It’s not often we get such a huge game announcement only to be told that we’ll be playing it within five months, but that’s exactly what happened with Forza Horizon 5. We were treated to some gorgeous footage of the game’s new locale, Mexico, and we even got to peep a Forza Horizon 5 release date. Some games, like Halo Infinite, opted not to give us those goods. The latest Forza did not disappoint.
Special thank you to FH5 for being one of my correct predictions. Curse you, Halo. With that, here’s what we know about the latest racer from Playground Games.
The Forza Horizon 5 release date is Nov. 9, 2021
Not very long to wait for this one at all, eh? Forza Horizon 5 became official during the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, and as it happens, it’ll also release this coming November. That is roughly a five month stretch from reveal to release. That is pretty darn spiffy if you’re a gamer who wants to play a thing as soon as they see it (which is probably most of us).
Like most games from Xbox Game Studios, this one will be entering into Xbox Game Pass at launch. If I had to guess, I’m willing to bet all of the DLC for the game will still be closed off to most people, even if those particular people are subscribed to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. That’s been the deal the past few years. Unless Microsoft has suddenly had a change of heart, I don’t see it diverting from that path.
Forza Horizon is heading to Mexico
I can’t even begin to tell you how enormously pumped I am that Forza Horizon 5 is based in Mexico this time around. As a person who’s spent quite a bit of time there these past few years (in fact, I was in Mexico City when the COVID-19 outbreak started), I’m incredibly eager to hop in the driver’s seat of a ridiculously tricked out car and trek across the country. Or parts of it, anyway.
It’s not exactly clear at the moment how much of Mexico Forza Horizon 5 will attempt to cover. A more in-depth gameplay video took a drive through the city of Guanajuato, which is located right in the center of Mexico. However, other footage reveals there are some sea-side towns and jungles mixed in. So it seems FH5 will try to squeeze in as much of the country as it can while obviously not including every square mile of it. But we don’t have a sense for what will and won’t be included.
There are some places I’d love to see, of course. I don’t think FH5 could get away without including at least some of Mexico City. I’d love to see places like Guadalajara and Oaxaca in the mix, along with sea-side locations like Puerto Vallarta, Puerto Escondido, and Cancun/Playa del Carmen. Cabo might be tough, seeing as getting over to Baja California from the larger main chunk of Mexico would be challenging. But if there’s anything the Forza series does well, it is wow us with some crazy stuff. Maybe there’ll just be a bunch of barges you race over that eventually get you to that peninsula.
At any rate, we won’t have very long to find out just how much of Mexico is crammed into the game. We have a Forza Horizon 5 release date, which is once again Nov. 9, 2021. We know it’s coming to Xbox Game Pass on day one. All that’s left to do now is wait patiently — or as patiently as we can.
