Today, we’re going to rank all the Forza Horizon locations that Playground has brought us over the previous years. Forza Horizon first released at the end of 2012, bringing a new open-world driving sandbox to Xbox players. With a new entry into the series expected for this year — and being released on the PlayStation for the first time — people are excited to know where the new location will be set.
Forza Horizon has been a great way to virtually drive some of our favorite cars around multiple locations from all over the world. The Forza community — of which I am a proud member — also has a range of different opinions about which game had the best map. Overall, it comes down to personal preference. Regardless, here are all the Forza Horizon locations ranked.
Previous Forza Horizon Locations
First, here is a quick list of all the Forza Horizon locations in order:
- Forza Horizon – Colorado, USA
- Forza Horizon 2 – Southern France and parts of Northern Italy
- Forza Horizon 3 – Australia
- Forza Horizon 4 – United Kingdom
- Forza Horizon 5 – Mexico
Forza Horizon Locations Ranked
1.) Forza Horizon 3 – Australia
FH3’s map based in Australia takes the top spot. It takes its influence from the East Coast of the country, featuring Byron Bay and Yarra Valley as its main locations. It also has an outback section and a city. In fact, many in the community also rank the city of Surfers Paradise as the best city location in the whole series, thanks to its size and architecture.
The contrast between the modern city and the rural, wide-open road captivated driving fans around the world, and the overall ambiance and feeling of the map truly captured the Aussie landscape and cultural identity. The big roads are ideal for casual racers, but people who prefer more challenging roads end up preferring other maps in the series.
The biggest takeaway from people’s opinions online is that the Australian map is just good, clean fun. The long stretches of roads were perfect for pushing each car to its limit. Players also love the AI drivers on the map, saying they felt like real people with aggressive driving styles.
In addition, the Hot Wheels add-on was a brilliant addition to an already exceptional map. Overall, the contrast of the different areas of the map made the biggest difference, making Australia the best map in the Forza Horizon series.
2.) Forza Horizon 2 – Southern France/Northern Italy
Some people see the Mediterranean coast as the ideal holiday destination. For a fraction of the price of a flight ticket, you can pick up FH2 and drive into the sunset in your dream car. Forza Horizon absolutely nailed this map, portraying Southern France and Northern Italy accurately whilst also bringing gamers a unique driving experience.
The main urban location is the coastal city of Nice. It’s not huge, but it provides enough of a break from the coastal drives to make you feel like you’re back in civilization. In fact, the whole map itself wasn’t huge, but some fans actually preferred this as you don’t have great distances to cover to get to different challenges. We also enjoy the big highways, which have an excellent layout, making it convenient and fast to get around the map or to our favorite countryside drives.
The biggest positive was the setting, and it is a close first, in my personal opinion. The coastal drives during the sunset were unmatched and really felt like a Mediterranean holiday. I would love to experience this map in VR to give myself a little holiday without having to go away. It was especially fun driving a Ferrari in its birthplace.
3.) Forza Horizon 4 – United Kingdom
As I am from the UK, it was an absolute blast driving around the countryside that I am so familiar with. I remember the announcement that FH4 was based in the UK and recall my initial reaction being one of skepticism, as I thought the UK was too boring to be the setting of a racing game. But I was completely wrong. The small country roads and gray, dull landscape were much more fun than I thought. Also, the charm of the roads, which seemed familiar to me, made it much more special.
The community is in agreement, even those who aren’t from the UK — the weather system was the major factor in the UK map’s success. The gray days felt miserable, and when the sun came out, the same roads felt like a completely different location. The winter season was also a massive hit.
The main city on this map is based around Edinburgh. There are many YouTube videos showing the accurate comparison between real life and FH4, and they are excellent. Even the road layout is fairly similar.
4.) Forza Horizon – Colorado, USA
The Colorado map in the first Forza Horizon had a brilliant feel. It was the most challenging map in the series, which experienced racers loved. The tight and unforgiving roads meant that if you strayed from the track, it was pretty much game over. People love this map so much that they are calling for a modern redo or expansion.
The Colorado map is the only map in the Horizon series without a sea. I personally prefer the sea, but Playground did an incredible job of making the map seem like you were high up in the mountains. It also reflected Colorado well, offering realistic architecture and rural landscapes in the small bits of civilization dotted around the map. There was no big city, but Horizon wasn’t trying to cover a whole city, just a section of this US state.
Overall, ranking the Colorado map a difficult decision to make. And truthfully, I don’t think this location should come this far down on the list. Playground has just done such a good job on all FH locations that the decision comes down to personal preference and driving style. And I prefer others.
5.) Forza Horizon 5 – Mexico
Like the last comment above, the fact that Mexico comes last on this list doesn’t make it a bad map. The map designers really nailed the Sonoran desert. The roads up and down the volcano were a personal favorite, perfectly blending tough driving and scenic routes.
People tend to prefer the other locations because there wasn’t much variety in Mexico’s in-game landscape. Fans say it just becomes big and boring after putting hours into FH5. Other maps have a more drastic change in the weather and seasons. Obviously, Mexico doesn’t have this, so the map ended up feeling a bit stale as time went on.
The biggest shame about FH5 is that the roads are fun to drive. But they gradually lose their luster as time goes on. Additionally, the cities and neighborhoods felt dead, even though they looked great visually.
Published: Feb 4, 2025 3:45 PM UTC