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Choose Forza Horizon 5 if you want the more precise, realistic-feeling car handling, unrestricted exploration, player-created events and a wide selection of online activities. Choose The Crew Motorfest if you prefer Hawaii scenery, guided themed Playlists, a live seasonal roadmap and vehicles that extend beyond cars to bikes, boats and planes. Neither is the universal winner: they use different ideas of what an open-world driving game should be.
This comparison covers handling, maps, solo content, vehicles, multiplayer, platforms and subscription access so you can decide which fits your hardware and play style.
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At a glance: Forza Horizon 5 or Motorfest?
| Category | Forza Horizon 5 | The Crew Motorfest |
|---|---|---|
| Core setting | Open-world Mexico with a festival structure | Car-culture festival on O‘ahu, Hawaii; Maui added as a free Season 5 expansion |
| Driving feel | A Red Bull review, relayed by iTechGuides, judged its behavior more realistic and handling more precise. That is a reviewer opinion, not a controlled benchmark. | Designed around accessible, festival-style driving; no controlled comparison benchmark is published in the supplied material. |
| Main progression | Freeform exploration, races, Horizon story activities, seasonal events and user-created EventLab-style content | Themed Playlists, races and challenges supported by a live seasonal roadmap |
| Vehicle types | Car-focused festival lineup | Cars, bikes, planes and boats are explicitly listed in the official store description |
| Online activities | Horizon Arcade, Horizon Tour, Horizon Open, Hide & Seek, Horizon Realms and player-created events | Playlist activities, shared-world events and seasonal content |
| Cross-play | Forza announced cross-play for Xbox consoles, PC and PS5 in its March 10, 2025 announcement | Available on current PlayStation, Xbox and PC ecosystems; confirm the exact cross-play and peripheral rules for your platform |
| Subscription access | Listed with Xbox Game Pass; plan availability and terms can change | Listed with Ubisoft+; edition contents and subscription terms vary by region |
| Release date | Early access shown as November 5, 2021, on the official Xbox page | September 14, 2023, on Ubisoft’s store listing |
Published material does not provide an authoritative, directly comparable map-area figure, total-car count, campaign-length measurement or performance benchmark for both games. Any online chart claiming a definitive winner on those numbers should be treated cautiously unless it explains its method and date.
What kind of game is each one?
Forza Horizon 5: a sandbox built around cars
Forza Horizon 5 drops a festival into a large Mexico-based open world and lets you decide how to use it. You can follow races and story chapters, drive to activities in any order, search for collectibles, tune cars, join online events or simply explore roads and off-road routes. Its design rewards players who like making their own itinerary rather than clearing a fixed sequence of chapters.
#1 Best Overall
![Forza Horizon 5 – Premium Edition – Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows [Digital Code]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51SeBIPzMvL._SL160_.jpg)
- REDEMPTION INSTRUCTIONS: Go to "Your Orders" and click "View Order" to receive install code. Xbox: Microsoft Store App --> Redeem --> Input code. Window: Xbox App --> Store --> Redeem --> Input code.
- The Premium Edition includes the Welcome Pack, Car Pass, VIP Membership, Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels expansion, and Forza Horizon 5 Rally Adventure expansion.
- NEW RALLY ADVENTURE EXPANSION - Drive purpose-built rally monsters and conquer the rugged Sierra Nueva. Feel the intensity of massive dust trails and deformable roads in 10 new cars. Play on March 29th, 2023.
- Explore a world of striking contrast and beauty. Discover living deserts, lush jungles, historic cities, hidden ruins, pristine beaches, vast canyons, and a towering snow-capped volcano.
- Take on awe-inspiring weather events such as towering dust storms and intense tropical storms as Mexico’s unique, dynamic seasons change the world every week. Keep coming back for new events, rewards, and new areas to explore.
The car is the center of every major system. Different drivetrains, power levels, surfaces and assists let you move from relaxed cruising to demanding competitive driving without leaving the same map. The festival framing gives the world a reason for constant events, while the open structure means you can ignore an activity until you are ready for it.
The Crew Motorfest: a curated festival with a wider vehicle fantasy
Motorfest stages its festival on O‘ahu, one of the main islands of the Hawaiian archipelago, according to Ubisoft’s official press material. Its progression is organized around themed Playlists: curated groups of events that teach or celebrate a driving culture, vehicle category or style. That structure gives you a clearer route through the game than a purely freeform sandbox, while still allowing roaming between activities.
