Automotive Fantasyland: What Makes Forza Horizon 5 So Compelling? 

THAT INTRO

Got to love the poetic nature of the commentary combined with the absolute refusal to brake for corners in nearly every part of the footage.

Great video. As a fellow mediocre racer, this video has given me a newfound perspective to getting beat in multiplayer. Thank you for that. Also that intro was insane.

0:31:42 "Among all the things that fall away in the transition to adulthood, the ability to exist only(!) in the present tense is one of the most significant losses. In childhood, the fantasy of racing is one of growing up and becoming powerful. In adulthood, the fantasy of racing, is one of finding something that has been lost. Somewhere, beyond the red line, is a place where one can be themselves purely, absolutely, in a childish, animalistic way that becomes so distant as time goes on." This got me. Thank you Noah.

Oh jeez here we go, another video essay starting with an anecdote about how the love bug destroyed a psyche

“I’ve taught a lot of people how to drive manual, and the first question I like to ask is if they’ve seen the movie Snowpiercer.” Never change, Noah.

That opening was the highest budget thing I've ever seen from you. I feel like it's going to be the start of a new era for this channel, and I am excited for it.

There is something so charmingly anachronistic about the way Noah speaks. Not that he seems detached from this time but barely anyone carries themselves quite like him on this platform. It‘s like listening to a Walt Disney nature documentary that is paradoxically about a video game and I love it.

"Among all the things that fall away during the transition to adulthood, the ability to exist *only* in the present tense is one of the most significant losses." Fantastic quote, Noah, thank you. Sums up my personal feelings on the difference between children and adults in a way I could never really put into words.

33:22 Funnily enough, FUEL was made by Asobo - the people behind the 2020 Microsoft Flight Simulator. After more than a decade, and two console generations, they finally achieved the dream of a true 1:1 open-world Earth, with not a foot of it empty.

I saw Forza Horizon 5 and clicked so goddamn fast on this. Holy moly, this is exactly what I need right now!

That intro, the way you summarize everything regarding cars as a symbol of social status and the issues of right to repair, can make even a guy like me who isn't into cars or racing completely engaged with this.

As a side note, kudos to Nate for the increased production values. As someone who's been following your channel for a while the improved audio quality was indeed noticeable, and helps your already excellent work be just that little bit better.

I had a friend who's grandmother gave her Roomba a funeral. she was shintoist and strongly believed that her love of the object and bonding with it, gave it a soul and a will of its own.

Seeing Noah tackle a game that happens to connect with some part of him and unfurl into something strange and specific like a baroque pearl is always magical - I continue to adore these really fascinated, personal looks into games and the ways they can captivate.

I was really confused why you were talking about ‘the love bug’ over footage of the car from ‘Herbie fully loaded’ only to find out that not only was Herbie the car in both films, but also in a handful of others. All this is to say that Herbie walked so iron man could run

I like cars. Don’t like car games. Guess I’ll be watching this video 10 times this week anyway! Intro was so tight.

You put a fair bit of effort into that intro and I feel like that needs to be acknowledged

This video might not convert me into a racing game fan, but it is such a mind-blowingly exhaustive explanation of why someone would enjoy the genre. I feel like I've learned a lot about a genre I don't really have it in me to get into myself. Fantastic work as always, Noah!

As a game designer by trade, I really enjoy the more literary reviews from Noah. It's very refreshing to hear someone speak about the impressions a game left on them and what they feel while playing, more than just describing mechanics, story, level design and graphics. It's good study material. It's unfortunate that a lot of the systems implemented in today's games are designed less around this core feeling that the player should have and more around base "standard" considerations like player convineince, progression and learning curves and consistency and compatibility between systems (and monetization of course..). I'm still hoping for that "Pathologic 2" Noah review..

HELL yes. 30 seconds in and already worth five times the wait. Love it.

HAHA that intro killed me! I'm only 5 minutes in but it's already another bit of quality work from you so far. I'm constantly amazed at your ability to take something that's so simple on the surface like a racing game and really get under the hood (sorry, I had to do it) and make me see the philosophical side to it. Thanks for uploading!

Loved the intro I think everyone did lol. Fantastic video, the way you can draw out and expound on an idea never ceases to amaze me. "Forza Horizon 5 is a feel good game designed to be fun and satisfying for everyone and does it very well." You took that basic idea and turned it into over an hour of entertainment of an extremely high quality. Thanks man, I love your work.

