuinely a good time.

Animal Crossing may not have fast cars or drum and bass on an endless loop, and FH5 might not have Tom Nook or that guy with the guitar. But at their core, they are both great places to hang out for a while.

[Kchrpm]

My problem with the Horizon series isn't that everyone is happy to be there. It's that, instead of allowing Forza Motorsport to be even more focused on more serious track racing since Horizon did such a great job with the open world and chaos feel, they started bringing that chaos to Motorsport.

I don't personally feel much depth in the Horizon series because I would rather choose between interior colors than wild aftermarket body kits, and the races are generally terrible, but they can still be fun to just drive around in.

I guess as I think about the manufactured excitement from the heavily scripted things like the intro "races", I do get annoyed that I have to do a thing where I'm almost guaranteed to "win" instead of just watching it.

[GreatScawt]

Heh, I saw that. It struck me as a very long laundry list of every random website's "how to fix X" tips.

I meant to add that nearly all of the programs in there that I regularly deal with work perfectly as well. Seems a bit reactionary. And "Laundry list" is the perfect description for that support article. :lol:

PG definitely need to keep investigating the issue because pointing at other programs doesn't seem like a solution / root cause.
Some good suggestions in there, but that stuff is generally more 'good computer hardware practices', like memtest and OS updates.


GreatScawt, have you been able to get into the Forzathon Shop at all? I just get an error every time I try, but other network things seem to have stabilized a bit over the past day or two.

Yup - error every time. I'm gonna guess it's on purpose? Probably opens up once the first "real" seasonal starts on Thursday.

[Blerpa]

Forzathon Shop is not ready.
Probably it will debut on the 11th of November.

[Yobbo NZ]

Getting rather annoyed with the obvious rubber banding in the races.
Top 3 or 4 usually clear off, if you do catch and pass them, they fall behind really quickly.
I've had to turn the difficulty down twice just to be able to catch them.

[Tom Servo]

I see cross country sucks as much as it always has, so I had to turn down the difficulty for those, but not doing too bad in the other disciplines. I already finished all of the cross country races first so that hopefully I don't have to do them again.

[Blerpa]

Yeah, rubberband is awful - I almost miss the FH4 linear AI behaviour.

[GreatScawt]

Cross Country SUPER sucks.

The only serious rubberbanding I noticed is from co-op racing against AI. Cars teleport so severely that it causes the anti-collision ghost.

[Tom Servo]

It is really weird how much cross country still sucks. It's clearly one of the main selling points of the game, any time they show highlights it's of some massive jump or powering through a river or something, but all those parts just turn into luck of the draw situations. You can have jumps just arbitrarily start rotating your car in midair and you're fucked by the time you reach the ground. The AI seems to be less penalized by hitting walls or going through water than you are. Everyone knows it sucks, but for some reason Playground just seem hell-bent on not admitting it and not doing anything to make it not suck.

At least they don't really penalize you much for nerfing the difficulty. I can deal with earning fewer credits per race if that's what it takes to get that shit done.

[Rare White Ape]

I must be the only one here who finds the cross country to be among the best this game has to offer :D

I do love barrelling across hills and mountains and between urban areas without taking the road. But when I do I make sure I pick one of the ridiculous off-roaders rather than a lowered carbon-fibre thing with slicks and 2mm of suspension travel!

[Tom Servo]

Oh yeah, actually just powering across the countryside is great fun. It's when you're racing the AI that seems to be able to barrel through obstacles without losing any speed and somehow has a ton more grip around corners that it sucks.

[Rare White Ape]

https://www.9news.com.au/technology/xbox-drops-car-out-of-helicopter-for-release-of-forza-horizon-5/a9c642e6-eee9-4942-b6bd-de7805b48e64

[Rare White Ape]

I've had my first crash. Well, two now.

After zero problems in 5 hours of gameplay I come back to it tonight and I'm getting annoying slowdowns (not related to framerate) that are followed by the game speeding up momentarily. These happen with increasing frequency over the next five minutes until it freezes. The first one simply froze and CTD'd, the second time it threw up this error: https://i.imgur.com/ZgHDci1.png

[Rare White Ape]

Restarting my PC solved the issue on this occasion.

[GreatScawt]

Similar experience here. Last night, after 50 levels, I've started crashing relatively consistently, after not crashing at all. I crashed maybe 5 times last night while playing in coop. In most cases it was as we were beginning a coop adventure.
I made some changes towards the end, but the sample size is too small to comment how effective the changes are. Ran in admin, updated windows, and did a "repair" on the UWP FH5 app.
Next step will be to do a "reset", assuming everything picks back up from the cloud.

[GreatScawt]

Hotfix coming later this week:
https://twitter.com/forza_support/status/1458489188223909893?t=UPbcZ77QrPkdZkd8ISJKNg&s=19

[Tom Servo]

Was a bit of a slog getting the two festival playlist cars, but I managed to pull that one out.

I always forget how the first week or two playing a new game of Horizon is it just constantly trying to get you to do something other than the thing you're currently heading to do. "Oh, have you driven 14 of 16 miles to get to this one event? Well, you just managed to drift over a cactus, so now I've reset your map back to the other side of the island so you can have a cactus drift adventure!"

[Rare White Ape]

I'll not be looking at cacti in the game in quite the same way again :p

The two cars you refer to, are they the NSX and the Alpine?

Thanks to the extremely convoluted menu structure and the vast amount of stuff you can do, I have no idea on what the hell I need to do to unlock them.

[Tom Servo]

Yep, NSX and Alpine. You just need to earn 26 points to get them both (I forgot how many for the Alpine, like 11?). I actually don't have an Audi, so I couldn't do the speed zone one, and then I found out the Forzathon Arcade thing you have to *win* to get the points, and when it's you and one other guy it's just like Forzathon Live was previous - a complete waste of time.

I don't fully understand what "open events" are either.

[Rare White Ape]

Ray tracing mod for PC, unlocks ray tracing in all game modes.

Steam version: https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/2322-forza-horizon-5-ray-tracing-cheat-engine-table-steam/

Windows store version: https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/2323-forza-horizon-5-ray-tracing-cheat-engine-table-windows-store/

[Rare White Ape]

Has anyone tried the events lab stuff yet?

It’s all good having a bunch of community created racing modes, as long as you’re happy to spend ten minutes finding something worthwhile as long as it’s another variation of the Goliath run…

But I think the main goal of events lab is trying to find races that deal out $400k in ten minutes, seeing as how they removed support for the Forza Hub app due to what they refer to as balancing problems.

[Tom Servo]

It seems really weird how the game seems to both try to emphasize credits (the only benefit to going to a higher difficulty is more credits, it's a major part of the wheelspin thing), but at the same time deemphasize it (the game no longer tells you how many credits you earn from a race, you don't see how many credits you have when you're doing wheelspins).

Also, the balance in some of the story missions is way off. I did the Vocha one, and one of the first missions has you driving the car from a barn to a garage on a flatbed tow truck. To get 3 stars, you have to get it there in like 8 minutes 20 seconds, it took me about 1 minute 30. Then one of the last missions, where you take it to Baja and take a picture of it, has a time limit of 1:48 for three stars and I tried over and over and couldn't get it. Finally watched someone else online and found out you only need to get *close* to the destination and then take a picture, so I just went as fast as I could and right as 1:47 ticked over, I hit up on the dpad to open up the camera and took a picture and sure enough, it gave it to me. I was probably a few hundred yards from the destination.

