More Immersive Cockpit
- Windshields spiderweb gradually instead of all at once with the location and depth of the crack depending on the location and severity of the collision.
- Algae, bugs, dust, mud, and rooster tails collect on windshields.
- Cockpit is fully animated with 900° steering and fully-functional handbrakes, horns, pedals, and shifters.
- Ability to see from inside the helmet (if worn by a player) whenever using the cockpit and driver camera views.
- Ability to pan the camera up, down, and around the entire cockpit whenever using the cockpit and driver camera views.
- Cockpits suffer from turbulence when driving at speeds above 120 miles per hour.
- Ability to adjust the seating position.
- Characters grunt when involved in collisions, landing jumps, or while trading paint whenever using the cockpit and driver camera views.
- Wind noise heard from inside the cockpit changes whenever drafting opponents.
Additions to the HUD
- Inclusion of an odometer.
- Inclusion of turbocharger and supercharger gauges.
- Ability to change the color of the HUD.
- Rearview mirror for the chase far, chase near, bumper, and hood camera views.
Modifications to Traffic Behavior
- Traffic vehicles honk their horns if they are blocked, cut off, or an oncoming vehicle enters their lane.
- Oncoming traffic vehicles screech to a halt, or swerve out of the way if a vehicle drives directly in front of them.
Modifications to Vehicle Obtainability
- All vehicles at launch are available in the Autoshow.
- Reintroduction of Horizon Backstage.
Additional Skills
- Defense: Maintaining your current position by blocking an opponent without making contact, or weaving back and forth.
- Turn: Taking a corner without making contact with barriers and opponents.
- Undertake: Passing an opponent on the inside of a corner without making contact with barriers and opponents.
Additions to Character Customization
- Ability to add facial hair and change body type and eye color.
- Inclusion of licensed fire suits, helmets, racing gloves, and racing shoes.
Modifications to Racing
- Reintroduction of a three-second countdown at the beginning of each race.
- Reintroduction of split times between the player and opponents.
- ANNA provides directions during Street Scene events.
Modifications to Fast Traveling
- Fast Travel Anywhere is available by default and is also free, but players must still drive on a road once before they can fast travel to it at any time.
- Ability for the player to choose which direction they will be facing after using fast travel.
More Immersive Environment
- Vehicle paint smears along barriers and walls after contact.
- Buildings and large trees sustain damage after collisions.
- Spectators flinch whenever vehicles collide against barriers.
- Debris remains on the track during circuit events.
- Reintroduction of licensed trackside advertisements and brake markers during events sanctioned by the Horizon Festival.
- Heat haze above engine bays during hot weather.
- Spectators are present during Street Scene events.
- Spectators jump back and forth over barriers as vehicles approach and drive by.
- Introduction of rumble strips during events sanctioned by the Horizon Festival.
- Twigs and other foliage become lodged in the gaps and grills of vehicles.
Modifications to Drivatars
- Order of the starting grid is determined by PI level with the higher-leveled cars starting from the back and the lower-leveled cars starting from the front.
- Drivatar population in Horizon Solo to be drastically lowered and spaced out.
- Vehicles used by Drivatars are limited to the same modifications available to the player.
- Vehicles used by Drivatars are unmodified if the player uses an unmodified vehicle.
- Drivatars are affected by weather, terrain, and smashable objects.
- Drivatars can be goaded into making a mistake and can make mistakes without being influenced to.
- Drivatars make greater efforts to pass each other.
- Drivatars use other racing lines in addition to the optimal one.
- Drivatars will retaliate if the player is rough against them.
- Vehicles used by Drivatars in Street Scene events are no longer randomized.
Modifications to the Economy
- Clothing, emotes, horns, and ForzaLink phrases are all unlocked by default.
- Ability to sell duplicate prize cars for half the original cost.
- Percentage of bonus credits earned increases by enabling simulation damage and steering and disabling rewind and the driving line.
Additional Features
- Introduction of garages for players to display and interact with their favorite vehicles.
- Reintroduction of OneDrive music integration.
- Ability to set specific horns and vanity plates to specific vehicles.
- Ability to put vehicles in neutral.
- Manufacturer colors are properly named.
- Reintroduction of E-Class and F-Class.
- Ability to create reversed and mirrored variants of existing routes.
- Introduction of G-Class.
- Ability to choose multiple ghosts for a Rivals event.
- Ability to set specific character outfits for specific events and modes.
Quality of Life Improvements
- Ability to turn off the recommended section in the car selection menu.
- Ability to change lap count, opponent count, time of day, and weather on existing tracks without having to create a Horizon Blueprint.
- Forzathon Weekly Chapters can be completed simultaneously instead of chronologically.
- Ability to immediately start the next race in a championship from the results menu.
- Ability to enable and disable PR stunts.
- Ability to apply upgrades and tunes to vehicles in the pre-race menu.
- Ability to change vehicles in the pre-race menu.
- Ability to enter events from the map screen if the player has already discovered its location.
- Option to change vehicles is available on the campaign submenu instead of the cars submenu.