well-optimized too. i'm still playing around with settings but i'm generally able to run this ~100 fps at max settings on 1440p. rarely dips below 75 fps even in areas with heavy geometry and lighting. very impressive. almost doesn't feel like it's the same engine as 3 and 4 because it looks so much better than those games. the level of detail on nearly everything in the game is wild and holds up to very close scrutiny. to rjcc's point above, the lighting is excellent and seems to add a new dimension to the visual fidelity

the game itself feels like the culmination of all the knowledge gained by developing and supporting the previous entries, which is probably to be expected of the 5th entry in a series. the return to a setting with diverse biomes is refreshing. england was fine in FH4 but a lot of it looked samey and it certainly didn't offer the vistas that FH5 does. FH5 feels like FH3's australia and that's ideal as FH3 had the best landscapes and visual variance. this is important if they are going to be going all in having a long tail as they appear to be doing from the onset

the seasonal challenges add a lot of replayability and incentive to experiment with different car and race types. the seasonal challenges in FH4 legit brought me back into that game after i had sworn off it for being too empty and shallow. it's a good exectution of the games-as-a-service philsophy, likely doubly so for game pass owners who didn't purchase the game. you get a lot of free stuff just for completing things and it encourages engaging with all functions present in the game. the true rivals mode — aka time trials with ghosts and leaderboards — being baked in is nice too (FH4 had a stripped down rivals mode when it launched)

the driving feels a little sticker than previous entries. this is fine but i'm accustomed to having to wrangle high powered vehicles into form and in fact really enjoy that part of this series. in this game it feels like every car has extra aerodynamic downforce and it's tough to become out of control even when you have 1400 horsepower. i had to check the difficulty settings several times when i first started playing (i play with all assists off) because i thought some kind of steering or traction assist was still on. maybe this is a result of a new tire class being added and i'm used to a lower ceiling for traction. it is tough to complain about them making the game easier (maybe more consistent is a better term) and enjoyable for most folks though. it's undeniably a change for the better

upgrades seem to be rebalanced. it looks like you can't throw AWD and a new engine in any given car and have it be a powerhouse that flies off the line and passes all the other cars in the race within the first 10 seconds. from what i can tell there is a hard penalty to the speed rating when you convert to AWD. this was present in FH4 but it wasn't as harsh and you could gear ratio your way around it by having 1000+ horsepower and long gears. this apparent nerf is a little disappointing because my favorite part of the seasonal challenges/forzathon in FH4 was being assigned a car type for a set of races, spending time thoughtfully upgrading and tuning that car, and having that car turn into something that might not have been intended by the devs but was definitely broken and would absolutely crush the drivatars on difficulties up to and including unbeatable. maybe this is still in FH4 and i just haven't found the right car or combination of upgrades yet. it would seem counter-productive to have upgrading be such a huge part of FH4 then nerf it into dust in the next entry. at any rate the rebalancing is probably for the best due to the enhanced focus on an improved multiplayer experience. no one wants to hop into a online race and instantly lose to folks that figured out how to break the tuning and upgrade systems

overall i think this game is extremely good, at least on par with FH3, which i think of as the apex of the series. i've barely touched any of the actual races as i've mostly been focusing on unlocking everything and buying all the houses. i have been enjoying just driving around and exploring. the races and courses i have been forced to engage with have all been good. i'm looking forward to learning a new set of courses and i'm truly excited for what appears to be a return to form for the final sprints and circuits that span the whole map (e.g, the colossus, the goliath, the juggernaut, etc.) i loved them in FH1 and FH3 but barely played them in FH4 because they were so poorly done and not fun to look at for the 10-15 minutes it took to complete them