The official store description lists cars, bikes, planes and boats. As a result, Motorfest can switch the way you travel and the type of challenge you face, rather than treating every activity as another four-wheel race. The trade-off is that its identity is less narrowly focused on detailed car simulation than a car-only festival.
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If precise, realistic-feeling road behavior is your priority, Forza Horizon 5 is the safer choice. A Red Bull review, as relayed by iTechGuides, assessed Forza Horizon 5’s driving behavior as more realistic and its handling as more precise. That conclusion is an individual reviewer’s evaluation, not a laboratory test with standardized cars, controllers and telemetry, so it should guide preference rather than be read as a measured technical margin.
Why FH5 may feel more convincing
- Its entire progression is built around cars, so tuning, assists, surfaces and race lines remain central to the experience.
- You can move between relaxed driving and demanding races while keeping the same underlying car-focused model.
- Open-road exploration lets you test a setup on pavement, dirt and mixed routes without loading a separate mode.
Why Motorfest may still suit you
- Its festival approach favors immediate accessibility and spectacle over a strict simulation presentation.
- Switching among cars, motorcycles, boats and aircraft creates variety that a car-only handling model cannot provide.
- Playlist themes give context to each set of events, which can make the handling feel purposeful even when realism is not your primary goal.
Use the same controller and assist settings when trying both games. Differences in traction control, steering assists, camera view and frame-rate mode can change your impression more than a single review sentence. Neither title has a directly comparable published handling benchmark.
Map size, scenery and exploration
Forza Horizon 5’s Mexico
FH5’s Mexico is designed as a freeform playground. The value of the map is not only its physical scale but the number of reasons to cross it: races, speed zones, danger signs, collectibles, festival sites, online meetups and user-created events. You can set a waypoint and improvise, take shortcuts across terrain or leave the marked route entirely.
Rank #2
- Lead breathtaking expeditions across the vibrant and ever-evolving open world landscapes of Mexico with limitless, fun driving action in hundreds of the world’s greatest cars.
- Explore a world of striking contrast and beauty. Discover living deserts, lush jungles, historic cities, hidden ruins, pristine beaches, vast canyons, and a towering snow-capped volcano.
- Immerse yourself in a deep campaign with hundreds of challenges that reward you for engaging in the activities you love. Meet new characters and choose the outcomes of their Horizon Story missions.
- Take on awe-inspiring weather events such as towering dust storms and intense tropical storms as Mexico’s unique, dynamic seasons change the world every week. Keep coming back for new events, challenges, collectibles, and rewards, and new areas to explore. No two seasons will ever be the same.
This approach is best for players who want the map itself to be the main menu. You can spend an evening driving with no checklist, then turn a spontaneous route into a race or challenge through the game’s creation tools.
Motorfest’s O‘ahu and Maui
Motorfest uses Hawaii as a festival backdrop, with O‘ahu providing the main setting. Ubisoft describes the location as one of the world’s most breathtaking, and the island setting supports coastal roads, urban areas, mountain routes and tropical scenery. Season 5 added Maui as a free expansion for all players; Ubisoft describes it as one of the game’s largest map expansions, but does not publish a single map-area figure on the cited page.
The island setting and Playlist structure make Motorfest feel more like a guided tour through distinct car cultures. You can still roam, but the game more often gives you a themed reason to visit a route or vehicle type.
Is one map objectively bigger?
No authoritative, directly comparable area measurement is supplied for either game. Map boundaries, driveable terrain and the way a game counts water or inaccessible land can produce very different numbers. Choose based on atmosphere and exploration style rather than an unverified square-mile ranking.
Solo content and progression
FH5’s activity mix
Forza Horizon 5’s official feature set includes Horizon Arcade, Horizon Tour, Horizon Open, Hide & Seek, Horizon Realms and player-created Gift Drops and EventLab-style content. These systems support several kinds of solo play:
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- Free exploration: discover roads, landmarks and challenges at your own pace.
- Skill activities: repeatable tests reward speed, jumps, drifting and precision.
- Creation and discovery: build or search for player-made events, routes and challenges.
- Seasonal rotation: changing festival tasks provide reasons to return after the initial progression.
Because user-created events and multiple modes sit beside the main activities, FH5 can feel unusually open-ended. The downside is that newcomers may see many icons and systems before they understand which progression path they prefer.
Rank #3
- PREMIUM UPGRADE — Includes VIP Membership, Welcome Pack, Time Attack Car Pack, Car Pass, Italian Passion Car Pack, and two Premium Expansions. Requires Forza Horizon 6 base game or Game Pass Ultimate subscription.
