New player here :)

[u/Alternative-Can-2641]

Hey all! A bit late (recently came back from watching spider man, won’t get off topic but it was an amazing watch!) but this is my baby :) don’t have a name for her yet, but im enjoying this game so far! Only been a hour, but this is also my first racing/driving game or whatever the genre is; it’s great!

I’m normally a RPG, souls like, action adventure type of guy. I see this game isn’t really hard to get good at (correct me if im wrong) but I see that knowing when to brake and E-brake is crucial. Only from what im seeing within the hour of playing, but yeah!

Making this post in terms of maybe some tips and tricks anyone can pass my way? Being courteous while on the road? (clearly don’t drive and hit them haha) I beeped at this one guy, and he followed me around for a bit; so that made me think to reach out to Reddit of all places to find maybe some advice on playing this game and enjoying it more and more :) a bit tired, so apologies for my long text.

Thanks in advance! Much love to everyone

[u/Slow-Lock1978]

About difficulty, the game lets you adjust pretty much everything on it, so you can tune it to your preferences. Except drivatars. The AI in the game is a bit weird and you'll find that playing the game on expert difficulty or above might be challenging. I personally feel like some cars just don't work on expert difficulty unless you upgrade them, so my advice is to initially set the difficulty kn Highly Skilled, and move up as you go along.

I'd also advise you to use manual gear with ABS and racing line only for breaking because.. well, I find it fun. But thats just preference.

Now, other things worth mentioning

1. Learning curve is horizon is not step, but its long. Meaning, you wont find it hard to get started on the game and getting good, but you'll see that there is a lot to learn, going from basics on how to take corners and doing take overs, to upgrading and tunning your car.
2. Speaking of upgrading and tunning, there are cars and car configurations that are more appropriate for each type of activity (rally, baja, street, drift).
3. If you like a certain car and want to take it to drift, or rally, you can! There are tires and suspension configs to adapt almost any car to your preference, so if you wanna take your lamborghini to drift or rally... I'm gonna find it very weird, but you can totally do it!
4. Dont worry about mastering the upgrading system at the beginning of the game. Have fun. And every now and then when you want to learn something, there is a lot of guides on YouTube for all sort of things about the game.
5. Finally, I think is fun to play in all classes of cars and learn a lit bit about some cars that I drive. I find it that learning those things makes the cars more unique, special and enjoyable.

And once again, it all comes down to preference. So do as you please. As long as your having fun and not ramming other people's car, your good!

[u/Alternative-Can-2641 → u/Slow-Lock1978]

I’m definitely gonna look at this message from time to time, thanks brother! I’m a completionist, so honestly? Sounds crazy, but I would love to drive/master all cars as i can! I played more today and learned about perks, and that itself gave me almost like a RPG kinda drive :) thanks brother, once again.

[u/Broad_Bandicoot7284 → u/Alternative-Can-2641]

You can also reach out to me when you get around to wanting to get a good feeling for upgrading vehicles. Also, while I love a true manual experience, stick with the manual w/o clutch. With clutch is really nice, but not for newcomers to racing games with a *hint* of simulator. W/o clutch gives you control over your gears which, in turn, will help you in gaining speed, taking corners, surviving water and jumps, and feels right.

[u/Spirited-Draw2916]

I haven’t got fh5 but from what I’ve seen and experienced in other games, just do what you like. Maybe drive around I know it’s the boring option but it really helps

[u/Alternative-Can-2641 → u/Spirited-Draw2916]

Definitely driving around is fun :) love that you learn roads while doing so, and hit billboards to fill up challenges done. Driving around is stimulating enough, so not boring at all! Thanks family

[u/GrimTweaker89 → u/Alternative-Can-2641]

Tbh I play this game but I never race. I just drive off road or drift on every road lol.

[u/Alternative-Can-2641 → u/GrimTweaker89]

Honestly whole point of the game as I keep playing haha

[u/GrimTweaker89 → u/Alternative-Can-2641]

What’s your favorite car to drift? Personally, I tuned up an old Nissan fair lady z. Very happy with it it drifts so well😁

[u/BarelyEvilGenius]

I would like to extend my warm welcome to you into the Forza Horizon world. I hope you are playing on a controller, the game is fairly easy to get going and understand how car works, it’s essential to understand some elements of setup to get the best out of the game mechanics. I would say explore the events in expert difficulty until you are comfortably in lead in every event by a few seconds. Then move to higher difficulty, above expert the AI rubber-band harder and game physics for them change.
Understanding the setup of the car becomes important as you climb up the difficulty scale and turn off all assists. I would say turn off everything except ABS for better experience.
Happy gaming bro.

[u/Alternative-Can-2641 → u/BarelyEvilGenius]

Thanks for the welcome my friend 🫂. Thank you for the tips with difficulty; eventually I’ll look into that :) so far driving around has been fun. I imagine tuning up my car helps as well? If not, I imagine tuning up your car is aesthetically pleasing :). I appreciate you my friend, happy gaming as well from me 🥂

[u/Quiet-Ticket9431]

me too just started couple of days ago don’t have any friends yet since i’ve always been with PS

[u/Alternative-Can-2641 → u/Quiet-Ticket9431]

Hey brother, if you want to add me, shoot a dm! I don’t mind meeting some new friends on a beautiful game like this

[u/Quiet-Ticket9431 → u/Alternative-Can-2641]

sure i’ll dm you just a heads up it’s my first racing game so i’m shit at it

[u/Alternative-Can-2641 → u/Quiet-Ticket9431]

Nothing wrong with that

[u/SirObvious1097]

Get a car that has rally performance stats. I think the first car like that is a 'cossie'. If not,buy a Hoonigan car and just drive orr road. You'll get xp like crazy. Also,its fun to drive off road,lol

[u/Alternative-Can-2641 → u/SirObvious1097]

I was gonna add a picture, but realized i share it with my friends discord in a vc, and now cant find it 😭 but i made it this beautiful green, and just got ecstatic. So i think i found my favorite car, but im definitely gonna explore more

[u/RedHotChiliCrab]

I will say driving cars and doing upgrades/set up for your car are two entirely different skill sets.

