Following reports of Forza Horizon 5 crashes on PC at release, developer Playground Games has shared a list of fixes for frequent issues with the open-world racing game’s PC version. The freshly launched Xbox Games Studios title takes players to a colorful adaptation of Mexico. Early reviews of Forza Horizon 5 praise the title’s improved races and map, but there are apparently technical issues on certain platforms.
Continuing to iterate on the series formula, Forza Horizon 5 features a character-creation system and a dedicated single-player storyline. After crafting their personal racer, players are thrown into the vast open world of Mexico, at which point they are free to cruise around and speed as they please. The title’s storyline acts as a framework for unique gimmick races, and completing races allows players to unlock new outposts which contain even more races. Exploring and winning races allows players to unlock new cars and items, creating a high-speed gameplay loop with constant forward momentum. Prior to launch, Forza Horizon 5 already reached a million players, as two editions of the game granted racers early access.
On the Forza Support website, developer Playground Games has shared a number of potential Forza Horizon 5 PC crashing issue fixes. Having fully released today, November 9, many PC players have already reported seemingly random crashes. In the worst cases, some have been unable to even launch the game. Because of this, the official list of Forza Horizon 5 PC crash fixes is quite thorough, going through numerous instances of potentially troublesome software and accounting for other variables that may be causing crashes. Playground’s suggested fixes include refreshing the Microsoft Store, deactivating Windows Defender, and disabling all active background software during gameplay.
While it has only just released for most players, the console version of Forza Horizon 5 is the top-rated game on Metacritic so far in 2021 (not counting re-releases). However, the PC version of the game sits lower than its console counterpart, and this lower rating may dip even lower thanks to the apparently widespread crashing problems the game is causing. Even despite its technical issues at release, Forza Horizon 5 is poised to be one of Xbox’s most acclaimed exclusives of the year, and its availability for Xbox Game Pass subscribers on console and PC seems to have tapped into a wide audience.
Forza Horizon 5 has only just released, so some performance issues are to be expected. However, the game’s poor performance on PC seems to have affected a much wider margin of gamers than Playground or Xbox were likely counting on. The developer speedy list of crash fixes will hopefully help some affected gamers, and the fast response is hopefully a good sign of what can be expected for other post-launch changes. With crash fixes already released less than a day after launch, it seems probable a Forza Horizon 5 PC patch could also arrive in the near future.
Forza Horizon 5 is available on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC.
