What you need to know
- Forza Horizon 5 is one of the best Xbox racing games by itself, but it's being improved with two major DLC expansions.
- Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels is already available, and adds an all-new Hot Wheels-themed world and new cars.
- On Thursday, Playground Games finally announced the next Forza Horizon 5 expansion with Rally Adventure.
- Forza Horizon 5: Rally Adventure officially arrives on March 29, 2023, and is focused entirely on rally racing.
Forza Horizon 5 is one of the largest and most ambitious open-world racing games of all time, but Playground Games is insisting on making the game even larger over time. Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels brought a floating island sprawling with car-sized Hot Wheels tracks. On Thursday, the studio announced the next chapter for its flagship racing game with Forza Horizon 5: Rally Adventure, and it's coming soon.
Forza Horizon 5: Rally Adventure features an all-new map area that focuses on frenetic, high-precision rally driving in a variety of new cars and an entire rally career mode. It's massive, and it's just around the corner. Here's what you need to know about the next addition to Forza Horizon 5.
- Sierra Nueva. Forza Horizon 5: Rally Adventure is set in Sierra Nueva, an all-new area to the north of Forza Horizon 5's mainland map set in Mexico. Sierra Nueva is filled with new environments, locations, roads and tracks, and secrets to explore.
- The Horizon Badlands Festival is the hub for rally racing in Sierra Nueva, and where players can go to upgrade their rally monsters
- The Badlands Festival can be seen from a distance thanks to an always-present airborne drone show that shifts through various images
- Sierra Nueva even includes six new biomes, like a forest that is entirely smashable, a gorgeous canyon, and a massive quarry
- There are multiple towns, including one settled within a crater and another dubbed Pueblo Artza
- Mexico features cave paintings, and three have been recreated in Sierra Nueva
- Players will be able to see the full map of Sierra Nueva during the next Forza Monthly, which will be discussing Series 18 of the Forza Horizon 5 Festival Playlist.
- Dedication to rally driving. Forza Horizon 5 is fully embracing the long-running history of rally racing, with challenging races featuring rally calls to help you anticipate the road ahead, split gates to help you gauge your skills against previous times and other drivers, and a dynamic rally helicopter that tracks your progress, and more difficult racing than what can be found in Forza Horizon 5 Mexico.
- There's a wide variety of different races and ways to race, including asphalt, mixed-surface, and much more
- An expansive rally career mode. Of course, Forza Horizon 5: Rally Adventure also features a full-blown career mode separate from the main game and the Hot Wheels expansion, complete with new ways to progress, earn rewards, and unlock new content.
- There are three teams in the Rally Adventure career, including Horizon Raptors with Alex, Apex Predators with Alejandra, and Grit Reapers with Ramiro, with each team focusing on a different aspect of rally racing
- Each team features unique challenges and races to complete, with new cars, cosmetic items, and more up for grabs
- Players earn reputation for completing these challenges, with the goal to max out the reputation and win every race for each team
- Accomplishing this unlocks a unique race to challenge the ambassador for the team
- Winning this ultimate race unlocks a new Goliath race event in Sierra Nueva
- Rally Adventure features the largest number of races for any Forza Horizon expansion
- New car additions. Of course, Forza Horizon 5: Rally Adventure features plenty of new cars to the expanding Forza Horizon 5 car list, including:
- 1973 Hoonigan Volkswagen Baja Beetle Class 5/1600 "Scumbug"
- 2001 Ford Focus RS #4
- 2019 Casey Currie Motorsports Ultra 4 #4402 "Trophy Jeep"
- 2019 Jimco Fastball Racing Spec Trophy Truck #240
- 2020 Jimco Hammerhead Class 1 #179
- 2021 Alumi Craft Class 1 Buggy #122
- 2021 Polaris RZR Pro XP Factory Racing Limited Edition
- 2021 RJ Anderson Polaris RZR Pro 4 Truck #37
- 2022 Alumi Craft Trick Truck #6165
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning Platinum
- New upgrades and vehicle customizations. In order to create the ultimate rally vehicle, Forza Horizon 5: Rally Adventure includes new vehicle upgrades and customization options.
- Many vehicles can now be upgraded with an anti-lag race turbo, which helps build up turbo for more responsive launches
- Players can also enable launch control as an assist, which can manage traction, RPM, and clutch control to optimize your launch acceleration
- This launch control is automatically done at the start of races, but can be done at any time in Free Roam by holding down the handbrake and then revving
- New music. Forza Horizon 5: Rally Adventure is adding new music to the expanding soundtrack, especially for the punk & rock Epitaph playlist. New tracks from artists like The Offspring, Bad Religion, and Architects are arriving with the expansion.
- The new music is also coming to the base game, meaning all players will be able to enjoy it
- An expansion to normal racing. Of course, Rally Adventure is meant to be played in Rally Mode, which is the full, tailored rally racing experience Playground Games crafted for the expansion. However, every single race can also be played in Horizon Race mode, which is how all the races in Forza Horizon 5 Mexico are set up.
- Cars also aren't restricted in any way. While Forza Horizon 5 will suggest vehicle types and performance classes for each race, players are free to use whatever they desire across all of Sierra Nueva.
- New EventLab props. Of course, Forza Horizon 5's creation suite is expanding the the release of Rally Adventure, with a vast arsenal of new props including branded barriers, flags, and even civilian vehicles. These props will be available to all players, including for the base game.
- Improved world. The world of Forza Horizon 5 is improving with Rally Adventure, with a number of enhancements to the overall experience, including:
- Terrain will now react to and deform around vehicles more realistically, with a plethora of new effects
- New crowds have been recorded to add an improved environment to rally races
- New audio profiles have been recorded for vehicles around launch control and the new anti-lag turbos
The second DLC expansion for Forza Horizon 5 is included in several editions, including the Premium Edition, Premium Edition Add-Ons Bundle, the Expansions Bundle, and as a standalone purchase. Forza Horizon 5: Rally Adventure officially releases on March 29, 2023, for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming. If you're subscribed to Xbox Game Pass, you can enjoy a sweet discount on the DLC.
Forza Horizon 5 is hands-down one of the best Xbox racing games of all time, and the Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels expansion added hours of new content to it. Rally Adventure is obviously a very different expansion, but there's still plenty of exciting additions to come with FH5's second (and possibly last) major DLC. Regardless of how you race, there's something to be found in Sierra Nueva.
Forza Horizon 5 is included in every tier of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, making the epic gaming subscription the best way to race into Mexico alongside industry-leading visuals and hundreds of awesome cars. You also get a discount on DLC like the upcoming Rally Adventure expansion.
