FH5 is steadily decling in quality

[Waspy389]

@FullNietzsche

@turtleCZ

Best Horizon ever.

Based on your posts in other threads, I know you are serious.

Here is my list of bugs and observations I’ve compliled so far.

Custom and ranked adventures missing, a major regression from FH4.

Arcade events requirements are often too demanding, they should be lowered / scaled to the number of players and the time limit raised to 15 mins. (Or keep it at 10 mins and lower the requirements even more.)

Still can’t skip the game’s lengthy splash screens which are also still too loud. Complained about for 3 years of FH4, never fixed. Unlike FH4, alt-tabbing while this noisy chore completes does not mute the sound when the game window isn’t in focus.

Launch control makes some cars sluggish and unresponsive for a few seconds, this feature does not work well and should have an option to disable it entirely, just like with other assists such as traction control.

Can’t skip cutscenes in stories, this was a common complaint in FH4.

In stories, some of the requirements are ridiculously easy, so you can cut out a large part of the course and just drive directly to the finish, to a much larger degree than you could do in FH4, exceeding the 3 star time by a minute or more. But some of the other story tasks are very hard even for a skilled player. Vocho In the Baja requires driving perfectly and taking a specific shortcut, and even then you only finish it with barely a second to spare. Clearly not well tested.

Even on a fast PC with the game installed on SSD, the game has multiple short loading screens. The Series consoles apparently do not suffer from this, in which case it appears that PC users get an inferior version of the game which assumes the game could be installed on a slow hard drive, so takes the time to load a loading screen first, which increases overall load times unnecessarily. Sometimes the time to load the loading screen is equal to or greater than the subsequent loading. Everything from photo mode to going to the garage has loading screens or black screens / spinning circles everywhere. On a fast PC with a lot of RAM etc. this is just a bad design and it could have been significantly streamlined.

Can’t control volume of cutscenes, speech or music except radio. Most speech is not affected by the speech volume setting. The streamer mode still doesn’t disable that music either.

Radio regularly turns itself on, this never happened in FH4.

Radio ‘please change back to streamer mode’ bug when a skill song is playing (after the radio has turned itself on), even though you are already in streamer mode.

Missing graphics windshield reflection quality setting that FH4 had. FH4 let you disable this effect entirely, FH5 doesn’t.

Mouse pointer doesn’t hide when using controller, which it did in FH4.

Game is too dark in certain lighting conditions, much darker than FH4 while using the same default brightness setting of 50. If you turn it up to 70, it fixes that problem but then is too bright for most of the time when the game is in daylight.

When you choose ‘get in car’ from free roam, it still asks if you want it delivered to you. Redundant step, of course I do. Issue never fixed from FH4.

Replays not improved from previous games, still poor compared to competitors. No auto TV camera type option.

Syncing FH4 liveries took 45 minutes. Microsoft’s cloud saves still operate at a snail’s pace. ‘We should be done soon!’ is wishful thinking.

Importing FH4 liveries and vinyls must be done laboriously one at a time, no option to import all, or a tick box system where you tick the ones you want and import all those at once.

In Rivals, still no way to change car or tune without laboriously quitting back to free roam first.

In Rivals, bug where after you beat a rival’s time, it subsequently shows you the next rival as the one you just beat.

In Rivals, in ‘my rivals’, if you delete them too quickly, the game crashes to desktop, confirmed bug on PC and console which still exists from FH4.

When choosing a paint from your designs, it still doesn’t show you designs for the car you are in first, you have to manually scroll and identify the compatible ones yourself visually. This is something which works properly in Forza Motorsport 7.

When using fast travel, returning to free roam or changing cars in free roam, still have to wait for a camera panning animation to complete before you are allowed to use the menus or drive the car, which effectively doubles the loading and waiting time for no good reason. Using fast travel during arcade events to save time, like doing repeated jumps, is hindered by this baked-in delay where every second counts. Bad design.

When you fast travel to an event, race or story, sometimes there is no prompt to start the event. You may have to drive forwards some distance, and then the prompt will appear behind you, requiring you to reverse back to it.

‘Saving’ spinning circle sometimes never goes away until you exit an event and restart it, same bug from FH4 still present in FH5.

Can’t zoom out on the map enough to see it all at once. Old games like Test Drive Unlimited let you do this.