[Rare White Ape]

There are like 40 different currencies: experience points, credits, Forzathon points, seasonal points, style points...

It's a good thing you are almost constantly being rewarded for doing whatever, but, like, I have no idea what I am doing with most of them. What the heck are Forzathon points used for?

[Tom Servo]

There's a Forzathon Shop that you can get to from the Festival Playlist, it usually has a couple of cars and some horns/clothes, they change out weekly with the season change.

That said, I think the Forzathon Shop is still erroring out for me if I try to go to it.

[Yobbo NZ]

Like FH4, I still have no clue what I'm doing.
Lots of icons all over the map, some random cut scene comes up. Maybe I'm getting too old for all this 🤣

[Tom Servo]

I just really hate that any time you get enough accolades to open up a new "part" of the festival, it a) slams you to a stop no matter what you're in the middle of and b) just goes ahead and changes your destination on the map without telling you.

I finished up getting all of those today, so hopefully I get a little less of that. It is funny how the Horizon games have this tendency to be super annoying at the start, which is right when you'd think you'd want to be on your best behavior. It's just overwhelming.

[Rare White Ape]

I looked up Forzathon points. The store is closed until they open it up. Maybe next week.

[GreatScawt]

Yeah, the Forzathon shop was around in FH4 and - once opened - will allow you to pick up cars/clothes/horns you don't have yet, or purchase super wheelspins (assuming it maintains the same purpose from FH4). Again, make sure to grab the house that doubles your Forzathon points. And apparently there's a chance that your FH4 FPs will transfer to FH5. That remains to be seen, though.
It is silly that they don't tell you how many FPs you have.

The seasonal points are just a replacement of the percentage-based seasonal stuff they did in FH4. IIRC, they added the seasonal playlists to FH4 ~1 year in?
With the seasonal point system, they now make it more obvious how much a particular seasonal activity counts towards the total. And you get 2 cars to unlock each season. There's also series-wide total for 2 additional cars. So if you do everything in every season, you should get a total of 10 cars for the series. These cars are usually expensive or rare (not in the autoshop).
One change I noticed that I like - it seems the dailies for the week will stick around the entire week (once they unlock). In FH4, you had 3 days to do them as they unlocked throughout the week, which could create some annoying scenarios in trying to complete them if you wanted to 100% the season.
I do find it interesting that they are putting car type / class qualifiers on the seasonal PR stunts. Like an A800 BMW for a dirt speed zone. That's a lot of extra steps to account for now.

@Tom - I definitely noticed the lack of post-event credits information. Weird to see 4.7 million credits with no recollection of how any of my events contributed.


I'm really enjoying the game so far, but I have to say, there's a couple gripes that I just need to list:

#1: Horizon Arcades - This is honestly my biggest complaint.
These were Forzathon Live events in FH4 and done at the top of every hour. You also had 15 minutes to do 3 PR-stunt related objectives. From what I understand they would prorate the objective requirements based on the players who join. Horizon Arcades are available more regularly and are now split into 5 different types of events: Speed, Drift, Air, Wreckage, Chaos.
They have some similar objectives, but they only give you 10 minutes and they DON'T prorate the objective requirements. So unless you have 4-5 people at minimum joining an arcade event, you will likely not complete it. And completing one is part of the seasonal objectives every week.
They also have a habit of glitching out. So even if you complete round 1, it will go to round 2 and then immediately spit you back into the first round activity with no progress. This is kinda related to the online issues (#2).
Basically, the Horizon Arcades need a complete re-work: Not enough time, objective requirements are not flexible, they're not really *special* enough anymore for people to join regularly with you, and sometimes you can't even see when people actually are there because of the connection issues.

#2: Intermittent Online Issues
This is a weird one. First day had issues actually connecting. But after that, connecting was fairly consistent and you could see people driving around. But the error message pops up all the time (especially as you're first loading into the game), and people disappear all the time. Even driving free roam coop in a convoy, my friend will just disappear right in front of my eyes regularly. I think the way they swap instances of the servers is the issue, but it can be frustrating when you're trying to coordinate activities. This is especially an issue with the Arcade events, because there can actually be 2-3 other racers there you don't know about because you can't see them.

#3: Killing Skillchains
As Tom mentioned, the game loves to stop you in your tracks regularly. Especially when you're going through the process of obtaining all the adventures via accolades. This instantly kills your skillchain regardless of what perks you have unlocked. There are other times where it will do it when joining an MP race which isn't as big a deal, and other times it just happens for seemingly no reason at all.

#4: Crashes
This has honestly not affected my enjoyment of the game too much, but it has crashed enough to point it out. Hotfix should be coming in next week according to their communications.

[Tom Servo]

Fun bug that came up for me on one of the seasonal events this week, the "It's raining sideways" one. Every race starts out in a heavy storm - a little foggy, very grey, lots of rain. Then about 2/3 of the way in, it's like someone hits a light switch. It instantly turns partly cloudy with bright sun and the rain is gone. Happened on all three races.

[Rare White Ape]

I do find it interesting that they are putting car type / class qualifiers on the seasonal PR stunts. Like an A800 BMW for a dirt speed zone. That's a lot of extra steps to account for now.

Yeah what gives here? I’ve wasted so much time trying to do tasks but they give you minimal information detailing that you need to fulfil specific conditions. I did discover that you can press R3 to see what those conditions are but I still get caught out.

[Tom Servo]

I'm guessing they want to prevent the situation that we had before, where I had like three cars I ever used for any and all of the challenges. Koenigsegg Agera RS for any straight-line speed camera, Koenigsegg CCGT for anything that needed more downforce like asphalt-based speed zones, and TVR Speed 12 with dirt tires and a rally suspension for dirt speed cameras and most danger zones. I figure that makes people mix it up a bit.

That said I think they're starting a little early with some of the restrictions, a lot of people don't really have a lot of cars yet.

[GreatScawt]

One last thing that's been bugging me, especially while I try to keep skill chains going.... is anyone getting the weird bug where the engine bogs at low RPM? Putting it into first and pushing through eventually gets it ripping again, and its fine. Very strange.

[Tom Servo]

I've actually run into that one on FH4 as well.

[GreatScawt]

Weird. That's a first for me. Was particularly frustrating in the Playground Games events where stopping and starting is pretty crucial.

[Rare White Ape]

I don’t think there’s anything quite as funny as enticing a couple of random strangers to race down the abandoned airstrip and launch off the ramp at the end. Seeing a group of cars pouncing into the air around you for no reason is pure joy!

[GreatScawt]

:lol:

One random dude and I happened to realize we had the same horn equipped (Doom E1M1) and proceeded to try and sync it. We weren't too successful but I was laughing my ass off at the random interaction.

Also, update is out. For me it was a 5gb download

[Rare White Ape]

Another thing I love is how you’ll be minding your own business in a field somewhere and you’ll see the name of a player hidden behind some hills moving across your screen at quite a rate. You don’t know where they’re going but you do know they’re getting there with their finger hard against the trigger in 7th gear and having a darn good time while doing it.

[Tom Servo]

A whole new Forza Horizon and you still can't just go straight to rivals from the festival playlist screen.

[Tom Servo]

Anybody else having the daily festival playlist challenges not complete for them? I did a clean lap in a rivals event and did a showcase event and they both still show as uncompleted.

[Rare White Ape]

I did a rivals last night after watching a video telling you how (and you know a game has failed in a fundamental way in its user experience if you need to look externally to complete basic tasks).

