Forza Horizon 5 Should Come to PlayStation

Simply put, there's nothing on the PlayStation 5 that quite matches the experience of Forza Horizon 5. While games like The Crew Motorfest come close, adopting a festival approach similar to Forza Horizon, it's not quite the same. The Crew Motorfest tries to capture the essence of Forza Horizon with its own spin on the festival theme, making it the closest contender in this arena.

On the other hand, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown falls short. While the original Test Drive Unlimited set the stage for open-world racing, Solar Crown's always-online requirement with no dedicated solo mode doesn't align with Forza Horizon's flexibility, which has offered seamless transitions between offline and online play since Forza Horizon 2.

Need for Speed Unbound, while boasting an impressive customization suite, focuses heavily on high-speed pursuits, making it more of an arcade racer than a direct competitor to Forza Horizon's open-world exploration.

No, the undisputed champion of modern open-world racing is Forza Horizon 5, now available on PlayStation 5 for the first time. Its expansive and stunning Mexico map, drift-friendly vehicle dynamics, and an enormous garage of over 900 cars, including cult favorites not found in other racing games, offer an unparalleled experience. PlayStation users are diving into this rich world, many experiencing it for the first time.

The community's reaction has been exhilarating to observe.

This influx of new players is something the team at Playground Games has eagerly anticipated.

"Yeah, I'm super excited," says Playground Games art director Don Arceta. "These are brand new people; for many, this will probably be their first Forza Horizon game. It's thrilling to think about that and reminisce about our own first experiences with Horizon."

Arceta is particularly eager to see the creations that PlayStation 5 players will make using Forza Horizon 5's robust Event Lab customization tools.

"We have over 800 props now in the Event Lab, and the creativity of the community is just mind-blowing," he continues. "I'm really excited to see what the PlayStation 5 users will build with their creativity."

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

The port to PlayStation 5 has been as technically flawless as its Xbox and PC versions, which is impressive given the game's size and the fact that its engine had never been used on PlayStation before.

"As you can imagine, given the series' foundation in the Xbox environment, there was a lot of code and engineering tailored for that," says Arceta. "Bringing it to the PS5 was a significant undertaking. It was a huge task."

"The PlayStation 5 version was developed by Panic Button, in collaboration with Turn 10 and ourselves, but Panic Button did an amazing job. You get that amazing, quality experience you find on Xbox and PC – now on PlayStation, thanks to the incredible work by Panic Button."

As a car enthusiast, I've always viewed the Forza series as the ultimate playground for Hot Wheels enthusiasts. No other racing series offers such a diverse collection of cars, from the weird and wonderful to those you didn't even know you wanted. The idea of a new group of players discovering their favorite cars in Forza Horizon 5, cars that other games haven't showcased, is incredibly exciting.

For Playground Games lead game designer David Orton, it's the sheer breadth of Forza Horizon 5 that he believes will impress new players.

"The breadth of Horizon is quite staggering," says Orton. "Players dive in and find what they really enjoy, but because there's so much freedom, that can be anything they want. We pride ourselves on giving players the agency and freedom to do whatever they want, and the game will respond to that. I'm really looking forward to players discovering the vastness of the content. Whether you're into road racing, Rivals and track racing, taking incredible photos, or creating content with Event Lab, Horizon welcomes everyone. It's more than just a racing game, and that realization is what excites me."

"For me, a victory would be hearing players say, 'I can't believe I've never played this game before,'" says Arceta. "That surprise is a victory because once they're surprised, they're engaged – and eager to learn more. That delight and those stories from players are what I'm looking forward to."

Orton agrees.

"Yeah, that's it," he adds. "Players who've never tried Horizon before, whether it was due to different platforms or time constraints, will jump into this world and find it's a warm, welcoming place full of fun. When they realize, 'Oh my goodness, how have I never played this game before? This is incredible,' that's a win for us. We're targeting a cohort of players who may have never played a Forza title before. There's an unknown factor in how they'll react, but looking at our history, we're constantly refining our craft. We're excited to bring this to PlayStation and introduce a whole load of new players. That's really exciting."

If there's any hobby more tribal than car culture, it's the loyalty to one's chosen video game console. For racing game fans, however, one significant barrier has been removed.

Let's hope it's not the last.