In any racing game, speed is essential. You have to cross the finish line before everyone else, that’s the core of it. I know being fast is important when playing Forza Horizon 5, but I can’t quickly complete a dozen different challenges which all require specific car types that need different tuning setups - especially not when I also have to live my life. A lot goes on in a week, and I need more time than that to complete one of Forza’s seasons.
Forza Horizon 5’s first series started a couple of weeks ago. It’s split into four seasons - summer, autumn, winter, and spring, each lasting seven days. Weekly challenges are normal, right? Sure. But despite Forza having only been out since November 9, many of the challenges require you to use a specific car. There are over 500 in Forza, so it’ll take a while to collect them all.
I understand that Forza is a game about collecting and driving cars - I really do. But how am I meant to enjoy the game when I have to buy and modify several very particular automobiles before I’ve had a chance to get any money or build up my collection? To complete one seasonal championship I had to drop $60,000 on a classic muscle car and then another $60,000 tuning it so it actually stood a chance against the highly skilled AI I had to race against.
Money isn’t particularly hard to come by in Forza as each race gets you about 10,000, but having to repeat the above process about twelve times - I’m not exaggerating - hurts the old e-wallet. Fortunately, people share their tuning setups online and you can download them for your own cars - I’m not sure if other games use this feature, but they all should. This saved me a lot of time, but I still needed the funds to buy the parts.
I know a ‘True Gamer’ would simply forget about their human needs, grind the money, buy the cars, and do all the challenges. But I have shit to do. I went to Bristol on the weekend, so that was two days gone. Here, shut up. Bristol’s nice, alright? I went to the cinema as well, meaning I lost another evening. I didn’t have the time to make my BMW off-road capable and fast enough to get three-stars on a dirt road speed zone. Forza seems to forget that adults have busy lives.
If you’re wondering why any of this matters, I’ll tell you: cool cars. If you get enough points in a season, you get cool cars. I really wanted the DeLorean, so I had to stay up late and grind for it while my housemates all wondered why they lived with such a nerd. Not only do you get rewards for completing a certain number of challenges during the season, but you also get them for getting points over the entire month-long series. If you want the shiny Mercedes AMG that adorns Forza’s cover, you’ll need to work for it. Going away for a week to visit family? Kiss that car goodbye.
Despite how annoyed I seem, I do really like the series and its challenges on a conceptual level. It’s cool that they work with the game to encourage players to try different cars and varied setups - I just wish they’d give you more time to get points. Gimme two weeks and I’ll tick all those boxes, no problem. But one week? I’ll stall and crash.