At the 2021 Xbox gamescom live stream, Playground Games’ Forza Horizon 5 got to be the last big thing in the showcase, with some new gameplay.
The introduction of Forza Horizon 5 will have you driving different cars in different parts of the new open world of Mexico. Almost all racing games does this now with the sampler plate of an intro where you get to playing straight away.
But have you seen a racing game that drops cars from an airborne cargo plane?
The intro sequence will see you driving the Ford Bronco Badlands down a snowy volcano, then switch to a Chevrolet Corvette C8 as you drive into a dust storm (which looks unbelievably good by the way), then chill in the jungle driving the Porsche 911 Desert Flyer – the small but fast sports car but in rally spec, essentially.
And finally get a taste of the power of a contemporary V6 hybrid Formula 1 engine in the Mercedes-AMG One, fast enough to race against the plane it dropped out of.
The AMG One and Ford Bronco are the pair of cover cars for Forza Horizon 5, which is also revealed in the stream.
There’s also a follow-up Forza Horizon 5: Let’s ¡Go! stream right after the gamescom presentation, which revealed another tidbit: the starter cars.
For one reason or another racing games like Forza has always let you pick either one of three starter cars, like a Pokemon game.
With Forza Horizon 5, the choice of starter cars is just to pick which one you want to drive first- you get to keep the other two as well.
The starter cars for Forza Horizon 5 are the Ford Bronco, the Chevrolet Corvette C8 and the Toyota GR Supra teased a couple of weeks back.
The Let’s ¡Go! stream also shows a new Showcase event, where you race against the cargo plane in Ken Block’s Ford Escort Cosworth “Cossie” V2. An older Mark I Ford Escort is also shown on stream as well.
Other cars that got shown on stream are a Baja-tuned Ford Bronco, the absolute gargantuan of a pick-up truck in the Ford F-150 Super Duty, the Porsche Macan Rally Raid, Porsche Taycan Turbo S and the Seirra RX3.
Also, some cars can now change to Track Mode (a real feature in modern sports cars and supercars). Clicking the left stick on the AMG One raises the wings and fins and lowers its suspension as goes into Track Mode.
Forza Horizon 5 releases on November 9 for the Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC (Steam, Microsoft Store).