- VIP MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS — Enjoy a 2x Credit boost to race rewards, 3 VIP-Exclusive Forza Edition cars, a weekly bonus Super Wheelspin, and special Vanity Items.
- WELCOME PACK — Features 5 special pre-tuned cars and a Car Voucher, which can be used to claim any car available from the Autoshow.
- TIME ATTACK CAR PACK — Receive 8 legendary cars ideal for mastering every turn and corner at the Time Attack Circuits located around Japan.
- ITALIAN PASSION CAR PACK — Introduces 4 great new Italian cars in Forza Horizon 6 post-launch, perfect for cruising, racing, or exploring.
Motorfest’s Playlists and seasons
Motorfest organizes much of its progression around themed Playlists. A Playlist groups races, challenges and rewards around a particular style or vehicle culture, giving solo players a sequence to follow instead of asking them to choose from a completely open activity map. This is useful if you enjoy curated campaigns with a beginning, middle and end for each theme.
Its live seasonal roadmap adds new events and goals over time. The benefit is a changing routine and regular reasons to return; the cost is that some of the most attractive activities depend on the current season or on owning a particular edition or add-on. Check the in-game schedule and your edition before assuming every listed reward is included.
Which has more single-player content?
There is no reliable published campaign-length or total-activity count that compares the two games directly. FH5 offers more ways to generate or discover your own solo challenges, while Motorfest provides a more deliberately themed route through its content. If “more” means freedom and replayable creation, FH5 has the stronger design. If it means guided thematic chapters and seasonal refreshes, Motorfest may feel fuller to you.
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Vehicles: cars versus a mixed garage
Forza Horizon 5
FH5’s official listing emphasizes cars, expansions and cross-platform festival play. That focus supports players who enjoy comparing road cars, off-road builds, race setups and tuning choices within one broad car culture. No definitive total-car count is published, so no number is used here.
The Crew Motorfest
Motorfest’s official store description explicitly includes cars, bikes, planes and boats. This broader vehicle mix changes the rhythm of play: a road race can be followed by a motorcycle event, an aircraft challenge or a boat route. It is the better match if variety of vehicle type matters more than keeping every activity centered on four-wheel handling.
Do not assume that a vehicle you own in one game transfers to the other. They are separate ecosystems with separate garages, progression and purchase systems.
Rank #4
- Tauchen Sie in eine immersive Kampagne mit Hunderten von Herausforderungen ein, die Sie dafür belohnen, dass Sie das tun, was Sie lieben
- Treffen Sie neue Charaktere und bestimmen Sie den Ausgang ihrer Horizon-Story-Missionen
- Bezwingen Sie unglaubliche Wetterereignisse wie die gigantischen Sand- oder intensiven Tropenstürmen, während Mexikos einzigartige und dynamische Jahreszeiten die Welt jede Woche verändern
- Schauen Sie regelmäßig für neue Events, Herausforderungen, Sammlerstücke, Belohnungen und neue Gebiete zum Erkunden vorbei. Keine Jahreszeit wird der nächsten gleichen
- Schließen Sie sich mit anderen Spielern zusammen und stellen Sie sich gemeinsam Horizon Arcade für eine fortlaufende Serie unterhaltsamer und abgefahrener Herausforderungen, die euch Action ohne Menüs, Ladebildschirme oder Lobbys bietet. Treffen Sie in Horizon Open und Tours neue Freunde & teilen sie Ihre Kreationen
Online play and cross-platform friends
Forza Horizon 5
Forza announced on March 10, 2025 that cross-play would be available for all Forza Horizon 5 players across Xbox consoles, PC and PS5. That makes FH5 the clearer choice for a group spread across those three platforms. Its online feature set includes Horizon Tour, Horizon Open, Horizon Arcade, Hide & Seek, Horizon Realms and player-created events, so you can choose cooperative, competitive or experimental sessions.
Cross-play does not automatically mean every peripheral or account feature behaves identically on every platform. Confirm your platform account, online-subscription requirement and supported wheel or controller before buying for a group.
Motorfest
Motorfest is available across current PlayStation, Xbox and PC ecosystems. Exact cross-play behavior, progression sharing and peripheral support can depend on platform, account and mode, so verify the current details for the systems your group uses rather than assuming every combination works identically.
