Autumn is history, and Winter is here in Forza Horizon 5, and you know what that means, right? Yep, it is time for a whole load of new Festival Playlist Weekly Challenges and events to try your hand at. And that means it is time for me to dig into my virtual garage and try and suggest some new cars and tunes for the upcoming festivities.
Without further ado, let’s dive in and see what Winter brings with Series 24, shall we?
Part 1: Weekly Car Challenge – It’s like Fiat
One day the pun writer at Playground may get one of these gags to land, but it appears today is not that day!
Anyway, as you may have gathered from the title, the car that is the subject of the weekly challenge this season is a Fiat, the 124 Sport Spider to be precise.
Looking suitably swanky, this is more of a posing mobile than a serious sports car, but either way we are stuck with it!
If you don’t have one in your garage, it will cost you a mere 25,000 credits from the Autoshow.
Chapter 1 – Pininfarina
Get in your new car, take it for a spin. Step one complete!
Chapter 2 – Lampredi
We need to win a total of three stars at speed traps now, and given that this car makes a rollerskate feel fast, some tuning is needed.
Look for the share name 124 with my GT, Red620Ti.
Chapter 3 – Homologation
As this was apparently a rally car (?) it had to be homologated by Abarth. We need to honour that heritage by winning a road race.
Choose whichever takes your fancy and batter the opposition.
Chapter 4 – Folding Top
An odd one to finish – Rack up 95 mph at speed traps. As the tune above will do over 220 mph, this should be easy enough…
And with that, the weekly car challenge is complete, and we are five points nearer to the new cars on offer in Series 24.
Part 2: Weekly Challenges, Championships and PR Stunts
With that out of the way, let’s have a look at what new delights await us on the playlist this week. Fancy a race or a PR Stunt? You’ve come to the right place!
Let’s jump straight in and see what tunes I can offer to help with The Trial, EventLabs, Championships and more.
The Trial – Brains Vs Brawn
The Trial this week restricts us to Italian SUV, and again I reached for the trusty Lambo Urus, with share code : 126897049.
The people I found last week were actually very friendly and didn’t spend the whole race crashing into each other, so small victories and all that! Hopefully you will be equally lucky…
Should we manage to win two out of three races, a lovely Alfa Guila from 2017 will be yours as a reward. Nice and new!
Eventlab 1 – ALDIRO97 Presents – AV.-Paradise:Circuito Callejero
For this Eventlab, we need to use an Italian Rare Classic, and the tuning limit is B Class 700.
As with the week before last, it is either a Ferrari 365 GT/B 4 or a Lamborghini Miura. Stock trim is fine, pick your favourite brand.
There is clearly a lot of work gone into this track, but for me it just doesn’t flow nicely. Every bend seems to be a 90 degree turn, so you’re constantly on and off the throttle, and this kills any flow. Whilst the Eventlabs have certainly picked up recently, I’m not a fan of this one.
The prize for completing this race is a Ferrari 458.
Eventlab 2 – DEXTER41300 Presents Pipeline Stadium Circuit (Night)
For this Eventlab, we need to use an Italian Hypercar, tuned to a maximum of S1 Class 900, and so I went with a stock Pagani Zonda Cinque Roadster, just for a little bit of a change!
The course works well, with a good mix of fast and slow corners, and it all flows together nicely. I guess a 50% hit rate for Eventlabs this season isn’t too bad, right?
A Super Wheelspin will be yours for completing the course. How lucky!
PR Stunt 1 – Danger Sign – Colina
This week the tuning limit for these events is S2 Class 998, and the class of car is Italian Hypercars.
To misquote The Snowman, we’re required to go sailing through the air for this event, with a distance of over 480m required to triumph. I went with a Lamborghini Centenario, share code : 112337531.
A Super Wheelspin? It’ll do.
PR Stunt 2 – Speed Trap – Escarpment
Speed requires a quick car, obviously, and with the target for this being 170mph, I stayed in the same Lamborghini from above.
Another Super Wheelspin awaits.
PR Stunt 3 -Drift Zone – Polytunnels
Different class of car, and a different challenge this time – let us slide about a bit. Well, 130,000 drift points worth at least, and in an Italian Convertible no less, and only tuned to S1 Class 900.
I went with the Fiat 124 I made for the weekly challenge. If you poke it with a stick, it slides quite nicely.
Yet another Super Wheelspin to add to the pile.
Seasonal Championship 1 – Country Run
In this championship, the challenge is to take either a Lancia, tune it to C Class 600, and then win some races.
