As the fifth installment in Playground Games' beloved series, Forza Horizon 5 took everything the franchise was about to the next level. The game featured the biggest map in the series to date, an unparalleled roster of cars, and a huge festival sprawling across six different outposts, each with its own focus on a different racing discipline.
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Within these disciplines are several fantastic races, ranging from intense track circuits to cross-country marathons extending across the beautiful Mexican countryside. The races in Horizon 5 are undoubtedly some of the series' finest, so here are some of the best in the game, from across its many racing styles.
10 Wetland Charge
Street racing has long been a staple of the Horizon series, and it provides an extra challenge by forcing you to contend not just with the other racers, but regular traffic as well. Wetland Charge is one of many excellent street races in Horizon 5, but a few things put it a cut above the rest.
As its name suggests, it takes place in the swamp region of the map, giving you a visually stunning backdrop for your race, and unlike most other street races, the track leaves the asphalt for a portion of the race, providing an additional challenge as you contend with the reduced grip on dirt.
9 Aeródromo Drag Strip
Drag racing is a major part of Horizon 5, with drag strips appearing all over the map and giving players the perfect environments to test their cars for pure performance. Indeed, building for drag racing is its own thing entirely, with many players devoting their time to simply driving in a straight line as fast as possible.
Any of Horizon 5's drag strips would be a great choice, but Aeródromo Drag Strip's backdrop makes it the most interesting. The track itself is the runway of an abandoned, overgrown airport. So in addition to being a great strip, the surrounding area is exciting to explore.
8 Arch Of Mulegé Circuit
There are numerous tracks in Horizon 5 set in towns, but the Arch of Mulegé Circuit is the cream of the crop. Filled with the tight turns and almost-claustrophobic, unforgiving, built-up surroundings that make urban racing so exciting, it's a very memorable three laps.
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Mulegé itself - based on the real town of the same name - is fantastic. The small-but-lively town is packed to the brim with bright colors and quaint architecture, it's a backdrop so endearing that you almost forget how painstakingly difficult the race is.
7 Volcán Sprint
Forza Horizon 4's Treasure Island featured Needle Climb, a windy path to the top of a mountain that hooked players almost instantly. The area was constantly filled with drivers trying to race to the top as quickly as possible or rack up points on the treacherous path's drift zone.
Horizon 5 brings us Needle Climb's successor in the form of Volcán Sprint, a hair-raising climb up the huge volcano that towers over the map. The unforgiving course features one tight turn after another, and it's a long way down if you fall off...
6 Castillo Del Mar
Another street race, Castillo Del Mar is situated on Mexico's west coast and takes drivers along the game's absolutely stunning coastline. For the majority of the race, the view on your left will be that of golden beaches and inviting blue waters.
Given that Horizon scales the cars of your opponents to match the power of your own vehicle, why not choose something relaxing and just enjoy a nice drive along the coast? Just don't get too distracted - it is still a street race, and your beachside vacation would definitely be ruined by a crash.
5 On A Wing And A Prayer
Showcase events have been another long-running staple of the Horizon series, and throughout the games' history, cars have been pitted against more or less anything that moves. On a Wing and a Prayer serves as Horizon 5's introduction to these spectacular events, and what an introduction it is.
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The race puts you in a Hoonigan Ford Escort and your opponent in a full-blown cargo plane, challenging you to beat the pilot to the finish as you hurtle across the entire map. Any of Horizon 5's Showcases would have been great picks, but On a Wing and a Prayer's scale is just too good.
4 The Juggernaut
Contrary to Showcase events, Trailblazers were a new addition with Horizon 5, serving as a new type of PR stunt in which players have a very tight time limit to reach a destination, forcing you to drive off-road in as straight a line as you can. Each of the game's disciplines has a big finale event, and for PR stunts, it's the Juggernaut.
Upon going through the Trailblazer start gate, you have just 300 seconds to drive around ten kilometers, weaving skillfully through trees and rocks after careening down the side of the volcano. It's a fun and challenging mission, topped off by the fact that if you want three stars, you need to complete it in just 200 seconds.
3 The Titan
Another of the big finale events, the Titan is concerned with cross-country racing, which mixes on-and-off-road racing into unique and challenging courses. It's a massive course that spans a huge chunk of the map, and given the distinct demands of cross-country racing, the Titan is especially difficult to master.
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It's not uncommon for players to build and tune cars specifically for the Titan, though the same is true for all of the big finale events. All six of these are incredible races, and so honorable mentions must go to the Colossus and the Marathon, which are only excluded for the sake of variety.
2 The Gauntlet
In the Forza world, rally racing is unique to the Horizon games, as their elder sibling, the Motorsport series, remains focused solely on track racing. Therefore, ever since the first installment, Horizon has been the place to go for rally fans.
Horizon's rally has come a long way since being introduced in the DLC of the first game, and there is no better example of this than the Gauntlet. Horizon Rally's big finale is a fittingly named trial that will push even the best rally cars - and drivers - to their limits.
1 The Goliath
The finale of Horizon Mexico might be a predictable choice for the top spot on the list, but that doesn't mean it isn't a deserving one. The longest road race in Forza Horizon history, this mammoth of a course can take well upwards of ten minutes to drive, and circles the entire map.
Horizon 5 has some incredible roads, and the Goliath will take you round a great number of them on a route that's as grueling as it is picturesque and exciting. If you're looking for the ultimate test of building, tuning, and driving skill, as well as endurance, then look no further than the Goliath.
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