Its shared-world design and Playlist activities make it suitable for friends who want to progress through a theme together. Players seeking a specific competitive mode should check whether that mode is active in the current seasonal schedule.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Platforms, editions and subscription access
| Question | Forza Horizon 5 | The Crew Motorfest |
|---|---|---|
| Supported systems cited in the supplied official announcements | Xbox consoles, PC and PS5 cross-play | Current PlayStation, Xbox and PC ecosystems |
| Subscription listing | Xbox Game Pass listing; catalog and plan terms can change | Ubisoft+ listing; catalog and terms vary by region |
| Edition families | Official listing presents the base game and expansions; exact bundles vary by storefront | Standard, Deluxe, Headliners and Grand Garage families |
| Regional pricing | Check the storefront for your country and platform | Prices and included content vary by region and edition |
Buying on Xbox
FH5 is the straightforward pick if you already subscribe to an eligible Xbox Game Pass plan and want to start without a separate purchase. Motorfest may be preferable if your household already uses Ubisoft+ or if you want its mixed vehicle lineup. Confirm whether the subscription tier includes the edition and add-ons you expect.
Buying on PlayStation 5
Forza’s March 10, 2025 announcement brought FH5 cross-play to PS5, expanding it beyond its original Xbox and PC audience. Motorfest also targets PlayStation players and launched on September 14, 2023, according to Ubisoft’s store listing. Compare the current edition contents, online-subscription requirement and storage download before checkout.
Best Value
- FORZA HORIZON 6 LIMITED EDITION — Explore breathtaking Japan with the XBOX Wireless Controller – Forza Horizon 6 Limited Edition. Inspired by the winding Touge roads of Japan, this controller blends high-performance style with festival flair.
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Buying on PC
Both games are available in PC ecosystems, but storefront, account-linking and controller-support details can differ. Check the current system requirements and peripheral compatibility on the store page you intend to use. Do not infer performance from console footage: no directly comparable PC benchmark is established here.
Performance, controls and accessibility checks
Published material for this comparison does not provide a controlled frame-rate, resolution, loading-time or input-latency benchmark for both games. Your result depends on platform, display mode, hardware, network and graphics settings. Before buying, check:
- Whether your console or PC meets the current system requirements.
- Which frame-rate and quality modes are offered on your platform.
- Whether your preferred wheel, controller, headset and accessibility devices are supported.
- Whether online play requires the platform’s multiplayer subscription.
- How much storage the current installation and updates require.
If handling is your deciding factor, use a trial, subscription catalog or return policy where available rather than treating a reviewer’s realism assessment as a universal measurement.
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Pick Forza Horizon 5 when you want:
- More precise, realistic-feeling handling, recognizing that this is a reviewer assessment rather than a controlled test.
- A Mexico map you can explore without following a prescribed route.
- Player-created events, Gift Drops and EventLab-style experimentation.
- A broad set of named online modes, including Horizon Arcade, Horizon Tour, Horizon Open, Hide & Seek and Horizon Realms.
- Cross-play among Xbox consoles, PC and PS5 under the conditions announced by Forza.
- Potential access through an eligible Xbox Game Pass plan.
Pick The Crew Motorfest when you want:
- Hawaii scenery and a festival atmosphere built around O‘ahu.
- Curated themed Playlists instead of choosing every activity from a completely open map.
- Seasonal content and a roadmap that changes over time.
- Cars alongside motorcycles, boats and aircraft.
- The free Season 5 Maui expansion available to all players.
- Potential access through Ubisoft+ and a choice among Standard, Deluxe, Headliners and Grand Garage editions, subject to regional terms.
Choose based on your group
For a mixed Xbox, PC and PS5 friend group, FH5 has the clearest documented cross-play statement. For a group that wants to try different vehicle types and follow a themed campaign together, Motorfest is the more natural fit. If some friends play on older hardware or use specialized wheels, verify compatibility individually before everyone buys.
A practical decision checklist
- List your platforms. Write down every console or PC your group uses and verify cross-play, account and peripheral support for that exact combination.
- Choose your driving priority. Select FH5 for precise car handling; select Motorfest for accessible festival driving and vehicle variety.
- Choose your map mood. Mexico favors open-ended road trips and player-made routes; O‘ahu and Maui favor tropical scenery and themed tours.
- Choose your progression style. FH5 suits self-directed exploration and creation. Motorfest suits Playlist-based campaigns and seasonal goals.
- Check access. Compare the current Game Pass or Ubisoft+ catalog, edition, price, online requirement and regional availability on the day you purchase.
- Confirm technical fit. Review system requirements, storage, display modes and controller or wheel support for your hardware.
After those checks, the decision is usually clear: FH5 is the stronger all-round car sandbox, while Motorfest is the stronger themed festival when Hawaii, seasonal Playlists and mixed vehicles are the features you will actually use.
Quick Recap
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