Forza Horizon 5 shows off Mexico’s living world on Xbox Series X/S

Next-generation hardware has pushed Forza Horizon’s already impressive visuals and its detailed-yet-approachable driving model even further. The fresh gameplay shown during the Xbox Gamescom Stream made that point effortlessly. Across Forza Horizon 5, Mexico’s varied biomes are filled with verdant vegetation, sunbaked plains, glittering coastlines, and everything from quiet villages to busy cities. As ever, the route you take-and the friends you invite along-is entirely your choice. The difference this time is that the world you’re exploring feels more vibrant and reactive than it has before.

Forza Horizon 5’s Mexico looks and feels more alive

A Forza title lives on spectacle, and Horizon 5 wastes no time delivering it. The opening moments feature a 2021 Ford Bronco Badlands (my dream car, by the way!) dropping from the sky, then deploying a parachute before touching down on the rugged sides of an active volcano. As the off-road SUV threads its way past crumbling rock faces and jagged gravel, storm clouds can be seen swallowing the horizon in every direction; after all, the Gran Caldera is the highest drivable location in Playground Games’ open-world racing series.

Volcano to desert: the Bronco’s Gran Caldera plunge

From there, the Bronco starts a perilous run down towards the Baja Desert, skirting fissures that glow with steaming lava as light rain taps across the vehicle’s wide windscreen. And despite the obvious heat, the conditions aren’t what you might expect. Creative director Mike Brown explains that the scene takes place during Mexico’s winter, and right on cue the molten terrain transitions into deep snow and sleet.

Activities, seasons, and cultural authenticity

Forza Horizon 5 also functions as a pivotal entry-connecting the two games that came before while signalling a striking new direction that reflects the studio’s growing ambitions. It’s also the first instalment built specifically to take full advantage of Xbox Series X/S.

The trailer moves rapidly through distinct locations and moods. At one point, a 2020 Corvette Stingray slices through Mexican farmland while a looming dust storm threatens to wash the view in a rusty orange hue. Moments later, the Porsche 911 Desert Flyer charges through thick jungle on the way to an ancient temple. Then a Mercedes AMG One glides along the paved roads of small towns, with palm trees swaying in the wind. There’s plenty to take in, but even more waiting to be tackled.

While the Horizon games aren’t especially defined by their campaigns, 5 raises the stakes with hundreds of challenges and extra activities-including the multiplayer-driven Horizon Arcade and the EventLab, which offers robust tools for building and sharing custom races, challenges, stunts, and more. One of the more intriguing additions is a system that lets players decide the outcomes of certain story missions, though exactly how it will work-and how it might shape the wider world-still isn’t clear.

For Forza fans, there should be no shortage of things to do, and with weekly seasons returning, Mexico’s appearance and atmosphere will change often. That still leaves a key question: how well does the game reflect the customs that make the country distinct? Asked previously how Playground Games steered clear of cultural clichés and typecasting during an earlier presentation of this same Gamescom trailer, Mike Brown ended the preview by pointing to extensive on-the-ground research and close collaboration with Mexican people-from well-known musicians to local tour guides:

“This is something that we’ve absolutely taken very seriously. We’ve had teams in Mexico – at least, where COVID allowed us, and we were really lucky to make a lot of contacts during those trips. Even if members of our team weren’t able to travel back there, we had people on the ground who were photographers and tour guides that we could contact and say, ‘hey, we’d really like to get more reference on a given thing’ and then they could grab the photographs or videos or whatever it was that we needed. We had an audio team out there quite recently, capturing ambient audio so that each biome has its own suite to recreate the feel of being in those places. And we’ve worked with Mexican scriptwriters and cultural consultants to ensure that we’re not playing off any stereotypes. We want this to be a game that feels like it’s been made with care and love, something truly authentic.”

Forza Horizon 5 launches on 9 November for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC.