Forza Horizon 5’s recent debut on PlayStation 5 isn’t just a late-game platform expansion — it’s a milestone that transforms the cultural and competitive landscape of racing games. After dominating Xbox and PC for over two years, and amassing a staggering 45 million players, Playground Games’ open-world speed festival has now opened its gates to the 75 million-strong PS5 community. That player count is more than the entire population of Argentina, and with Forza Horizon 5 now crossing console lines, it’s safe to say the Horizon Festival has become truly *universal*.
The Cross-Platform Breakthrough That Shakes Up Two Decades of Console Exclusivity
Since the original Forza Motorsport dropped on Xbox back in 2005, the Forza brand has been intrinsically tied to Microsoft. The fact that Forza Horizon 5—*the most vibrant, carnivalesque iteration of the franchise*—is now on PlayStation is nothing short of seismic. It’s the kind of industry moment that echoes what it would be like if Gran Turismo suddenly showed up on Xbox. Forza and PlayStation racing games have long danced around each other in exclusive ecosystems. Now, Forza Horizon 5 is crashing the party on PS5, and it’s bringing the full festival experience with it.
“The PlayStation 5 version was developed by Panic Button,” explains Forza Horizon 5 lead designer David Orton. “They’re just wizards over there.” And that praise is well-earned. Panic Button’s mastery in porting games shines through in a version of FH5 that’s visually indistinguishable from its Xbox counterpart. In fact, during internal playtests, the dev team couldn’t even tell which version was running on which console. That level of polish, four years post-launch, is a testament to both the original studio and the porting maestros.
More Than a Port: Forza Horizon 5 on PS5 Is a Living, Breathing Time Capsule
What makes FH5’s PlayStation debut even more striking is that it’s not just the *original* game—it’s the game as it *exists now*. Four years of content, updates, and player creations have transformed Forza Horizon 5 into something more akin to a live service carnival than a traditional racing title. With over 900 cars in the garage, including fan-favorite additions like the BMW 850CSi, and blockbuster DLCs like Hot Wheels and Rally Adventure, the PS5 release ships with *everything*. No catch. No delayed content. Complete parity across platforms.
“We’ve gone for content parity across PS5 and Xbox,” says Orton. That means every extra festival playlist, every free update, every player-made event is available from day one for PlayStation players. And with the introduction of Horizon Realms—a new feature that lets you jump between iconic locations like the stunt park or the retrowave highway—this isn’t just FH5. It’s FH5 *Ultimate: All Access Edition*.
When Gaming and Marketing Collide: How Forza Horizon 5 Turned KFC Drive-Thrus Into Race Tracks
Forza Horizon 5 isn’t just dominating player counts—it’s becoming a platform for creative brand collaborations that blur the line between virtual and real worlds. Take KFC Spain’s *Drive-Thru Grand Prix* campaign. Partnering with Xbox and agency PS21, KFC turned its notoriously tricky drive-thrus into custom Forza racing circuits. Using satellite data, they recreated 15 complex drive-thru turns from Spanish locations into playable tracks within FH5. The result? Over 15,000 players raced through virtual fast-food loops, making it the most played track during the campaign and generating 72 million impressions.
More importantly, it worked. Drive-thru orders in Spain skyrocketed by over 700%. This wasn’t just a marketing stunt—it was a masterclass in leveraging player engagement and real-world data to turn a business problem into a *game-changing* solution. And it happened inside Forza Horizon 5—a game that continues to evolve not just through its own content, but through the creativity of its community and partners.
Customize Your Chaos: Forza Horizon 5 Lets You Drive Like a Maniac (With No Consequences)
One of the subtle but powerful design choices in FH5 is its embrace of player agency—even in how realistically you want to drive. Whether you’re a sim-racer who cringes at every scrape, or a ledge-loving speedster who smashes into everything just for the thrill, Forza Horizon 5 has you covered. The damage settings let you toggle between *Simulation*, *Cosmetic*, or *None*—meaning you can wreck cars with reckless abandon and still look like a showroom champ when the race ends.
It’s a small feature, but it perfectly encapsulates what FH5 is about: freedom. Freedom to race, explore, stunt, or just cruise through an open-world Mexico that looks and sounds better than ever. Whether you’re grinding for speed or just having fun drifting through the Festival Playlist, Forza Horizon 5 lets you play *your* way. And that kind of player respect is what keeps the community not just engaged, but passionate.
From Open-World Debut to Cross-Platform Phenomenon: Forza Horizon 5 Is a Modern Classic
For art director Don Arceta, the magic moment came in Horizon 3 when he drove a Lamborghini Centenario onto a beach and felt the game *click*. For lead designer David Orton, it was the first time he heard Porter Robinson’s “Language” on the Horizon 1 title screen. Now, with Forza Horizon 5 on PS5, that sense of awe is being experienced by an entirely new audience.
Playground Games didn’t just port a game to a new platform—they delivered a four-year evolution in one flawless package. A game that continues to grow, to inspire, and to unite players across consoles. Forza Horizon 5 isn’t just about racing cars in Mexico. It’s about racing into the future of what a genre—*and a community*—can be.