Controller and Hot Wheels Settings Guide

Forza Horizon Forza Horizon 5 FH5 Discussion
1

FH5 default controller and Hot Wheels settings are far from optimal. Here’s a brief guide on what you should change and why you should change it. I take no credit for this information as it’s well known. I’m merely consolidating it in one place.

Let’s start with the new Hot Wheels settings:

  1. Settings > Accessibility > Hot Wheels Roll Indicator > Off

This is that anoying cross hair in the middle of your screen which is turned on by default in the Hot Wheels expansion. It serves no purpose. Turn it off.

  1. Settings > Accessibility > Hot Wheels Stunt Steering Assist > Off

Turn this off otherwise the AI will help steer your car when you drive by an edge while traveling through tilted/inverted track pieces.

Now let’s move onto some critical controller settings:

  1. Settings > Advanced Controls > Steering Axis Deadzone Inside > 0

By default this setting is set to 10-15. You want to set this all the way to 0 unless your left stick suffers from stick drift. This setting controls how much you have to move the stick from the center position in order for it to register. A setting of 15 means you must move it 15 degrees before it registers. This is a terrible default value. Just set it to 0.

Finally let’s go through key driving assist settings:

  1. Settings > Difficulty > Traction Control > Off

  2. Settings > Difficulty > Stability Control > Off

Learn to drive with both TC and SC off. It will give you a noticable speed advantage over others with these settings turned on. The main thing to take note of is easing on the accelerator when coming out of corners. Don’t just slam down the accelerator. Be gentle. The only time you may want to turn these settings back on is when driving a RWD build.

  1. Settings > Difficulty > Braking > Anti-Lock On

You want the benefits of ABS without any AI assists.

  1. Settings > Difficulty> Steering > Simulation

Force feedback helps you to control your car across different terrain. But this is user preference.

We will now move onto sound settings:

  1. Turn radio off

This is important to remain sane. It also allows you to appreciate the sound your car makes (excludes EVs).

And finally and most importantly paint settings:

You can achieve a 10% speed boost by painting your car gold. This method is legit so don’t believe the naysayers.

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Hot Wheels Expansion Poll (closed)
Hot Wheels Review Poll
HotWheels First Impressions
2

I don’t really see the need for ABS. But maybe I’m just better at braking and worse at steering, because Sim steering is still too twitchy for me, but at least in HW there are less off-road situations where it really becomes a problem.

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Unlike in FH4, ABS off provides next to no benefit in FH5. ABS off also requires considerable skill to master but again for little benefit. It’s best for most players to turn ABS on as recommended.

Hot Wheels expansion forced auto steer
4

??/ wha… we need to change settings between the clouds & the ground ?? did they leave their heads up there ?

5

I always forget a lot of the people I race are using ABS. I don’t.

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6

No assists for me but I also dont use simulation steering. I find it too twitchy.

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