There have been many giants of the arcade racing genre. From Need for Speed to Burnout and Test Drive Unlimited, the title of "best arcade racing game" changed hands more often than anyone could keep up with.
But for the last decade or so, there has only been one. It's a championship run that Joe Lewis or Roman Reigns would be proud of. And it doesn't look like anyone will be dethroning Forza Horizon any time soon.
Spin-off Triumph
It's crazy to think today, but there was a time when Forza Motorsport was a brilliant game that Xbox players kept coming back to. Its success, along with the decline of NFS, gave Xbox and Turn 10 Studios an opening to create a more approachable and less serious racing game.
So in 2012 Forza Horizon was born and it quickly took over the whole genre. The concept of blending a usual rags-to-riches story with a music/car festival environment chimed perfectly with gamers at the time and the strong critical and fan reception meant a sequel was guaranteed.
As the Forza Motorsport series started to fall apart, Horizon went from strength to strength, and by the time Forza Horizon 4 launched in 2018 no other arcade game could touch it. Weekly challenges, a wide-open and characterful map, and a thrilling car list gave the game enormous appeal. The series launched into the stratosphere with Xbox Game Pass, giving millions an entry point to wild racing with accessible controls for all ages.
Since then there has been no competing with it, and even if older fans felt Forza Horizon 5 was just a reskin of FH4, it still sold extremely well and sees players come back every week for its Festival Playlist updates.
Crushing The Competition
Though EA has tried to revive Need for Speed and Nacon has just attempted to restart Test Drive Unlimited, they are all stuck firmly in Horizon's shadow.
The formula of an open world with fields and hills you can barrel over at your leisure paired with new challenges and weekly rewards is a simple yet engaging one.
Test Drive attempts more realism in its handling and map, and NFS tried to engage with police chases and car building. But neither is as fun as Horizon, which is the game's real difference-maker.
Horizon's handling is just the right balance for ease of use and fine control. You can skillfully chain drifts together or just mash your foot down with little worry. You can cruise around the map and discover amazing locations or rewards. And the racing has just the right amount of rubberbanding for most players.
Its customization lets you add huge amounts of performance to a car or paint it in any way you want. Sharing liveries means the less talented painters, like myself, can still get Castrol or Red Bull designs on their favorite road cars. Its EventsLab tools let people make race tracks and mini-games within Horizon. There is simply nothing like it.
Suffering From Success
The "Horizon formula" was perfected in FH4 and reused almost beat for beat in FH5. That formula has now been around for six out of Horizon's 12 years, and while some believe it needs an evolution it remains wildly successful.
Playground Games lost a huge chunk of its Forza team over the last two years, including co-founder Gavin Raeburn and Creative Director Mike Brown. This does open the door for new ideas ahead of what is surely a successful Forza Horizon 6 launch hopefully next year.
But as we've seen from successful franchises before, they can become stuck. Unable to move one way or another for fear of losing their market dominance. It happened to Call of Duty in the broader gaming world and to Need for Speed in the arcade racing scene.
That doesn't look like it will be the fate of Horizon though. Everyone else in the arcade racing scene is trying to emulate and improve on Horizon, and none have. Just as Mario Kart is the undeniable king of combat kart racers, Forza Horizon rules over the world of arcade racing thanks to its low skill barrier and a focus on out-and-out fun.
Long may it reign.
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