Hot Wheels returns in Forza Horizon 5's latest DLC today
Don’t worry, they’re just called hot. They aren’t actually that toasty
It’s sweltering in the UK, land of drizzle and cardigans, right now, so the last thing we’re desperate to hear about while we’re forcing steaming cups of tea down our gullets is anything with the dreaded word ‘hot’ in it. I’ll let Forza Horizon 5’s Hot Wheels expansion off though. Launching today, it looks like bloomin’ good open-world racing fun, even if there’s too much liquid hot magma on display.
Announced at June’s Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, this latest DLC in the Forza Horizon series’ history of adding life-size toy cars into the mix takes the racing action into the literal clouds above Mexico. Devs Playground Games say there’s more than 80 unique snappable track pieces to build your circuits from in the new Horizon Hot Wheels Park.
There’s also 10 extra cars to zip around in, including the 2021 Hennessey Venom F5 and the 2000 Hot Wheels Diora II. You'll be able to race around more than 125 miles (200 km) of jazzily coloured track, which includes magnetic, rumble, water flume and ice sections. Those last two sound pretty good right about now. New missions in the form of Hot Wheels Heats events have been added too, but they seem overly warm to me.
Justin Towell gave the base game a Bestest Bests in his Forza Horizon 5 review. “While Burnout Paradise Remastered still offers more involved gameplay on a second-to-second basis while still offering a similarly gleeful atmosphere there isn’t another open world racing game so exquisitely polished as this,” he said. “If you’ve played a Forza Horizon game before then you might feel a slight sense of deja vu, but you won’t care as the formula has been perfected at last.”
And if you need some tips on how to get the game running all silky smooth-like, then hardware editor James has you covered with his in-depth Forza Horizon 5 performance guide.
Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels speeds onto PC through Steam and the Microsoft Store today, July 19th, for £15/$20/€20. Stay cool.