Forza Horizon 5’s map is 50% bigger than the last game

Playground Games has revealed its latest open-world racing offering, Forza Horizon 5, will have the largest map yet when it drops later this year.

Based on real-world Mexico, developers have confirmed via Twitter the environment is 1.5x larger than Horizon 4’s. That map was around 71 square kilometres in total, meaning the new one should exceed 100 square kilometres.

6

If you’re unfamiliar with the Microsoft-exclusive Horizon series, it’s an arcade-style counterpart of the more serious Forza Motorsport games.

Each Horizon game offers a freely-explorable map rather than closed circuits, which makes for a player-guided experience. So far the instalments have been set in Colorado, Southern France/Northern Italy, Australia, the UK and now Mexico.

This time around, there’s a diverse range of biomes to be driven: Canyon, tropical coast, farmland, arid hills, jungle, living desert, rocky coast, sand desert, swamp, urban city of Guanajuato, and volcano.

6

Some of the new map’s notable features include a huge volcano, with snaking mountain roads topped with both drift-ready asphalt and dirt perfect for rallying.

Alongside tightly-wound street circuits in Guanajuato, there are rolling sand dunes for Baja racing and an airstrip ready for drags. There’s also a massive highway cutting through the middle for top-speed runs.

6

Other real-world locations include oasis town Mulegé, the beachside Playa Azul, and numerous ancient landmarks including Uxmal, Tula, and Teotihuacan – which appears to be used as a drag strip. One Reddit user identified a staggering 734 separate roads across the map - though its your choice if you want to take the beaten path or go overland.

6

Like Horizon 4’s condensed United Kingdom, the map’s conditions will change depending on the in-game season. Expect rain and luscious greenery during the wet season, followed by arid dry spells.

Since the game’s announcement in March, about 50 cars have been confirmed through trailers and promotional material, including several never before seen in a Horizon instalment.

6

Horizon 4 boasted 450 cars upon its 2018 release, which has now been bumped up to an eye-watering 750. With that in mind, it’s a safe bet the new game will have at least 450 cars when it’s released on November 9.

Forza Horizon 5 will be available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC.