Cars in FH5 and how they lack a soul (FH2 and IRL comparison)

Forza Horizon Forza Horizon 5 FH5 Discussion
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Since I found myself increasingly disliking FH5 the more I play it, I decided to move back to FH2 for the time being (IMHO still the GOAT of Horizon games).
One thing I always loved doing was the drive from Castelletto to Nice. There’s just something special about this road that’ll never get boring (same with Red Rock in FH1).
Seriously, I could probably do this 20 times in a row and still enjoy every single minute of it.

But what is it that makes me rather drive back and forth along the Cote d’Azur as opposed to roaming through Mexico?
It’s the cars. Their sound, their handling, their character. In other words: cars having a soul.

IRL, I currently own a 2016 AMG GT S. Now, I was happy to see that it returned to FH5 a while ago and once I unlocked it in-game, I gave it a go. Well, what can I say, the in-game counterpart has pretty much none of the characteristics of the actual car. It feels slow, sluggish and the sound lacks any depth or drama.
If you turn TC to “Race” in the real car, anything below 3rd gear is just asking to go sideways, the turn-in is razor sharp and some of the backfire sounds like gunshots at times.
But in FH5, the car just feels dull, dead and it lacks its bitey nature - it just doesn’t feel “alive”…

Now, don’t get me wrong, this is not a rant in the sense of “Boohoo, my car isn’t what I wanted it to be”, cause it isn’t just the GT S.

One of my buddies once had an Integra Type R with a big ol’ twirly boy added. And boy, that thing was absolutely mental with ~400 bhp. Probably the most ridiculous car I rode in yet.

Naturally, I made a turbocharged Integra in FH5 as well. And how did it feel? Basic and unexciting…
Essentially, it didn’t make me feel like driving a 90s Honda coupe with double the original horsepower that revs to 9k RPM, gapping a stock M2 Competition with ease while screaming its lungs out.
In summary: It simply didn’t feel “violent” enough.

At the beginning, I explained how I went back to FH2 recently. Looking at some user-made polls on here, it seems that a lot of folks never even got to experience FH2 in the first place.
And for me, that’s quite the pity, cause the cars in FH2 had just what I’m missing in FH5: a soul

They just felt raw, violent and alive while at the same time being perfectly manageable. Each car felt different: An EP3 was snappy and playful, an M5 felt planted and confident and a P1 seemed like the fastest thing known to man.
You could also really feel the weight and weight distribution of the cars.

Sense of speed was a lot better in previous Horizon titles too, and with that most of the slower cars in FH2 just felt so much faster than their FH5 counterparts.
You basically didn’t have to go 300 kph at every occasion to get some sensation in FH2.

So, after quite the lengthy post, what are your thoughts on this?
Am I just overwhelmed by nostalgia or did previous Horizon titles actually feel faster, rawer and overall more accurate when it comes to the emotion and characteristics of the cars?

Additionally, if your own car is in FH5 as well, did the game do it justice?

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I agree on all fronts. While the sound has definitely improved since Horizon 4, a lot of the cars still sound, for the lack of a better world, underbaked, and that’s including all the car sounds they placed.

As for your comments on the map (though I know that isn’t the main aspect of this thread), I actually miss when you couldn’t dart across the map in a straight line. I’ve been replaying Horizon 1 recently, and I feel like I could cruise for hours on that map despite its small size because you actually have to drive to get to places. The smaller amount of AI cars in free roam help too. Only flaw it truly has is having a smooth ride ruined by a small bush that could easily be decimated in sequels.

As for doing my own car justice, well, my current car is technically not in the game as I drive a BMW E46 325i, but I do both drive the standard E46 M3 and E46 M3 GTR frequently, and I will say this: they both feel good to drive in Horizon 5. However, the fact that the standard M3 and the Nissan 350z still have their audio files switched over a year into the game is beyond pathetic.

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I really dont care much about the cars ingame compare to the real ones, but i do agree that horizon 5 lack a “soul” in its core it is a very good game but thats about it.

If your old enough you might remeber a game called street legal redline. That was also a very very good game at its core but like in Horzion 5 they failed at fixing bugs, have a good story ect. So the game died, or atleast officaly, the fans toke over the game and fixed bug added stuff ect. But the point is, even if its a very good game it will die if you dont give it the proper care. Witch devs have failed so hard on in this game.

