Forza Horizon 5 is arguably one of the best racing games of all time. There have been some issues and controversies over its pricing and how it has less content than Horizon 4, but in time it has proven to be a staple of the genre much like its predecessors, being the premier racing game of the newest generation of consoles. It’s a mix of arcadey and realistic driving and is ultimately more fun than Forza Motorsport or Gran Turismo. Getting to newer and better cars can be a bit of a grind, and buying Forza Horizon 5 credits with U7BUY can get you there faster – but you’ll still need to know how to drive these cars and this is where our guide comes in.
The No.1 Most Important Tip
Manual shifting. Yep, you read that correctly – immediately switch to manual shifting. This is not a suggestion, nor is it friendly advice – it’s an order.
You might be thinking “Oh no, but won’t that be too hard for a beginner?” – no, no it won’t. You can customize the difficulty of Forza Horizon 5 in other ways that will help you get a handle on the manual shifting if you aren’t used to it, but if you want to improve and be a better driver who wins both online and offline races – you’re going to want to get used to manual shifting as it allows for a far greater degree of control of your vehicles. And it’s simply a lot more fun to play around with once you get the hang of it.
The main reason is that Forza Horizon 5, while a bit arcadey at times, is still more realistic than something like Need For Speed games where they’re mostly designed so you don’t have to move your leg from the gas pedal. In Horizon 5 you very much need to slow down for certain turns and just using the E-Brake isn’t going to cut it.
We can’t stress enough how important it is to learn to use manual shifting in Forza Horizon 5 to be the best driver you can be, and how much more fun it is to shift gears and do more things with your hands on the controller once you get the hang of things.
The Other Tips
These other tips and tricks are of a similar value to one another so we put them in the same category. We’ll talk about multiple things you should keep track of as a new player and what you should focus on to maximize your learning and progression in this premier racing game.
1. Learn to use the Racing Arrows
Racing arrows are the little arrows running along the track you’re racing on. They’re called racing arrows because they point to the optimal driving path for you as a new player who isn’t used to everything yet and they show you how fast or how slow to go on certain curves. These are essential to follow as a new player who doesn’t know the track or their car very well, but once you’ve figured things out they become slightly less useful and you can start ignoring them
2. Use the Rewind Feature More
This might be obvious, but the rewind feature can rewind you much further than you probably think it can. It can be used to set you back at the appropriate starting position for open-world challenges and it can help you out when learning a new track or a curve that you just don’t know how to handle. Just head to that annoying curve or area you can’t get the hang of in the open world and start trial-and-erroring through it until you get it right!
3. Use Community Builds
If you’re a casual driver and don’t know much about cars or how they work internally, you should use the community builds where other users who have optimized their cars share their custom builds and upgrades that are most likely going to be a lot better than what you’ve made. Since car tuning is complicated, for people who are true beginners to racing and cars in general, it is much better to head to this section of the menu and use this feature to its full potential. If you need the FH 5 account to get some of the parts or cars, you can always buy more using U7BUY.
4. Pick the appropriate car for the appropriate challenge
This one might seem obvious, but you should pick the best cars for whatever challenge you’re tackling. If you’re looking to do off-road races you’re going to want to get something like a JEEP instead of a Ferrari, etc. etc.
Final Thoughts
These have been our beginner tips and tricks on what every new player should know about Forza Horizon 5. Manual shifting is really important to get a hang of and while it seems like a herculean task to accomplish it can be done in less than half an hour of practicing, maybe an hour for some people. The rest of it you will figure out on your own but remember to use our other tips from this guide as well and you’ll be an amazing driver in no time.
