Forza Horizon 5 is a huge game, but there are a few simple things you can do that will make your life much easier
Open world games are rammed full of things to do and map icons vying for your attention. Forza Horizon 5 is no exception, with dozens of races to complete, adventures and expeditions to go on, bonus boards to collect and barn finds to… find. It can be daunting at first, and it doesn’t take long before you can start to feel overwhelmed.
We’ve compiled a brief list of the first five things you should do that will make your life much, much easier and give you a great head start on your journey.
1- Adventure Time
Adventures will frequently pop up as you work your way through the game. These scripted events usually involve you going on a mini road trip and completing an item search or some basic exploration – they are fun in and of themselves, but completing the opening adventure from each of the Horizon Festival stages is how you unlock new events and get your map populated with things to do.
2 – AFK some credits
This is a contentious one. It’s not a glitch, per se, but it does involve you making use of the game’s assists to allow you to quickly farm loads of credits and XP (which we’re going to need for the next step).
When you unlock the Eventlab (within Creative Hub in the menus) you can take part in user-created races, and you are specifically looking for ones on the Goliath race track, usually described as “5 Lap AFK”, “easy money” or similar – make sure it is a race with no bots.
A lap of Goliath takes roughly 10-15 minutes depending on the speed of your car, so choose a number of laps that fits your schedule (more laps equals more money, of course). Once you’ve found one, you need to find the fastest car in your garage (or buy one) with a 10 rating for both handling and braking.
Next up, we need to make these changes within the difficulty settings:
- Drivatar difficulty – Unbeatable
- Braking – Assisted
- Steering – Auto-Steering
- Traction Control – On
- Shifting – Automatic
The final step is to rubber-band the trigger on your controller. A wired controller is best for this, or leave your controller connected with a USB cable, otherwise, it will disconnect after 15 minutes.
Once you’ve done all of the above, simply start the event and your car will drive itself around the track. When you return, you’ll have a million or more in cash and a load of wheelspins that should unlock cash, cars and cosmetics.
The goal here is to earn two million credits as quickly as possible, as we’re going to need it for step 3. After this, the credits come thick and fast through normal play, so you won’t need to do it again. Obviously, you don’t need to AFK this stage, you can do the races yourself or just play normally, as long as you save two million.
You may want to keep going with the AFK and earn some extra cash – we won’t judge. It’s not manipulation of the game or a glitch, just using the available settings to your advantage, so shouldn’t be patched any time soon.
3 – Unlock fast travel
Forza Horizon 5 is the biggest game in the series, and getting around can be time-consuming. Although it’s fun driving even when you aren’t in a race or event, sometimes you just want to get where you’re going, and fast. For this, we’re going to need to unlock fast travel.
Fast Travel is unlocked when you purchase the Buenas Vistas property, located just below the desert region on the far West of the map. This house costs two million credits to purchase (hence the previous step). Once purchased, you can instantly travel to any road or event on the map – if you have a Series X or S (or a speedy SSD on your PC), it only takes around three or four seconds, which is not only impressive but lets you spend more time playing and less time waiting.
4 – Break some boards
There is a reasonable cost involved in fast travelling everywhere, but there is a way to make it eventually free. Hidden around the map are bonus boards, and those with a lightning bolt symbol are fast travel boards. For each one you collect, the cost of fast travel will decrease, and if you find all fifty, it becomes free.
Some of these are well hidden, and won’t be revealed until you pass close by, but if you have a spare £2.50 or so, you can buy the treasure map which will reveal all of the fast-travel and XP-boost board locations, as well as highlighting the locations of barn finds and properties, so it’s worth it, especially if you’re playing on Game Pass.
5 – Buy a fast car
In the races, you can generally drive anything you want and the rest of the field will be scaled to match, but the Speed Traps, Danger Signs and Trailblazers aren’t based on car class, it’s a global target to achieve 3 stars. You’ll come across these regularly as you are driving around, so it helps to have something muy rapido. If you check the leaderboards, you can get a good idea of what’s fast enough for most, or pick your hypercar of choice. Chances are you’ll win something suitable soon enough, or you can use the free Apollo Intensa Emozione “Welcome Pack” car you’re awarded at the start (though this may only be for season pass holders?)
Once you have your speed demon, either upgrade it yourself or head to the Cars tab in the menus and download a high-performance tune for it. You don’t need to drive it everywhere – like fast travel, having a new car delivered only takes seconds, so you can cruise in whatever you like and quickly have your beast dropped off as and when you need it.
From here on out you’re all set; you’ve got fast travel at your fingertips, a fast car available if you need it and a decent starting bank balance. Now get out there and enjoy one of the best racing games ever to grace a console!
