Racing games have always been at the forefront of showcasing graphical fidelity. Most major video game consoles released in the past have been accompanied by a marquee racing game that pushes the new hardware to its limits and shows off what the new generation is about. For Xbox, this was Project Gotham Racing back in the day with Forza Motorsport taking the mantle with the Xbox One generation. With the release of Xbox Series X|S though, we hadn’t yet gotten that true next-gen racing experience but that changes now with the release of Forza Horizon 5.
If Project Gotham Racing was the crown jewel of arcade racers on Xbox, and Forza Motorsport was the new big dog in sim racing, Forza Horizon is the perfect blend between the two. Combining the realism and physics of Forza Motorsport and the customization and arcade racing of PGR, Forza Horizon turned into an instant hit with its first release. And, with each new iteration, Playground Games has surpassed the bar previously set by themselves.
While the critical success of the games is obviously impressive, one might argue that the UK setting for Forza Horizon 4 was not the best. However, that’s just because there isn’t much variety and biomes in the region and not necessarily the game’s fault. Playground Games did turn it up a notch with the 5th entry though as it is set in one of the most diverse and environmentally rich countries on the planet, Mexico.
Forza Horizon 5 does not reinvent the wheel but what it does is nail every single aspect of what makes an open-world racing game good. The car roster is vast, the map is massive, and the gameplay is impeccable. Even the sound design has been overhauled to be more realistic. With that said, probably the best thing about Forza Horizon 5 is its visual fidelity. The game is, frankly speaking, jaw-droppingly gorgeous.
Forza Horizon 5 looks good on all platforms
Playground Games was already good at making vast beautiful open worlds with highly detailed cars but this is on another level. The next-gen Xbox consoles have allowed Playground to really push their limits but one might argue that despite being the best-looking game out right now, this isn’t even the peak. Since Forza Horizon 5 also has to run on old Xbox One hardware, there are still some things that are holding it back. However, Playground Games has done a really good job of making the game look good even on a base Xbox One.
With that said, everything from the cars to the lighting and environments is highly detailed. For instance, even if you zoom into elements of the game, they still look crisp and have a character to them. Even the roads have cracks and irregularities that are just mind-blowingly impressive. And, when it comes to cars, no one does it better than Forza. With a roaster of over 400 vehicles, one might think that the cars would be moderately detailed.
However, since a lot of the car models come from previous games and Playground also benefits from directly importing highly detailed car models from Turn 10’s Forza Motorsport series, this results in a massive roaster with every car looking photorealistic. And, these visuals are then further elevated by the presence of real-time raytracing in ForzaVista, a mode that lets you view and inspect a car.
Potential Game of the Year contender
Overall, Forza Horizon 5 may not be a big jump from previous entries in terms of its tone and ambition but the execution of that target is almost perfect this time around. In addition to that, the upgraded visuals and the diversity of the map make this game an absolute delight to look at and play. It is truly a visual feast and even if you are not a fan of racing games, this is a must-play title just due to its sheer brilliance. Additionally, the fact that this game is launching on Xbox Game Pass drops the barrier to entry for new users.
Forza Horizon 5 has also received critical acclaim, even more so than the previous entries. In fact, it is currently the highest-rated game of the year and is in serious contention for the Game of the Year award at the end of the year. Furthermore, the game has already had over 1,000,000 players during the early access release window and the number is definitely going to be much higher during the actual release.
Forza Horizon 5 Performance Issues
Despite its greatness though, the launch of Forza Horizon 5 has not quite been as smooth as the previous entries. Players on both PC and Xbox have been suffering from a wide range of technical difficulties related to server disconnection and matchmaking. In addition to that, a lot of Forza Horizon 5 players on PC have also been on the receiving end of many performance-related issues including low FPS, stutters, freezes, and crashes.
For the most part, though, the game seems to be pretty well optimized, especially if you have a powerful PC. The story is a bit different when you move to those with budget builds as the game is incredibly demanding and doesn’t particularly run very well. Hopefully, though, Playground Games has a big day 1 patch lined up for better optimization.
There are still some things that you can do to boost the performance of Forza Horizon 5 though that can fix issues like Low FPS, stutters, and freezes. Before that though, you need to make sure that your PC meets the minimum system requirements to run the game.