It suggested picking a race, doing one really slow clean lap, then hammering it to beat your opponent, then quitting.

I followed those instructions but lost really badly, and still completed it. I think the key is to do another whole lap after the clean lap so it registers.

[Tom Servo]

Have you gotten the showcase one to fire? I've done two so far, nothin' doing. I accidentally did a couple of expeditions as well, they also didn't trigger it.

In other news, part of the game has redeemed itself.

https://i.redd.it/araaanr875081.jpg

[Rare White Ape]

:lol: wow...

I have done the showcase one too. I did one that I'd already completed previously (didn't work) and then did one I hadn't completed (it worked).

I don't want to authoritatively say why one did or did not work, but sucks to be you if you have done them all already and it won't trigger the task completion.

It was the jet ski one BTW.

[Tom Servo]

I've already done all of them, I was wondering if that's the issue. It's actually kinda hard to rack up enough points to get both cars, I even got the trial and I'm still short.

[Tom Servo]

Is all the AI traffic gone after the update for anyone else?

[Rare White Ape]

I rarely saw cars before the update. I haven't tried the new version yet.

[Rare White Ape]

Today's daily challenge is pretty easy. Just go to the solar farm near the highway and do some doughies under the panels.

[GreatScawt]

I feel like the AI traffic has been extremely rare from the get-go. I don't entirely miss it, but it is weirdly lifeless.

In case anyone is interested in doing The Trial, I'm quite proud of this setup for the 2020 Corvette Stringray Coupe:
Share Code: 134 755 142

Beat all the drivatars in the first race and came second. Second race I was outright first, but with 2nd and 3rd place drivatars on my butt.
A lot of people driving i8's :lol: (only car that's in A class under that car type)

[Tom Servo]

Yeah, definitely been more rare than FH4, but when I posted that I did a full run from one side of the map to the other on the main highway and didn't see a single AI car the entire time.

I like the 'Vette! I'm doing well in the races, but my teammates suck so I still haven't won the trial.

[GreatScawt]

Oooof, I got lucky and had some decent team mates. But glad you like the tune. If you ever see me online and want a hand, toss me an invite!

[Tom Servo]

Somehow on my last attempt, when every other person was in a completely untuned i8, we pulled it off. I'm guessing it's only by virtue that that meant only one drivatar car was up at 795, the others were also bone stock.

[GreatScawt]

Nice!

A convenient perk to doing the Trial is that it counts towards the "Beat unbeatable Drivatars on 6 different races" achievement, which I really didn't feel like doing solo. :lol:

[Tom Servo]

Hey Krunch! I saw your convoy thing, but it only ever showed a loading spinner next to your name. Just so you know I wasn't ignoring you!

[Tom Servo]

That #64 Nissan 370Z drift car makes it incredibly easy to three-star all the drift zones. Didn't make a change to it and just waltzed through all of them. Best way I found is just stick to 4th gear, really easy to just toss it around.

[Kchrpm]

I had the same experience on my end: you showed as being in my convoy but always just loading/connecting.

[21Kid]

Do we have a GTXP clan/group /thingy in this one?

[Rare White Ape]

https://media2.fdncms.com/sacurrent/imager/u/original/2494868/soup_nazi_.png

[Tom Servo]

i hadn't set one up this time as it seemed like most people ended up migrating away from the group in FH4. I can make one again though.

[GreatScawt]

I meant to ask as well, I will certainly join a GTXF club/clan/group if someone makes it.

Though, if its like FH4, there isn't a whole lot of functionality.

[GreatScawt]

FYI, another daily challenge is bugged. The explorer challenge doesn't trigger when you do an expedition. Some simple things, but they got some work to do.

[Rare White Ape]

I've decided that I don't neeeeeeeed the McLaren F1. I'd probably put a month's worth of work into getting it (and it does seem like 'work' too) and then quit playing the game for ages after the achievement had been... achieved.

FH has always been a sometimes game. Sometimes I choose to put it down for a while and save it for when I want to chill out a little. I haven't logged in since last weekend!

[Tom Servo]

It is a little annoying that it looks like you'll need a fair bit of the festival points to get the AMG-One at the end of the season, but they keep having bugged events and the Arcade is just an absolute clusterfuck.

I think I got enough this week to carry me, but who knows.

[Kchrpm]

I decided that I'll eventually get the McF1 GT Longtail instead of whatever confusing things it takes to get the regular one.

[Rare White Ape]

* Neither car is the LM Edition so yeah nah whatever.

[Tom Servo]

It does actually look like I should be good. I think I have 114 points. I got it backwards, you need 120 to get the AMG-One, 180 to get the McLaren F1 (road, not longtail). Two seasons in at over half points, I should be good to go. Having the Rivals be +4 for all seasons messes with the math a bit, but even then I should be at the equivalent of 106, which is still more than halfway.

I also know I said I wasn't that impressed with the audio (I still think GT:S is *way* better when it comes to engine sounds), but I can say the Agera RS sounds *much* better this time around.

[Tom Servo]

Boy, I thought the Trial last week sucked...

[Tom Servo]

I did have some luck with a Senna tune I found over on Forza, share code is 129 465 295. That said, I was still struggling to get the top drivatars if they were X999, and I still had a bunch of idiot teammates who spent more time blocking or ramming me than driving normally.

[GreatScawt]

I heard some real nightmares about it. They made it a friggin "open" tune.
We got lucky. My buddy and I managed to get paired with a club where most of the drivers were competent and came prepared. In our first try we won the 2nd and 3rd races. I put up a 911 GT1 Straßenversion tune that did the job, but I imagine the Senna is a better pick.

[Blerpa]

I tried it 4 times. Twice with a club mate, twice alone.
We tried A 800, S1 900 (twice) and X 999 (a Senna).
To no avail: my random teammates were usual idiots. That said... the AI is mental.
I've had about 10 people I know that have abandoned the game because it feels too difficult and buggy, especially being a simple arcade.
I know they are casual, yet game state, even after the patch, is still pathetic.

Also... tried the Luchador story.
I thought the Vocho one was a bit Disney-ish and ridiculous, but this is way worse.
It's like Forza Horizon 4 was Fast And Furious 1 and Horizon 5 is FnF 8 or 9... or some Farrelly brothers' crap.
I'm sorry, I'm not 12 (or 9, actually) anymore...

[Tom Servo]

Finally got it, somehow. Field was 3 X999 cars and three S998-ish cars, so the drivatars were the same. First race I came in 4th behind the three X999 cars, all my teammates came in behind all the drivatars, so we got mauled. All three players with X999 cars quit after the first race.

I'm not sure if the AI then adjusted accordingly, but I had a pretty easy time winning the next two races, and my teammates were usually coming in 2-4, and we won easily. Used the Senna with the tune I posted above.

[Tom Servo]

Went to go play a little this morning and just got a message saying that it couldn't be started and that the Windows Store would have information, which, of course, it did not.

Eventually found some person online explaining how to repair Windows Gaming Services (which notably hadn't been updated that recently) and that seems to have fixed it (Settings -> Apps -> Apps & Features -> Gaming Services -> Advanced Options -> Repair).

Between this and the teredo thing, Microsoft seem to very much struggle to do what every other company in the gaming world has managed to pull off quite successfully for the past decade or so.

[Rare White Ape]

Unrelated to FH5, but somewhat related to your updating issue:

I use the Game Pass app to manage my games, and if a game really wants to update, it will. You can queue it for later, and it’ll start updating. You can then hit pause, and it’ll pause, but then carry on updating. Pause again, it’ll start again.

