Forza Horizon 5 Series 6 update now available to download with new features and fixes

Update, March 30, 2022, at 12:15 p.m. CT: The Forza Horizon 5 Series 6 update is now available to download a day late

What you need to know

• Forza Horizon 5 is a critically-acclaimed open-world racing game that continually improves over time.
• On Thursday, Playground Games announced the details for the upcoming Series 6 update, which includes a ton of new content.
• The Series 6 Festival Playlist features new cars and a focus on "Horizon Customs," or the talented creators building new content inside FH5.
• Horizon Open is also getting a makeover with Series 6 with a new progression system, Custom Racing, and much more.

One of the greatest racing games available today is Forza Horizon 5, the latest open-world racing title from Playground Games and Xbox Game Studios. Already packed with tons of racing content, Playground Games is devoted to perpetually adding more features and improvements to FH5 over the months and years after launch. On Thursday, the studio revealed what's coming to the game next with the arrival of Series 6.

Forza Horizon 5 became a critically-acclaimed and beloved game solely on its launch content, but since release it has already improved in immeasurable ways. Next week, the Forza Horizon 5 Festival Playlist is evolving yet again with Series 6 "Horizon Customs." Playground Games hosted its Let's Go! stream on Thursday to share more details on what's included.

Headlining features of the upcoming update include nine new cars (with extra focus being given to the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E 1400), an overhaul for Horizon Open online racing, new EventLab creator features, new cosmetics and player Badges, and much more.

Playground Games also teased future plans for Forza Horizon 5, including Series 7 adding well over 200 new championships to Horizon Tour. Playground Games will also reveal more information on the first Forza Horizon 5 expansion in the near future.

Here's everything you need to know about the Forza Horizon 5 Series 6 Festival Playlist and its accompanying update:

• Horizon Customs. The focus for Forza Horizon 5 Series 6 is "Horizon Customs," which celebrates all of the various ways players can contribute to FH5 with their own creations, including car tunes and designs, EventLab Blueprints, and photographers. Some of the changes coming with this Festival Playlist include:
  • New collectible paint barrels and miniature t-rex dinosaurs scattered all over the world
  • Two EventLab Events featured every week
  • One Seasonal Championship featuring a custom photo taken by a community member
  • Seasonal PR Stunts will now provide Super Wheelspins instead of regular Wheelspins
  • Tons of new cosmetics and cars
• Drift Club Mexico Horizon Story. Forza Horizon 5 Series 6 adds a brand-new Horizon Story that marks the arrival of the infamous Drift Club, and Robert Glenn, at Horizon Mexico. The Horizon Story features multiple chapters that focus on drifting numerous incredible and iconic cars in a variety of unique locations.
  • Drift Club Mexico is first played through the Series 6 Festival Playlist, and then is unlocked permanently by completing the Horizon Rush Festival Playlist
  • Includes several multi-mile-long drifts, including real-world inspirations from infamous drifting videos and more
  • Rewards the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E 1400 RTR in the Series 6 Festival Playlist by completing all six chapters, as well as multiple Drift Club Vanity Items for meeting certain requirements (completing first chapter, earning 3 Stars on all chapters, etcetera)
• 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E 1400. The headlining car featured during the Let's Go! Series 6 stream is the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E 1400, which is a one-off prototype race drift car built in collaboration between Ford Performance and RTR. Built on top of a standard 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E, this car features over 1,400 horsepower and aggressive styling.
  • Features a toggle between RWD and AWD drivetrains
  • Featured in the final chapter of the Drift Club Mexico Horizon Story
• New cosmetics and rewards. As always, Series 6 of the Forza Horizon 5 Festival Playlist is packed to the brim with plenty of new Vanity Items, Car Horns, and Forza Link messages. Some of these additions include new prosthetic limbs, Vanity Items celebrating the new Drift Club Mexico Horizon Story and creators, and more.
  • Badges are a new form of cosmetic being added in Series 6, which add a small custom (and sometimes colorful) icon next to your name in Horizon Freeroam, Leaderboards, and races. Badges can be earned from progressing through Horizon Open and completing special challenges, and can be redeemed through a dedicated screen in the Campaign tab
• Festival Playlist cars. In addition to the aforementioned Ford Mustang Mach-E arrival, Playground Games is adding another four new cars to Forza Horizon 5 through the Festival Playlist, including:
  • 2012 Ascari KZ1R
  • 2014 McLaren 650S Spider
  • 2018 ATS GT
  • 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E 1400
  • 2021 McLaren 765LT
• Car Pass cars. Playground Games also revealed the next four cars coming to the Forza Horizon 5 Car Pass, including:
  • 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado
  • 2019 Porsche 911 Speedster
  • 2021 McLaren 620R
  • 2021 Mini John Cooper Works GP
• EventLab additions. Sticking with Playground Games' previous commitment to more regularly improving EventLab with new props and features, Series 6 includes plenty of new features for which players should be excited.
  • Dozens of new assets and structural props, including new colored variants and more
  • New Rules of Play setting for increasing or decreasing gravity
  • New props focused on making EventLab more useful for photographers
  • A new low-res layer under the world on Xbox Series X|S and PC, which makes EventLab creations focused on extreme elevation or speed more stable and visually consistent
• Horizon Open overhaul. Horizon Open refers to Forza Horizon 5's suite of online racing and events, and it's enjoying an overhaul with the arrival of Series 6, including:
  • The Eliminator is now separate from Horizon Open and is easier to access
  • A new standalone progression system for Horizon Open, including Playground Games, Open Racing, Drifting, and Custom Racing. Any completed events in any of these categories will accrue XP toward this progression system, which can be viewed in the Horizon Open screen. Players can earn Badges as rewards for hitting level milestones
  • Custom Racing, which lets you specify your preferred race type and PI class, and makes it easier to jump into your favorite events and races. Convoys can also join Custom Racing together
  • A new Leaderboard tab, which lets you compare your earned Horizon Open XP and Badges to your friends and the entire FH5 community
• Bug fixes. Of course, Playground Games is also including additional bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements in the accompanying update arriving alongside Series 6.

