Forza Horizon 5 shows off opening drive gameplay during the Xbox Gamescom 2021 event

Forza Horizon 5 Gamescom Screenshot
Forza Horizon 5 Gamescom Screenshot (Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)

What you need to know

  • Forza Horizon 5 is an epic open-world racing game coming from Playground Games and Xbox Game Studios.
  • Ahead of its arrival on Xbox, PC, and Xbox Game Pass later this year, Playground is steadily trickling out new information.
  • Today, during the Xbox Gamescom 2021 event, Playground showed off the first five minutes of Forza Horizon 5.
  • The gameplay trailer shows a selection of cars being dropped out of cargo planes, for players to drive through various environments.

One of the most anticipated games of 2021 is undoubtedly Forza Horizon 5, which arrives later this year courtesy of Playground Games and Xbox Game Studios. Ahead of FH5's imminent release, Playground has begun the long journey of teases and information reveals, culminating in a new trailer during the Xbox Gamescom 2021 event. Players can now check out what the initial drive in Forza Horizon 5 is all about with a new gameplay trailer, which looks expectantly incredible for a game expected to launch into our list of best Xbox racing games.

The new Forza Horizon 5 gameplay trailer showcases the game's opening moments, which will have players take control of a variety of vehicles, from the extensive Forza Horizon 5 car list, that have literally been airdropped from cargo planes onto different areas of the Forza Horizon 5 map. At the end, players will take control of the powerful Mercedes-AMG Project ONE supercar to race to the first Horizon Festival site in Forza Horizon 5. The trailer looks great, and is suitably intense for the most ambitious Forza Horizon game yet. You can watch the trailer above, or check out additional images below.

There's truly a ridiculous number of reasons to be excited for what Playground Games is delivering with FH5. If you want to learn everything we know about this flagship racing game, be sure to check out our ultimate guide to Forza Horizon 5. Forza Horizon 5 is already available for preorder, and can even give you four days of early access with the Premium Edition.

In case you missed it, Xbox also revealed the Forza Horizon 5 cover cars and art and a new Forza Horizon 5 Limited Edition Xbox Wireless Controller, which is now available to preorder.

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.

Zachary Boddy
Staff Writer

Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter @BoddyZachary.