Forza Horizon 5 'Italian Automotive' update brings 23 cars, doubles Garage limits

Image of the Forza Horizon 5 "Italian Automotive" update.
(Image credit: Microsoft)

What you need to know

  • Forza Horizon 5 continues to expand with new content, cars, and features over time.
  • On Tuesday, Playground Games released the "Italian Automotive" update to players across Xbox and PC.
  • The major update brings 23 new cars from returning Italian manufacturers, spread across the Festival Playlist, Autoshow, and a new DLC.
  • The update also doubles the Garage size from 1,000 cars to 2,000, and increases the number of Tune and Livery slots players have to 1,000.

Forza Horizon 5 has evolved by leaps and bounds since its eventful launch nearly two years ago, but one thing that has been notably absent from the game since day one is a number of Italian automotive manufacturers that were present in previous games. Finally, the situation is improving, with fan favorite cars from Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Abarth and more returning to Forza Horizon 5 with the "Italian Automotive" update.

The Forza Horizon 5 "Italian Automotive" update is now rolling out to all players across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows PC, and includes a large number of new cars, features, and bug fixes for players to explore. Of course, you' re also getting a new Festival Playlist themed around the new Italian cars for Forza Horizon 5 players to explore and complete.

Here's an overview of all the biggest additions in this update:

  • 23 new cars in total. You heard me right... There are 23 new cars in this update, and all hail from Italian manufacturers. The cars are spread across the Festival Playlist as reward cars, the Autoshow as purchasable cars, and the new Italian Exotics Car Pack DLC that plays can now buy.
  • Festival Playlist cars. These are the eight cars players will be able to earn by completing the "Italian Automotives" Festival Playlist, which kicks off on Aug. 17, 2023 and will last for four weeks.
    • 1980 Abarth 131
    • 1982 Lancia 037
    • 1986 Lancia Delta S4
    • 1992 Alfa Romeo 155 Q4
    • 2007 Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione
    • 2014 Alfa Romeo 4C
    • 2016 Abarth 659
    • 2017 Abarth 124
  • Autoshow cars. These are the eight cars players can now purchase from the Autoshow starting right now, with the release of the "Italian Automotives" update.
    • 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA Stradale
    • 1965 Alfa Romeo TZ2
    • 1968 Abarth 595 Esseesse
    • 1968 Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale
    • 1974 Lancia Stratos HF Stradale
    • 1980 Fiat 124 Sport Spider
    • 1992 Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evo
    • 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Verde
  • Italian Exotics Car Pack. Players can now purchase the Italian Exotics Car Pack DLC for $9.99 at Microsoft (Xbox & PC), which includes seven beautiful cars from high-end Italian companies.
    • 2018 Lamborghini Huracàn Super Trofeo #63 Squadra Corse 
    • 2019 Italdesign Davinci Concept
    • 2020 Ferrari Roma
    • 2020 Lamborghini Essenza SCV12
    • 2020 Lamborghini SC20
    • 2022 Ferrari 296 GTB
    • 2022 Lamborghini Huracàn Tecnica
  • A lot more space for cars. Playground Games has been working for ages to overcome the various obstacles between it and the release of a feature fans have been requesting for ages... more Garage space. Here's what you need to know:
    • The reserved disk space for Forza Horizon 5 game saves is increasing to 2GB
    • The Autoshow, Car Select screen before races, Garage, and Auction House have been updated to support more cars and car thumbnails
    • Xbox and Playground Games servers have been updated to support more cars, liveries, and tunes
    • Now, max Garage count for every player has increased from 1,000 to 2,000 cars
    • Players can also have 1,000 of each liveries and tunes (up from 600 of each)
  • Other new features. Here are some of the other great things includes in the "Italian Automotive" Forza Horizon 5 update that don't merit their own section, including:
    • New Italian Automotive Collector Accolade
    • Seven new EventLab props
    • A new themed Festival Playlist
    • Limited-time Italian automotive billboards and a new Boat Piñata collectible in the Evolving World
    • Plenty of bug fixes and performance improvements
    • The addition of the two Barbie vehicles to the Autoshow

You can go download the Forza Horizon 5 "Italian Automotive" update right now, and it measures approximately 14.33GB in size (at least on Xbox Series X). This is an important update for the game, as it both brings back fan-favorite cars and pushes the Forza Horizon 5 car list up over the 700 number, an incredibly impressive milestone that matches what Forza Horizon 4 was able to accomplish.

Forza Horizon 5 remains the best Xbox racing game you can play right now, but it's also just one of the best Xbox games in general. A lot has changed about the game since our Forza Horizon 5 review was released nearly two years ago. It's great to see Playground Games continue to add a ton of new cars. Now, we just have to wait for Forza Motorsport (2023) to release.

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Zachary Boddy
Staff Writer

Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter @BoddyZachary.