‘Forza Horizon 5’ gameplay: Full map reveal proves it’s much bigger than its UK-set predecessor

Developer Playground Games delivered its promise of revealing the gameplay map ahead of the “Forza Horizon 5” launch. While fans will have to wait to fully view the featured areas and circuits, the unveiling of the map is enough to give fans an idea of how much bigger it is than the previous title.

Playground Games held an online stream event earlier this week where the developer announced a few more details about the upcoming game. But the highlight is the full map reveal showing how “Forza Horizon 5” will feature diverse biomes based on the actual locations in Mexico.

Shortly after “Forza Horizon 5” was announced at E3, Playground Games confirmed that it would feature a much bigger gameplay map than the preceding game that was set in the United Kingdom. In an interview with IGN in June, creative director Mike Brown said the next game’s map is 1.5x the size or 50 percent bigger than “Forza Horizon 4.” And this week’s map reveal shows that its size is just what the developer had promised.

“Forza Horizon” games have become popular because the action is not limited to race circuits, and it lets players race across roads based on real-life locations. That remains the case for “Forza Horizon 5,” and Playground Games has once again emphasized that the unique biomes throughout the map are some of the highlights in the upcoming game. Based on the recent presentation, fans can expect the drive across dunes, deserts, coastal areas, around a volcano, dirt roads, and the usual circuits.

Meanwhile, the developers have also attributed the diverse array of biomes to be featured in “Forza Horizon 5” to the mere climate conditions in Mexico. “I think the UK, certainly for those people who live in a temperate climate, has really pronounced spring, summer, autumn, winter,” Brown previously told IGN. “Mexico, being a country that has huge elevation changes and obviously quite a large country, has different seasonality in different regions, which we’ve tried to recreate as accurately as possible.”

“Forza Horizon 5” will be released on Tuesday, Nov. 9. Pre-orders on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S are already available. But note that the game will be added to the Xbox Game Pass library at launch.