Forza Horizon 5: Major handling upgrades revealed


The upcoming release of Forza Horizon 5 will have amazing graphics features as well as improved audio. But how will the cars feel to drive? Well, Playground Games has given us an amazing update on all things handling!

From force feedback to off-road feel and even the tyres, it looks like Forza Horizon 5 will be a true next-gen experience in every way.

Force feedback for wheel players

More serious racing gamers will be pleased to hear the Playground Games team have been thinking a lot about the wheel experience. Much more data will help calculate what to send to your wheel for force feedback.

We had a quick glance at the expanded wheel settings in the latest Let's Go stream. There's a lot more there to tweak in terms of handling and make the game work just right with your particular setup.

thrustmaster tmx force feedback racing wheel xbox one
expand image
Wheel players will have a much happier time with Forza Horizon 5 than its predecessors

The mechanical trail scale changes how your feedback is influenced by the suspension movement. The feedback amount is linked to the lateral load, so you'll know when you're reaching the limit in a corner!

The load sensitivity option controls how the feedback is related to the fluctuations in load of the tyres, giving you more feel for how the vehicle is performing. Road feel and off-road feel tune how your wheel responds to higher frequency suspension movements caused by surface changes.

Overall, we expect these tweaks to add up to a much better wheel experience.

Braking upgrades and tyre grip

The way braking works has also had an overhaul. The developers describe how changing the brakes on a car makes a much bigger difference than before, so brake tuning should be more effective.

ABS has been remodeled to work in a much more modern way. Brake pressure will ease off rather than just modulating the brake response. This will help the beginner-friendly nature of Forza Horizon and make drivers with that assist on a little more competitive in races. We still expect to find time by switching ABS off though!

Playground Games have worked on how the tyres interact with the surfaces of the terrain and this also will change the performance as you brake.

fh4 jaguar project 7 alt
expand image
More sensitive and responsive brakes will help avoid moments like this

More accurately modelling tyre grip will reward drivers with much better sensitivity to their inputs but also provide heavier punishment for dipping a wheel onto the grass in street races. Maybe for the first time in Forza Horizon a straight line point to point won't be the easiest route!

Suspension modelling and off-road handling

Off-road explorers will also notice a difference. This improved grip calculation is also affected by the suspension on each corner. You'll get a much better sense of progressing across rough ground and the loads of each wheel.

It's likely that these overhauled systems will also feed their way into the next Forza Motorsport game. We'll need to be a lot more careful over the kerbs at the Nurburgring with this level of detail combined with the Motorsport physics model!

This Article's Topics

Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!

Forza