When selecting a speed zone or trailblazer on the map, a big text box covers the route or destination so you often can’t see where best to start it from.

Endless nag screens. If you’re in Horizon online and it disconnects, you can choose Horizon solo, but then it will bug you to ask if you want to go online instead. Whatever you do, it never leaves you alone for long.

Crowd still animates at 30fps, regardless of the framerate the game itself is set to.

Eliminator still tells you the destination distance by road rather than as the crow flies, which would be much more useful in a game where taking a direct route is often required. You can be very near the destination but it might say you are miles away.

Eliminator still begins while blocking your view with a big message, and doesn’t display your HUD, meaning you are disorientated and can’t see if there are car drops or opponents nearby and are vulnerable. Never fixed in FH4 either.

Super 7 challenge cards can still appear in a language different to your own, an issue never fixed since FH4.

Rewind is still broken from FH4, sometimes it won’t let you rewind after a certain number of times. This is a hindrance to hitting some bonus boards which require trial and error.

PR stunts refuse to register a time if it is too soon to the previous one, it insists on showing all the many notifications first before it will register any subsequent attempts. This annoyance persists from FH4 and means rewinding to do it again is impossible.

PR stunts have a bug where you can beat the requirement, in the correct car, but it says you are 1mph or 1ft short.

Seasonal goals have a bug where it might tell you to win an event but in fact you need to come second, or it tells you to do a clean rivals lap, but actually only a dirty one works.

If wheels are turned before taking a photo, wheels revert to straight ahead during photo mode. This worked in FH4, now broken.

Online races no longer show split times, a major regression from FH4. Also, game stats don’t keep track of your number of online race wins any more (except Eliminator).

Eliminator problems include invisible players, inability to challenge other players and the finish line not registering when you drive over it.

Custom controller settings insists you assign a button to the map, an annoyance which remains unfixed from FH4.

Forza Link is a regression over the old chat system because it only allows two custom chat phrases rather than four. The two it chooses for you tend to go unused because they are generic things like ‘Hi’. In a race it would be fun to have a mix of phrases which were banter, to apologise for a mistake, to acknowledge good driving, or to say GG at the end for example.

Other players can no longer see your ‘prestige’ level on leaderboards, rendering ‘prestige’ pointless because you appear to be a lower level player than people you are actually higher level than.

Route creator has significant failings and limitations. https://forums.forza.net/turn10_postst169800_The-state-of-the-track-map-event-challenge-editor-is-just-embarassing.aspx

And https://forums.forza.net/turn10_postst170585_Route-Creator---Blueprint-is-effectively-unusable-for-people-putting-a-lot-of-work-into-tracks.aspx (horror story)

Seasonal PR stunts no longer give super wheelspins, only normal ones, a regression from FH4.

Weather bug where it can be stormy, dark and wet one moment but then dry and sunny instantly the next.

At the end of a race you have to wait five seconds (baked-in delay while the screen blurs for dramatic effect) before the scoreboard appears.

In cross country, there are green flags near checkpoints which are not much different in colour to the checkpoint markers, which can be distracting and cause you to miss a checkpoint.

Yes all of this!

[jaswr19ht]

@FullNietzsche

Can’t skip cutscenes in stories, this was a common complaint in FH4.

I hardly completed any storylines because of this in FH4. Gonna have to force myself to play them unless they change something.

Another bug I’ve noticed is cars upgraded with slick tyres show up in car selection as having offroad tyres. While I love the idea of of being able to identify what setup your car has at a glance it’s another thing they couldn’t implement properly without a bug.

[Wodanswolf45]

@turtleCZ

Best Horizon ever.

LOL you can’t be serious. if you are you clearly need to get out more.

[VanquishedAgain]

@andynick990

This franchise is the definition of fun driving, but seeing how FH5 is treated by the devs, I think this era will come to an end sooner than later.

You’re a tier 1…

[PurpIe_Noise]

@VanquishedAgain

@andynick990

This franchise is the definition of fun driving, but seeing how FH5 is treated by the devs, I think this era will come to an end sooner than later.

You’re a tier 1…

and you’re an elitist… tier is irrelevant, many of us with the same or higher tier than you agree with OP.

The quality of Forza titles has been going downhill since 2012. You can deny it and defend it like the fanboys you clearly are but it doesn’t make it untrue.

