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Forza Horizon 5 Performance Analysis

Feast for the eyes. If someone were to claim that Forza Horizon 5 is the prettiest racing game in the world they would not be far from the truth. We benchmarked the gorgeous-looking title to determine the system requirements.
Forza Horizon 5

Technology

Forza Horizon 5 is a major success for Xbox Game Studios in particular and open-world racing games in general. The title received rave reviews. Forza Horizon 5 looks astonishingly good. In some instances, it looks downright photorealistic. It bears a lot of resemblance to Microsoft Flight Simulator in that regard.

Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5

In all respects, the visuals of Horizon 5 are on the highest level. At high to maximum settings, the textures and effects (water, smoke, …) look mighty impressive. The reflections and the level of detail (cars, environments etc,) are quite stunning. The vegetation density and the draw distance impress mightily. All in all, the game looks very realistic.

Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5

Forza Horizon 5 creates a very dense atmosphere. The game intro impressed us in particular with its cleverly designed video sequences. The vehicle handling is very good as well.

Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5

Even though Horizon 5 is more stable and better optimised than Forza Horizon 4, we still ran into some bugs (we installed the Steam version because of our prior bad experiences with the Microsoft Store). On many of our test systems, the settings menu failed to open properly. Pressing Alt and Enter at the same time or restarting the game seemed to fix the issue.

Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5

The graphics menu, which consists of two submenus, leaves nothing to be desired. The Display tab contains the settings for resolution, scaling, refresh rate (including an optional FPS cap), V-Sync and display mode. The Graphics tab contains around 20 settings which have a direct impact on the visuals. For those who do not want to do any tinkering with the visual settings, there are 6 presets. Unfortunately, graphics changes require a restart to take effect once the game world is loaded in (the loading times are quite long). Microsoft’s racing game supports ray tracing.

Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5

Forza Horizon 5 takes up 100 GB of storage space, which is not particularly good (in light of the latest Call of Duty title). Upon first launch, the game runs through an optimisation process on some PCs.

Benchmark

The quality of the built-in benchmark is praiseworthy. It takes two minutes, which is rather long, but it provides very useful data upon completion. In our view, the built-in benchmark reflects in-game performance very well.

Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5

Results

The benchmarks were conducted mainly using the laptops which our partners MSI and XMG (Schenker Technologies) lent us.

FHD (1920x1080)

Gamers do not need a high-end GPU to enjoy Forza Horizon 5 at 1080p and high settings. Even mid-range GPUs such as the GeForce GTX 1650 (Ti) can deliver playable frame rates on the high preset. Ultra/extreme settings require a graphics card with at least 6 GB of VRAM (performance drops severely on 4 GB GPUs at such settings). A GPU with 6 GB of VRAM such as the GeForce RTX 3060 is what we would recommend to those who want to game at 1080p and ultra settings.

Forza Horizon 5
    1920x1080 Low Preset     1920x1080 Medium Preset     1920x1080 High Preset     1920x1080 Extreme Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Suprim X
174 fps ∼48%
154 fps ∼46%
144 fps ∼45%
106 fps ∼47%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio
172 fps ∼47%
152 fps ∼45%
140 fps ∼44%
100 fps ∼45%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ventus 3X
168 fps ∼46%
147 fps ∼44%
136 fps ∼43%
97 fps ∼43%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP
167 fps ∼46%
146 fps ∼43%
134 fps ∼42%
84 fps ∼38%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP
166 fps ∼45%
144 fps ∼43%
132 fps ∼42%
82 fps ∼37%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP
140 fps ∼38%
120 fps ∼36%
110 fps ∼35%
58 fps ∼26%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H
MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD
123 fps ∼34%
100 fps ∼30%
90 fps ∼28%
44 fps ∼20%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Focus 17 @75 W TGP
115 fps ∼31%
94 fps ∼28%
83 fps ∼26%
31 fps ∼14%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile, i7-10750H
MSI GP75
99 fps ∼27%
78 fps ∼23%
67 fps ∼21%
26 fps ∼12%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i7-10750H
MSI GL75
85 fps ∼23%
68 fps ∼20%
60 fps ∼19%
22 fps ∼10%

QHD (2560x1440)

For an enjoyable experience at 1440p and maximum settings, a true high-end GPU is needed. Here, we recommend a GeForce RTX 3070 or better.

Forza Horizon 5
    2560x1440 Extreme Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Suprim X
100 fps ∼48%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio
93 fps ∼45%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ventus 3X
85 fps ∼41%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP
73 fps ∼35%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP
71 fps ∼34%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP
48 fps ∼23%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H
MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD
36 fps ∼17%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile, i7-10750H
MSI GP75
21 fps ∼10%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i7-10750H
MSI GL75
18 fps ∼9%

UHD (3840x2160)

Most laptop GPUs struggle to handle Forza Horizon 5 at 4K. Even the GeForce RTX 3080 (Mobile) fails to maintain 60 FPS at maximum settings. However, given how beautiful the game looks, this is understandable. Gamers can always lower visual settings, though.