I've never liked racing games - to a degree that made me quit certain games when i was forced to complete a racing section. But once again you've managed to make me see what makes people love these types of games, and what i could even begin to get out of the genre myself.

I love your take on the competitiveness between the lower placed ranks. Where you can have just as exciting of a competition as trying to mingle with the first place. I have to admit, I'm one of those people, that kind of forgot how it felt to just play, try to race/compete with people who made very obvious mistakes (as did I), but it also almost always felt like there was a chance. And if you run into someone really good a couple of times, and you lose 20 times, but win once, that one time is just amazing Thank you for the reminder, I feel like I needed that Honestly, I am not interested in racing games at all... But you kept me fully hooked so far, and I love your presentation

I really appreciated the end in which you went over your feelings of feeling like a hypocrite in your love of cars but agreeing with a lot of anti-car sentiment. I find myself in the exact same boat and hearing someone explain it so eloquently was very nice to hear. Thank you

Racing games aren't usually my thing. But I'll absolutely (and repeatedly) watch an over-1-hour review about one from Noah. Thanks again for the good work.

That intro was amazing! Also, massive improvement in sound quality. Not that it was necessary, but noticeable all the same. I really love that no matter how much or little interest I have in a topic (and I cannot tell you how little I care about cars) I can always trust that Noah Gervais will have something thoughtful and insightful to offer :)

Nate! This was so good, welcome to this amazing space. The consistency and quality are noticeable thank you!

This video got me thinking about how I always play car games. I seldom took the "best" ones and always took those that felt or looked good to me. What would make me even more exited is a adding a second hand car market to this game or a game like it. Second hand cars, with imperfections from the moment you start driving, have always grabbed my heart much more than new cars do. They have personalities and quirks that every driver needs to get accustomed to and grow to love, or to fix. This is something that would make car game really work for me: a randomly generated "market" of different cars with procedurally generated worn out components. I think for many people, this is what car ownership looks like, and one that connects you to your vehicle far more than most games do.

I appreciate the workflow improvements, I can tell that you’re tripping over your words less. It feels like you’ve still kept that warm, professorial feel that initially attracted me to your channel. Excellent work, both Noah and Nate. Can’t wait to see what’s next. 💛

Recently finished reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and for some reason my normal internal reading voice was replaced by Noah's. Honestly made the experience a better, he'd make a great narrator, flubs and all.

Always a highlight when you upload. Any chance we ever might see you cover Outer Wilds in a video? I feel like that game is right up your alley in aesthetic and innovation.

Well, I don't think there's any competition now over "Best Noah video intro".

I appreciate the Vonnegut reference, Noah. Also, that musing on the universal loss of being able to live in the present really hit me, as I’m reading The Power of Now currently. It’s very hippy, but potent

Unexpected release topic and timing, but i’m not complaining. Also, rad intro, noah!!

Honestly Noah, I believe you could post all of your analyses on Spotify or any sort of podcast site. This might take a long time since you may have to rerecord/revamp some of your previous videos, but there really is something here.

This video really gave me the bug I've never been a car person or even someone who plays car games outside of NFS underground 1 & 2. I've now sunk several hundred hours into horizon 5 bought a Sim wheel and have a cockpit on order and I've taken up assetto Corsa and wrc. I'm so in love with horizon 5 that I've learnt a whole bunch of real life car knowledge to help me tune and drive in game and it's all thanks to this video. I really want to thank you from the bottom of my heart it's given me a hobby and pulled me out of a really bad place that I had found myself in over the past 12 months