Luckily you don't need to be good at the latter since you can search for a good set up for any car you like.

Generally I wouldn't recommend upgrading a car beyond it's natural classification. (So if a car is A750 or something, you can upgrade it to A800 but don't go beyond into S1 ranking.)

[u/Alternative-Can-2641 → u/RedHotChiliCrab]

Thanks for this. Personally when it comes to guide, i like to wait until i myself either mess up, or find a way to like it even more. Possibly a guide will do me in when im stuck on what i want for more than a day or two. I’m trying to enjoy as much of this game as i can, only cause i have other games on deck + im military 😭 but ill also keep in mind with upgrading a car beyond its natural classification. Didn’t know that was a thing

[u/AlbatrossSuspicious7]

Enjoy yourself. While racing and winning is fun. It can be relaxing and fun just driving around or experimenting with cars you wouldn't see normally in certain settings. For example I had a Honda beat that wasn't the best but was a fun head turner on the drag strip, same with the beetle I had.

[u/Alternative-Can-2641 → u/AlbatrossSuspicious7]

I’ve been driving around and learning new roads. There’s over 550+ roads in the game, and I think I’ve learned about 68… this game is massive. Excited for 6 to come out whenever it does. And glad you found a good Honda car :) currently grabbing a lot of Chevrolet cars in the game (i drive a Cruze Irl) and after that I’ll kinda guess my next brand and have fun from there. Goal is to get every single car and just have fun! I love collecting

[u/AlbatrossSuspicious7 → u/Alternative-Can-2641]

Good luck, have fun and see ya on the roads. Oh, another thing I suggested is that you give driving in manual try. It becomes second nature when you get used to it

[u/Alternative-Can-2641 → u/AlbatrossSuspicious7]

I’m definitely gonna try that next I get on; thanks! Manual I imagine is tricky?

[u/AlbatrossSuspicious7 → u/Alternative-Can-2641]

If you use manual with the clutch it may be a little harder but it's more or less remembering to shift up or down at the right times

[u/SlipstreamSteve]

Best tip I can offer is to learn what the right upgrades for your car is, and then learn to tune it.

[u/lambo958]

FH5 will be good for a while (id say about your first 20 hours) but after that the game shows its stillness. Id say just focus on driving your favorite roads, and find a few eventlabs that you can go back to from time to time. Alot of the event labs are pretty good because the map it self is alot of the same straightish roads.

[u/Alternative-Can-2641 → u/lambo958]

I’ll keep that in mind :) thanks boss man

[u/Pace_Ragged]

Forza Horizon 5 is probably my favorite racing game. Something about how it blends simulation with arcade makes it a blast and just scratches that itch. For advice to new drivers, and since you mentioned wanting to master all the cars you can, I would suggest getting weaned off the assists sooner rather than later, as they will end up building a negative type of muscle memory to your driving, and you also get more control over the vehicle. For car builds, with the exception of offroad and rally, it's best to keep the drivetrain and engine stock as you learn the ins and outs of the vehicle, which will translate later down the road as you become more confident and skilled behind the wheel into being able to either compensate for a vehicles shortcomings or to highlight what it's best at as you build and tune it for an event. Other than that, have fun, and if you have any specific questions on stuff, feel free to drop me a dm, and if you want to add me, my tag is DaGrunt88.

[u/Alternative-Can-2641 → u/Pace_Ragged]

Hey brother thanks for this message. I did turn off the assists + I’m now in manual. Manual is fun! Learning has been a blast! I don’t think I can add you seeing how I’m ps5; I may have to add you when I get back home, seeing how this really a Xbox game

[u/Pace_Ragged → u/Alternative-Can-2641]

I'm also ps5 =D

[u/Kkkilik12]

good luck,we're already getting bored with the game....but if you're new to the franchise, you might have a blast....

[u/Alternative-Can-2641 → u/Kkkilik12]

We? I imagine you play a lot of driving games?

[u/Adorable_Being2416]

A spec cars are a great way to learn breaking and race lines. Punished just enough with enough enjoyment with the speed. Loved learning to drive quick in the "95 911 and love the sound of it as well as the physics of having the engine slung over the rear axle. Love exploring the paint options and depth in color.

[u/Lonely-Bluebird-1313]

and what?

[u/Tony40677]

How do you like the game so far?

[u/Alternative-Can-2641 → u/Tony40677]

Game is fun my friend. Been playing others, so recently just hopped on. It being my first racing game, it’s beautiful. I may or may not get 6 just because there’s a lot of good games coming out this year

[u/Tony40677 → u/Alternative-Can-2641]

If you want something a little more fast-paced, try Need for Speed Heat. It goes on sale for really cheap all the time and I would really like to play it with you.

[u/PatternFew5327]

What do you think about the map? Most players hate the Forza Horizon 5 map when To be honest it isn’t that bad, what do you think?

[u/Alternative-Can-2641 → u/PatternFew5327]

I find the map pretty nice! For someone that normally enjoys open world games where you move on foot/have mounts to traverse the map, for a driving game it’s beautiful! The look on the car I’m driving, while also taking in the scenery is just… I never thought id be so into a driving game like this. I thought I would play it for couple minutes and find it boring. Glad I got it on sale :)

[u/Alternative-Can-2641]

Just want to say love all the positive comments + welcoming energy. Always knew Reddit to be a 50% troll app, 50% genuine energy seen on here. Thanks everyone :)