The only way to stop it is by cancelling the update, which also uninstalls the game. Not ideal, especially when you’ve got limited bandwidth and you want to join an iRacing session.

[Blerpa]

^^^ And that's why I bought the game on Steam.

[Tom Servo]

And along those lines, there's an update. I'm trying to download it from the MS store. It's been sitting at "12kb of 15.43GB downloaded" for the past half hour.

Argh, why can they not get this shit right? I didn't get it on Steam mostly because I didn't trust the console cross play thing to work right, but I'm starting to regret that.

[GreatScawt]

The update made the Arcade events MUCH easier. I solo'd an Air Event in 4 minutes, and grabbed the achievement for completing all 5 different types.

Definitely have had issues with MS store, but those issues tend to resolve themselves within a few minutes. Not updating, however, is particularly annoying.

[Tom Servo]

Weirdly, I eventually cancelled it and now the game is running like I updated. I have no idea what the hell is going on.

The only change I noticed so far is that in Eliminator I cannot for the life of me find a car drop. I always get snagged within the first 30 seconds or so by someone with a 5+ car while I'm driving the stupid bug. Gave up after the fourth try.

[Tom Servo]

Trial this week is annoying. Also, I hadn't run into this in Eliminator until now, though I'd seen others complain. I could see like one other competitor. I had people snaking car drops that I couldn't see (even on the minimap as they would have been approaching), and the guy who challenged me and took me out was never visible to me. I just saw that I'd been challenged by a level 9 car and then eventually told that I lost the race, but the other car never was actually visible. I probably would have done more to avoid being challenged if I could have seen it coming.

I'm surprised at how many bugs they have around things that seem otherwise really unchanged from FH4. I get that it's a new graphics and sound engine and all that (and I stand corrected on the sound, I've heard some really great sounding cars now and was really impressed at the sound of some other players arriving to where I was waiting on the Tour mode), but some parts just seem like they should have been straight swaps and they don't work at all.

[GreatScawt]

I just completed the Trial a little bit ago. The second team I had came relatively prepared - all B700 cars.

We won the first race, and the 2nd we should have won... but the guy right in front of me missed the last checkpoint before the finish. :lol: Fucker.
The last race, the guy that missed the checkpoint just didn't drive (I think) and stayed in last. The rest of us were pretty much holding 2-5, with me in 5th doing my best to fend off the rambunctious drivatars in the back. The 4th place guy needed a little help and was all over the place.
Then 3rd place just... stops. And he joins the other AFK guy in the back. I had defend even harder to make sure we won :lol: That was not great!

re: Bugs
Yeah, I'm surprised the state of the game at the moment. I pretty much see one person on the map at any given time. Really disappointing. Convoys are still hit-or-miss.
I enjoy The Eliminator but haven't touched it in a while because of all the bugs I'm hearing about (and encountered). I already had a win lined up but lost to an invisible opponent last second. Not salty at all. :lol:
At the very least, the Arcades can be solo'd (or completed with other people, albeit they are invisible).

The Holiday map changes look neat and are very festive.

[Tom Servo]

The game occasionally pops up a prompt saying "Drive to Horizon Wonderland" or something like that. I have no idea what it's trying to tell me.

[Blerpa]

Graphics engine is the same as FH4, just refined and with a new light system.
Nothing else.
Sounds thankfully are new.

Horizon Wonderland is a place on the map... should be at the small city of Rosario or Mulege, in the south.

[GreatScawt]

Yep - there's an icon on the map in Mulege for it.
I think the message is tied to the new set of accolades called "Evolving World". There's a bunch of things for discovering decorated areas/landmarks and doing certain skills in certain cars.

[Tom Servo]

Happy to see that the latest update looks like it fixed a lot of what was broken in the eliminator. Still not my favorite game mode, but it's a lot more enjoyable when you can see the other players.

I'm actually wondering if it wasn't just that I couldn't see other players, but that I also couldn't see the car drops. I had like 3-4 rounds of it where I didn't see a single car drop, just drove around in my beetle until someone took me out. This last round, when I could see the other players, had drops *everywhere*.

[Blerpa]

I play the Eliminator only once per week only if I need the points and the money offered. I don't like it: I spend all the time desperately trying to avoid any challenges - mostly due to me running on a subpar car - and be inside the 30 or less survivors (challenge achieved) and get to the end and the final rush in hope to win once.
By the time I will ever win it I will stop playing it forever, like I did in FH4.

But that is just me... I despise everything that is not grid racing in the game, drift and drag included.
All the rest is Fortnite idiot kiddie stuff.

You do say it is not the game for me? Yes... but unfortunately PG/Turn 10/Microsoft do not do the exact same structure of the game in what would be a proper Forza Motorsport with open world and less kid casual gaming crap.

[Rare White Ape]

I think it's strange that I am an outlier here but I love Horizon for it's cross country events. What about you Blerp?

[Blerpa]

I think it's strange that I am an outlier here but I love Horizon for it's cross country events. What about you Blerp?

I love Cross Country! I was worried FH5 would focus too much on CC but it is the right amount and there are plenty of great sceneries, jumps and descents to enjoy.
As long as is proper racing I like it.
Street racing ain't bad either but the whole illegal crap about racing around civilian cars and so on is so juvenile and outdated... leave it to FnF or NFS shite and do a proper night racing/touge kind of events.

[Tom Servo]

Maybe you guys are just good at CC. I like CC, but there's a lot that feels left the chance (it's amazing how often you hit a jump and somehow one of your wheels launches completely differently than all the others), how often you land from a jump and the game glitches you into the ground for a split second immediately stopping all forward momentum, and how the drivatars seem like they're massively cheating. I basically have almost no problem beating them in any other mode, but in CC, especially when they're set to unbeatable for the trials, it's just not even worth bothering. This is beyond the known cheats, where AI drivers that are either out of view or far enough ahead don't get hits to their speed when they smash through unavoidable barriers.

I *want* to like it. It's almost the flagship style of the series, but the AI and the advantages it gets make it way less fun.

[Rare White Ape]

I've not seen any of the issues you mention here. The only thing close is rubber-banding AI, but that's normal for this type of racing game.

I wish this was available in VR, because doing cross countries in that would be mega!

[Tom Servo]

It is possible I just suck at it, but there's no way you haven't at least noticed that the cars behind you and the ones that are far enough ahead don't take any speed hit when barreling through fences or walls. There was one CC race in FH4 that ended with plowing through multiple little walls and it would absolutely erase whatever lead you'd built up because the game literally just didn't bother modeling them smashing through walls that were out of your sight.

At any rate, if the official forums or reddit are anything to believe, those are all pretty common complaints with CC racing, especially when it's The Trial and the AI is set on Unbeatable.

[Rare White Ape]

My PC Game Pass app has had a week where it was having trouble starting the update process for FH5. I finally managed to kick it off using the MS Store app, but then it errored out, leaving me with no choice but to cancel the update.

Cancelling any updates via PC Game Pass also forces you to delete the entire game.

Deleting games on the PC Game Pass app also leaves the game in your list and the data on your drive, but you can't play it until it downloads again.

And you can't manually delete it unless you do a hacky thing and take ownership of the folder in which the games are kept.

:|

I deleted some games two weeks ago and they're still there.