The AI is a big sticking point for me personally. I'm a long-time sim racer, but I do like more arcadey racing too, cos it's fun. The thing is, once you've played against a *good* AI, you notice all the bullshit that a poorly made AI does. Specifically, game devs program their AI to cheat. Now, all AI is going to 'cheat' to some extent, because it's not a real person behind the wheel, and the game probably isn't running all the same physics calculations as on a player car. However, it is possible for the AI to do bullshit like, say... gain a speed boost to artificially make a race closer. This is bad because once you've seen the AI do this, you lose all confidence in it. You never know whether you beat the AI because you drove well and put in a better time than the AI, or whether the AI just decided to let you win. Maybe you lost because you're a little slow... or did the AI pull some bullshit on you? You'll never know. And it feels really unsatisfying. Good AI like in iRacing (a top-tier simulation) makes its drivers more or less difficult by changing how accurately they drive, and how many mistakes they make. A low difficulty AI will not be so good at hitting apexes, and they're more likely to run off onto the grass. Maybe they'll make a mistake and mis-shift gears, or spin. To my knowledge, iRacing doesn't use artificial methods - and if it does, it hides them so well that you don't feel cheated. THAT is a good racing game AI - it's always going to be artificial competition, but it should feel fair, like you're racing against humans.

I never had a problem with any of your previous videos' presentation, the content is what I come for. That said, the step up in audio and editing was noticeable, so props to Nate Green for the work and props to you for making it happen, your already fantastic content has been improved.

I never expected this channel to cover a racing game. Amazing essay, more from the same genre are very welcome

This is really, truly incredible. Your efforts toward once again making video games an art form deserving of deeper reflection is notable, appreciated, and necessary.

I really enjoyed this video. I've been a fan of the franchise for a couple of years now and a lot of the review felt like directly putting my own thoughts into writing. I follow the various communities for this game and I thought that my perception of the game wasn't shared with anyone. I'm not interested in the various flaws of the multiplayer mode, I don't care about balance issues or glitched leaderboards. I want to experience different cars, take nice pictures of them, perfect my laps in different categories, modify cars to make them do what they were never meant to do. All of that was enough to keep me entertained almost every week for the last 3+ years, playing with a smile on my face each time. You even included a mention of Fuel, which lives rent-free in my head, despite my overall opinion about it.

I tend to be the fussy type who wishes RU-vidrs would put just a bit more thought into their writing. But Noah blows me away every time. The closing observation here is perfect and beautifully written: “Forza Horizon 5 and Mario Kart 8 are equally unrealistic, equally fantasy. Experientially, though, Mario Kart reminds me that I am an adult playing a child’s game, where Forza lets me inhabit-for a moment-the kid who would find a toy car in the mud, take it home, wash it off and delude himself into thinking he had rescued it and given it a good home. I haven’t seen that person in so long; I think I’d forgotten he was even in there. Thanks for watching.”

A video where Noah Caldwell-Gervais is happy, joyous and enthusiastic about something is a video that makes me happy by proxy

Thank you sir. Also, Fuck the naysayers. Your production values were just fine to begin with. Although, if your new producer is the same Nate from previous videos; then good for you guys. Working together with an old friend is a very rewarding experience. Keep up the good work

This video is not just an obvious synthesis for viewers but an obvious synthesis for you. Your true joy to really and truly talk about your love of games and cars together really comes through here

Hell yeah. I remember playing the first Forza Horizon in like 2013 and being completely blown away by the perfect mix of arcade and simulation, and the sense that everything is just this huge party. The games have gotten bigger and more technically impressive since then, but it's interesting how the basic idea hasn't changed at all. It's a sim-ish racing game that wants you to actually have fun. I was kind of amazed the first one didn't seem to get much attention, so I'm psyched it's become such a massive hit. It is pretty annoying that they basically stop selling each entry after a few years. I think this is because of licensing issues, but it's a real shame that the only way to re-experience those incredible maps people spent hours and hours on is piracy.

I come back and listen to your commentary often, and this video is amongst many favorites. Thanks for your thoughtful words!

I was recently starting to get interested in cars thanks to Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead so this video was right on time. Another banger, Noah!

Hell yeah! New Noah Caldwell-Gervais! I know what you mean about the Brave Little Toaster! I'm 32, and that damn scene with the Radiator or AC Unit still haunts me till this very day.

The one racing game I really enjoyed back in the day was Ridge Racer Type 4 on the original Playstation, but what i remember most fondly about it was its aesthetic and soundtrack, and less so the actual driving mechanics. I'm always half-interestedly looking for another racing game to pick up but always end up blowing off the genre year after year. Maybe.... maybe now is the time.

You have hands-down my favorite openings on RU-vid, but this one completely takes the cake. It doesn't hurt that the rest of the video is deep and observant and smart as always - even though it's about a game I have little interest in, I'm here for it.

