Forza Horizon 5 Explore the Horizon brings six new cars and improved photo mode

With the High Performance Series coming to a close this week, Playground Games has unveiled the next Forza Horizon 5 Series update during May’s Forza Monthly stream.

Dubbed Explore the Horizon, Series 21 is all about overlanding, with a focus on off-roaders and conquering the wilderness.

Explore the Horizon promises to be a hefty update, bringing six new cars, photo mode updates, overlanding modifications for select vehicles and Pathfinder accolades to complete.

Six new cars

Over the next four weeks, Explore the Horizon is bringing six new cars to Forza Horizon 5, most of which are off-roaders in line with the theme.

Headlining the Sreies update is the Hummer EV, an electric SUV equipped with a 246.8kWh battery pack and a triple motor setup generating a combined 1,000 hp.

Forza Horizon 5 won’t be the Hummer EV’s racing game debut, though – it first appeared in the Nintendo Switch arcade racer Cruis’n Blast.

Other new reward cars in Explore the Horizon include the Cupra Formentor VZ5 (Cupra’s first standalone car), Cupra Tavascan Concept, the custom 2019 DeBerti Ford Super Duty F-250 Lariat 'Transformer,' 1972 Chevrolet K-10 Custom and 1986 Ford F-150 XLT Lariat.

While the off-roaders are unlocked by completing festival playlist challenges, the Cupras can be redeemed for free.

To redeem them, go to the My Horizon tab, open the Message Center and select Gifts. Here you’ll find the Cupras available to download from 24 May to 22 June.

New Pathfinder Challenges will encourage exploration in these new cars, with 12 unique routes added to Free Roam.

Overlanding modifications

As part of the overlanding theme, the next Series update is adding new vehicle modifications for select vehicles.

With the update, 16 trucks can be fitted with overlanding parts:

• 2017 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2
• 1972 Chevrolet K-10 Custom
• 2019 DeBerti Ford Super Duty F-250 Lariat 'Transformer'
• 2020 Ford Super Duty F-450 DRW Platinum
• 2019 Ford Ranger Raptor
• 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor
• 2011 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor
• 1986 Ford F-150 XLT Lariat
• 2022 GMC HUMMER EV Pickup
• 2019 Hennessey VelociRaptor 6x6
• 2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon
• 1997 Land Rover Defender 90
• 2014 Mercedes-Benz G 63 AMG 6x6
• 2018 Mercedes-Benz X-Class
• 2016 Nissan TITAN Warrior Concept
• 2017 RAM 2500 Power Wagon

Photo mode upgrades

Explore the Horizon is also bringing some surprise upgrades to Forza Horizon 5’s photo mode, allowing for more customisation to get the perfect shot.

Players can now adjust the time of day with eight presets, change the weather and even change the position of their avatar inside or outside the car. Unlocked character emotes are also supported.

• Time of Day Changes: Default, Dawn, Sunrise, Morning, Early Afternoon, Late Afternoon, Sunset, Evening, Night.
• Weather changes: Default, Clear, Clear Post Rain, Cloudy, Cloudy Post Rain, Overcast, Light Precipitation, Heavy Precipitation, Gale, Fog.
• Wheel Tilt: Default, Straight, Left, Right.
• Guidelines: Disabled, Different Aspect Ratios, 9x9 Grids, Golden Ratios.
• Character Positions*: Driver Seat, Centre Front, Left Front, Right Front, Centre Back, Left Back, Right Back, Left Side and Right Side.
• Character Emotes: Various emotes unlocked by the player are supported.
• Photo Presets: Added to the “Effects” menu, players can save, rename and delete Photo Mode presets to quickly load their favourite Photo Mode settings.
• Portrait Mode Toggle: Accessed through the Guidelines, this allows players to view how the photo will appear in portrait view.

*The vehicle must be stationary to access character positions outside of the car.

Accompanying the enhanced photo mode are new Eventlab props including new asphalt pieces for building the Horizon Oval Circuits and five new props featuring lights and a backdrop allowing you to build a photo studio.

Festival Playlists

Explore the Horizon’s Series Reward cars are the Wulling Sunshine (80 points) and Audi RS7 ’21 (160 points).

Summer

Summer’s Season Progress cars are the deBerti F-250 (20 points) and Porsche Macan RR (40 points).

You can also unlock the Lamborghini LM 002, AMG Hammer Coupe, Nissan Titan and 2020 Land Rover Defender by completing playlist challenges.

Autumn

Moving onto Autumn’s Season Progress cars, the 1986 Ford F-150 is unlocked at 20 points while the #44 Vida Carbon Racing is unlocked at 40 points.

You can also win the 1970 Ford GT70, 1973 Ford Escort, Maserati Levante and BMW X5 M.

Winter

As for Winter’s playlist, at 20 points you can unlock the 1972 Chevrolet K10. The other Season Progress reward car is the returning Hot Wheels Rip Rod unlocked at 40 points.

Alongside these, you can also get the #2069 Bronco R, Plymouth Barracuda, 2005 Subaru WRX and 2014 Jeep Cherokee

Spring

Finally, Spring’s playlist concludes Explore the Horizon with the Hummer EV Truck (20 points) and Morris Traveller (40 points).

Other cars you can win in playlist challenges are the Mini JCW Buggy, Mercedes-Benz 190E, Dodge Durango, Land Rover Velar and Hummer H1.

Bug fixes

As well as new content, Explore the Horizon is also bringing a batch of bug fixes in a patch update. Among these include:

• Launch Control settings would not save after restarting the game.
• Vehicle wheels would sometimes return to their default position in Photo Mode.
• On PC, the mouse cursor would occasionally disappear after some time.
• Missing side-marks on the 2020 Lamborghini Huracan STO when installing the race splitter.
• On the 2018 Italdesign Zerouno, the incorrect color was shown the front wheel rims and the engine frame incorrectly displayed when opening the front hood.
• Taller tires option was missing on the 2014 Mercedes-Benz Unimog U5023.
• Improvements have been made for some EventLab Blueprints which could cause a game crash when editing saved projects.
• Fixed an issue with weather management in Multiplayer races where weather conditions in certain conditions were not consistent between players.
• Controller vibration would suddenly stop working after disconnecting from an online session.
• Playground Games Team Flag Rush match score could revert to 0 once a player from the opposite team left the match.
• Scoreboards in Playground Games Survival Mode would disappear instead of minimising.

A full list of fixes will be available in the Forza Horizon 5 Explore the Horizon patch notes dropping later today.

Upgrade Heroes

As always, Forza Monthly ended with a preview for the next series. Following Explore the Horizon will be the new Upgrade Heroes Series.

Starting on 22 June, Upgrade Heroes will focus on tuning with the new Horizon Test Track where you can upgrade and test cars. In addition, Upgrade Heroes will bring new cars, rims and badges.