Forza Horizon 5 System Requirements
Forza Horizon 5 is a game that can run on the original Xbox One. Keeping that in mind, the system requirements should be fairly lenient and the game should be able to run on an old budget gaming PC. However, due to the astonishingly good graphics, you’d still be better off having a relatively more powerful machine for a good experience as the performance to visual trade-off can actually tarnish the gameplay.
For an optimal experience, though that could rival an Xbox Series X in terms of both performance and visual fidelity, you’d definitely want the latest generation of AMD RX 6000 or NVIDIA RTX 3000 series graphics cards. Here are the official system requirements for Forza Horizon 5.
Forza Horizon 5 Minimum PC requirements
- Operating System: Windows 10 version 1909 or higher
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 3 1200 / Intel Core i5-4460
- RAM: 8 GB
- Graphics Card: AMD Radeon RX 570 / Nvidia GeForce GTX 970
- Storage: 110GB available (HDD or SDD)
Forza Horizon 5 Recommended PC requirements
- Operating System: Windows 10 version 1909 or higher
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 1500X / Intel Core i5-8400
- RAM: 16 GB
- Graphics Card: AMD Radeon RX 590 / Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070
- Storage: 110GB available (HDD or SDD)
Forza Horizon 5 Ideal PC requirements
- Operating System: Windows 10 version 1909 or higher
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT / Intel Core i7-10700K
- RAM: 16 GB
- Graphics Card: AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT / Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080
- Storage: 110GB available (SDD)
1. Install up-to-date graphics card drivers for Forza Horizon 5:
Graphics cards need to be constantly updated in order to make sure they’re performing well with all the changes in the operating systems and new hardware. This helps with both compatibility and optimizing the performance in games. In addition to that, they also get specialized driver updates from the manufacturer whenever a significant new game is released. These drivers are called Game Ready drivers and optimize the GPU performance for that specific game.
And, since Forza Horizon 5 is a new and significant game, it also requires those graphics card drivers to get the best performance in the game. If you have the update utility installed for your NVIDIA or AMD Graphics Card, these updates will most likely download automatically. In case you have turned the automatic updates off though or don’t have the update utility, you can also manually download these drivers by heading over to the link given below:
AMD Graphics Card Drivers
NVIDIA Graphics Card Drivers
2. Enforce Dedicated GPU Usage in Control Panel:
Forza Horizon 5 is a fairly demanding game that absolutely needs a decent GPU to run smoothly even at lower settings and resolutions. If you are planning to run this game on an integrated graphics chipset, you might be able to squeeze out some playable performance from the latest Intel processors at the lowest presets. However, anything more than that would be wishful thinking. A lot of people play games on gaming laptops though that have dedicated GPUs, which would be the preferred choice for any game. Usually, laptops go back and forth between the dedicated GPU and the integrated chipset depending on the workload. For tasks that don’t require much power, the laptop uses the more efficient integrated GPU to save some battery life. Likewise, when a game is fired up, the big boy GPU kicks into gear.
While this process goes smoothly for the majority of the time, sometimes your PC fails to register the game as a demanding application and thus tries to run it via the integrated GPU. This results in some really terrible performance that can deceive players and puzzle them as they try to find the actual cause. Thankfully, fixing this is very easy and all you have to do is force your PC to use the dedicated graphics card for Forza Horizon 5 by heading into the GPU Control Panel. Here’s how you can do it:
NVIDIA GPU users:
If you are an NVIDIA GPU user, follow these steps:
- Open the NVIDIA Control Panel by right-clicking an empty space on the desktop. If you are on Windows 11, you’ll have to press the show more options button to get the control panel.
- Open the Manage 3D Options menu on the left tab and head into Program Settings. If you wish to apply this setting to all other applications, select the Global settings option instead.
- In the Program Settings list, look for Forza Horizon 5. If you cannot find the game in the list, you can hit browse and look for the executable manually.
- Once added, look for the Preferred Graphics Processor option and change it to High-Performance NVIDIA Processor.
AMD GPU users:
If you are an AMD GPU user, follow these steps:
- Head into AMD Control Panel by right-clicking an empty space on the desktop. If you have Windows 11, you’ll have to click the show more options button.
- Under the Powerplay options, change the battery and plugged in modes to Max Performance.
- Head into 3D settings and change the Performance mode to Optimal.
- Go to Switchable Graphics and select Forza Horizon 5. Under that, change it to High-Performance.
Forza Horizon is out now on PC, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and Xbox One X. It is also available via Xbox Game Pass. You can check it out right here.