[Rare White Ape]

FH5's folder is called "Microsoft.624F8B84B80_3.414.967.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bb we"

I cannot open the folder because it cannot be accessed via the system. Nor can I delete it because literally nothing happens.

https://i.imgur.com/3CfSH8H.png

I also deleted FH4 and a game called Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator last week and they're still in the list, though no files are present on my drive.

This reminds me of 18 months ago when it took a month to get the Master Chief Collection off my hard drive.

[GreatScawt]

I had something similar happen with MCC recently when I tried to move the game to another drive.
Narrator: "That was a mistake."

I ended up completely borking the files. The game was technically stored on both drives, hogging 100+ gigs on each. But it also didn't really seem to exist as a game, either. Utterly useless.

If this sounds familiar to your situation, this is the best thing I found that helps:

1. Download and install 7-ZIP
2. Open 7-ZIP via start menu, "Run as administrator"
3. Navigate to the folder
4. Deleted'd'd'd that shit
5. Go to Xbox app and re-download

It's fucking ridiculous. But I hope that helps. When I first tried this, it told me the files were in use and couldn't delete. A quick restart and immediately trying again worked.

[Yobbo NZ]

It's even better when you add new SSD/HDDs and move cables around.
It still said the game with there in game pass, but it decided to re-download it when trying to start it.

Fixed that shit quick once I figured out why.

[Rare White Ape]

@Scawt that 7-zip trick looks too easy to be true :lol:

I’ll give it a whirl next time I’m at the desktop. Thanks :up:

[Blerpa]

Should I reiterate? That's why I bought the game on Steam. Good grief.

[Rare White Ape]

Well that’s the beauty of game pass. I pay AUD$15 a month to enjoy a whole bunch of games that I’d never have tried if they weren’t there at my fingertips. I honestly would not play FH5 if it wasn’t included in my subscription.

If Microsoft could fix their stupid delivery system then it’d be a no-brainer for so many players.

[Tom Servo]

This is the kind of thing I'm talking about with the cross country races

https://www.reddit.com/r/forza/comments/rr2mlq/you_can_not_tell_me_the_ai_doesnt_cht_after/

[GreatScawt]

I particularly didn't like cross country in FH4, and I only like it marginally better in FH5. It can be such a crap shoot sometimes in terms of landing a jump straight. And the AI always seemed *less affected*. But that... is just incredible.

[Tom Servo]

I don't think it's a deliberate "allow the AI drivers to cheat" thing, it's more an optimization to let the game run as well as it can - why bother doing complex physics calculations for cars that are otherwise out of view, just estimate and run with it. That happens in every mode, but the estimations are, and have been, massively off for CC races.

[GreatScawt]

Put a S1 900 Tune for the Hoonigan Escort for the Trial. It absolutely demolishes the first race, and is an easy 2nd place for the second race, depending on AI and teammates.

[Tom Servo]

I put together a pretty decent one for the Escort too. My problem definitely wasn't my ability to do well in the race, it was finding a team that didn't suck. Too many "me in first place, 2-7 drivatars, 8-12 my teammates" races. Finally got it this morning though.

Seems a little silly that the Peel Trident is part of the photo challenge that you need to get points to get....the Peel Trident.

[GreatScawt]

I ended up doing a blocking routine to ensure the AI stayed back on the second race. It was close.

[Blerpa]

I did the trial with a the Gymkhana 10 Focus, IIRC. Did pretty well against bonkers AI as usual.
Also... everytime the occasion arises I cheat, block, push out AI: they do not deserve any fairness or respect.

[Tom Servo]

New series has a new setup. The main conceit is country v. country. Points needed for the season and series rewards are way down, and a bunch of the events are off the table, like the "30th or better in Eliminator" and such. Kinda sad one of the casualties are the PR Stunts, as I've actually enjoyed them now that they mix up the requirements a bit. They're supposed to come back in the next series though.

One really annoying thing: Supposedly the racing series (including the Trial) are all C class from the available countries, which I believe are Japan, US, England, Italy, France, and Germany. They are not. You have to look at the list of eligible cars - I tuned up an MR2 for the trial only to find out that it wasn't an option and was only given two untuned cars in my garage to pick from and no "screw this, I'm out" button.

Weirdly, the list of cars for each of the series changes except apparently for the Lambo LM002, which seems to be available for all of them.

[GreatScawt]

Yeah I'm not really understanding the car selection. Italy kinda gets screwed with the Lambo LM002.

So far I have C class setups for the M3 (trial), 190E (road racing), and VW MK3 GTI (dirt). I haven't bothered with cross country yet.

[Tom Servo]

I had good luck with the Nissan Pulsar in the dirt (just stock, it can powerslide through the dirt really well), but your trial and road are the same as mine. With cross country I got a reasonably new Land Rover Defender (2020 I think?), slapped some offroad tires on it, then put the goofy Forza front and rear wing on it which dropped it back to like 597.

[GreatScawt]

Yeah I was going to grab a Defender, but it was already tuned to A class and I immediately lost interest in tuning it back down to C :lol:
I'll probably do that sometime before Thursday.

I requested to join the cool kids club btw :)

[Tom Servo]

It'll be just you and me, then! I'll take a look next time I fire it up.

[Kchrpm]

I want to join the cool kids club! Might give me an excuse to play...

[Tom Servo]

Invites sent! For some reason I thought the group was open to requests to join, I'll have to see if I can figure out where that setting is. That would explain why nobody's requested to join....

[Blerpa]

A bit confusing and badly explained new competition.
Also there's no much motivation to keep racing for your (favourite) country when there's not a slide or some graphic that shows how the various countries are doing.
At least the Xmas global achievement bar was something to look at for few seconds.

Also the cars eligible for Seasonals, Weekly, Trial and Playground Games DO change (more useless confusion!) from one type of mode to another.
We italians got mildly screwed: I mean, the LM002 is good for Cross Country (albeit slow to get up to speed) and decent for Dirt, but hopeless in Road and Street.
My mates did all of them with the LM002... I got fed up (and I do like the LM002) and jumped on a goddamn Mitsubishi Eclipse - during the Trial me on the Eclipse and an unknown on a Clio EDS were scoring first and second places while fending off few AI, meanwhile my friends, faithful to the LM002, were in the back, giving 110% to not get dead last. MEH.

Next Seasons do not look much better (they are going to be, seemingly, a bit of Country vs. Country duality challenge).
Idea could have been much cooler but so far it is structured in a way that kinda sucks.
And it is incredibily badly explained.

These are the eligible cars' list divided by game modes:

Weekly: A car of your favourite nation, once you choose it and run the first challenge you have to stuck to it - so choose wisely, and avoid to run a Peel!!! (Cross Country, Dirt, Road - I used my trustworthy Ferrari FXX S1 900 with offroad tires)

Trial: BMW M3 '91, Ford Mustang Boss 302 '69, Lamborghini LM002, Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX, Renault Clio RS 200 EDC '13, Vauxhall Corsa VXR '16

Seasonals: Lamborghini LM002, Renault Clio Williams '93, Jaguar E-Type, Mercedes 190E, Toyota 86 '13, Buick Regal GNX '87

Playground Games: Lamborghini LM002, Alpine A110 '73, Ford Escort RS Cos '92, Mini JC Works '09, Nissan Pulsar GTI-R '90, VW GTI VR6 MK3 '98

[Tom Servo]

You definitely don't have to stick to the same car for the weekly. You don't even need to stick to the same nation, I changed for each of the three races and completed it.