Its a broken buggy mess and the only thing they’ve bothered to fix is the exploits, which as OP mentioned, says it all.

[Blackout_Guy]

@PurpIe_Noise

@VanquishedAgain

@andynick990

This franchise is the definition of fun driving, but seeing how FH5 is treated by the devs, I think this era will come to an end sooner than later.

You’re a tier 1…

and you’re an elitist… tier is irrelevant, many of us with the same or higher tier than you agree with OP.

The quality of Forza titles has been going downhill since 2012. You can deny it and defend it like the fanboys you clearly are but it doesn’t make it untrue.

Its a broken buggy mess and the only thing they’ve bothered to fix is the exploits, which as OP mentioned, says it all.

OOF!!!

I wasn’t ready for that level of unbridled savagery.

[ziperrPL]

Nice list FN, but you are missing some.
Let me add:
Rebranding - if you change names of things it doesn’t mean they are new thing e.g. Forzathon Live → Horizon Arcade

UI - I know that it may be to preferences of player, but FH4 was much better. FH5 is maybe cleaner, but I would rather have something useful. I got used to new layout of pause menu, but upgrades menu is pure pain.

Eliminator - 1. race finishing point outside of circle (I was challanged to race while circle was shrinking), 2. IMO need better balance on cars

Convoy - not showing up in one session and no button to “find new session”

Audio issues - 1. “rev up” in upgrades menu doesn’t work after changing parts, 2. in freeroam after changing car there is no engine sound. In both cases they are not working for around 10-15 seconds.

[Jogicat]

And what is with the thumbnails in the garage or car collection? Black windshields, headlights and even whole wheels? Not to mention the many broken accolades.

Took me only about 48 hours to find almost 100 bugs in the game just playing the normal way it should meant to play so how can it be? Did all the Game Magazine really played this game, got they a special version? Not to mention the translation errors in the german version of the game…

[FullNietzsche]

Another thing is the duplication and redundancy of messages, like you buy a car and then get a message telling you that you have a new car in your collection (the one you just bought). Or you buy out a car at auction, and then get a message telling you that you won an auction. Oh and the auction house still doesn’t collect your cars or winnings for you, making you do it manually (and then after you do it, giving you a message telling you that you did it). It’s all really stupid.

[FullNietzsche]

I just tried FH3 again today and was reminded that it had quality post race rewards screens which showed your credits and XP awarded.

Other ways in which FH3 was arguably superior: the final scoreboard came up instantly and when it puts you back to free roam you can drive instantly (or bring up the map or menu instantly if you wish) whereas both FH4 and FH5 pan the camera for four seconds before you can do anything. It's the little things which can make the difference.

[TendererTuna9]

Best Horizon ever and i am on original xbox one offline only. The AI is a little tougher and need to use the brightest picture mode on tv and it looks great and runs very smoothly. Each Horizon just gets better every time,yes there are things to be fixed but just be patient.

[turtleCZ]

@TendererTuna9

Best Horizon ever and i am on original xbox one offline only. The AI is a little tougher and need to use the brightest picture mode on tv and it looks great and runs very smoothly. Each Horizon just gets better every time,yes there are things to be fixed but just be patient.

+1

[MiC_e9]

One issue I didn’t see mentioned are the water drops that stay on screen after driving through water or rain. Sometimes they disappear, mostly they stay.
Yesterday I had to restart the game 4 times in just 5 hours due to this.

[turtleCZ]

@MiC_e9

One issue I didn’t see mentioned are the water drops that stay on screen after driving through water or rain. Sometimes they disappear, mostly they stay.
Yesterday I had to restart the game 4 times in just 5 hours due to this.

It’s a big problem! It’s when you switch cams during rain/splash. They stay there until another rain/splash. Very annoying.

[nayre33]

forza horizon has become less about cars and more about making the player feel like the “greatest racer super star bestet ever! in 4k super graphics!”, adding all the emotes and clothing yet car model inaccuracies persist, chasing trends like battle royale with the eliminator and then forcing engagement by locking cars behind it, and other online components. I get that games are a business and they have to expand player base but at what cost,

[DeadJericho]

for a game thats apparently ‘broken’ ive sure been having a lot of fun driving around, doing races and getting achievements.
guess my game works and everyone elses doesnt. cool.

