When we think of conventional racing games, winding circuits built around grandstands covering a vast area come to our mind. However, when the British video game developer, Playground Games, came up with Forza Horizon, it changed our mindset. Thanks to the open-world environment and real-world locations of the game that took the expectations of both casual and professional racing game enthusiasts to a new level.
A lot of gameplay aspects in the Forza Horizon series are similar to professional track-based racing series Forza Motorsport since the former was developed in association with U.S.-based game developer Turn 10 Studios, which has designed the latter. The Forza game series is published by Xbox Gaming Studios on both Microsoft Windows and Xbox gaming console platforms.
The last installment of the Forza Horizon series, Forza Horizon 4, was launched in October 2018 but there is no official confirmation on the next installment since then. Fans are obviously very curious to know when will Forza Horizon 5 release and in which location the game will be set.
What is the Forza Horizon 5 release date?
As far as the first question is concerned, we arrive at a conclusion that has already been drawn by so many people over the web. The first Forza Horizon racing game was released in October 2012 and the game developers have released the next three installments of the series thereafter every two years (2014, 2016, and 2018).
It is obvious to conclude from the past releases timeline that the next installment, Forza Horizon 5, might release in September or October 2020. But we think this opinion can be taken with a pinch of salt considering what has been done to the upcoming installment of the original Forza Motorsport series released by the Forza games showcase team.
Every installment of the Forza Motorsport series is released on odd-numbered years with a gap of two years. On the other and every installment of the open-world racing games Forza Horizon series releases on even-numbered years with the same gap.
Notably, Forza Motorsport 7 was released in 2017. Given the sequencing pattern, people were expecting the upcoming Forza Motorsport 8 to launch in 2019. However, Turn 10 studios had clearly declined on launching Forza Motorsport 8 this year, stating that they are more concerned about fixing Forza Motorsport 7 issues and adding more content to it instead of releasing the next instalment of the series.
We think something similar might be happening to Forza Horizon 5 release date. Since the unveiling of Forza Horizon 4 in October 2018, players had been treated with two new vehicles every week and many new events had been added to the game. There are also reports of multiple performance issues with the game.
Therefore, it is plausible to believe that Forza Horizon 5 may have the same fate as Forza Motorsport 8 and developers might delay the launch of the game till 2021. Earlier it was rumored to get a launch in September or October 2020. But in a recent disclosure by GameBeat’s Jeff Grubb in the podcast The Xbox Empire, the open-world racing game Forza Horizon 5 might land sooner, in 2021.
He further said “might get the next Forza Horizon game first” before Forza Motorsport 8 sees the day.
“We saw Forza Motorsport get teased a few months ago [but] I think we might get the next Forza Horizon game first and I think that might be coming this coming year. They’re in a weird situation where for some reason Playground says it does seem like they may be ready to go first. I think I know the setting, but I’m going to let them announce it.”
GameBeat’s Jeff Grubb in the podcast The Xbox Empire
The devs at Playground Games have not given any confirmation to the statement though we all know that the game is in the development stage. In all probability, Forza Horizon 5 release date should happen in the fall of 2021.
Update: Now that the Xbox Series X has been confirmed by Microsoft, the word is out there that it might be the first game on the console.
Forza Horizon 5 Locations
The second question comes about the Forza Horizon 5 location that developers might choose. We know that Forza Horizon’s gameplay revolves around a fictitious festival called the Horizon Festival which takes place in a new location in every installment of the series. If we consider the last four Forza Horizon installments we can see that it has covered nearly all the major regions around the world, except Asia.
In several discussion forums such as Reddit or Twitter, we have seen many people expecting the game to take place either in Japan, China, or in India (around Himalayas). We have also come across a concept art over Reddit, which leaked a few images that are said to be from a verified partner for Microsoft studios. The images depict cars running in and around the streets of Hong Kong.
Most of these ideas of Forza Horizon 5 are based on speculation and past trends. Nothing is confirmed yet since we did not get any official announcement from either the developers or publisher. Hence, stay tuned for further updates on the widely-acclaimed game in PhonesWiki.
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