Hey everyone, I’m posting this to bring attention to the areas where Forza Horizon 5 has shortcomings compared to other games out there that may serve as it’s competition (such as Need For Speed or Gran Turismo 7). This is a topic that I hope will ultimately reach the developers over at Playground Games and that they can implement these ideas into Forza Horizon and future titles going forward.
Exhaust Tip Modification
The first thing I’m going to discuss is something that while it wasn’t in the Forza Horizon series initially, it’s something that the series starting from 5 onwards can hugely benefit from and that is exhaust tip modification. There are a ton of vehicles in this game, none of which can be equipped with an exhaust tip style of your choosing.
This can be seen as an issue for those that would like to customize a car and leave it with a stock OEM like appearance but would still like the car to have an exhaust tip on, but it’s even more problematic for cars where a body kit can be applied yet the car still has its factory mufflers on.
(The 2002 Acura RSX Type-S, 1970 Datsun 510, 1986 Ford Mustang SVO, 1997 Mazda RX-7 (and the 2002 RX-7 Spirit R Type-A), 1997 Mitsubishi GTO, 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX, 1997 Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R V-Spec, 2002 Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R V-Spec 2, 1994 Nissan Fairlady 300ZX Version S Twin Turbo, 1998 Subaru Impreza 22B-STi Version, 2020 Toyota GR Supra, 1992 Toyota Supra 2.0 GT, and the 1974 Toyota Celica GT are just a few examples of cars in this game that, once modified, the stock exhausts, which are often very small, look out of place compared to the rest of the car.)
In the case of cars that cannot or don’t have the option of a body kit, a simple exhaust tip modification can go a long way, often transforming the look of a car. It’s the one thing that most people who own a car in real life, change on their vehicles in order to achieve a certain look or to fit in line with what their level of performance for their car will be.
There’s a ton of muscle cars in this game that I guarantee would look a million times better if you had the option to change out their factory mufflers for some blast pipes in the back or even some side exit exhausts running underneath the doors and flaring out just before the back tires.
There’s many different styles of exhaust tips that can accommodate every single car, and they should be utilized on every car. Some people like the N1 style exhaust, aka a ricer pipe or a coffee can exhaust on their car, others choose blast pipes, or a straight piped exhaust. Some like the bosozoku and shakotan style exhausts that either point in the air or stick out 6 inches from the rear bumper. And so on and so forth.
While we are on this topic, I understand that some of you guys (and gals) like single exhaust tip conversions on cars that normally come with 2 rear exhaust mufflers. Cars such as the Honda S2000, Nissan Fairlady 350Z/370Z, Lexus SC300, Mitsubishi GTO, Subaru WRX STi (literally any model), the Toyobaru Twins (86/BRZ) and the Toyota GR Supra are all cars that I see regularly in real life, with a single exhaust tip conversion, and it can be done on either the left or right side of the car. This is something I can see a lot of players doing to their rides in the game.
In addition to the different exhaust tip styles being available in the game, there should also be an option to angle said exhaust tips on the car at various degrees (like on a slider of some sort, from 0 degrees to an almost 90 degree angle) to further enhance the level of customization offered.
Players should also be able to adjust the pitch and the tone of their exhaust in the Custom Upgrade menu screen, as well as adjust the level of drone and raspiness of the exhaust, further enhancing the customization aspect of the game and bringing it up to speed on what gamers and car enthusiasts expect from the Forza Horizon series in today’s day and age.
Even though Forza Horizon is mainly geared towards arcade style gameplay as opposed to a full on sim racer, these are things that this particular series, and the gamers that play this game franchise, can greatly benefit from.
I would say for the devs to add this functionality to a set of cars each update, for example like 20 or 30 cars each update with an exhaust tip modification feature, and do that every seasonal update until every car in the game has the ability to customize their exhaust tips by the player.
Headlight and Taillight Modification
This is another feature that can enhance the customization aspect of Forza Horizon 5 and future games going forward. Just like with exhaust tips, in real life people also tend to customize their headlight and taillights on their cars, whether it’s adding a light tint layer or completely changing the factory OEM housings for something a little more wild and unique.
For headlights, changing the color of the headlight or your taillights can change how one views the road or views your car. Maybe you want to upgrade those sealed beam headlights on your R34 Skyline GT-R for some period correct HIDs, or maybe you want to bring the car into 2022 with LEDs and DRL halos in the headlight assembly.
Or maybe you want the car to have an eyelid for a meaner more aggressive looking front end. If it’s a car with pop up headlights, maybe you want a sleepy eye look (fixed headlights that only go halfway up) on your 1993 Nissan 240SX SE or your 1994 Mazda MX-5 Miata.
Or maybe you want just your left set of lights all the way up and the right set all the way down so it looks like your Honda NSX Type-R is winking at other fellow drivers.
Maybe you want clear taillights with chrome housings on the back of your 1993 Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R or your 2001 Acura Integra Type-R. Or smoked out taillights on the back of your 2015 Charger Hellcat, or the 2018 Mercedes-AMG E 63 S hanging in your garage.
Need For Speed has had a similar function for years in its games, going all the way back to the days of Underground 1 and 2. And while it wasn’t in every single Need For Speed game since then, the feature shows up in almost every game since the turn of the century 20 plus years ago, so it’s a welcome feature to have here in the Forza Horizon games.
OEM Style Rear Spoiler Modification
The last topic I have to talk about is OEM Style Rear Spoilers. Let’s be honest with ourselves, the traditional Forza aero is butt-ugly. While it works on a lot of cars in terms of providing downforce, the aesthetics of the rear spoiler looks out of place on so many cars.
There are times where players won’t add a Forza aero spoiler because it destroys the natural look of the car. Some cars already come with a spoiler that can be adjusted in real life but can’t be adjusted in the game, because the Forza aero spoiler replaces the OEM rear spoiler entirely.
If I want to use the R34 Skyline GT-R with the factory style spoiler instead of the Forza rear aero then I should be able to, but not at the expense of the factory OEM spoiler not allowing me to adjust the level of downforce that I would want to customize and build my car with.
Wicker and duckbill spoilers for the rear of each car can be provided as an option along with the factory OEM style and aftermarket rear spoilers for the player to choose from. If the devs need to they can update a batch of 15 to 30 cars each seasonal update until all cars have the feature of still getting the benefits of using downforce with a factory OEM style spoiler.
That’s about it. Anyone who is able to do so, sticky this topic and the aforementioned threads so that other players can find it and voice their ideas on getting these ideas into the game. Thank you all!