True rating:
Gameplay & Mechanics: 10/10= ⭐️1
Graphics & Visuals: 0.9/10= ⭐️0.9
Sound & Music: 10/10= ⭐️1
Quality & Polishing: 10/10= ⭐️1
Story/Setting & Campaign: 10/10= ⭐️1

1 + 0.9 + 1 + 1 + 1 = ⭐️4.9

If the servers were still online and thriving this may be the greatest Forza of all time, but still it's the best open world racer, it personally makes me forget all about NFS MW.

This game is absolutely fun and has a incredible setting, presentation, music, game modes, varied activities, characters with incredible amounts of charisma that makes you more invested on the grind to be the Horizon Champion, a story that doesn't distract you from the racing and many more ideas that were given life in this game that didn't have to dissapear or transform in consequent games. I just can say this damned world doesn't deserve something like the first Forza Horizon, that's why online services are gone with a great part of the game now lost in time and not being re-released anytime soon.

What they can't take away from us is that it's still the best singleplayer experience from any Horizon game. Absolutely worth trying, you just need a physical copy to put it on your Xbox 360, Xbox One or Xbox Series X (YES, even if its delisted the game is still backwards compatible)

Easily the best and my favorite racing game of all time.
the music, races, rivals, the feeling of being at a car festival and lots of indie music playing ooof

play this and feel like you're in 2012 again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FfF4fIoPpc&list=PLJm5sK94Ezjr3c7Z6cHYXLDhiqtzq8_kR

Forza Horizon is the inverse of Horizon 4 for me. Where everything I liked and disliked about that game has been flipped with this. There's a sparse linearity to the progression here. It's just race and unlock wristbands. Likewise a sparseness to the map itself. There's virtually no off road racing in this game, no destructible environments to the point of making a checkpoint or way marker useless by way of rumbling across the terrain. I think it's pretty telling that the last three games in the series feature an SUV on the cover alongside some sort of supercar. In contrast, Horizon 1 is pretty much all highways, all coated in a warm, autumn Colorado sunset. It reminds me a lot of NFS Hot Pursuit 2010, just minus the police and a lot more infectious and fun to play. There's an actual story and characters in this game and a genuine reason to race in events. I enjoyed beating the shallow arrogant villain racers, especially Darius Flynt (what a name). It's something the Horizon 3 and 4 really lacked. I thought the festival atmosphere made the most sense too, felt like the most realistic actual festival setting - basically Coachella with race events for some reason (the concept itself is still fairly unbelievable). Features a small, but manageable car list that actively encourages and necessitates variety in which cars you race.

All good things to say in comparison to where I think the series evolved with Horizon 4. But saying all that, I still find this game to be empty and utterly sanitised. The driving physics are still rad and pretty much the same. It's a fun game to play, but it still feels a bit too easy. And I'm hypocritical, but I find the strict adherence to road racing a detriment to the fun. It's not really an open world racer. It's an open world menu screen where you can drove to whichever track event you want to participate in. It's a good blueprint for what's to come, sadly I think they went too far with it and kind of lost whatever identity they were striving for. I also don't find the car presentation in this game to be that appealing, something it shares with Horizon 4. The cars barely feel like they exist. Just a bit dated. Fun. But really just a sanitised, slightly better Need for Speed.