Forza Horizon 4 for Windows

Discover what Britain has to offer

Forza Horizon 4 is a racing video game that lets you explore the beautifully rendered sights of a fictionalized Great Britain. Developed by Playground Games, this 3D driving simulator game is the fourth Forza Horizon title and the eleventh installment in the Forza video game series.

As the sequel to Forza Horizon 3 and the predecessor to Forza Horizon 5, Forza Horizon 4 is well-known for being the title to introduce dynamically changing seasons to the franchise’s line-up of features. It still retains the series’ gorgeous graphics and sound design—allowing you to soak in the breathtaking scenery at your leisure.

Some of the best new features around

Forza is a popular franchise of hyper-realistic car simulation games, published by Xbox Game Studios. It first started out way back in 2005 and is well-loved for emulating the performance and handling characteristics of many production, modified, and racing cars in real life. The series is primarily divided into two subseries: Forza Motorsport, which is focused on professional-style track racing events; and Forza Horizon, which is focused on open-world exploration.

Keeping up with the theme of different locations, Forza Horizon 4 is set in the lush historic landscapes of Britain and features a vast open-world environment you can freely explore. The beauty of the graphics is taken up a notch with the introduction of the dynamic weather system, which also lets you enjoy the whole map in spring, summer, autumn, and winter. This doesn’t just affect the visuals—the audio effects change and your car handling responds differently depending on the weather, too.

Like other Forza titles, this game features a large collection of vehicles you can own and tune up yourself—specifically, over 450 cars and over 100 licensed manufacturers available. You can freely progress through the open-ended campaign and participate in numerous events throughout the map—whether it’d be racing competitions or little stunt challenges. The other biggest change here is the game becoming a shared world or server for 72 players each. This multiplayer aspect lets you directly interact with other players and enjoy the game in its entirety together.

Is Forza Horizon 4 Standard worth it?

There are three editions available for Forza Horizon 4. The Standard Edition contains the base game and the Formula Drift Car Pack. The Deluxe Edition adds the Car Pass to what the Standard Edition offers. Meanwhile, the Ultimate Edition includes all of that, as well as VIP Membership, the Best of Bond Car Pack, and two DLC expansions. Comparing the three, Standard is great as a starter for players new to the Forza franchise. For veteran fans, however, Ultimate is the best choice.

That aside, though, this doesn’t mean that the game doesn’t have its own share of failings. For one, players used to being guided by the main quests will find themselves a bit lost here. Once you start playing, everything is fair game—you can even start driving some of the fastest vehicles around after a few hours. This can turn players off from trying out other lower-class cars. The sheer amount of customization available can be daunting, too. 

New Update Fixes 'Encore?' Achievement

Forza Horizon 4 has received a new update to address the long-standing issue with the broken 'Encore?' achievement. The 'Encore?' achievement, known for being one of the game's hardest to unlock, requires players to complete multiple activities across four weeks. However, since April last year, many players have reported that the achievement stopped unlocking correctly despite meeting the requirements.

Patch for 100% Game Completion

According to Forza Support, the new update now allows players to "earn 100% completion on the Festival Playlist from Series 60 onwards and unlock the 'Encore?' achievement." While this update will enable players to finally achieve 100% game completion, it will not unlock the achievement retroactively if a player has already completed a previous Festival Playlist. With the 60th Festival Playlist expected to start in about a month, players who have yet to unlock the 'Encore?' achievement should prepare to take advantage of this update.

March 7th Patch Notes

The March 7th update for Forza Horizon 4 includes essential maintenance updates on upcoming Festival Playlist content. The patch fixes the issue preventing 100% playlist completion from Series 60 onwards but does not retroactively affect previous Series completions.

A classic in the franchise

All in all, Forza Horizon 4 is a great title from the Forza Horizon series and has endured for a long time for a good reason. While there are some hiccups to be had in the main campaign, everything else gives you hours and hours of fun—whether it’s customizing your cars, taking a virtual road trip, or making new friends through the multiplayer system.