Last week Friday, my upload was complete, and I hunkered down to get some early hands on time with Forza Horizon 5.
The incredible, arcade-like, open-world SIM racing game takes the iconic Horizon festival from previous iterations of the game and moves it to Mexico. Here, you’ll be able to explore an epic open-world that is equal parts beautiful and challenging. You’ll jump into street racing, rally driving and everything petrol-head obsessed gamers will love.
Forza Horizon 5 has swallowed HOURS of my life for the last week. I cannot get enough of it. The various activities and tasks are so much fun and the scenery of the game brings me a sort of peace that my life has been sorely lacking for a few weeks. It’s been an escape for me – one that has bought me so much joy. You have hundreds of incredible cars to choose from, and can style yourself out as you simply drive around Mexico to explore the Horizon festival while listening to XS (the rock and alternative radio station option – hot damn the tracks are fire!).
Trying my hand at in-game photography
A few months ago, I interviewed the incredibly talented ‘CHRISinSESSION’ for Red Bull. You can read the interview, and see some his pictures by clicking here. When I was online sharing my hype for Forza Horizon 5, Chris said he’d be keen to see some of my captures from the game….
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!
I’ve spent a lot of my time in game trying to perfect my photography skills and thought, rather than give you a normal stock standard review of the game, I’d share some of my favourite photos that I’ve taken. I really believe they showcase this game so incredibly well and I’m hoping they highlight the emotions it was able to elicit in me. I’ve included my favourite pictures below:
This was probably one of the first captures I did early on in the game BUT it is, without a doubt, one of the best I’ve taken. I wanted to give that sort of hazy rain feel yet still share the warmth. I tried to imagine the feeling I had when it rained in Bali and imagined it would be similar in Mexico. I hope I was able to get that across!
I think this could be mistaken for a real photo, lol! I loved how the game had shared the sunset over the sea, and wanted to try capture that.
Did I neon pink out a very rare car I found in a barn during the game? Yes. Yes I did. I thought it would be cool to get the colours popping here.
I purchased and customised a Merc. It’s ridiculously obnoxious now after the paint job. I loved the lines of this particular shot.
Quick Fast? That’s what I’d caption this.
I was playing with colour here, the pinks of the flowers combined with the browns and greens. I thought the baby blue colour complimented the surroundings.
This is very similar to my Quick Fast picture, but I was hoping to get a bit of the beautiful game scenery in the shot.
Forza Horizon 5 is out on November 9th. You’ll be able to play it on launch day with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. You can get it for the Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One and your PC. It’s roughly 103GB for PC (via Steam or Game Pass), 103GB on the X and S and then 116GB on Xbox One.
Disclosure: Xbox South Africa gave me a code to do an early playthrough of the game.
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