Noah can I just point out how beloved your videos are. I hope you don’t really worry that your fans are going to take care of you.

"I had these plastic trays that stacked into a box shaped like a garage" SAME BOX. Though I honestly didn't know (or retain, at least) much about real world cars until I was introduced to the first Gran Turismo. Haven't picked up FH5 yet but I'm still poking away at stuff in 3 and 4, easily one of my fave racing series.

I’ve been trying to tell people for years, since Forza 3 (and that’s mainline Forza, not Horizon) that this series is more welcoming, forgiving, and genuinely competitive than Mario Kart and very few believed me so this whole video is immensely gratifying.

I've wanted to say this for a while now, but your travel videos inspired me to go explore Idaho for a bit, specifically the craters of the moon area, and that was one of the most fascinating places I've explored in recent memory. Thanks for showing me it existed!

As a middle aged dad, I'll tell you what my issue with Forza Horizon is: I do wish (very very much) that it would allow me to live out my childhood fantasies, unfortunately Horizon keeps trying to force feed me a teenage "shape" fantasy instead (or at least a vision of what a 20-30 year old seems to think is a teenage fantasy). And there is no way to "turn it off". Most middle aged dads out there will have kids in their teens and will probably relate to this. If there is one thing you don't want in your video game playing down time is to be treated like the "little project people" you have to deal with every single day of your life =) The difference from a childhood fantasy to a teen one, is that a child is a naive and imaginative being with no need for structure and that never gets bored. Horizon's forced collectathons, constant appeals to "bro style", constant forced UI notifications and reminders to do this and that are completely tuned for a teenage mind not for a dreamy child's mind. The sad thing is that to enable that more childish way to play the designers wouldn't even really need to change the core design of the game. It just needs a couple of option toggles: 1) Turn off all story elements and cut-scenes (opening the entire content from the first minute) 2) Turn off all ingame UI prompts, Race markers, speed zone flashes, etc. The Forza Horizon world in its purest form is what I have been waiting to experience for many years now. My only hope is that one day once the all the servers are dead a crafty human can come in and mod those things out of the game on PC at least. PS: and we need the AI convoys from Forza Horizon 3 back

What an exceptional wordsmith. I often listen to videos over again because they are fun to listen to.

Once again you transformed something of little interest to me into something nuanced and fascinating - and with your signature, grounded and compelling prose. You are so utterly unique among your fellow reviewers.

You have such an ability to make me think and care about things that seem mundane before I hear your perspective. It’s truly astonishing how profound you can make minutiae actually be. Game companies should hire you for marketing. Sincerely, thank you for enriching my life with your wisdom.

I absolutely love your intros man they're so amazing

I often watch/listen to your videos while playing Hearthstone, and when you spoke about the choice between personality and self expression of your car and picking the best car, it resonates with my playing hearthstone - I don't play the best decks, I play to express myself.

I have never heard anybody put into words what I love about cars and racing better than this. Thank you, Noah.

I like your videos but ANY fan would tell you that 5 is THE WORST horizon game. Horizon 1 had a true motorsport culture atmosphere, 5 is fortnite with cars, childish and lost its edge. You get handed lambos left and right, is dumb.

i dont care about cars or car games im just excited to binge some more of Noah Caldwell-Gervais' voice

I just started Pacific Drive thanks to your new Q&A, and I'm now into driving games in a way I never was before.

No greater modern saga than that of Noah's gradually improving audio quality over the years

I've been watching your videos for years, keep the content coming my man. You're unmatched.

Im sorry but that intro is so high-effort. What a wonderful amount of effort.

I did not expect Noah to cover this, but I'm pretty glad!

I just got into the Forza horizon series (and cars in general) so this is very serendipitous. I was hoping for some car related video essay to listen too while I drive around in my fancy cars!

One of the reasons I like Noah so much, is that I can never predict what he's going to cover next. I couldn't believe it when he released the GOW retrospective, or the 7 hour RE video. Always a pleasure to see his unique perspective on any kind of game. Keep up the great work man.