Forza Horizon 5
    3840x2160 Extreme Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Suprim X
81 fps ∼49%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio
75 fps ∼45%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-9900K
MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ventus 3X
62 fps ∼37%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 15 @165 W TGP
55 fps ∼33%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Neo 17 @140 W TGP
52 fps ∼31%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP
35 fps ∼21%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, i7-9750H
MSI GP65 Leopard 9SD
24 fps ∼14%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile, i7-10750H
MSI GP75
14 fps ∼8%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i7-10750H
MSI GL75
12 fps ∼7%

Note

Because benchmarking video games is very time consuming and is often constrained by installation/activation limits, at the time of publishing, we were able to provide only a part of our performance analysis of Forza Horizon 5. Other graphics cards will be added in the coming days and weeks.

Overview

Show Restrictions
PosModel< PrevNext >Forza Horizon 5
 Forza Horizon 5 (2021)
low
1280x720
Lowest Preset
med.
1920x1080
Medium Preset
high
1920x1080
High Preset
ultra
1920x1080
Extreme Preset
QHD
2560x1440
Extreme Preset
4K
3840x2160
Extreme Preset
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
359n9
281n9
275n9
201n9
187n9
161n9
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
341n2
269n2
254n2
189n2
169n2
130n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super
403.5n2
308n2
285n2
194.5n2
174.5n2
130.5n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080
313n2
248.5n2
239n2
176n2
162.5n2
123n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti
231
200n2
188n2
127n2
114n2
89n2
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
315
244
223
154
138
104
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti
312
244
228
167
146
102
AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT
325n2
237n2
228.5n2
159n2
139n2
101.5n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU
220
181
174
124
113
95
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
314.5n4
205n5
193n5
127n5
113n5
84n5
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
291n3
200n3
188n3
129n3
117n3
87n3
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB
257
171
159
106
94
71
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
152
140
100
93
75
AMD Radeon RX 6800
348n3
232n3
210n3
126n3
108n3
75n3
NVIDIA Titan RTX
267.5n2
168n2
152.5n2
98n2
85.5n2
63.5n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti
303
210
196
121
102
70
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU
184.5n2
131n3
116n5
82n5
68n5
49.5n2
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
247
159n2
148n2
106n2
92.5n2
67.5n2
AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT
313
216.5n2
186n2
117n2
96n2
63.5n2
PosModel< PrevNext >Forza Horizon 5
low med. high ultra QHD 4K
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
380n3
224n3
200n3
105n3
89n3
59n3
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU
210.5n2
146n3
134n3
84n3
71n3
49n3
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
313n3
176n3
158n3
99n3
86n3
59n3
Intel Arc A770
238
139
127
84
74
54
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU
195
133n2
124n3
79n3
65
47
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU
137
125
84
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super (Desktop)
81
70
49
AMD Radeon RX 6800M
184n2
130.5n2
124.5n2
78n2
79
50
AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT
313n3
198n3
180n3
87n3
68n3
44n3
AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT
266
159
142
58
50
32
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU
209.5n4
144n5
132n5
82n5
70n3
50n3
AMD Radeon RX 6800S
133
131
76
62
39
AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT
216
192
176
63
50
27
Intel Arc A750
227
132
121
70
60
44
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
192n2
124n2
110n2
66n2
56.5n2
40.5n2
NVIDIA Titan X Pascal
206n3
119n3
106n3
66n3
57n3
41n3
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super (Desktop)
275n3
150n3
133n3
80n3
68n3
47n3
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (Desktop)
322n3
173n3
152n3
70n3
66n3
45n3
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU
120
100.5n2
51n2
48
35
AMD Radeon RX 7600S
197
144
135
74
PosModel< PrevNext >Forza Horizon 5
low med. high ultra QHD 4K
Intel Arc A580
217
123
114
66
56
40
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super (Desktop)
230n3
125n3
108n3
66n4
56n3
39n3
AMD Radeon RX 6600
298n3
173n3
149n3
77n3
60n3
36n3
AMD Radeon RX 5700 (Desktop)
283n3
150n3
132n3
71n3
59n3
40n3
AMD Radeon RX 6600M
176n5
121n5
114n5
67n5
54n3
34n3
AMD Radeon RX 6700S
140
138
74
54
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050
199.5n2
107.5n2
93.5n2
53.5n2
45n2
31n2
AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (Desktop)
174n3
104n3
91n3
50n3
29n3
21.5n2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (Desktop)
208
107
94
63
52
34
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super (Desktop)
216n3
108n3
94n3
38n3
35n3
24n3
AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT
211n3
107n3
81n3
26n3
11n3
5n3
AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (Desktop)
221n3
109n3
94n3
46n3
37n3
24n3
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU
174.5n2
115n2
107.5n2
48.5n2
41.5n2
Intel Arc A730M
86
80
50
41
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile
100
90
44
36
24
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU
93.5n2
83.5n2
25n2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (Desktop)
201n3
100n3
88n3
42n3
35n3
24n3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Super (Desktop)
194n3
93n3
82n3
31n3
27n3
18n3
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Laptop GPU
154
87
77
28
AMD Radeon RX 6500M
152
101
81
27
PosModel< PrevNext >Forza Horizon 5
low med. high ultra QHD 4K
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile
110.5n2
68.5n2
61n2
26.5n2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile
78
67
26
21
14
AMD Radeon Pro 5500M
85
31
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 Mobile
111
62
53
18
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (Desktop)
143
73
62
26
22
15
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile
68
60
22
18
12
Intel Arc A380
151
72
64
28
Intel Arc A350M
108
50
47
11
9
6
AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH
85
47
35
14
13
NVIDIA GeForce MX550
119
47
31
12
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile
93
45
36
17
AMD Radeon 680M
120n2
52n2
45.5n2
27
NVIDIA GeForce MX450
72
34n2
25.5n2
12.5n2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile
86
37
30
AMD Radeon 660M
92
39
32
AMD Radeon RX 560X (Laptop)
59
34
31
14
Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs
54n3
35n2
31n2
16
NVIDIA GeForce MX350
66
25
16
7
AMD Radeon RX 550 (Laptop)
35
13
10
NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop)
42n2
17
13
6
PosModel< PrevNext >Forza Horizon 5
low med. high ultra QHD 4K
NVIDIA GeForce MX250
47
17
13
Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EUs
51.5n2
20.5n2
19.5n2
NVIDIA GeForce GT 710
11
AMD Radeon 540X
40
17
Intel UHD Graphics 64EUs (Alder Lake 12th Gen)
55
25
22
Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU)
28
15
AMD Radeon RX Vega 10
31
13
11
Intel UHD Graphics Xe G4 48EUs
38
15
14
Intel UHD Graphics Xe 32EUs (Tiger Lake-H)
39
16
Intel UHD Graphics 770
43
18
16
AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000)
70n7
33n7
28n7
16n3
12.5n2
7.5n2
AMD Radeon RX Vega 7
59n3
24n3
21
11
NVIDIA GeForce MX130
35
15
AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 2000/3000)
39
17
NVIDIA GeForce 930MX
29
12
Intel Iris Graphics 550
18
AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000)
26
12
AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 2000/3000)
23
AMD Radeon RX Vega 5
46
17
15
Intel UHD Graphics G1 (Ice Lake 32 EU)
20
PosModel< PrevNext >Forza Horizon 5
low med. high ultra QHD 4K
Intel UHD Graphics 630
18
Intel UHD Graphics Xe 16EUs (Tiger Lake-H)
23
9
AMD Radeon R5 M255
20
AMD Radeon RX Vega 3
24
9
(-) * Smaller values are better. / n123 Number of benchmarks for this median value / * Approximate position

