Spec:
RTX 3060Ti
R5 3600
16GB RAM 3600Mhz CL16

Man I really wanna like this game. FH5 has the highest fidelity graphics I have ever seen on a racing game, combined with great vehicle audio, ecstatic scenery, and an abundance of vehicles to choose from. This game exudes next gen gaming without a doubt.

Here is where the game falls short and kills what would be the utmost racing experience/sim ever.

Online: A game that is designed to be played online (must manually choose to play horizon solo) that is fundamentally broken. Convoy members disappearing, extreme frame disparity, slow loading times (many a time, just a frozen loading screen), and more. Thankfully, many of these issues are in the process of being fixed and there are noticeable changes but for a game that was designated to be played online with friends; this should have been fixed long ago.

Broken AI: Increasing the difficulty of drivatars on a race should come with some sense of realism right? No. Have fun getting smoked by a BMW X5 M that has tires that stick better than superglue. Once you are in 3rd/4th place, the 1st/2nd race drivers just simply get ahead and you cannot ever reach them, even with a max upgraded vehicle + tune; it is physically impossible to catch up to them once they are a far enough distance. The only way to combat this is to beat them in the beginning of the race or just slam them into a wall to get ahead. The AI can definitely use some work as the cars used and mannerisms of the drivatars are nonsensicle and leave the player more frustrated and confused.

EventLabs: One of the most incredible features of the horizon series is being able to create your own track/event and race it solo, with drivatars, rivals, or even with just your friends. A simple awesome feature that nobody can deny adds so much flavor to the game. The only problem is that, you spend hours creating your dream track only to realize that once published, you cannot go back and edit the track. Seriously? Did nobody think of this? I am not sure if this is an issue in the other Forza titles but this is seriously pathetic to have something so rudimentary be overlooked. Also, you cannot physically choose the starting place either, but you can choose the end? Seems kind of odd. A feature that exudes creativity yet is nulled by some silly rules.

Optimization: For the most part, a game that is nearly identical to real life with max settings does perform incredibly well on a mid tier system like mine. The problem is the massive fluctuations in FPS when driving online, extremely common memory leak, frequent crashes, and sometimes, exceptionally long loading times. These are all issues that should have been prevented prior to the release of the game.

Like I said, this game is amazing, it really is. But the little conflicts kill my interest and make me second guess my $60 purchase. I know this game will be incredible in 6 months from now. And I will change my review when I see fit. But for now, I need to leave this be as my frustration can no longer be contained and the world needs to know about the mishaps that come with purchasing FH5. If you are eager to play this game, I recommend, but if you have the ability to wait, then do so, as the gaming experience will be much more refined in the future.

edit: It has been a little bit since my original review. Another 35 hours of gameplay and a couple updates. The less recent updates have resolved some of the issues that I complained about earlier (yay); however, the new updates still do not fix the underlying problem in FH5, the dead open world. I still drive around by myself with the occasional online player driving by and then that's it, back to solo. The ultimate issue of having a beautiful open world is when the open world is empty, and there is nothing exciting about it. This game is so damn good looking and sure you can drive endlessly in different cars and test their performance on windy roads, but you're missing the whole point of the online open world system when online players are nonexistent, and when they are existent, they disappear into some void, destroying the overall immersion of the game. FH3/4 peaked due to its awesome online scene but FH5 just falls short and its so sad to see because the game truly feels next gen; but after seeing the lack of recent support, it looks like this game is pretty much done on the dev side and a quick cash grab. Also with the lack of innovation in the horizon series, I think it's safe to say this will be my last pickup as the devs have shown they really don't care about the player base. Such a shame Microsoft.

Spec: RTX 3060Ti R5 3600 16GB RAM 3600Mhz CL16 Man I really wanna like this game. FH5 has the highest fidelity graphics I have ever seen on a racing game, combined with great vehicle audio, ecstatic scenery, and an abundance of vehicles to choose from. This game exudes next gen gaming without a doubt. Here is where the game falls short and kills what would be the utmost racing experience/sim ever. Online: A game that is designed to be played online (must manually choose to play horizon solo) that is fundamentally broken. Convoy members disappearing, extreme frame disparity, slow loading times (many a time, just a frozen loading screen), and more. Thankfully, many of these issues are in the process of being fixed and there are noticeable changes but for a game that was designated to be played online with friends; this should have been fixed long ago. Broken AI: Increasing the difficulty of drivatars on a race should come with some sense of realism right? No. Have fun getting smoked by a BMW X5 M that has tires that stick better than superglue. Once you are in 3rd/4th place, the 1st/2nd race drivers just simply get ahead and you cannot ever reach them, even with a max upgraded vehicle + tune; it is physically impossible to catch up to them once they are a far enough distance. The only way to combat this is to beat them in the beginning of the race or just slam them into a wall to get ahead. The AI can definitely use some work as the cars used and mannerisms of the drivatars are nonsensicle and leave the player more frustrated and confused. EventLabs: One of the most incredible features of the horizon series is being able to create your own track/event and race it solo, with drivatars, rivals, or even with just your friends. A simple awesome feature that nobody can deny adds so much flavor to the game. The only problem is that, you spend hours creating your dream track only to realize that once published, you cannot go back and edit the track. Seriously? Did nobody think of this? I am not sure if this is an issue in the other Forza titles but this is seriously pathetic to have something so rudimentary be overlooked. Also, you cannot physically choose the starting place either, but you can choose the end? Seems kind of odd. A feature that exudes creativity yet is nulled by some silly rules. Optimization: For the most part, a game that is nearly identical to real life with max settings does perform incredibly well on a mid tier system like mine. The problem is the massive fluctuations in FPS when driving online, extremely common memory leak, frequent crashes, and sometimes, exceptionally long loading times. These are all issues that should have been prevented prior to the release of the game. Like I said, this game is amazing, it really is. But the little conflicts kill my interest and make me second guess my $60 purchase. I know this game will be incredible in 6 months from now. And I will change my review when I see fit. But for now, I need to leave this be as my frustration can no longer be contained and the world needs to know about the mishaps that come with purchasing FH5. If you are eager to play this game, I recommend, but if you have the ability to wait, then do so, as the gaming experience will be much more refined in the future. edit: It has been a little bit since my original review. Another 35 hours of gameplay and a couple updates. The less recent updates have resolved some of the issues that I complained about earlier (yay); however, the new updates still do not fix the underlying problem in FH5, the dead open world. I still drive around by myself with the occasional online player driving by and then that's it, back to solo. The ultimate issue of having a beautiful open world is when the open world is empty, and there is nothing exciting about it. This game is so damn good looking and sure you can drive endlessly in different cars and test their performance on windy roads, but you're missing the whole point of the online open world system when online players are nonexistent, and when they are existent, they disappear into some void, destroying the overall immersion of the game. FH3/4 peaked due to its awesome online scene but FH5 just falls short and its so sad to see because the game truly feels next gen; but after seeing the lack of recent support, it looks like this game is pretty much done on the dev side and a quick cash grab. Also with the lack of innovation in the horizon series, I think it's safe to say this will be my last pickup as the devs have shown they really don't care about the player base. Such a shame Microsoft.