I hate to wrongly accuse anyone of cheating, but here’s what I’ve witnessed while racing various Horizon Open races: 1) players whose cars perform amazingly, who seem to have far better lateral stability and WAY more power than I can tune my same-class cars to achieve; 2) players who seem to have special powers to bump other players off the track to miss checkpoints or to hit obstacles; 3) players who win every race, beating everyone else by unheard of amounts of time; 4) these same players often seem to be placed within the top 3 starting positions–far more frequently than I ever get placed in the top 6 starting positions; 5) players who hang back, but then power burst their way past you right at the finish line.
I’ve checked and have found numerous cheat code sites, [Mod edit - WSD - Please dont link, talk about, etc ‘those’ type of sites please. Thanks]
When I see this kind of racing behavior, it sure diminishes the quality of the game. I’ve won plenty of Horizon Open events in those times when no cheaters are in the events. I’ve about had it with Bone Shaker cheats. I hate those darn cars!
M3orgo54
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Better not to post the links to the cheat sites. The mods and everyone else are aware that the sites exist but there is no need to promote their links even if that isn’t your intention.
Everyone is aware that cheaters exist in most aspects of the game. Even if the devs could effectively weed out every cheater and cheat code out there, new ones would just pop up the next day. It is an unending issue that everyone here hates.
But some of those things you observe may not be actual cheaters. The BoneShaker is a meta car that performs way beyond other cars in its class on road races which is why so many people use it in A-class open races. Some players are just that good that they can tune cars and drive them at amazing speeds.
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The cheaters will all soon be in here telling us all about how lag causes your car to accelerate faster than the game designed it to do, they will happily tell you a game glitch gives the mog a 110% acceleration boost. They will proudly tell you how 130 fps will make any B class car put in A class lap times. But they can really give it a rest,the developers have no intentions of fixing the cheater problem, that has been quite evident since FH4.
They will tell you they are legally required to allow cheating in the game, they have used that legal issues excuse in the past.
I no longer even care about cheaters, I only play the game when I’m bored or need a break from better games these days. If they are lucky,thet may get 1 hour a day at best, but mostly I play 1 day a week now. I wont miss out on anything and the cheaters can never bother me if I’m not playing.
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My girlfriend and my wife would probably call me a liar but I never cheat on anything
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Sadly it took me a few seconds to get it.
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The first issue could just be the car meta. There is a car meta. We all hate it but it must be abided by if you want to win all the races. You can definitely win some with non-meta cars, but eventually you’ll meet someone at the same or better skill level as you, but in a more meta car, and you won’t stand a chance.
Also those people bumping you out of checkpoints probably aren’t cheating. People practice that. It’s one of the many reasons I avoid online PvP in this game (except with friends in a convoy). This game doesn’t reach you to drive well, it teaches you to drive dirty.
The speed boost at the end could be server lag. I’ve experienced this with friends who I know are not cheating. The servers for this game are not great. Still, that one is more suspicious. I’ve had people a few car lengths behind me teleport in front of me right at the finish line too often to consider those all legitimate server issues.
I’ve yet to see outright, blatant cheating, but I’ve only dipped my toes in Open a few times, and I’m certain it happens looking at all the leaderboards. I’ve heard eliminator is rife with cheaters, but you’re never going to convince me to play that mode.
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There One thousand percent cheaters in the Open races and around Horizon. Here’s some first hand footage from a recent open que I did. There’s a player obviously using some sort of slew mode where he can propel and manipulate the car through Horizons physics system anyway he wishes.
https://www.xbox.com/play/media/VMG6UFZ5
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I’m sure someone will claim that the player’s must have been sitting on a trampoline which resulted in a bouncy performance
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Hahahaha I KNOW it’s coming, even a voice is my head was like, should you post this? Someone’s going to try to explain away and you’re going to mald, you know this lolol
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If you can create a cheat that well then you can do anything with the game.
