Next Forza Horizon May Be Out Before Motorsport

The racing world and fans of racing have had a hectic few days. With F1’s Roman Grosjean surviving his unbelievable and fiery crash that could have been fatal as little as five years ago if the same happened. With seven-time F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton confirming that he is quarantining following a positive COVID-19 test this morning following his win at the same race Grosjean crashed, it would be easy to forget everything else. Before coldly moving forward, I want to say, I know I do, and I’m sure all of us here at Phenixx Gaming hope they both have a speedy recovery from their issues keeping them from racing.

Putting aside the grim reality of racing and the ongoing pandemic, some may have missed that we may have gotten some news on the latest Forza game. No, not the recently announced Forza Motorsport, if reports are to be believed. Instead, we got news on Playground Games’ Forza Horizon 5, as we assume it would be called. The open-world variant of the Xbox exclusive racing series most recently went to the UK in its fourth release in 2018, and I personally loved it. Though in an interview with Xbox Empire, Jeff Grubb says the next game could be coming as soon as next year.

As transcribed by Video Game Chronicles (Thanks VGC), Grubb states, “We saw Forza Motorsport get teased a few months ago [but] I think we might get the next Forza Horizon game first and I think that might be coming this coming year.” He goes on to say, “They’re in a weird situation where for some reason Playground says it does seem like they may be ready to go first. I think I know the setting, but I’m going to let them announce it.” This would suggest the team over at Playground Games in Leamington Spa are further in development than Turn 10 Studios’ are.

As Dan Greenawalt the creative director on the Forza franchise said to Xbox.com, “The new Forza Motorsport, currently in early development, is a reimagining of the series. We are taking what has made Forza Motorsport great over the past 15 years and pairing it with new game concepts and new technologies.” In other words, while what we saw at the Xbox Games Showcase in July looked nice, it will be a long way off going by Greenawalt’s comments. He goes on to note that 4K, 60fps, and ray-tracing are far more complex, adding to the development as paint reflects, surfaces look smoother, and lights and shadows interact with greater depth.

Not to discount Grubb’s few words on it, I highly doubt we’ll see the game release in the first couple of months of 2021 as some sites seem to suggest on the topic. It could be possible we’ll see an announcement soon if Grubb is correct with his belief that the setting is locked in. The team may be further ahead, though I would reasonably assume release wouldn’t be until summer or Autumn 2021 at the earliest. With no official announcement, we will have to wait and see what happens in the coming months.