Forza Horizon 5 is a serious contender to take pole position among the best racing games, and it’s currently available to play as a free Steam game for the weekend, meaning you can check out why the streets of Mexico have proven such a beloved home for the Playground Games racer. If you like it, you can even pick up Forza Horizon 5 cheaply thanks to a hefty Steam sale.
A quick read of our Forza Horizon 5 review should be more than enough to sell you on why this 9/10 festival of speed is considered a peak for the genre, but I’ll add my own emphasis that, despite bouncing off the (admittedly also excellent) Forza Horizon 4 with somewhat of a racing fatigue, I found myself shockingly compelled by Forza Horizon 5.
I’ve poured dozens and dozens of hours into the base game, with its slick driving offering you all manner of tools and a vast collection of cars to drive around the streets, over the dusty dunes, and through the muddy fields of Mexico – giving you the exact racing experience you want, whatever that might be.
Forza Horizon 5’s player-friendly rewind feature means heartbreaking final-turn mistakes are a thing of the past, and while the tool can initially feel a bit like cheating it actually serves to much better educate you from your mistakes, tasking you with taking that turn over and over until you get it just right. If you want to finely tune every car to your specifications, you can; or you can just borrow the most popular tuning setups from the community.
Since launch, we’ve also seen the fantastic Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC, and more recently a surprise collaboration with the Barbie movie in Forza Horizon 5. Alternatively, you can use its extensive design tools to race around in a garish gold sports car with decals of Pikachu, the Monster energy logo, and beloved Japanese vtuber Inugami Korone adorning the bodywork. What happens in Mexico stays in Mexico.
Forza Horizon 5 is free to play on Steam until Monday August 21, 2023. If you try it out and like what you see, Forza Horizon 5 is 50% off until Thursday August 31, 2023 – expect to pay $29.99 / 24.99 for the standard edition, $39.99 / £32.49 for the deluxe edition, or $49.99 / £39.99 for the premium edition. You can also grab the complete ‘premium add-ons bundle’ at 55% off ($42.07 / £32.97).
Of course, it bears mentioning that as part of Xbox Game Studios, Forza Horizon 5 is included as part of the PC Game Pass library. So if you’re a subscriber to Microsoft’s service, you can already play it there via the Xbox app. If you’re already a fan and have considered snagging it on Steam, however, now is a great chance to do so.
Check in with the Forza Horizon 5 system requirements if you want to ensure you’re ready to fire up the engines. If you’re after even more gorgeous worlds to explore, take a look through the best open-world games for plenty more adventures, along with more of the best free PC games that won’t cost you a thing.