There's nothing quite like the exhilarating open-world racing experience of Forza Horizon 5, and now it's finally available on PlayStation 5. While other games like The Crew Motorfest come close by embracing a festival atmosphere akin to Forza Horizon, they don't quite hit the mark. The Crew Motorfest has taken cues from the Horizon series, making it more similar to its predecessors than ever before.

On the other hand, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, despite being a pioneer in MMO racing, falls short. Solar Crown's requirement to be always online without a dedicated solo mode contrasts sharply with Forza Horizon's seamless transition between online and offline play, a feature available since Forza Horizon 2 in 2014.

Need for Speed Unbound boasts an impressive customization suite that surpasses Forza Horizon in some areas, but its focus on high-speed pursuits and arcade-style racing makes it a different beast altogether, not a direct competitor.

Forza Horizon 5 stands out as the premier open-world racing game, and its arrival on PlayStation 5 has been met with excitement. The game's expansive and stunning Mexico map, along with its drift-friendly vehicle dynamics and a garage boasting over 900 cars—including many cult favorites not found elsewhere—offers PlayStation users an immersive experience like no other.

The reaction from new players has been thrilling to observe. Playground Games' art director, Don Arceta, expresses his enthusiasm: "Yeah, I'm super excited. Like, brand new people; for many, this will probably be the first Forza Horizon game that they've ever played. So it's super exciting just to think about that, and think about what *our* first Horizon experiences were."

Arceta is particularly eager to see the creative races and places PlayStation 5 players will create using Forza Horizon 5's Event Lab. "We have over 800 props now in the Event Lab, and just seeing what the community's done with that feature and mode – and the creativity of the community – it's just mind blowing," he says. "I'm super excited, once we get into the PlayStation 5 users, about what they'll build, and the creativity that will come from that community."

Players can also enjoy some impressive Halo content on PlayStation, thanks to the Event Lab props. "You'll actually get some pretty good Halo content too on the PlayStation, with the event lab props!"

The port to PlayStation 5 has been technically impeccable, matching the quality of its Xbox and PC versions. This is a testament to the hard work of the development team, as Arceta explains: "As you can imagine, because the series has been based around the Xbox environment and architecture, there's a lot of code and engineering that's worked with that. So when we brought it to the PS5, it was no small undertaking. It was quite a huge task."

The PlayStation 5 version was developed by Panic Button, in collaboration with Turn 10 and Playground Games. "The PlayStation 5 version was developed by Panic Button, in collaboration with Turn 10 and ourselves, but Panic Button did an amazing job. So you get that amazing, quality experience that you get on Xbox and PC – now you get on the PlayStation, and it's just amazing work that Panic Button has done."

For car enthusiasts, the Forza series, particularly Forza Horizon 5, is a treasure trove of unique and desirable vehicles. The idea of new players discovering their favorite cars within the game is thrilling. "Personally, I've never been able to look past the Forza series as a whole as home to the biggest and best bag of Hot Wheels on the block. No other racing series contains more weird and wonderful cars that I want, piled on top of a cavalcade of cars I didn't even *know* I wanted. As a car fan, I *love* the idea of a whole new cohort of players potentially discovering their favourite cars in Forza Horizon 5 – cars their other racing games just haven't been serving them."

David Orton, lead game designer at Playground Games, emphasizes the game's breadth and inclusivity. "The breadth of Horizon is quite staggering," says Orton. "I think what we find is players go in and find what they really enjoy but, because there's so much freedom, that can really be whatever you want it to be."

Horizon welcomes everyone, offering something for every type of player. "We always pride ourselves on giving the player that kind of agency and freedom to do whatever they want, and the game will reward them and react in that way. I'm really looking forward to players just discovering the breadth of the content. If you just want to do road racing, or if you're really into Rivals and track racing, you can totally do that. But if you love taking incredible photos, you can totally do that. If you're into Event Lab, and you want to create content for other people, you can totally do that. Horizon is the space where really everyone is welcome, and there's something in it for everyone. I think the feeling of people going in and realizing this is more than just a racing game is what's really exciting for me."

Arceta hopes that the surprise and delight of new players will be a victory for the team. "For me, a victory would be, like, 'I can't believe I've never played this game before,'" says Arceta. "I think the *surprise*."

"That, for me, is a victory, because once they're surprised, they're engaged – and they want to learn more. So I'm really looking for that. The delight from players; just hearing their surprise and hearing their stories."

Orton agrees, anticipating the joy of new players discovering Forza Horizon 5. "Yeah, I think it's that," he adds. "Players who've never tried Horizon before – whether that's because it's on a different platform, or they've just never had the time to do it – to actually jump into this world and realize that it's actually a really warm, welcoming place that's full of fun, and finding a home at Horizon."

"Players who've never played before realizing that, 'Oh my goodness, how have I never played this game before? This is incredible.' That, to me, is a win. We're about to target a cohort of players who may have never played a Forza title before. There's a bit of an unknown to how people react to that, but I think when you look at the history of our titles, we're continually perfecting our craft. We feel so excited to bring this to PlayStation. I think we're going to bring in a whole load of new players and that's really exciting."

For racing game fans, the arrival of Forza Horizon 5 on PlayStation 5 breaks down a significant barrier. Let's hope it's not the last.