Summary
As players drive around the stunning scenery of Mexico inForza Horizon 5, the cars the player can drive get both more exotic, and more pricey. The developers at Playground Games know this, and start the player off with some relatively inexpensive starter options.
With the Auction House and the Gifting feature, getting one’s hands on a “used” car is pretty easy. But, that’s not always the case. With nearly900 cars and countingto choose from in the world ofForza Horizon 5, players looking to feel that new-car smell won’t have to search long to find some fresh wheels.
10'20 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray / ‘21 Ford Bronco / ‘20 Toyota Supra GR
Choose Your Character
The easiest cars to unlock are the ones that players get right after the tutorial drive. Players get to take a drive through the beautiful and diverse game world in all three of the cars above. Though the game asks players choose between one of the three, they ultimately get to keep all the cars and can drive them out of the Horizon Festival garage whenever they choose.
All the cars are good at what they do, and offergreat upgradeabilityfor their skill set. The Corvette is great at speed and in a straight line, the Bronco can take on the rugged terrain for off-roading, and the Supra can weave through the corners like a precision needle. Though the Bronco is not a sports car, it is a sports utility vehicle.
92017 Ford Focus RS
Life Is A Highway
Accolades are milestones that the player can track to complete objectives and earn some rewards. Fortunately, on top of earning Wheelspins and Credits, there are also a bunch of cars that are earnable.
One of the easiest Accolades to complete is driving on and discovering 10 roads, earning the Ford Focus RS. A competent hot hatch with All-Wheel Drive, the Focus RS can handle pretty much anything the Horizon Festival throws at the player. The Focus RS is great for most kinds of racing, but excels at bothrally racingand road racing.
82003 Nissan Fairlady Z
My Fair Lady
The Nissan Fairlady Z, called the Nissan 350Z in North American markets, is a staple of modern Japanese Domestic Market, or JDM cars, both in the game and in real life. It’s fairly cheap, in both the Autoshow and the Auction House, with the latter option routinely going for only a few thousand credits. But the iconic boomerang-style tail lights can be had for free.
All the player has to do is find one Fast Travel boards and run it over. The Fairlady Z is a solid option fordrifting buildswith its Rear-Wheel Drive drivetrain and smaller body, but it can get up to speed and even reach into the S2 performance class if the player wants to go all out on engine swaps and max performance.
72016 Cadillac CTS-V Sedan
I Bet My Caddy Will
For driving 1000 miles (or 1,609 km), the player will be rewarded with a muscle icon car, a Cadillac. Funnily enough, being a muscle car, it excels at going a quarter-mile at a time.
The CTS-V is a great car for players looking to get intodrag racing. Its 640 horsepower at bog-standard with the high-pitched whine of a supercharged V8 is both music to car enthusiast’s ears, and a sound of victory when the CTS-V crosses the quarter-mile finish line ahead of most of the competition.
62019 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
A Particular Set Of Skills
Technically possible within the first few minutes inForza Horizon 5, players can unlock this sports car with a little skill chaining.Skill Scoreis a virtual point system given out based on actions like drifting and smashing through destructible objects. The higher the score and multipliers rise, the more skill score the player can get.
Banking a chain worth one million Skill Score or higher rewards the player with the Corvette ZR1, a track-ready machine with a knack for winning road races. It’s expensive to buy outright, but being able to claim a free one might hamper its value on the Auction House market.
52017 Ferrari GTC4Lusso
Shuttering Speed
Completing the El Camino story is like playing a big game of I Spy. Using the game’sexcellent photo mode, players are tasked with finding ancient objects in the wilderness of Mexico.
The reward for completing the story and earning 3 stars for each chapter is the Ferrari GTC4Lusso. With that name and iconic horse badge, players get the racing pedigree and superb engineering Ferrari is known for. It’s zippy through the corners and fast down the line, all while maintaining Lusso, or luxury.
42011 Bugatti Veyron Super Sport
Punch That Stop Sign In The Face
Once considered the fastest car on the planet, according to a certain television program, there’sno stopping this hypercarwhen it reaches top gear.
Completing 20 games of The Eliminator might sound daunting, but note that there’s no need to win. The reward is a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport. An eye-watering 1100 horsepower from its W16 engine (essentially two V8 engines in one block) is good for a maxed-out Acceleration stat as base, and it boasts a 0-100 mp/h of 5 seconds flat.
32012 Porsche 911 GT2 RS
Picture Perfect
Forza Horizon 5offers an excellent Photo Mode, and with the stars of the show being true-to-life,graphically stunning, virtual recreations of actual cars, every shot is gorgeous. Players are incentivized to take photos of each new car they see, bringing some rewards the player’s way.
Players can get a beautiful Porsche 911 GT2 RS, the older 2012 model, for snapping pics of 200 different cars. A trick to the completion target is that other players’ cars count towards that total, so if players find themselves at a virtual car meet, grab that camera and get shooting.
21991 Jaguar Sport XJR-15
Do You Want To Come For A Ride In My Jaaaaaaaag?
Another fun feature in theForza Horizonseries is Barn Finds. Introduced in the firstForza Horizonfrom 2012, players hear about rumors going around that some exceptionally rare cars were tucked away in quiet, dusty, old barns dotted around the map. One such example inForza Horizon 5is this Jaguar XJR-15.
A proper Jag, the XJR hasa sleek body, a lovely-sounding 6.0L V12 getting up to 450 horsepower, and the ability to reach the highest performance class in the game, at X 999. Fitting. Of the fourteen barn finds inForza Horizon 5, it is second to only the ‘89 Ferrari F40 Competizione.
1'14 BAC Mono / ‘18 Deberti F-150 Prerunner / ‘07 Peugeot 207 Super 200 / ‘93 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec
A Grand Tour
Like the tutorial cars given to players at the start of the game, as the player completes races and objectives, they get Expeditions to complete. Along with adding more races, speed traps, drift zones and the like, some new cars are added to the Garage as a reward.
All the cars above are obtained right after the respective Expedition is finished, and the Accolade is collected. Each of them is suited to the terrain that their corresponding Expedition showcased.