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I have seen some crazy things too 
very good point
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True! But the only reason I suspect that is because slew mode is a very common mod in many simulation games, primarily In Flight Sim where it’s actually built into the PC version of the game, I don’t think it’s that far off of a technology for cheat companies to either write or obtain.
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Appreciate all the responses! Yes, I’ve heard of the “lag” and I realized some people are simply not enough for themselves and enjoy bumping others at critical spots. However…
Last night while in an S2 998 ‘mixed-surface’ race series where my Lambo Sesto FE really shines, there was me and one other Sesto FE in the race. We both were substantially ahead of others–but the other Sesto FE car would blast ahead like on digital steroids, then sit there and wait for me as if enjoying having another Sesto FE to toy with. Then second race, that other Sesto FE got placed near the end of the starting lineup and I was in second place in the lineup; about 4 seconds into the race, he blasted past me (and the other 10 racers between us! Then, just for fun he/she bumped me around a lot, but we both took 1st and 2nd places, him/her in 1st, of course. Then for the third race, some other cheater dude had joined, and he and the other Sesto FE’s times were nearly identical while I came in 10 seconds later at 3rd place.
Yeah, so what…I really don’t care that much, but for the game developers to say “there’s no cheaters” is a total sham. Probably wouldn’t be good for business to claim that their game code can be hacked, but it’s the reality of FH5. I just wish they would police the cheaters as they make us feel they can do. I’d be happy to start providing names if that will help. I have plenty of screenshots as proof.
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That’s the point here: I consider myself a great tuner but I can’t find any set of power or tire mods that can be squeezed into the car class limitations to get me anywhere near the performance of those Bone Shakers I’m mentioning here. You go for power and speed, you have to give up traction. But with cheat codes, I guess anything is possible.
Can you explain what “the car’s meta”, and/or what a “non-meta” car is, and how you can tell the difference? I imagine it to be that set of physics attached to the car within which the tunes are limited. Example: you can’t tune a lousy car to be a great car. But given that limitation what is a non-meta car?
In response to “…I’ve only dipped my toes in Open a few times…”, I came on board 3 years ago in FH4. But only recently purchased Xbox Live Gold. So, since Christmas 2021, I’ve been racing almost exclusively in Open races. They’re more fun when they’re not maddening. Racing in Open has made me a better racer/driver because the stakes are higher, rewinds are impossible (well, not impossible but you pay dearly in lost time) but the wins are more rewarding when they happen.
My complaining aside, the Forza franchise are the best games ever! No other game cuts if for me. FH5!
You can’t really tell the difference between a meta and a non-meta car until it’s tested. I know of a few meta cars offhand, but I generally ignore it. If you play open long enough though you’ll learn the meta. People figure it out and then drive those cars exclusively.
Really it’s about finding the cracks in the PI system and exploiting them. For example: the PI system values tire width too little, and that’s a big part of the reason why the boneshaker is meta. Combine that with the fact that converting the car to AWD lowers PI and you’ve got a true meta car. Meanwhile a lot of the old RWD rally cars like the Opel Manta or the Alpine A110 have trouble being competitive no matter how you tune them, and especially suffer when you keep them in their natural drivetrain (as I like to do). The PI system is too harsh on them.
The PI system is never going to be perfect. We’re talking a universal rating system for all cars, drivetrains and surfaces. There is always going to be some way to exploit it, and some cars that fair better than others. Thus the car meta is born. I hate it, but that’s kind of like hating the wind. People online are always going to tend towards the easiest path to victory, and so if you want to win all your races you’re going to have to play the meta yourself. I encourage you not to, but at the end of the day it’s your choice not mine.
Better to be OK with losing IMO.
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Playing the meta…doesn’t sound too fun…but tuning cars and trying different cars in different types of races/conditions till I find a winner is pretty much what I do. But it gets maddening with all the choices. Thanks for the info!
There are cheater literally driving a un-tuned SUV in S1 out perform top class/meta thing in the game.
Or someone driving a S2 Lambo 770-4 without a wing but better cornering than any track car. And it run like on rail.
The problem is some clever-cheater only boosting when he falling behind and not near anyone watching.
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