Four years, ~900 cars, and one very big U‑turn: Playground’s open‑world racer tears into PS5 with style, speed, and a few surprise bumps.
If you told me five years ago that a mainline Forza would barrel through the gates of PlayStation, I’d have checked your brakes. Yet here we are: Forza Horizon 5—the sun‑drenched, anything‑goes open‑world racer that defined Xbox’s good‑time summer energy—has roared onto PS5. It isn’t a “director’s cut,” a remaster, or a lite port. It’s the same sprawling Mexico, the same Festival Playlist cadence, the same bonkers stunt showcases, and, mercifully, the same “just one more race” loop. In other words: Horizon finally let the neighbors into the party, and they brought a shiny new controller.
A multiverse of metal
The headline, even now, is the garage. Playground’s Mexico arrives stacked with nearly 900 cars—from off‑road bruisers to hypercars that look allergic to speed limits—plus years of live‑service seasons, car drops, and creative tools that the community has used to build everything from perfect touge routes to neon‑lit obstacle hellscapes. For PS5 players, this isn’t a snack‑sized sampler; it’s the whole buffet, with Hot Wheels and Rally Adventure expansions sold separately or bundled in the Premium Edition. The result is a racer that feels less like a game and more like a platform for automotive mischief—and PS5 gets the lot.
Release, versions, and what you actually get
Let’s get the calendar and packaging straight. Early access landed April 25, 2025 for Premium Edition buyers, with the full PS5 release on April 29, 2025. Standard, Deluxe (adds the Car Pass), and Premium (Hot Wheels + Rally Adventure + Car Pass + VIP + Welcome Pack) mirror the Xbox/PC offerings. Pricing follows familiar beats ($59.99 Standard, $79.99 Deluxe, $99.99 Premium in the U.S.). There’s no disc; it’s digital‑only on PlayStation Store.
Performance, graphics, and the PS5 Pro wrinkle
Horizon 5 on PS5 offers two modes: Performance at 60fps and Quality at 30fps on both the base console and PS5 Pro. On Pro, Quality mode adds ray‑traced car reflections in races and free roam; Performance leans into higher‑fidelity visuals without sacrificing the silky 60fps. There’s no 120fps option here—this isn’t a frame‑rate science project—but it’s a clean, polished delivery of Playground’s art direction: searing sunsets over Baja, moody storms that roll in like stagehands changing sets, and foliage that seems choreographed to your speed.
The short version: if you’re allergic to 30fps, Performance looks great and feels better. If you’re a photo‑mode lifer (or you have a Pro and love reflective candy paint), Quality earns its keep during cruises and showcase events. Either way, this is one of those rare open‑world racers where you can smell the dust.
DualSense: a new kind of road feel
Horizon 5 doesn’t suddenly become a “sim” because it’s holding a DualSense. But it does respect the hardware. The game supports vibration and trigger effects, using subtle pulls on the throttle and brake to telegraph surface grip, weight transfer, and wheelspin. It isn’t as obsessively granular as Gran Turismo 7—Polyphony still treats the DualSense like a musical instrument—but it does add useful texture, especially off‑road and in heavy braking zones. Best of all, it never gets in the way of Horizon’s secret sauce: effortless fun.
Mexico, remixed
Forza Horizon 5’s Mexico remains a genius bit of level design—dense enough to surprise, broad enough to breathe. Volcano switchbacks tumble into jungle mud; beach straights tease you into reckless top‑end pulls; the city grid is a playground for drift shenanigans. The PS5 release coincided with Horizon Realms, a curated “greatest hits” rotation of evolving world updates (plus a new Stadium Track) that compresses years of seasonal creativity into snackable, theme‑park‑style slices. It’s a clever way to onboard new players while honoring veteran weirdness. The carrot: four new reward cars, headlined by the 2024 Lamborghini Revuelto and 2023 Huracán Sterrato—peak Horizon DNA, equal parts exotic and unhinged.
The social layer: cross‑play, UGC, and (some) caveats
PS5 players aren’t siloed. Cross‑play works with Xbox and PC, so your convoy can be gloriously platform‑agnostic. EventLab blueprints, liveries, and tunes flow both ways, and global leaderboards ladder up via your linked Microsoft account. That last bit contains a PSA: you must link a Microsoft account to play on PS5, and while leaderboard stats sync, your save does not—progress on Xbox/PC won’t carry into PlayStation (and vice versa). For a game that thrives on an always‑on sense of “I live here now,” separate saves are a bummer. Still, UGC sharing softens the blow, and if you’re starting fresh on PS5, you’re not missing content.
