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Overview
Forza Horizon 3 puts you in the director's chair of the Horizon Festival, set across a sprawling recreation of Australia. Playground Games built four distinct biomes for the 2016 release: sun-bleached Outback, dense rainforest around Byron Bay, the urban sprawl of Surfers Paradise, and the red-dirt Copper Canyons. Each area plays differently under your wheels, and the sheer geographic variety gives the open-world racing format a sense of real scale that few games in the genre match.
The festival structure is more than a narrative wrapper. You grow the Horizon Festival by earning fans, which unlocks new outposts across the map. Each outpost opens up a new region with its own race types, Bucket List challenges, and Showcases. The Showcase events are the highlight reel, pitting a car against a hovercraft, a train, or a fleet of stunt planes in set-piece races that feel genuinely cinematic without overstaying their welcome.
Gameplay and mechanics
The core loop in Forza Horizon 3 rewards players who want to engage with everything. Key mechanics include:
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- Drivatar AI that learns from real player behavior
- Skill chains that multiply XP for chained stunts
- Blueprints for creating and sharing custom events
- Barn Finds that hide rare classic cars across the map
- Horizon Blueprint for remixing existing race routes
The handling model sits between simulation and arcade, leaning toward accessibility without fully abandoning physics fidelity. Tuning options go deep for players who want them, but the game never forces that depth on anyone. Rewind, assists, and difficulty sliders mean you can shape the challenge to match your skill level.
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What does co-op add to the experience?
Forza Horizon 3 supports up to four players in online co-op, and the structure is worth understanding before you jump in. Any player can join another's festival world and progress counts for both parties. Races, Showcases, and skill point events all carry over, so co-op sessions feel productive rather than like a side mode bolted onto the main game. The shared festival world also means a friend can unlock a new outpost while you're grinding fans in a different region, and both of you benefit.
The online multiplayer extends beyond co-op into dedicated competitive modes, including Road Racing, Dirt Racing, and the chaotic King and Infected party games. These hold up as genuinely fun diversions, though the festival co-op is where Horizon 3 separates itself from most open-world racing games.
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Visual and audio design
Playground Games put serious work into the audio. The licensed soundtrack spans six radio stations covering everything from hip-hop to electronic, classic rock, and bass-heavy dance music. Each station has a distinct identity, and the sound design around the cars themselves is excellent, with engine notes that shift convincingly across the 350-plus vehicle roster.
Visually, the game holds up well. The Australian setting gave the art team a range of lighting conditions to work with, from the golden-hour glow of the Outback to the dense green canopy of the rainforest. Dynamic weather, including full storm systems with rising water levels, changes how familiar roads handle and keeps the map feeling alive rather than static.
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Content and replayability
Forza Horizon 3 launched with two major expansion packs: Blizzard Mountain, which added a snow-covered alpine region, and Hot Wheels, which introduced giant orange track pieces suspended above the clouds. Both expansions are substantial enough to function as standalone experiences and add hours to an already generous base game. The Blueprint system and Forzathon seasonal challenges extended the replayability further, keeping the open-world racing loop fresh well past the initial campaign.