Learn more about Forza Horizon 5's online and multiplayer features in the latest stream

What you need to know

• Forza Horizon 5 is the newest title from Playground Games, and it's heading to players later this year.
• Ahead of launch, Playground has been hosting periodic streams to tease and reveal features of FH5.
• Forza Horizon 5 Let's Go! Episode 8 just concluded, and focused entirely on FH5's numerous online features.
• This includes the inclusive and revamped Horizon Open, the easy-to-use Horizon Tour, fun Horizon Arcade games, and more.

The impossibly long road to Forza Horizon 5 continues to shorten, and Playground Games continues to reveal new information about their hotly-anticipated open-world racer ahead of release. While Forza Horizon 5 Let's Go! Episode 7 was all about the single-player campaign, the latest entry in the pre-release series focuses almost entirely on FH5's newly evolved online multiplayer features. If you're excited for what's bound to be one of the best Xbox racing games when it launches, this stream is one to watch.

Today's stream went over many of FH5's biggest online features, including Horizon Open, Horizon Tour, and Horizon Arcade. Here's a quick rundown of the features we saw during the show:

• Horizon Open is more accessible. Horizon Open is the new hub for FH5's online game modes and races, splitting everything into four categories (Open Racing, Open Drifting, Playground Games, and The Eliminator). Horizon Open has apparently been tweaked and altered to be more accessible and less punishing to players, encouraging fun all around without as much of a focus on winning.
  • The Eliminator is a Battle Royale mode added to Forza Horizon 4 in 2019, and it's making a return in FH5. Score upgraded vehicles, hide or explore the map, engage in intense head-to-head races with other players, and attempt to survive until the end
• Horizon Tour lets you connect. If you're ever lost for how to meet new players and join races, Horizon Tour is your answer. This mode is a rotating collection of events and themes, and lets you easily connect to other players in the world. You can participate in co-op races with up to five other players against AI Drivatars, and join convoys to move between races.
• Horizon Arcade is mindless fun. Horizon Arcade is a collection of fun mini-games that inhabit the online-connected world of Forza Horizon 5. Players can join or leave whenever they want, participating in a wide variety of casual games like smashing piñatas, hitting airborne bullseyes, playing a version of "Simon Says," and more. It's also easy to stay in the fun, as well, as players can join convoys and move between Horizon Arcade events for as long as they want.
• Plenty of other great features. The stream also touched on plenty of other awesome features in FH5, including the contextual LINK system that lets you communicate and connect with other players quickly, Gift Drops that let you send or receive cars to random players (complete with friendly messages and more), Kudos currency that lets players be rewarded for friendly or helpful behavior, upgraded AI Drivatars for an enhanced racing experience, and much more.

FH5 is still over two months away from its official release, meaning there's still a ton we don't know. Playground continues to give us new gameplay footage of the beautiful Forza Horizon 5 map, and the Forza Horizon 5 car list is steadily growing over time. More Let's Go! streams are also planned for the future, so players will have further opportunities to learn exactly why they should be excited for Forza Horizon 5.

Forza Horizon 5 officially releases on Nov. 9, 2021 for Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC, Xbox Game Pass, and Xbox Cloud Gaming. You can now preorder Forza Horizon 5, which may include early access to the game and additional DLC content.