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With just a week to go for its release (Nov 9, 2021), we got our hands on the Forza Horizon 5 digital download, which weighs around 110Gb on the Xbox Series X. But the franchise then went on a three-year break, understandably, for timing the release of the fifth instalment in line with its new generation consoles - the Xbox Series X/S. The Forza Horizon franchise delivered four instalments until 2018 and almost felt like it was a yearly affair delivered around the festive season. The game revolves around a virtual auto and music festival called the Horizon - think of it as a mix of JK Festival of Speed and Sunburn - but with a lot more horsepower, four-wheels (though you'll race against bikes and aeroplanes too), open fields and fast roads. So think of it as the Need for Speed titles of yore, but modelled in more beautiful settings with basic driving dynamics that feel more realistic. While Forza Motorsport, as the game is officially called, is the more hardcore simulator that tries to recreate the physics and dynamics of real cars in the virtual space, Forza Horizon is an arcade-ish spin-off that takes all the cars and their physics from the Forza universe and puts it an open-world map with more forgiving dynamics. It not only features many popular race tracks around the world that are recreated to mimic the atmosphere, setting and every bump from the actual, but it also allows gamers and auto enthusiasts to get behind the virtual wheel of hundreds of beautifully remodelled cars - popular and exotic alike - which most of us will probably never even see or hear in real life, let alone, drive one. For those who don't know, the 'Forza' franchise is Microsoft's signature racing simulator that goes up against PlayStation's popular Gran Turismo instalments.