Forza Horizon 5 Weekly Challenges Guide – Series 3 – Spring

As day follows night, so Spring follows Winter in the ever-evolving world of Forza Horizon 5, and so another series of challenges washes up on the shores of sunny Mexico – Series 3 – Spring.

As is usual in these weekly articles (as usual as things can be when I’m writing the fourth such article, but I digress), there is a series of events featuring a star car, a number of exciting PR stunts to pull off, and of course not only the regular weekly championships to take part in, but also the weekly Trial, which pits us against Unbeatable Drivatars. Want to know how best to cope with those? Read on. 

Now, I’ve been threatening to write this for a while, but I feel that the time has come to try and address an issue I’ve found in Forza Horizon 5, and it’s this: In a co-op championship, such as The Trial, we all need to do well. I see a lot of players, and I’m not pointing fingers here, who seem to have a “Me first” mindset, up to and including putting their team mates into walls in order to get past. Please, if this is you and you are partaking in a co-op championship, consider racing a little more cleanly as taking teammates out of the running can be the difference between the team winning or losing. Plus it will save my convoy’s ears from being blistered when I’m pushed wide of a checkpoint. 

Anyway, rant over, and normal service is now resumed. Let’s dig into the meat of the series and see what is on offer in Forza Horizon 5’s Series 3 Spring Challenges…

Part 1 – Weekly Car Challenge – Mid-Engine Madness

The hero car this week is the Chevrolet Corvette C8 Stingray Coupe 2020. For my fun fact this week this model of Corvette was the first to be mid-engined, as all previous models had followed the classic muscle car recipe of big engine at the front and rear wheel drive. So, with that taken on board, it’s time to see what we have to do with the car.

The first step is to get in and drive the car, as always, before taking it for a spin and winning two Road Racing events – we’d advise heading to the Emerald Circuit in the South-West and running that race a couple of times; sub-50 second lap times mean it’ll be over fairly swiftly. 

After this, we have to get 10 ultimate air skills in the car, so I suggest either popping over to the Dunas Blancas area on the left of the map, or maybe travelling to the top of the Gran Caldera volcano and flinging yourself off the edge. 

Finally, after we have recovered from all the bouncing about, we then need to reach 194 mph in the car. Heading to the main highway that runs through the middle of the map will see this ticked off pretty easily.

In stock trim, the Corvette is all out of ideas at around 170, so a little tickling under the bonnet is needed. I have tuned a car to allow us to not only win races, but also to have a decent top speed, and here is the share code: 846887118

Part 2 – Weekly Challenges

So, after we have ticked off the challenge of the Corvette, it’s time to dive into the other challenges that Forza Horizon 5 has for us.Starting off with the usual selection, we have a speed trap to beat, a Danger sign to 3 star, and finally a Speed Zone to monster.Here are all the details you need!

Speed Trap – Escarpment

The Escarpment Speed Trap is located in the north of the map, and to clear the seasonal challenge we need to pass it doing in excess of 128mph. The car we have to use is the VW Golf R ‘14, limited to a B Class 700 tune. I made this beast here: 597184084.

Be warned, you will need quite a run up, and the corner just before the camera does need some care (approaching from the left).

Making sufficient speed through the Trap will give us a Wheelspin, so unlimited possibilities!

Danger Sign – Hotel

The Hotel Danger Sign is one of the more interesting ones to try and complete, and in order to get the Bonus Board that was there (on a balcony on the left hand side if you are still hunting them all) the run up and launch had to be absolutely bang on.This time, we have to clear a distance of 130M. 

My top tip for this is to make your approach from the desert, as the roads that run nearby require you to try and make a sharp turn to hit the ramp. We have to use an Unlimited Offroad car this time, tuned to a maximum of A Class 800, and I have decided to use the same Trailcat tune I have used for the past two weeks to make this jump. The tune share code is: 118411445. Again, an approach in a straight line through the waste ground seems most efficient.

Hitting the distance rewards us with a Wheelspin.

Speed Zone – La Subida

The Speed Zone this time around is the Las Subida one, located in the left of the map, on the edge of the desert. It is a dirt surface, which promises to make things interesting. As is normal for these challenges, we have to maintain an average speed through the zone of 86mph. Using a Buggy limited to D Class 500, this can be a challenge, but hopefully the tune I provided for the car in question, the VW Beetle #1107 Desert Dingo  Racing Stock Bug 1970 will help you out.

