Forza Horizon 5 Series 8 celebrates German auto excellency with new cars and more

What you need to know

• Forza Horizon 5 regularly injects fresh content into the game through its Festival Playlist and Series updates.
• On Thursday, Playground Games detailed what's coming to the game with Forza Horizon 5 Series 8.
• The Festival Playlist will be called "German Auto Excellence," and will celebrate the wonder of German-made vehicles.
• Seven new cars are coming to FH5 with the update, alongside new cosmetic items, challenges, and more.

Forza Horizon 5 may have released with dozens of hours of content to players, but it continues to encourage players to return through continual post-launch support and the addition of fresh cars, events, and more. Playground Games took over May's Forza Monthly stream to detail what's coming next to Forza Horizon 5.

The current Forza Horizon 5 Festival Playlist, Series 7, is just past its halfway point, and Forza Horizon 5 players are already looking forward to new cars, cosmetic items, challenges and rewards, and more in Series 8, which follows the theme of "German Auto Excellence."

It's worth mentioning that all of the new cars "revealed" as part of Series 8 were actually initially added to the game with Forza Horizon 5 Series 7, but simply weren't available to players. Our Forza Horizon 5 car list already features all seven of the new vehicles, including when you'll be able to claim the new Car Pass cars.

One fact that wasn't previously known, however, was how the 2021 Porsche 911 GT3 boasts of an exclusive feature not seen with any other car in Forza Horizon 5. Unlike other cars in this excellent Xbox racing game, the Porsche 911 GT3 trim and interior details, including interior stitching and more, actually change to match any of the official Porsche body color options from which you can choose. This is a seemingly minor detail that is nevertheless still much appreciated, and will, hopefully, come to other cars in the future.

• Forza Horizon 5 Series 8 "German Automotive Excellence". The theme of this Festival Playlist is all about celebrating German-made cars, meaning many of the challenges and rewards feature German vehicles or German-themed cosmetic items. All seven of the new cars featured in Series 8 are from German manufacturers, including Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen, and Porsche.
• Three reward cars. While previous Series updates added four or five new cars, only three are featured in Series 8, including:
  • 2015 Mercedes-AMG GT S
  • 2018 Audi RS 4 Avant
  • 2021 Porsche 911 GT3
• Four Car Pass cars. Of course, there are also four new Forza Horizon 5 Car Pass cars, including:
  • 1982 Volkswagen Pickup LX
  • 2018 Audi RS 5 Coupé
  • 2020 Audi RS 3 Sedan
  • 2020 BMW M8 Competition Coupé
• New cosmetic items. As always, the next FH5 Series update will include a host of new cosmetic items, all of which follows the Festival Playlist's German-inspired theme.

Overall, Forza Horizon 5 Series 8 appears to be a more minor release, with a handful of new cars and just enough content to keep players interested. Playground Games didn't discuss any major new events, content additions, or new world changes for Series 8, nor did they discuss new bug fixes or quality-of-life improvements arriving in an accompanying update (likely explaining why Series 8 cars were added through the previous Series 7 update).

Playground Games also teased Forza Horizon 5 Series 9, which will be called "Horizon Academy," and will feature the mysterious "Horizon Nexus," new cars and challenges, and more. We'll have to wait until Playground Games returns with a new stream to learn more about what's coming with the Series 9 release.

Forza Horizon 5 Series 8 officially begins on May 26, 2022, and will be a free update rolling out to players on all platforms, including Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, Xbox Game Pass, and Xbox Cloud Gaming.