Also, I think that list for the seasonals is only for the road racing one. For instance, the cross country one I used a Land Rover Defender in, and I used a Nissan Pulsar in the dirt.

I do really like that they're trying to mix things up some. I thought the FH4 events got really stale, and god help me if I ever have to do that Halo showcase thing again. It is mind-boggling that there are still basic quality-of-life things they haven't fixed though, like being able to tell easily what you can or can't use for something, or MAKING THE CAR TYPE LIST IN THE FILTERING SYSTEM ALPHABETICAL!!!

Sorry, I have strong feelings about that one.

[Blerpa]

You definitely don't have to stick to the same car for the weekly. You don't even need to stick to the same nation, I changed for each of the three races and completed it.

It must be from the same nation you used for the first of the 3 challenges.
Otherwise... your second and third challenge won't register in favour of your chosen nation.
So, you did, but you wasted points for your nation of preference.


Also, I think that list for the seasonals is only for the road racing one. For instance, the cross country one I used a Land Rover Defender in, and I used a Nissan Pulsar in the dirt.

I religiously checked and copied the list of eligible cars for each single seasonal. Dunno. Not that it matters much now.


I do really like that they're trying to mix things up some. I thought the FH4 events got really stale, and god help me if I ever have to do that Halo showcase thing again. It is mind-boggling that there are still basic quality-of-life things they haven't fixed though, like being able to tell easily what you can or can't use for something, or MAKING THE CAR TYPE LIST IN THE FILTERING SYSTEM ALPHABETICAL!!!

Sorry, I have strong feelings about that one.

True that.
On the rest... I enjoy only like the 40% of the game.
Showcases? Nope.
PR Stunts? Nope.
Playground Games? Nope.
Stories? FH5 ones are even more embarassing and pathetic than FH4 ones.
Drift? Nope.
Street? Meh. 2022 and we are still on the rebel street racing crap like at the times of NfS? Juvenile and lame.
Treasure hunting? Nope.
Photographs? Sure, why not, but honestly, a bit of whatever.
Eliminator? Dear lord what a load of crap.
Emote? Nope.

I only care about racing. All the rest? It feels like Fortnite on cars. With special kids.
Oh, and that retarded Boneshaker car is ONCE again a cheat car in A800 and it is *not* banned in online racing... which it is in FH4.
And still you cannot create a track wherever you want, you have to start at the same start of an existing one.

There's no more team racing... best you get is Horizon Tour with a team of people vs. IA.
Open? It's always free for all racing.
Also they have cancelled Ranked and Unranked racing, so it's a giant mix of mediocre people and aliens alltogether, with no regards to anything, even superficially, close to ACC Safety Rating or iRating, ecc.
Open sucks arse, better do Tours with friends.

Only thing missing for a 100% fortnite-ization of this is a goddamn Hot Wheels DLC and/or a lurid LEGO DLC one.

Positive things? This game is making me consider a PS5 and Gran Turismo 7.
Last time I had a PS was the original fat PS2 and I've never wanted one after, for years.
Well done Playground Games.

[Rare White Ape]

GT7 will be available on PS4, if that helps make it cheaper for you to get into it.

[dodint]

But will the dandelions be fully optimized on PS4?

[Blerpa]

Proper high definition dandelions are required.

[GreatScawt]

I'm really going to need them to stop putting Arcades at popular spots. I'm just trying to solo them, but people drive through them during the first round, get thrown in as participants, then don't participate! It increases the requirements for each round and it makes it way more frustrating than it has to be.

[Tom Servo]

I have yet to complete an arcade event. I've tried a few times, but it just seems horribly broken.

[GreatScawt]

The arcades, if you can get in solo, are easier to complete.
That was after one of the bigger updates to the game. They used to be impossible for me.

[Tom Servo]

Thought this could be handy - list of eligible cars for each event this week.



Trial: France - 2018 Renault Megane R.S.

Trial: Germany - 1982 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.3

Trial: Italy - 1968 Ferrari 365 GTB/4

Trial: Japan - 1992 Honda NSX-R

Trial: UK - 2015 Jaguar XE-S

Trial: USA - 1995 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1

Street: France - 2008 Renault Megane R26.R

Street: Germany - 2005 BMW M3

Street: Italy - 1967 Lamborghini Miura P400

Street: Japan - 1993 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec

Street: UK - 2015 Jaguar XE-S

Street: USA - 2009 Ford Focus RS

Dirt: France - 2008 Renault Megane R26.R

Dirt: Germany - 1983 Audi Sport quattro

Dirt: Italy - 2017 Maserati Levante S

Dirt: Japan - 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX STi

Dirt: UK - 2012 MINI John Cooper Works GP

Dirt: USA - 1977 Ford #5 Escort RS1800 MkII

Cross Country: France - 2008 Renault Megane R26.R

Cross Country: Germany - 2019 Porsche Macan Turbo

Cross Country: Italy - 2017 Maserati Levante S

Cross Country: Japan - 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR

Cross Country: UK - 2018 Land Rover Range Rover Velar First Edition

Cross Country: USA - 2014 Ford Ranger T6 Rally Raid


I used the Vette for the Trial, and all I did was one of the weight reductions and a clutch upgrade to speed up shifts. Only won one of the three races, but still placed well overall, and it's got a good top end while being mostly forgiving in corners as long as you brake early enough. It'll forgive some sliding when putting the power down, but you can't get away with barreling into a corner and trailbraking your way out of it. Slow in, fast out is key with it, which can be incompatible with shitty teammates but it honestly has so much grunt that you often gap your teammates enough to make it work.

[Tom Servo]

This week's eligible cars.



The eligible cars this week:

Trial: France - 2007 Peugeot 207 Super 2000

Trial: Germany - 1985 Porsche #185 959 Prodrive Rally Raid

Trial: Italy - 2019 Lamborghini Urus

Trial: Japan - 2018 Honda Civic Type R

Trial: UK - 2016 Ariel Nomad

Trial: USA - 1994 Hoonigan Ford Escort RS Cosworth WRC "Cossie V2"(The game says the Jeep Trailcat, but you can't use it)

Road: France - 2007 Peugeot 207 Super 2000

Road: Germany - 2015 Audi TTS Coupe

Road: Italy - 2010 Maserati Gran Turismo S

Road: Japan - 2020 Toyota GR Supra

Road: UK - 2013 Caterham Superlight R500

Road: USA - 2018 Ford Mustang GT

Street: France - 2007 Peugeot 207 Super 2000

Street: Germany - 2016 BMW M2 Coupe

Street: Italy - 1997 Lamborghini Diablo SV

Street: Japan - 2020 Toyota GR Supra

Street: UK - 2012 Lotus Exige S

Street: USA - 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat

Cross Country: France - 2007 Peugeot 207 Super 2000

Cross Country: Germany - 2018 Porsche Cayenne Turbo

Cross Country: Italy - 2019 Lamborghini Urus

Cross Country: Japan - 2018 Honda Civic Type R

Cross Country: UK - 2016 Bentley Bentayga

Cross Country: USA - 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk

[Tom Servo]

Cars this week. I used the Vantage for the trial - I'm not sure I'd recommend it, but we did win on the first try once half the team quit after race 1.



