After being an Xbox exclusive for the longest time, the Forza series has finally come to PlayStation in the form of Forza Horizon 5. Our resident PlayStation dweller Luca took up the task of playing the game on his PS5.
I think it is safe to say that many of us were thinking April Fools had come early when it was announced that the Forza name would finally be coming to PlayStation. I have been a PlayStation gamer for pretty much all my life, in fact the only time I deviated over to Xbox was to play the original Forza Motorsport, which did not last long for reasons I will delve into in an article we are planning to release on the 20th anniversary of its release in a week or so.
Even though the games have been on PC as well, I never wanted to drive anything besides simulation-based racing titles, I did have The Crew Motorfest for a time but that was a rare exception. I had seen a lot of Forza Horizon 5 and a part of me for a time was tempted to get it. But with it being announced for PS5, I finally took the dive and joined the Horizon Festival.
Here is what I have made of my Horizon experience so far.
I do have a Fanatec GT Direct Drive wheel and I did have some difficulties with it, although dampening was not the issue. Back when FH5 released initially, we found the steering to be nicely weighted and the driving feel to be rather nice, and so it is on PlayStation 5 although it was not without some adjustments. The steering angle by default is considerable, so you will need to go into the advanced controls menu.
No your eyes do not deceive you, it is in fact Forza Horizon 5 on a PlayStation 5.
Something else I had some issues with was mapping a control scheme, maybe I am missing something but I had tried to get Fanatec Formula rim's joystick to be my look left, right and behind function but no matter what I do, I cannot seem to get it to work. Hopefully I will find a fix for that soon, because every time I push the joystick to the left, the car goes into reverse.
Going back to the driving itself, I find myself having difficulty in slow and tight corners. I see the steering input in-game - despite the fact I got it to match my real life inputs - does not seem to go beyond 90 degrees to the left or right. Once more, I am sure that will be just something on my end, but I cannot seem to find a solution for it online.
The more you get through, the faster a lot more races become available so all that matters is keeping yourself busy. Do keep in mind that there are more than just races, one particular activity on the Hot Wheels map involves going from the centre to a loop on a mountain in a B class car in a set time. Do not make my mistake and have the wrong class car.
Also, there are a limited number of cars you can drive on the Hot Wheels map. But maybe stick with something that has four wheel drive, as I could barely exceed 30mph in a Mazda RX-8 on elevated bits of Hot Wheels track.
Avoid the Hot Wheels activities if you are all about immersion. Image: Xbox Game Studios
In short, I am very much enjoying Forza Horizon 5 on the PlayStation 5, it performs as expected and as confusing as it can be trying to figure out what to do, the platform is very fast paced and immensely enjoyable. FH5 is available now in early access on PS5 for those who picked up the Premium Edition, with the standard and Deluxe Edition players being able to play it from April 29th.
If you want to learn more about what comes with each edition and what else arrived alongside the PS5 release, read our article covering all of that.
Have you picked up Forza Horizon 5 on PlayStation 5? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our Forza Horizon forum!
I think it is safe to say that many of us were thinking April Fools had come early when it was announced that the Forza name would finally be coming to PlayStation. I have been a PlayStation gamer for pretty much all my life, in fact the only time I deviated over to Xbox was to play the original Forza Motorsport, which did not last long for reasons I will delve into in an article we are planning to release on the 20th anniversary of its release in a week or so.
Even though the games have been on PC as well, I never wanted to drive anything besides simulation-based racing titles, I did have The Crew Motorfest for a time but that was a rare exception. I had seen a lot of Forza Horizon 5 and a part of me for a time was tempted to get it. But with it being announced for PS5, I finally took the dive and joined the Horizon Festival.
Here is what I have made of my Horizon experience so far.
How Does FH5 Perform on PS5?
So far, I have not encountered any issues. Not that it should come as any sort of surprise considering it has been out for many years on Xbox and PC, though there are some issues that the Forza Support Team are aware of. Those issues are that the game in Quality Mode on the PS5 Pro can crash when entering photo mode during a race, Fanatec GT Direct Drive wheels are heavily damped when plugged in on default settings, and the game can sometimes crash when browsing Wheel Rims in the Upgrades and Tuning menu at any Festival Outpost or Player House.I do have a Fanatec GT Direct Drive wheel and I did have some difficulties with it, although dampening was not the issue. Back when FH5 released initially, we found the steering to be nicely weighted and the driving feel to be rather nice, and so it is on PlayStation 5 although it was not without some adjustments. The steering angle by default is considerable, so you will need to go into the advanced controls menu.
No your eyes do not deceive you, it is in fact Forza Horizon 5 on a PlayStation 5.
Something else I had some issues with was mapping a control scheme, maybe I am missing something but I had tried to get Fanatec Formula rim's joystick to be my look left, right and behind function but no matter what I do, I cannot seem to get it to work. Hopefully I will find a fix for that soon, because every time I push the joystick to the left, the car goes into reverse.
Going back to the driving itself, I find myself having difficulty in slow and tight corners. I see the steering input in-game - despite the fact I got it to match my real life inputs - does not seem to go beyond 90 degrees to the left or right. Once more, I am sure that will be just something on my end, but I cannot seem to find a solution for it online.
What You Need To Know
If you are like me and got the Premium Edition, you may be wondering how to claim all the content available with it. That includes the Welcome Pack, Hot Wheels and Rally Adventure packs, and to claim all the cars you will need to go to the Message Centre which can be found in the My Horizon tab in the pause menu. Then there are the events, if you got the Hot Wheels and Rally Adventure packs then it will provide you with those two options to focus on.The more you get through, the faster a lot more races become available so all that matters is keeping yourself busy. Do keep in mind that there are more than just races, one particular activity on the Hot Wheels map involves going from the centre to a loop on a mountain in a B class car in a set time. Do not make my mistake and have the wrong class car.
Also, there are a limited number of cars you can drive on the Hot Wheels map. But maybe stick with something that has four wheel drive, as I could barely exceed 30mph in a Mazda RX-8 on elevated bits of Hot Wheels track.
Avoid the Hot Wheels activities if you are all about immersion. Image: Xbox Game Studios
In short, I am very much enjoying Forza Horizon 5 on the PlayStation 5, it performs as expected and as confusing as it can be trying to figure out what to do, the platform is very fast paced and immensely enjoyable. FH5 is available now in early access on PS5 for those who picked up the Premium Edition, with the standard and Deluxe Edition players being able to play it from April 29th.
If you want to learn more about what comes with each edition and what else arrived alongside the PS5 release, read our article covering all of that.
Have you picked up Forza Horizon 5 on PlayStation 5? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our Forza Horizon forum!
