‘Forza Horizon 5’ hands-on: A Ford Bronco fever dream within the desert | Engadget

Bronco. Every. Time.

This has been my motto whereas enjoying the preview construct of Forza Horizon 5, the most recent iteration of Playground Games’ open-world racing sequence. Horizon is the nippiness, microdosing cousin of Forza Motorsport, with pageant vibes, ridiculous race tracks set in lush environments, and, in fact, a digital storage stuffed with beautiful automobiles.

Horizon 5 takes place in a fictionalized Mexico, which makes it the right stomping floor for the 2021 Ford Bronco, an SUV that I’ve been drooling over for greater than a yr in actual life. It’s the primary new mannequin in 25 years, it’s styled after the first-generation Bronco that Ford rolled out in 1965, and, better of all, it is available in a cactus grey colorway. However, for a mess of causes — the worldwide chip scarcity, supply-chain slowdowns and the sheer expense of all of it — I’m not prone to get my ft on the pedals of a brand new Bronco any time quickly. That’s the place Horizon 5 is available in.

Horizon 5 begins with a yellow Bronco Badlands strapped to the ground of a airplane, ramp lowered behind it with clear sky hovering by. Starting the sport drops the automobile out of the airplane, parachuting you onto the rim of a snow-capped volcano. Immediately, you’re driving at excessive speeds, following a path down the fiery mountain and getting a really feel for the Bronco. It strikes like a heavy piece of equipment, tilting on fast turns and cannonballing down the street, sturdy but delicate. (The compulsory, “I like my partners the way I like my SUVs” goes right here.)

And then the subsequent automobile drops from the sky — a zippy 2020 Corvette Stingray Coupe that drives a lot otherwise than the Bronco, turning on a dime and floating over the street. After a couple of minutes with that, a 1989 Porsche 911 Desert Flyer parachutes previous a herd of flamingos, zooming down forest trails with improbable dealing with. Finally, the Mercedes-AMG One, a superfast hybrid sports activities automobile, finishes the experience by racing an airplane.

Each of the beginning automobiles has its personal sensibilities and strengths. They all lastly land on the Horizon Festival, a large music and racing extravaganza held within the Mexico desert. This is the principle hub of the sport, and it’s a celebration environment stuffed with vivid pink indicators, crowds of cheering followers and a ceaseless barrage of fireworks, confetti and scorching air balloons.

This is the place you’re given the prospect to select a automobile for the primary time, and it’s the origin of my Horizon 5 mantra: Bronco. Every. Time.

It’s not that the Bronco is the quickest or smoothest automobile within the sport, nevertheless it feels proper rolling by means of the rugged desert panorama. It’s the automobile I wish to be driving in actual life, and it’s extremely satisfying to maneuver it up winding mountain roads, alongside charming metropolis streets and into the center of huge mud storms.

To be honest, I don’t truly decide the Bronco each time — there are some races that the SUV merely can’t win, given its prime pace and broad turns, and for these I’ll fortunately use one of many sports activities automobiles. But with regards to exploring, I’m all in regards to the Bronco.