Trial / Road: France - 1992 Bugatti EB110 Super Sport

Trial / Road: Germany - 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS

Trial / Road: Italy - 2019 Ferrari 488 Pista

Trial / Road: Japan - 1998 Nissan R390 (GT1)

Trial / Road: UK - 2019 Aston Martin Vantage

Trial / Road: USA - 2017 Ford GT

PGG: France - 2007 Peugeot 207 Super 2000

PGG: Germany - 1985 Porsche #185 959 Prodrive Rally Raid

PGG: Italy - 2019 Lamborghini Urus

PGG: Japan - 2018 Honda Civic Type R

PGG: UK - 2016 Ariel Nomad

PGG: USA - 1994 Hoonigan Ford Escort RS Cosworth WRC "Cossie V2"(The game says the Jeep Trailcat, but you can't use it)

Street: France - 1992 Bugatti EB110 Super Sport

Street: Germany - 2016 Audi R8 V10 plus

Street: Italy - 2014 Lamborghini Huracán LP 610-4

Street: Japan - 2017 Nissan GT-R (R35)

Street: UK - 2015 McLaren 570S Coupe

Street: USA - 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR

[GreatScawt]

I use the Pista and did OK. Team pulled together on races 2 and 3 to clinch it. I think I have the tune uploaded.

I've been enjoying this series in general because I feel like I have a lot of cars that are already appropriately modded for the races. Not a lot of tooling around the garage required to be competitive.

[Tom Servo]

Looks like we got some reasonably pricey cars as a reward for the last season, so that's kinda nice.

On the downside, more regressions. It took restarting the game four times to have it pick up that I was owning and driving the #777 Formula Drift Corvette for the FP challenge. I do not appear to be alone in this.

They must use the same testing procedures as the FS2020 guys, it is honestly impressive how much shit each new release breaks.

[Tom Servo]

Oh, also, it sucks that the nerfed the wheelspins. I kept thinking it was so nice to not have those $2k and $5k things because it made them just seem kinda worthless, but now we're back to that.

[GreatScawt]

Yeah. I tried to buy the Deberti truck and put a user-made blackout design on it... crash. Thought they fixed that!

[Blerpa]

Yeah. I tried to buy the Deberti truck and put a user-made blackout design on it... crash. Thought they fixed that!

That's going to be fixed in the next big update... they said.
To fix it: just deactivate any RTX from the menu, for the time being.

[Blerpa]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMhRz0xThUQ


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m2h4fUMnvg

So, to insert an idiotic 4 gear gearbox for drifting (which is not racing, but I digress)... they fucked up the whole game.
I'm truly starting to have remorses about spending 100 euro on this clusterfuck.

[Rare White Ape]

MS Game Pass

<--- No remorse, no repent
We don't care what it meant
Another day, another death
Another sorrow, another breath

*bangs head*

[Cam]

I used to buy cars that were on the low end of a class and add enough mods (usually heavier parts) that would lower the rating of a car enough to get it into the next lower class. While I was successful in doing this with many cars, they were not all that competitive. :lol:

[GreatScawt]

Got the last of the achievements with an Eliminator win a couple nights ago.

The last 1-on-1 challenge ended up going FAR out of bounds. I tried to complete it but had to turn around and get back within the zone. That felt kinda busted. I don't think the guy I was racing even bothered.

Either way, the race "ended" because neither of us hit the finish line. But it still showed the graphic on the screen for position, as if we were still racing. Then, during the final race, even though I was in first the entire time, it kept saying position 6/2 or 7/2 :lol: Game had no idea what to do.

I really thought it was going to glitch out and not let me finish the final race. Thankfully that wasn't the case!

[Tom Servo]

Sometimes the glitches are beneficial. I think in last season's trial, our team lost to the AI two races in a row, and then it suddenly splashed up that we'd won the trial. That was a nice surprise after being dragged down by my idiot teammates.

[GreatScawt]

Yes! I think I had that happen once. I was so thankful. :lol:

[Tom Servo]

This week and last saw the Trial doing stock cars, no upgrades allowed. Last week the AMG Hammer, this week the BMW M2. I've seen lots of moaning that apparently it's too hard, but it's actually been a lot of fun. Just even a bare minimum of throttle control makes you faster than pretty much anyone else out there, including the AI.

[Tom Servo]

Hilariously, it turns out that FH5 doesn't actually enforce stock cars, they just enforce the stock PI for the car. So, you can do a few things to lower the PI (like add downforce) and then tack on some upgrades.

I haven't tried it yet because I'm honestly enjoying racing the stock cars, but I'm always sorta floored by how it seems like they just can't get these things right.

Also, it looks like they accidentally leaked the first DLC, and it'll be another Hot Wheels one.

[GreatScawt]

Haha, I noticed someone rocking a wing last week. I figured that may have been the case.
My buddy and I realized you can tune the gearing on the Porsche, so we bumped up the finale drive a bit because the 135 mph top speed seemed low. I don't think it helped due to the short tracks, but it's something that could be potentially useful in any future stock races.

[GreatScawt]

And I heard about the Hot Wheels DLC redux.

I hope they have a good list of lessons learned from the first go around. There were some frustrating aspects to the concept in FH3 that I hope they iron out.
I would have preferred a Tokyo/Japanese highway island expansion, but I'll be happy with this if they execute it well.

[Blerpa]

This game is getting boring as shit and a fortnite minigames fest, always pushing further away from proper racing.
Hot Wheels DLC is official.
And I wish I didn't spend 100 euro on this game at all.
I'm the only one left of a dozen and more friends playing it, everyone left this turd. MEH.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7YkS3lctqE

[Rare White Ape]

That’s why game pass is good. Yeah it’s a subscription, but no remorse if you don’t like a game. Just del-YEET it Cam style and move on.

[M4FFU]

New season (for UK last night) and they are drip feeding some of the HW cars as seasonal wins. 4 weeks time is a toon muscle car looking thing, and an easy 20 points got me a weird rocket looking thing with not much effort.

I still find myself playing this on occasion, but it feels so void of progression compared to previous title. Hoping the new HW DLC adds some much needed funk to it.

[Tom Servo]

It does. On the other hand, I'm liking that we're getting to the point where I don't have to do *everything* on the docket to get the new cars. Honestly, the seasonal championships are nothing more than a time suck at this point, it's yet another boring race against the AI.

My big worry is that the Hot Wheels cars in FH3 just became this set of improperly balanced cars that fucked up online racing so much that the Boneshaker had to be banned from online in FH4. Then, for some reason, they unbanned it for FH5 and it's still just as shitty as it was before. I hope this doesn't introduce a bunch more overpowered cars.

Did like that my C500 Trans Am, where all I did was give it engine upgrades, just set a new PB for me in a drift event. That thing is hilariously fun to drift.

[M4FFU]

The online racing has never really bothered me in FH5, so imbalance isn't so much a concern for me personally - I guess I'd never really take the online aspect of a Horizon game that seriously.

I actually got 40 points yesterday to unlocked the Aventador J. I think it's the first time I've ever got to 40, so self-appreciated the grind. :D Saw some people cruising around the HW car you get in 3 weeks time, so I've no idea how they've done that.

[Blerpa]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1DLglMgKrg

[Tom Servo]

The online racing has never really bothered me in FH5, so imbalance isn't so much a concern for me personally - I guess I'd never really take the online aspect of a Horizon game that seriously.

I don't do a ton of online racing on it, but probably my favorite combo is A class road. The cars are fast without being too crazy, and you can be pretty successful just by knowing how brakes work. It then got super boring because the Boneshaker was so much faster than every other car in its class that it basically became like multiclass racing - Boneshakers were the LMPs, and you were in a GT.