One more quirk: Forza Clubs—the long‑running social clans—are tied to Xbox’s Clubs platform and don’t exist on PS5. It’s not a deal‑breaker, but it is a reminder that Horizon 5 is a tourist in Sony’s ecosystem, not a citizen.
How it drives: the same easy swagger
Forza Horizon 5’s handling model remains the gold standard for “approachable but honest.” It gives you clean feedback at the limit, tolerates shenanigans, and rewards you with a steady drip of mastery. Trash a corner? Throw on rewinds. Want depth? Switch assists off and discover a surprisingly nuanced game underneath. The off‑road racing remains the MVP—few games make gravel feel this alive—and Rally Adventure still delivers that “one with the road” flow that makes an hour evaporate.
Car progression is classic Horizon: generous, variety‑forward, and sometimes willfully chaotic. You’re never more than a few minutes from a new class of event; the game’s structure is the friendly barista who remembers your order and occasionally slides you a wild new roast.
Hot Wheels and Rally: still essential detours
If you spring for Premium (or buy separately), the Hot Wheels expansion is playful nonsense in the best way—sky‑suspended orange track, absurd speed, and roller‑coaster curvature that dares your thumbs. Rally Adventure, by contrast, is the connoisseur’s delight: layered dirt routes, callouts, and proper rhythm sections that make Stage 3 feel like a meditation. Together, they’re the twin pillars of Horizon at its most “only in this series” maximalism. PS5 players get exactly what Xbox and PC got—no more, no less—and that parity is the point.
Festival Playlist and the irresistible routine
Horizon’s seasonal cadence—weekly challenges, reward cars, rotating themes—remains dangerously habit‑forming. The PS5 version slots right into the ongoing Festival Playlist, including the new voting‑driven retrospectives that let latecomers re‑experience fan‑favorite series. This is the best of both worlds: you can binge the back catalog at your pace while your day‑to‑day still feels live, communal, and current.
Quality‑of‑life, accessibility, and onboarding
If you’re new, the opening “air‑drop three cars from a cargo plane” sequence still rules. The onboarding is gentle, the map icons bloom like confetti, and the game is uncommonly good at letting you decide what “progress” means. Horizon’s inclusive design ethos also endures on PS5: scalable driving assists, a broad suite of difficulty sliders, and generous rewind tools give you permission to write your own skill curve.
Load times? Snappy. Photo Mode? As dangerously time‑consuming as ever. Force‑feedback wheels are supported (as on other platforms), though—as always—dialing in your perfect setup takes tinkering. The UI also remains quick to get out of your way; the map’s filters do the heavy lifting.
The PS5‑specific trade‑offs
A few practical notes before you rubber‑stamp that download:
- Digital‑only: There’s no disc version on PS5. Everything’s through PlayStation Store.
- Account linking: You’ll be asked to link a Microsoft account on first boot; it’s required to play.
- PlayStation Plus: Needed for online multiplayer; solo/offline is available without it.
- No cross‑save: Your progression doesn’t carry over from Xbox/PC. Leaderboards and published UGC do, which helps, but your garage and map completion do not.
- Clubs: Not on PS5.
- Trophies: Full set with a Platinum—yes, it maps Xbox/Steam achievements into Sony’s trophy cabinet.
How does it compare to PlayStation’s own champion?
Let’s talk about the elephant in the garage: Gran Turismo 7. GT7 is a precision instrument—pristine tracks, a physics model that whispers in your fingertips, and DualSense wizardry that borders on fetishistic. Forza Horizon 5 is a different fantasy: drive anything, everywhere, with everyone. That difference matters. On PS5, the two aren’t competitors so much as complements. GT7 is your Sunday morning espresso. Horizon is the surprise Friday night road trip.
Verdict: The best new old game on PS5
Horizon 5 on PS5 isn’t a reinvention; it’s an invitation. It says, “You’ve watched the party from across the street. Put on your loudest livery and come in.” Performance mode hums along gloriously, DualSense adds welcome texture, and PS5 Pro’s ray‑traced reflections give photo‑mode warriors a new rabbit hole. The costs—no cross‑save, mandatory Microsoft link, no Clubs—are the price of crossing the console streams. The reward is an open‑world racer that still makes other open‑world racers feel slightly dated.
If you’ve spent the last few years peering over the fence at the Horizon Festival, this PS5 release is your VIP pass. If you already know the road, it’s an excuse to fall in love with it again—this time with a different badge on the box and a new convoy to lead.