[nortsable]

@DeadJericho

for a game thats apparently ‘broken’ ive sure been having a lot of fun driving around, doing races and getting achievements.
guess my game works and everyone elses doesnt. cool.

Compared to many of the comments in here, especially FullNietzsche’s long listing of actual confirmed bugs and mishaps in FH5, your comment is only one thing: polemic.

[Hairy_Mouse]

I saw you actually mentioned Rockstar in your post, but before I even read it, GTA is the first thing that came to mind. When the next last gen version of GTAV launched, it seemed like the best thing since sliced bread. The hype for GTAVI was REAL. Since then, the been milking that game for years, adding more grinding, releasing GARBAGE ports, and just running things into the ground. The original founder of the GTA series even left the company.

GTA has always at the top of the class when it came to great games, and felt like it would always be something to look forward to the next release. However, it’s feeling like we’re at the end of an era, and GTA is nothing more than a money milking cash grab, with no improvement or innovation.

This is the EXACT same thought I had with FH5. Towards the end of FH4, it felt like the series had reached its pinnacle, and I figured that FH5 would be an even FURTHER step up in quality. However, it’s actually feels like it has been the opposite. A big focus on trying to artificially inflate the longevity, a big push for more of a live service style, and casual accessability, have really been a detriment to the core experience of Forza. It seems to have lost it’s sould, and pushed more towards a run of the mill, low effort/high profitability live service grind.

In their attempt at also making it a more casual and accessible sandbox/playground, in an attempt to get more engagement from a broader range of player types, it has lost a lot of the appeal to the actual racing audience, and those interested in competitive racing. It’s seems like the game has suffered from trying to make it appeal to EVERYONE, and trying to do to many things, instead of focusing more on specific elements that the core audience enjoys. It’s basically like the game tried to be just OKAY at everything, instead of being the BEST at some things.

It’s just odd. It sort of feels more like a children’s game, except has many elements that children wouldn’t even know how to USE, let alone be appealing to them. This side of the audience complains things are too complicated and hard, the other side complains things are too shallow, simplistic, and immature. It seems like sort of an odd mish-mash of conflicting elements, and becomes less satisfying and appealing to both parties, instead of focusing more on satisfying one or the other. It’s like the game has an identity crisis. It’s not good at being an arcade racer, and fails as a sim racer. The fact that AI just scales to your cars performance and lap times means that tubing is basically pointless, and the lack of a competitive ranked online mode means there’s no real use for optimal tunes. Hell, the most popular tunes have been for “AFK farming” exploit, and not even for RACING.

Assuming they continue even farther down this path, what’s that say for FH6? I can even see the game going F2P, with Cr packs and wheelspins sold as MTX. Just look at Halo.

[FullNietzsche]

@Hairy_Mouse

It’s just odd. It sort of feels more like a children’s game, except has many elements that children wouldn’t even know how to USE, let alone be appealing to them. This side of the audience complains things are too complicated and hard, the other side complains things are too shallow, simplistic, and immature. It seems like sort of an odd mish-mash of conflicting elements, and becomes less satisfying and appealing to both parties, instead of focusing more on satisfying one or the other. It’s like the game has an identity crisis. It’s not good at being an arcade racer, and fails as a sim racer. The fact that AI just scales to your cars performance and lap times means that tubing is basically pointless, and the lack of a competitive ranked online mode means there’s no real use for optimal tunes. Hell, the most popular tunes have been for “AFK farming” exploit, and not even for RACING.

Yep tuning is pointless for racing offline. I remember in the 2005 game NFS Most Wanted where you gradually unlocked better upgrades as you won races and completed tasks to earn rep (like disabling cop cars) and earned credits to make your car just a little bit quicker, or handle just a little bit better, so you could just finally beat the next boss race on the blacklist. A real sense of progression. Here it’s just a sandbox, there is no point to any of it and the racing isn’t enjoyable for its own sake because the AI is so badly designed. btw, the ‘tasks’ in that game were ALL FUN, they were NOT just something you did because you HAD to, to get to something you DID want to do, like it is in Forza. Any game designed on that basis is a failure as a game. (I can’t say it’s a commercial failure but that’s not what we’re judging here. I’m not a shareholder, I’m a gamer.)

[Blackout_Guy]

Steadily?

It never had quality to begin with.