Forza Horizon 5 counts among the best Xbox racing games ever released, and Playground Games is focused on improving it with a constant deluge of seasonal updates and releases. We recently discussed how Forza Horizon can be even better, with Playground Games already crossing items off our list with this update.

Forza Horizon 5 Series 6 officially kicks off on March 31, 2022, with a ton of new features and additions to the game. The accompanying update is rolling out on Tuesday, March 29 across Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming.

The full changelog for the Forza Horizon 5 March 29, 2022 content update includes:

Features & bug fixes

General

• Stability and performance improvements
• Improved save flow for Weekly Forzathon to reduce chances of any progression loss
• Updated string for Car Voucher to be more specific about what its function is
• Updated Seasonal Event map pins to match the Seasonal PR Stunt pin
• Fixed issue where brake calipers were getting left behind from the car when changing Tunes in Freeroam
• Added HUD for cars with Race Mode type functionality to support the new Drivetrain swap mode on the Ford Mustang Mach-E
• Xbox Series X|S and PC: Added low-res mesh under the world to improve the visuals when world chunks dropped out at high altitudes such as when using the new Gravity Action in EventLab

Online

• Horizon Open has been updated with a new progression system including Badges which can be unlocked through gameplay
• Added Custom Racing to Horizon Open, which will allow players to find races for their chosen race discipline and PI class
• Fixed some scenarios where the player could be left waiting longer than necessary in the post-race flow

Cars

• Fixed dent in Jaguar XJS220s
• Fixed brake calipers being incorrectly offset on the 2014 VW Golf R
• Roll cage was incorrectly being added to the Sports Chassis reinforcement instead of the Race Chassis reinforcement on the 2016 Porsche Cayman GT4
• Fixed issue where one of the rear brake calipers on the 2020 Lamborghini Hurácan Evo wasn't paintable
• Fixed issue where passenger side rear brake caliper wasn't paintable on the 2010 Lexus LFA
• Fixed livery mapping issue with the 2018 KTM X-Bow in low LOD
• Fixed quiet superchargers on some muscle cars, in particular Dodge
• Fixed the 2012 Gallardo LP570-4 Spyder Performante hood not matching the selected color
• Fixed broken mesh on the Work Emotion 11R Rims
• Fixed the Work Emotion M8R Rims not looking correct with certain paint options
• Fixed the shift animation on the 1968 Renault 4L

EventLab

• Added Gravity Action to Rules of Play which allows players to manipulate Gravity in EventLab creations
• Added option to preview sounds
• When using manual gears, moved Blueprint Builder off the View button to the Route Options menu as it was conflicting with Place Checkpoint
• Fixed issue where players could get soft locked after an event and loading back to Freeroam
• Fixed an issue where playing your own EventLab creation after publishing, could sometimes cause it to load without props

Accolades

• Fixed issue with "The Completionist" Accolade not unlocking under the right conditions
• Fixed description of "Showpiece" Accolade

PC

• Fixed an issue where distant trees could look black or very dark on Very Low Preset
• Fixed crash that occurred in Livery Editor when Ray Tracing was on

Update, March 30, 2022, at 12:15 p.m. CT — A day late, the Forza Horizon 5 Series 6 update is now available

A day later than initially planned due to players experiencing connection issues in Forza Horizon 5, Playground Games has now released the Series 6 update. The update includes all of the new features and fixes listed above, although everything included in the Series 6 Festival Playlist won't go live until Thursday, March 31. The Series 6 content update is now available to download on every platform Forza Horizon 5 exists, and is approximately 9.32GB in size.