I truly belive this is the last horizon bec all the success they really had was the hype. Sure it had 20mil plays but it also had 19.9mil uninstalls.

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It won’t be the last, it was the most successful Xbox Launch in History, Horizon has always pulled numbers over other games in it’s genre, like NfS, and the game has some really good player retention (see the people that have over 400h and beyond, of which there are quite a few)

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FH5 lacks entertainment. Mind you, I do like the game, but previous Horizons and Motorsports just have better, louder sound effects that make the game a bit more immersive. And don’t start about other games (like NFS) that have even more of that. Horizon should be the best racing game, period, but unfortunately it’s not. We still can’t choose exhaust tips or bodykits, something just about every other racing game out there does have. They really fall behind in those aspects.

I especially miss the tyre squeal sounds from 3 and 4 because not only is it fun to hear but it also aids the player to find the limit of their car.

Overall the engine sounds are better than previous Horizon games though and they should continue to do what they’re doing there. But don’t turn down the sounds of other effects.

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I doubt it. Yes people playing it but they are not that many, i would guess they lose more people than they gain. The reason for 20mil plays is only bec gamepass and the real number is more in around 100k

You really think they would do such a crap job if there was many people playing it? They have made there money on this game now anf the hype is gone and replaced with anger. And the only reason people are playing it ink me is bec this is still the best racing game out there. But as soon as anything better comes up the remaining few people will leave. Not inkluding childers ofcourse, since that is what
this game has come to. A unfinnished childrens sandbox driving game.

If you want to check how many people really are playing just check rivals highscores ingame and thats the total of players not even active players none of them come close to even 1mil or 500k for that mather.

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Not being able to cut cross country everywhere on FH1 and FH2 made the drive too’s so much better.

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Terrible measurement, not every FH player does Rivals.

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No they dont but it is a good way to find out how many really play. And its not millions like they want us to belive.

And rivals is only a part of of it. Take achivments also, when you unlock it its says for example 0.06% has achived them.

Alot of people have tryed the game, not alot of them has stayed around to stard grinding, rivals, achiments, accolades ect. And the only way i found to track active players is with steam, and thats around 8k active players, so the rest of millions use xbox or microsoft on pc?

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Depends on how many millions we’re talking about. This game has more than 20 million different accounts who booted the game. Let’s give Playground the benefit of doubt and assume duplicates are just 10% of that, and put FH5 at 18 million.

FH5 is the biggest Microsoft exclusive on Game Pass and Game Pass itself had 29 million subscribers as of Microsoft’s latest report. Taking this into account, 20 million players isn’t unexpected. But at the same time it’s a “lie”, because, to Microsoft, if you boot the game, you’re a player. The active player base is far lower than that.

I really do think this game still has a sizable amount of players on Xbox, judging by the “Most Played” list, but you have to put things in perspective when talking about Xbox… because Xbox Live/Network/whatever Microsoft calls it now does not have the same number of total users as Steam and PSN. Steam FH5 active players number is very low right now, and this is very important, because people on Steam are those who bought the game.

Reception to Hot Wheels was lukewarm. Non-specialized streamers largely ignored the expansion. I think this hints at the true popularity of the game… most of those “20 million” have jumped ship.

I think that, for Microsoft, it would make more sense to have 7 million people paying the full $60 at launch than 20 million with lots of Game Pass subs among them. Because it’s unclear whether people who sub to Game Pass pay the full price of the sub (there were ways to redeem years of Xbox Live Gold into Game Pass Ultimate for “free”).

Unfortunately, at least from my POV, Microsoft’s current strategy isn’t to earn profits, it’s to take the competition down by employing a loss leader strategy and buying content to lock it behind the Game Pass wall, so “sense” is not something Phil Spencer will listen to. On the other hand, considering the pitiful first-party lineup Xbox has, it heavily depends on Game Pass to even exist at all, as, without it, Xbox has no selling point.

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FH2 is the entry in the series I like least, however my hazy recollection of it would at least tend to agree that it felt faster while driving along its dull coastline, dashing through trees at night for some garbage bucket list challenge, or doing that race to the airstrip for the millionth time while the AI blatantly cheated.

