Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels
advantages
new cars
Fun Track Constructions
arcade style game
cons
Long charging times
Not ideal for hardcore sim racers
Get Forza Horizon 5: Expansion Pack
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The much-hyped Hot Wheels expansion pack for Forza Horizon 5 is finally here. Like the two expansions for Horizon 4, the Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels expansion adds considerable space to the already massive landscape of Horizon 5, along with a unique series of adventures and challenges and a host of new cars.
Before we delve into the new cars, let’s look at what the How Wheels expansion brings (and doesn’t) to the table. First off, it’s a giant new area located just to the northwest of Horizon 5’s current map set in Mexico. It turns out that Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels is bigger than all of Forza Horizon 3!
Like previous expansions in the Horizon series, this can only be accessed by loading the expansion, so unfortunately you can’t just go down an unused dirt road and drive over to the Hot Wheels area. Loading takes a long time, but that’s understandable as soon as you get there.
Bring back memories!
Just like the toys and tracks we used to play with as kids, the Hot Wheels expansion in Horizon can go anywhere. This is how it worked when we were kids: you clamp the beginning waaaay up here on the side of this mountain (the couch), then you make it curve around here (the TV stand), then up there (the bookcase). We may have to set something up with Dad’s third-place bowling trophy, but we’ll get it back before he gets home, honestly. If we can get the bookshelf part set up, we can speed up for the big loop around the dog bed!
With the Hot Wheels Expansion Pack for Forza Horizon 5, you can enjoy these fun memories once again. It’s just like the tracks we used to build, only this time it’s over jungles, mountains, and active lava flows instead of the living room.
Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels Game
And, unsurprisingly, Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels is only believable in that regard. For people like me, it’s fun to tweak the settings of real world cars (as many as your heart desires!) and race them for hours on end. Although it’s not as sharp and realistic as Forza Motorsports, it’s pretty close. For those less interested in simulating the real world and just having fun, Horizon works that way too. You can drive more arcade-style if you want: huge jumps, smashing giant piñatas, smashing pins and the like are all there to keep you entertained.
If you can do either within Horizon, you can pretty much only do the arcade stuff in the Hot Wheels expansion. Sure, there are head-to-head races, but there are also jumps, obstacles, tricks, and stunts to pull off. If you follow me, it’s all a lot more fun and less sim-like, though many of the same physics that apply to Horizon 5’s track apply to the orange plastic ribbon that is the Hot Wheels expansion pack.
In addition to helping you get a feel for the Hot Wheels expansion, various early tasks and achievements give you a little tutorial on Hot Wheels lore and history. A pretty good one is called Hot Wheels: A History of Speed. As you drive, Horizon gives you information about the individual Hot Wheels cars that are now available to drive.
However, there is a lot of artistic license. For one thing, it can hold the accelerator down 90 percent of the time. This is a Hot Wheels track, which means a wide U-shaped “road” with curbs about two feet high. You can’t go off track (or at least I didn’t intentionally try), but skimming the retaining wall slows you down. So try to drive clean if you want to win. A new stunt steering assist feature also helps with tilted or inverted track pieces.
The same camera views can be selected here, from the interior of the car (my top pick) to the dash, bumper cam, and the ever-popular lag. There are also ways to achieve super high speeds (I pinged 300mph at one point) with motion blur for an added sense of speed. G-Forza has also been added to the HUD display. This is an artificial horizon-like G-force meter that helps you navigate extreme slopes and vertical loops. The jury seems to be out on its general usefulness (at least so far via online forums), and it really didn’t help me much when driving.
Meanwhile, Hot Wheels Park Tour is a mission-based achievement that not only takes you through the entirety of the new expansion area; it levels you up so you can unlock some seriously cool cars like the COPO Camaro and the Hennessey Venom F5.
Hot Wheels Academy and Creation Kit
Ironically, probably the most fun you can have with Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels isn’t driving, it’s building. You can create your own Hot Wheels tracks and adventures with the Hot Wheels Creation Kit at EventLab. It has over 80 pieces of tracks and stunts that you can piece together, and Horizon didn’t stop there. EventLab blueprints that you create on the Mexico map from the base game that use Hot Wheels accessories can be played by people, whether they have purchased the expansion pack or not.
Of course, they also added a lot more cars with this expansion, which we’ll list below. Some of them are Hot Wheels, but some of the new vehicles are very tempting and desirable. There are a plethora of Porsches out there (a Singer 911, the “Pink Pig” 917 and *gasp* a Schuppan 962) and one I really want to get my hands on, a Brabham BT62.
It’s worth noting that the only way to get some of these cars is to go through the Hot Wheels Academy. The Academy raises the stakes for you, and as you progress, rank by rank, you earn medals, new cars, and other rewards like car horns and cosmetic upgrades.
Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels Verdict
Admittedly, I’m more of a simulation guy, so racing toy cars on a giant toy track isn’t exactly my thing, but it’s fun and brought back fond memories of when I was a kid. I also bet Microsoft has a big hit on their hands with Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels as a lot of gamers will love it. Not only is the game geared towards that arcade-focused level of fun, but the driving dynamics are tailored to a controller and not a steering wheel and pedals.
Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels is included as part of the Expansions Pack, which retails for around $35 on Amazon at the time of writing. If you don’t already own Forza Horizon 5, it’s also available on Amazon for around $43 at the time of writing.
Tony Borroz, a long-time writer for Automoblog, has worked on popular driving games as a content expert, as well as working for aerospace companies, software giants, and as a stuntman. He lives in the northeast corner of the most northwestern part of the Pacific Northwest.
Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels – New Cars
- 1949 Hot Wheels Ford F-5 Hot Rod Double Custom
- 1957 Hot Wheels Custom Metropolitan Nash
- 2000 Hot Wheels Tears II
- 2005 hot wheels ford mustang
- 2012 Hot Wheels Bad for the Blade
- 2012 Hot Wheels Rip Rod
- 2013 Hot Wheels Baja Bone Shaker
- Hot Wheels 2018 2JetZ
- 2018 Hot Wheels Chevrolet Camaro COPO
- 1964 Porsche 356C Cabriolet Emory Special
- 1971 Porsche 917/20 #23
- 1990 Porsche 911 Singer DLS
- 1993 Schuppan 962CR
- 1995 Porsche 911 Carrera 2 Gunther Factory
- 2021 Hennessey Venom F5
- 2022 Extreme E ODYSSEY 21 #5 Veloce Racing
- 2022 Extreme E ODYSSEY 21 #6 Rosberg X Racing
- 2022 Extreme E ODYSSEY 21 #22 JBXE
- 2022 Extreme E ODYSSEY 21 #23 Genesys Andretti United
- 2022 Extreme E ODYSSEY 21 #42 XITE race team
- 2022 Extreme E ODYSSEY 21 #44 X44
- 2022 Extreme E ODYSSEY 21 #55 ACCIONA | Sainz XE Team
- 2022 Extreme E ODYSSEY 21 #58 McLaren Racing
- 2022 Extreme E ODYSSEY 21 #99 Chip Ganassi Racing GMC Hummer EV
- 2022 Extreme E ODYSSEY 21 #125 ABT Cupra XE
- 2006 Mosler MT900 GT3
- 2018 Subaru WRX STI ARX Supercar
- 2019 brabham bt62
- 2020 SIERRA ALPHA Cars #23 Yokohama
- 1968 Plymouth Barracuda Formula-S
- 1970 Dodge Coronet Super Bee