 

Legend
5Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
?Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.

Test Systems

Device GPU CPU RAM OS
XMG Neo 15 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 @165 W TGP (16 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-11800H 2 x 16 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
XMG Neo 17 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 @140 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-11800H 2 x 16 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
XMG Core 15 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 @130 W TGP (6 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-11800H 2 x 16 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
XMG Focus 17 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti @75 W TGP (4 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-11800H 2 x 16 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI GP65 Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (6 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-9750H 2 x 8 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI GP75 Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti (4 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-10750H 2 x 8 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI GL75 Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 (4 GB GDDR6) Intel Core i7-10750H 2 x 8 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
Dell G5 15 SE AMD Radeon RX 5600M (6 GB GDDR6) AMD Ryzen 7 4800H 2 x 8 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
MSI Prestige 14 Evo Intel Iris Xe (96 CUs) Intel Core i7-1185G7 1 x 16 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
Asus ROG Strix G15 AMD Radeon RX 6800M (12 GB GDDR6) AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX 2 x 8 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
Desktop PC I MSI GeForce RTX 3090 (24 GB GDDR6X)
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 (10 GB GDDR6X)
MSI GeForce RTX 3070 (8 GB GDDR6)
Intel Core i9-9900K 4 x 8 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
Desktop PC II Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 FE (24 GB GDDR6X)
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 (12 GB GDDR6X)
Nvidia Titan RTX (24 GB GDDR6)
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super (8 GB GDDR6)
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super (8 GB GDDR6)
KFA2 GeForce GTX 1660 Super (6 GB GDDR6)
PNY GeForce GTX 1660 (6 GB GDDR5)
KFA2 GeForce GTX 1650 Super (4 GB GDDR6)
KFA2 GeForce GTX 1650 (4 GB GDDR5)
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (12 GB DDR6)
AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (8 GB GDDR6)
AMD Radeon RX 6600 (8 GB GDDR6)
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (8 GB GDDR6)
AMD Radeon RX 5700 (8 GB GDDR6)
AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (6 GB GDDR6)
AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (8 GB GDDR6)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 2 x 32 GB DDR4 Windows 10 64 Bit
4K monitors Nvidia drivers AMD drivers
Asus PB287Q, Philips Brilliance 329P9H, Acer Predator XB321HK ForceWare 496.49 Adrenalin 21.11.1
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Florian Glaser, 2021-11-14 (Update: 2021-11-14)