The share code is 175335749. I found it easiest approaching from the left as you look at the map, and over the open desert rather than following the road on the approach.

This final challenge will also give us a Wheelspin, so it’s well worth having a crack!

Part 3 – Seasonal Championships

Championship 1 – Hear Me Roar

For this championship, we need to use a Retro Muscle car, and the class is restricted to B 700. Now, there are a few options for this class, all fairly cheap, so I decided to build up a proper old classic.

I chose the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, because I used to love Hill Street Blues (ask your parents, kids!). Starting as a lowly D Class, I was able to beef it up a bit into this:284626471. Now, this is a bit wayward, as I used most of the points available to shoehorn a honking great V8 under the bonnet, but it’s an interesting challenge.

This championship, should you win, rewards the Buick Regal GNX 1987, and there is an accolade for completing this car’s Mastery tree.

Championship 2 – Earn your Stripes

This Championship is a bit more interesting. 

The category this time is Modern Sports Cars, and a much more exciting S1 Class 900. What makes it even more interesting is that it is an off-road series of races, ideal for sports cars. So, I altered one to make it a little more competitive, and the car I chose was the Audi TT RS 2015. Being 4WD already, I felt this would give me a good basis to start from.

A little light tinkering, and some chunky off road tyres made me this: 162231696.

Championship 3 – Battle of the Big Cats

This championship is limited to A Class 800, and either a Jaguar or a Peugeot. 

I tried a lot of different cars for this before I found one that worked in the shape of the Jaguar F-Type Project 7. I tuned this up to win, and the share code is: 722833423. 

Be warned, the Drivatars are pretty tasty in this series and will think nothing of ramming you out of the way. 

Triumph in this series will reward the Jaguar XE-S 2015, which is always nice.

Part 4 – Others

The rest of the challenges that this week brings are fairly easy, luckily. Here are the things you need to know to gain all the points.

Photo Challenge – #PartyTillDawn

For this week’s Photo Challenge, all you need to do is take the car of your choice to Horizon Festival Mexico, and take a picture. Simples, right?

I’ll share the photo I took to illustrate what we are trying to achieve.

Doing as the game asks will award us with the Fireworks horn, so I guess that’s okay. I actually got this accidentally while tuning another car, but I’ll take a better picture to show off. 

Treasure Hunt – High Five

The clue this week for the treasure hunt is as follows: “You’ll need to get defenderously high to prove you are five star rated”.

Well, obviously we need to use a Land Rover Defender, and clearly we need to get high…

Danger signs anyone? 

When you reach a total of five stars from the jumps, the Treasure chest will appear near Uxmal in the south of the country. Finding and smashing said chest will give you 50,000 credits. Nice.

Winning all these championships and challenges through Series 3 – Spring will see you well on your way to gaining the cars that are on offer this week. For 25 points, you can gain a Jaguar XKr-S 2015, and for 45 points it’s the Lotus Carlton, a car I remember causing an uproar when it was released as it was so much faster than the police patrol cars of the time that questions were asked in Parliament about it. 

In addition, if you have been following my guides to Series 3’s Summer, Autumn and Winter challenges over the last few weeks, you should now have enough points to claim the seasonal cars – the Zenvo TS1 for 120 points, and the Ford Mustang ‘71 for 200 points. With upwards of 60 points per week available, these should be well within your reach by now .In addition, if you manage to score all the points in all the weeks of a series, there is a tasty achievement waiting for you, so what are you waiting for?

And with Spring, we see the conclusion of Series 3 fast approaching. Of course, as one door closes, another opens and Series 4 will be here before you know it. And yes, that means we’ll be covering things with more guides, helping you through the madness of Summer, Autumn, Winter and then Spring again. What cars are likely to be gifted through that? Well, that’s to be seen but you should expect new vehicles, events, racesuits and competitions coming your way. 

Of course, to enjoy the Forza Horizon 5 weekly challenges, you’ll need a copy of the game to hand. You can pick that up from the Xbox Store, either by paying up cold hard cash or by utilising the power of Game Pass. You’ll find the game fully playable on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.