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Weekend Musings #8: Forza Horizon 5 is My Happy Place

5 December 2021

It’s been a rough few weeks. Thank god for Forza Horizon 5.

I’ve always enjoyed the Forza Horizon series. I’m not a huge racing game fan but I do enjoy an arcade racer from time to time. The leisurely driving coupled with the insane open worlds of Forza Horizon, though, always gets its hooks into me. Forza Horizon 5 is no exception, and in fact it’s provided quite the escape from real life as of late.

Mexico is a place close to my heart, having spent three holidays there in the past. And so, zooming past Tulum and up and down the Mayan Riviera makes me feel all warn and fuzzy inside. (It also makes me yearn for a sunny holiday away from this cold Yorkshire December I’m stuck in, but that’s another matter altogether). Even the bits I don’t recognise from real life, however, they invite me in warmly, encouraging me to stay for as long as I want.

I wrote last week about the joy of ‘colouring in’ the roads in Forza Horizon 5. You see, each road you discover will be coloured in on your minimap, and you’ll be given a running total of the amount of roads you’ve driven on. It’s not the aim of Forza Horizon 5; it’s barely even a side mission. But it’s something you can spend your time doing if you like. There are many, many facets to Forza Horizon 5 like that; things that are rather superfluous to the entire experience, but things you’ll likely enjoy doing just as much as the main events. Collecting billboards. Filling in gaps in your car collection. Ticking off endless amounts of ‘to do’ lists.

For people like me, who get great joy in ticking a box to say they’ve ‘completed’ something, the amount of stuff that Forza Horizon 5 has to offer is incredible. It could be overwhelming, but it creates a world that’s just so pleasant to be in, it’s so easy to get lost in. And as those small accolades start coming in, you’ll be eager to earn more and more.

Before you know it, two weeks have passed and you’ve barely played anything else. It’s a good job releases for the year have started to slow down now, because I know how I’ll be spending my Christmas break. Viva Mexico!