I went with a Stratos, as the Delta is too high as default. The car is under the share name “Stratos C” with the GT Red620Ti. Not a lot of tuning headroom, sadly, so it is a bit lively.
For winning outright solo, or best two out of three in a convoy, we can take home a Maserati GT-S
Seasonal Championship 2 – Bulls on Parade
Not a Rage Against the Machine reference, sadly, but an indication that we need to use a Lambo to do this series of races. The tuning class is S1 900 and so I went with an Huracan LP610-4, with share code : 101467248.
We can walk away with another prize for winning, a Lamborghini Huracan Performante.
Part 3: Other Challenges
There’s always more to get involved in than just the racing, and that is the case again this week.
There’s the Photo Challenge and Treasure hunt, alongside some Open Racing and Playground Games to have a crack at! We’re being spoiled…
Photo Challenge – #BEACHPARTY
We need a Lamborghini this week, at Playa Azul. That simple!
I’ll post the location and my artistic effort below. Can you do better?
The reward? A new hat, a Raul Urias Horizon one to be precise.
Treasure Hunt – Stratospheric
No prizes for guessing what car we need this week, hey? Still, the clue reads “Find the Treasure”, which is refreshingly direct, and the picture shows a Chest at the top of the hill in a weather station.
Luckily there is a large orange circle on the map to show you the rough area, and the photo below shows you exactly where to go.
The chest contains 100 FP.
Horizon Open Racing – Coming Through
It is the turn of the Horizon Open racing to be here this week, and while I can’t recommend a car or a tune due to it being literally any class, all you need to do is complete a race event to unlock a fabulous prize. Make sure it’s an Italian car though, yeah?
A Pop ‘N’ Lock emote, no less!
Playground Games – Flying the Flag
We need to play a bunch of games of capture the flag this week, and the cars we need to use are an Italian car tuned to S1 Class 900. Might as well keep using that little Fiat 124, eh?
Win or lose, we will take home a Police Siren horn, which is nice!
Part 4: Hot Wheels Events
If you have the Hot Wheels expansion and are an Elite Level player, then you get to enjoy a couple of extra events.
Seasonal PR Stunt – Speed Trap – Dragons Fall
S2 Class again, but this time we need to use an Extreme Track Toy to hit over 270 mph, which is a big ask. I used a Bugatti Divo, share code: 169915677 to do it, and pinned the throttle and hoped!
Approaching from the left and using the loop and speed boats made it a bit easier.
A Super Wheelspin is your reward.
Seasonal Championship -Fire and Ice
Just an S1 Class 900 car is required this week, but it has to be Italian. Step forward the Superfast Ferrari again, the 812, and share code : 261040765.
Winning all the races, or two out of three in a convoy, will get us a new car – that car being an Aventador from 2012.
Part 5: Rally Adventure Events
The Rally Adventure expansion brings even more events to the roster and provided you are already a Horizon Badlands champion, you’ll get access to…
Seasonal PR Stunt – Danger Sign – Canyon Snap
We need to use yet another Italian car here, but this time tuned to A Class 800. The target is more than 200m, which is also known as “quite a way!”.
I went with the same Lancia Delta I used for the weekly challenge last week, and this time the share code is : 524240586. This does need a bit of a runup, but a speed of around 140 off the ramp is far enough.
The prize is another Super Wheelspin.
Seasonal Championship – Dune Dash
For this series of races, we need a B Class 700 car – it is time for the Mitsubishi Evo VIII MR to step up. Share code is 141179186. It’s not awfully Italian, but it doesn’t need to be.
For winning out, we can take away a new emote, the Take-Off one to be precise. Awesome.
With Series 24 moving along nicely, the cars for the month are quite nice. For 80 points, we can have a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ, while 160 points will see us walk away with a Ferrari 512 Testa Rossa
The new monthly Rivals challenges are here too. Grab some clean laps around the Horizon Mexico circuit, or complete a clean run of the Volcan Sprint route to earn 4 points apiece. Every little helps but you’ve got the full Series to get these completed. Unless you did them last week, or maybe even the week before?
Grab enough points and Series 24 Winter will also see you gifted with the exclusive Abarth 131 for 20 points, and for 40 points we can get an Alfa Romeo 8C – twice as good as last week and both exclusive!
To enjoy these events in the Festival Playlist Weekly Challenges, you’ll need a copy of Forza Horizon 5. It’s available on Game Pass, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC and on the cloud via mobile. The Xbox Store will sort you out with a download.
So what do you think of our tunes and cars? Have they helped you out a little? Do you have something better?
Let us know in the comments. Only Spring left to go, and then maybe someone else can take over for Series 25? Who knows how to tune a motor?