I like to mix things up, and when it basically becomes "you have to use this car and only this car if you want to be competitive", it just gets kinda boring. Playground knew this and eventually banned that car from online racing in FH4, then made zero adjustments to it and let it run in FH5 and, to the surprise of no-one, the exact same problem is happening.

[M4FFU]

Fair. I've recently taken to Rivals. I've got a FF B700 DC2 I've built which is low power, high grip. Most seem to opt for AWD and power, so it's interesting doing laps seeing me go ahead around corners and be caught up in the straights by less agile cars.

I do still dream about some sort of downtown Toyko Expressway DLC, with a mix of touge mountains. Exactly what FH5 needs.

[GreatScawt]

Hot Wheels DLC out today and it's been pretty enjoyable. FH3 didn't have public, ghosted lobbies so it felt really empty. Having actual people flying around the world is just the best. And love the new track type gimmicks. And some of those drops. :eek:

[Tom Servo]

Finally got some time to do this week's stuff. I did the couple of events that got me new cars or wheelspins, got the couple of Extreme E cars, then went to try the Hot Wheels DLC. Started in on the "exhibition" to open it and it froze up and crashed.

I get the distinct impression based on what I'm seeing on Reddit that I am not the only one this is happening to. I might give it a couple of weeks before I try again.

[Blerpa]

After update it froze and crashed three times in a row.
Then I was able to play.
I've yet to finish all the season stuff, and I've just moved out of B Rank in Hot Wheels DLC.
Hot Wheels physics (they are slightly different than base game, it seems) and visual changes feels terrible to me.
I did reset all the viewing angles same as the base game.
Trick indicator makes this feel like a retarded mix of Trackmania and Hot Wheels game.
I've no faith anymore in the game at all.
And oh... green plasticky dragon in the Volcano area of HW DLC.
That to me screams of Lego DLC coming right after.
I truly wasted 100 euros on a glary and boring Fortnite on wheels.
Disgusting.

[GreatScawt]

Yup, I had it crash two or three times before working just fine. Very strange.

[Blerpa]

New Rally Expansion is out.
Too little too late.
Just the same game but with a rally facade on it.
It is meh, although not such a heap of manure as the Hot Wheels one.

Played the expansion for about 28 hours so far. I've counted, not shitting you people, 15 times the game froze (and I had to ALT+F4 it) or crashed to desktop.
Sheer and plain incompetence by Turn 10 and Playground Games.
Won't commit ever anymore to an Horizon title.

[Tom Servo]

I still haven't fired it up, been too engrossed in Persona 5. That said, I couldn't figure out what it was about the rally thing that was a real addition to the series. Hot Wheels isn't great, but at least it kinda fits the theme - fast cars driving crazy.

[Blerpa]

I finished the whole expansion minus few things like boxes to smash or going from point A to point B in x minutes or less.
Got to 21 freezes or crashes to desktop.
The facepalm is strong with this one.

[Tom Servo]

Well, so far for me, no crashes or anything. Ran pretty well, though it did seen to start chugging on framerate before I quit.

I do like doing the rally stages with no braking lines or anything. It does often suffer from the "video game rally navigator syndrome," where they like to tell you things too late. You've got a jump coming, you hit it and are midair and then hear "into hard right" and if only they'd mentioned that *before* you were in the air, you could have done something to try to position the car.

(I normally keep the "optimal line" thing on in Forza Horizon because I cannot for the life of me bother to remember the tracks, especially the off-road ones, and just need to know which way to go).

I actually really like the new area too - the roads feel more interesting. A little narrower, more elevation change. I like it. I don't love it, but I like it more than I expected.

[Blerpa]

Let's put it it this way: it is a proper expansion with proper cars and roads, not a kiddie game like Hot Wheels.
I concur with the nice map with few touches here and there and decent elevation.
But as I said too little too late.
It seems like an afterthought product that luckily turned out decent.

I still think Fortune Island from Forza Horizon 4 was the best expansion ever, FH related.

[Tom Servo]

Oh yeah, I liked Fortune Island a lot. One of the things that sucks though is that they generally don't do the daily/weekly things for expansions, presumably because the base of fans that only have the main game would revolt if some sort of content/prize car was locked behind DLC (outside of what comes with the DLC, obviously, but if they had offered up the 812 Superfast in FH4 as something you could get via a DLC challenge, I have a feeling there would have been riots). All that means is that these add-ons come out and then they are just sorta left to die. I really liked Fortune Island, but after getting through the main storyline of it, which did not take long, there just wasn't a lot of reason to go back.

I will say, I would absolutely kill to be able to turn off all the character dialog, it's driving me bonkers with this DLC. They just will not shut up and all of the dialog makes me cringe.

Also, while it's great Epitaph is back, there are what, 10 songs in constant rotation? Within about half an hour I just got tired of that same Offspring song. Also, it's not very punk rock to bleep out "suicide" from the song.

[Blerpa]

They do a PR Stunts and a single 3 race championship every season for the DLCs. This week for example there are 2 events for the HW DLC and other 2 for the new Rally Adventure.
But yeah they suck and everytime they are left to die.
DLCs are truly a waste of money in this franchise, admittedly.

Dialogue was bad in FH3 and 4, in 5 really takes higher levels of embarassment and annoyance, I totally agree.
I don't listen to the game radio when I play, so I cannot comment on that.

[Tom Servo]

I generally have the radio turned off, but of course jumping into the new DLC helpfully turned it back on for me. It started out with a Bad Religion song so I figured I'd give it a chance.

It's back off now.

[Rare White Ape]

Turn radio on

Tune it to Hospital Records

Leave it there

[Tom Servo]

I would have said something snarky, but I just found out the alternative to having the radio on in the game -- hearing that same looping 1.5 second long helicopter-noise sample for eternity while racing.

It's almost like they have a think tank of ways to be annoying. Like that, the "recommended car" thing, and just this series of other choices that seem like extra work on their end just to make the experience worse.

It's too bad the physics model is so entertaining, otherwise I would have ditched this long ago.

[Blerpa]

Oh, I wholehearteadly agree.
Physics model? Fun (I'd love a race focused Forza with these physics... no, not FM). Graphics? Great.
All the rest seems all out to annoy you to hell or to render thing uselessly convoluted.

[SkylineObsession]

Glad i didn't buy this for full price then, like i did for FH3 and possibly FH4. I might just wait till it goes stupid cheap and get it then. Starting to get a bit over the way the races etc are done in these games. I find them all a chose and try get them out of the way as soon as i can so i can get to the more interesting stuff like collecting things. Or just driving around.

[Tom Servo]

Don't get me wrong, it's still a fun game, and I've definitely gotten my money's worth out of it. But much like FH4, some of the design decisions, especially around the UI, are just baffling. And, despite those choices being roundly derided by the community, they just insist on sticking to those choices. They're not even ones that encourage you to spend real money or anything to get around them, they're just odd, annoying things that feel like they could be much easier dealt with.

Like, for example, I'd love a "delete all duplicate cars from my garage" feature. Or gift them in bulk.

[Blerpa]

https://www.racedepartment.com/news/forza-horizon-5-high-performance-arriving-27-april.1026/

A mini oval track and three kinda race cars.
LOL. This game is quickly going down the drain with their "for 12 year old shitheads" attitude.

[Rare White Ape]

I thought the game started there and built upwards.

Except that 12 year old shit heads are actual legends because they like drum’n’bass.

I’d never have waltzed into Forza Horizon expecting anything more.