I don't care about cars or racing games yet I watched the full 60 minutes and thoroughly enjoyed it even getting a better understanding of why these hobbies appeal to people. THAT is your biggest strength. Your skill of communicating your opinion and arguments in an comprehensable and appealing way. So thank you for this fun lesson in cars and racing games :)

I love how much you get into things and are so informed as to sound authoritative but also everything you talk about you discuss in such a personal way from such a personal frame of reference and it’s not like you’re even a little bit hiding that

After reading The Law of One material I'm now convinced that Noah is a Wanderer. There is so much wisdom stacked in this video about a car game. Killer commentary as always.

You bring up an interesting point about the sentiment towards cars: I don't like the reality of cars. I think public transport, bicycling, and almost any other form of personal transport is preferable to cars. But I still like racing, on a kart or in games, or even F1.

Kickass opening! and I just want to say I really love the commitment to reading out all the patron's names. It's a full fifth of the video!

You put into words exactly how I feel about cars, and racing, and all these games. I build scale models and it is the exact same fantasy, slowly and deliberately in a more adult way reliving the obsession of my childhood. Thank you

I could listen to you talk about games I don't care about for the rest of my life and die a happy man. You are a genius

I found this video so compelling (as I do all of Noah's work, to be fair) that I decided to buy and play Forza Horizon 5 myself. 100+ hours later it is my favorite game that came out last year

The production value on these intros are skyrocketing

Everything stops when there's a new Noah video. Top priority

Hell yeah, you're back and better than ever. So glad to hear your perspective again.

You ought to try Forza Horizon 1 and 2. They're more grounded which amplifies the atmospheres of the games and makes the fantasy seem achievable. They're literally the impetus for how I experience and enjoy the real-life automotive hobby.

This is such heartfelt video, as a car enthusiast I felt every word.

Of all the things to expect out a Forza Horizon game, a Noah video wasn't one of them. But then again, the sheer popularity of Horizon 5 is a welcome surprise, having sat through the dark days when racing games were seen as a weird genre that shouldn't be paid much attention to.

When you mentioned The brave little toaster and The love bug I could instantly here "Worthless" (I think that was the title), the junkyard song at the end of TBLT sang by the cars. Between the nostalgia, the subject and the fact it's still an amazing song it can either have me singing it all day or have me tearing up. Wow, just dawned on me, the Toy story movies used ALOT from the brave little toaster.

Your points about the difficulty for the drivers is 100% accurate. I can also see exactly why we would want something like that

I have never been interested in cars or racing, I will never be interested in cars or racing videogames, and I thoroughly enjoyed this video - Your passion shines through as always!

This is honestly one of your better videos in a while I think. The intro was fun, your opening was captivating, you covered a lot of interesting angles in a way that flowed really well, and it felt generally very well edited and paced. Excellent work!

With just the intro you have reminded me why you are THE premier game reviewer on this platform. KUDOS

What a video! My wife thinks I’m insane from the amount of Noah Gervais video repetition goes on in this house. They just keep on giving. Absolutely can’t wait for the Pillars of Eternity videos I was convinced you were working on… 😅

you make me want to play almost every game you review

One of the very best games reviewers on the net. Always from the heart and it shows.

Another excellent video I found my solution to the frustrating DJs was to create a massive playlist if all the songs I don't put on normal driving playlists for fear of losing myself in the speed and getting ticketed, swap to the "no radio station" option in game and let my Spotify run at an appropriately ambient level in the background while I play. This video so thoroughly nailed what I enjoy about this game and why. Thank you.

I love your videos so much. You go into so much loving detail about games I adore, games I've wanted to play but never gotten into, and games I've never even heard of. And you do it in such a way that is more relatable than anything I've seen on RU-vid. You never come across as a staged personality or over the top or looking for attention, but you always come across as a real person. I really respect that honesty and frequent vulnerability in your writing. You're by far my favorite content creator, and I wish you all the best!

As an F1 fan, the bit where you spoke about the excitement of rivalries between middle-of-the-pack racers really resonated with me, that's the stuff that gets me up in the morning. Everyone knows Mercedes or Red Bull will win, who cares, what about the teams like Alpha Tauri, or Alpine? I wanna see what's going on there!

Props to your new producer for some very snappy & clean editing, the quality is pretty self evident. And ~of course~ an enjoyable watch as always!

I wish I was half as good with words as you are, Noah. Your summary about the relationship between humans and cars is one of the best descriptions about racing I've even seen and you've hit the nail in the head about what it means to like these machines.