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Sorry Ti but I think most of that is rubbish and it reeks of you just wanting to have a pop at FH2.

That coastline road from Castelletto to Nice is 1 of the best roads the series has ever had and did a great job of the transition from Italy to France and vice versa in my opinion.

And bucket list events + AI cheating are dialled up to 11 in later games so I’m not sure why you’re acting like FH2 is the worst perp for them, all the stories are in 4 + 5 is a bunch of those glued together with some flimsy attempt at a narrative, and I don’t remember FH2’s AI being as universally panned as the past 2 games either.

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At least when I see an AI miss a checkpoint in the later games they get reset. In that airstrip race it was like the race used to have a slightly different path and the AI was still racing the old path without consequence, which becomes an irritating trap when you’re following.

That coastline road, and in particular the small town on it, reminded me of my most hated track from the Motorsport series. Was it called Ralli di Positano? The awful race around the block of a village with roads that felt like bicycle paths.

Was the autumn tunnel in 2? If so, I’d give it props for that stretch.

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I don’t like jumping into this conversation because I never played FH2 as it was not on PC, but from what I’ve heard about it, it seems like FH3 iterated on it while adding new features and not taking anything away. I could see how people might have liked the details better (map features, sound design, etc), but overall isn’t FH3 an objectively better game?

I’m half trying to make a point, half genuinely asking.

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Heh. BMW E46. The engine sound is still swapped with the Nissan Z in game.

Life is pain.

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Dude, that was my favorite course.

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Personally, I still think 3 is weaker than 2 in a lot of ways. 3’s greatest strengths include its biodiversity in its map, its soundtrack, and its expansions.

However, 3 suffers from a lot of problems 5 suffers from in terms of its map design. A lot of 3’s map is flat and a lot of the roads are straight with few bends and meanders. Fine for cars above B-Class, but anything at or below wasn’t very fun to drive.

3’s Drivatars were also pretty borked compared to 2. In fact, I find the Drivatars in 3 are pretty close in quality to the Drivatars in 5 as far as cheating on high difficulties goes.

3 is also where, for Horizon at least, the sound design started to go down the toilet. The engine sounds weren’t exactly completely neutered yet, but the operation was in the process of taking place.

And, while this is kind of a sins of the father sort of thing, 3 made the mistake of replicating 2’s biggest shortcomings: the way too short “campaign”, and the very repetious endgame (which, is admittedly still better than 4 and 5’s endgame).

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In TC2 I love the Senna. I will use it lots. I like the sound, aero and how no other car feels like it.

In FH5 it just feels like another track car, you can’t change panels or interior and if you do add aero to make it better you lose the active aero.

Some cars have some personality in this game, but alot feel very interchangeable. Muscle cars especially.

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Objectively, FH3 really seems to be the better game: larger map, more cars, more customization, new features, QOL improvements, etc.
And yes, there was nothing drastically different between FH2 and FH3 (as would be expected).

Subjectively though, I must say that FH3 is probably my least favorite entry in the series. Again, highly subjective, but my main reason is probably me just disliking the Australia map.
Way too many straights, no real driving roads with technical turns (apart from maybe like 1 or 2 roads) and it somehow started the trend of absurdly widening roads in FH games.
Oh, the sense of speed also suffered quite a bit, as can be seen in a couple comparisons on YT.

On top of that, the feeling of being at a car & music festival was practically absent. And the whole “You’re the boss of the festival” theme didn’t really resonate well with me either.
Progression had also gotten ridiculous, with all starter cars being well over 400 hp.

Sound design in FH3 was pretty decent, though FH2 seemed more aggressive and present overall (especially in 1st person). But on God, that sound effect for the backfire in FH3 was just terrible…

Credit where credit is due though, cause I really liked the convoy system in single-player. No clue why they’ve gotten rid of that…
Addition of Midnight Battles also gave back some of that undergroundy nature of the street scene races.

Overall, it was a good entry to the series, it did a lot of things right, it only did a couple things wrong, but it simply isn’t a game where I look back at and think to myself “Man, I really need to play FH3 again”.
Again, super subjective, but FH3 simply didn’t give me the same vibes as I’ve gotten with FH1 or FH2.

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Street Legal Racing Redline - original trailer

That was a nice time. where you learned as a child how to assemble an engine. beamNG before there was beamNG.