Fair point.
I don’t think that games like this will ever go without a live service though, and in that case I prefer it being dressed up (properly) over it being like FH5.
The ONE thing I enjoy about seasons in FH5 that is not random is the annoying puddle on the apex of one of the tracks in the east in the wet season. The one that if you forget about it and drive through it makes you lose grip. I thought that was a nice touch.
I would probably have enjoyed the different water levels too if it wasn’t for the fact that drivatars are almost unaffected by them.
FH4’s winter could be annoying at times. Saying this, I made a ton of custom races during the winter season in that game. Extensively made use of the frozen lake, frozen rivers, and went so far as to map out which roads were the most covered in snow just to make races which only used those routes for maximum sliding. Great fun with muscle cars!
FH5’s seasons are a total joke. Other than the one lake and associated rivers drying up there’s barely any difference. Aside from the puddle on the road to the east there is one, just ONE spot in the entire map which has standing water on a paved road and it is only there for one out of four seasons. Blink and you’ll miss it.
Not only could they have done sooo much more with seasons, they absolutely should have.
Imagine if during the stormy seasons those drainage tunnels under Guanajuato had pools of water scattered throughout? Maybe run-off water pouring from grates in the walls?
What if during the hot season the desert in the west grew in size, like the biome itself expanded outside of its borders?
How about some freak blizzards to the east of the mountain when it has the most snow?
Flooding in Copper Canyon?
Anything…? Anything at all?
At this rate they should seriously consider making a completely unique map inspired by various elements from real world locations so they can go nuts with creativity.
What I love about FH4’s winter is that you have more places to drive on and extra race routes and an extra drag strip. Also you had the opportunity to look for an extra car. It was kind of a secret/easter egg thing like in Driver 2
FH4 seasons, to continue the off-thread nostalgia also had some little nods in traffic, most notably the Snow Plows in winter and Tractors in ? spring and fall ?
In more ways than one FH5 feels… I dunno, rushed ? incomplete ? like many little things got set aside because… reasons.
My top pick for a location that shows off all 4 seasons would be South Korea. And I say that as a Canadian.
Fun fact: South Korea and Ontario both experience the most extreme seasonal temperature shifts in the world. The summers get very hot and the winters get very cold.
On average? No competition Saskatchewan is colder. But here in southern Ontario you can see temps dip below -30 on occasion. But it’s more about the temperature swing. We get into the 30+s sometimes in the summer.
Add that on top of the humidity and it feels a lot colder/warmer than it is.
I remember making fun of Torontonians for complaining about -15, then I actually moved to Toronto and experienced -15 and holy cow I’d much prefer -30 where I grew up to that.
Really looking forward to some Rallying also i would like to suggest that you consider making the 20B swap available again in the game as in previous Forza Motorsport, Horizon xbox 360 era games it was cool to have more rotary options, and also since in IRL There’s a Mazda RX-8 3 rotor 20B from NZ is build for rallying I would love to replicate their build if the 20B Swap was make available again since is also use in KMR FD RX-8 that’s already in the game thanks for reading and I’ll see every on Sierra Nueva.
I’ll take my -12 cold Vancouver weather, thank you very much.
OT: if they keep this trend with 7 more off-roaders next month, then that’s potentially 24 new or returning cars in two months, with the expansion. Not bad considering the games current life span. Been waiting for a proper off-road car/truck update for awhile.
Looking forward to this. I know people wanted a city expansion but this is more up my alley. I would have appreciated more eventlab city type props but also nice to hear we’re getting more props in general.
The sand storms to me, were just an unnecessary annoyance. But then, everyone has to has something to actually complain about (which is different than pointing out bugs and deficiencies in the game) or the game isn’t complete.
I was personally not fond of the seasons mechanic in Horizon 4, but Horizon 5 has proven why it is so important, at least with what Horizon has become. Horizons 1 through 3 didn’t hold players capitive with the live service model, so I never really got tired of the maps because I only played when I wanted to play. Nowadays, if you’re a completetionist, you need to tune in at least once a week for at least one hour, and that’s where the real map fatigue begins. I got tired of Horizon 4’s map even with the seasons, and I got burned out with Horizon 5’s even quicker due to the lack of substantial change.
I think the repetitive play of FH5 is one of the kill switches for me too. How many times each season they throw the same tracks at us. It’s part of the boring - ness of the game.
I know, too much just “USA North” probably and no ice racing on the Rideau Canal this year 
