Forza is one of the most popular and successful Xbox exclusives out right now. No matter your age, you might have played one Forza game during your lifetime, knowing that the series has a lifespan of more than 15 years. There are three different Forza developers that are making the renowned Forza Motorsport, Forza Horizon, and Forza Street series. To better understand its history, here is every Forza game, from all the series, in release order.
The Forza games in chronological release order
Forza Motorsport (2005)
The first game in the franchise, Forza Motorsport, made by Turn 10 Studios, came into an easy 2005 Xbox racing market where there was no competition. The game had everything a racing fan would want, from hundreds of cars (231 to be exact) to a great career mode. It also used the best parts of Xbox Live and had good multiplayer features.
Forza Motorsport 2 (2007)
Forza Motorsport 2 didn’t come as a surprise for the fans, as the first game was an instant success. The developers at Turn 10 Studios instantly started working on the sequel and managed to pump out another game in just 2 years. The sequel had many of the features of its predecessor and added many more cars and game modes for the players to enjoy. It also enjoyed the fruits of a new-generation Xbox, the 360.
Forza Motorsport 3 (2009)
In October 2009, Turn 10 Studios finally released Forza Motorsport 3. With improved graphics and physics, the game revolutionized the franchise. It also added the much-loved rewind mechanic which has been part of the series since this first appearance.
Forza Motorsport 4 (2011)
With over 500 cars and 80 manufacturers, Forza Motorsport 4 was first announced at Microsoft’s E3 2010 press conference. The game also introduced the Kinect to the possible features and a new mode, the Autovista, which allowed players to look inside the cars and play around with engine parts. Forza Motorsport 4 was an incredible success that gained some of the highest ratings in the series’ history and was considered a vast improvement over Forza Motorsport 3.
Forza Horizon (2012)
In 2012, the franchise’s most successful series finally appeared. With Playground Games as the developers at the helm, they took Forza from a track-based simulation racing game to an open world. Though it featured fewer cars than Forza Motorsport 4, and it relied on more of an arcade feel, it still was a good beginning for the Horizon series.
Forza Motorsport 5 (2013)
Forza Motorsport 5 can be seen as a stepping stone for the series, as it was the first playable Forza game on the Xbox One, but it lost many of its features with the addition of new graphics. The critics praised the look of the game but disapproved of the decision to remove more than 300 cars, 20 locations, and many tracks. They also didn’t like the revisions to the career mode that made buying specific cars necessary rather than optional.
Forza Horizon 2 (2014)
Set in Southern France/Northern Italy, Forza Horizon 2 added many features that the open world fans appreciated. The addition of a day and night cycle and weather effects made many players praise the game. The constant combination of single-player and multiplayer was also interesting and made the game addictive.
Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious (2015)
This standalone expansion was peculiar but worked well. Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious added a new story mode that made players collect 10 cars from the Furious 7 movie. Tej Parker (Ludacris) also gets a cameo in the game, as he is the one that tasks the player in fulfilling this task.
Forza Motorsport 6 (2015)
Turn 10 Studios came back with a big win with Forza Motorsport 6. Not only did they double the number of cars in the game, but they also added improved night tracks and rain in the game. The rain was so realistic that the puddles could make the cars spin around if approached at the wrong angle. They also made it possible for 24 cars to race on the track at the same time, which is the highest number in the franchise at this point.
Forza Motorsport 6: Apex (2015)
Forza Motorsport 6: Apex is just the free-to-play version of Forza Motorsport 6 that was released for Windows. This was, undoubtedly, great news for the PC players of 2015.
Forza Horizon 3 (2016)
Forza Horizon 3 had a lot of success when it came out, as it was considered an improvement from Horizon 2. The location of the game was what garnered the most appreciation. Australia seemed to be a great choice for an open-world racing game.
Forza Motorsport 7 (2017)
Forza Motorsport 7, the last released Motorsport game in the series, was received with relatively good reviews. The game was announced at the same time as the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, as a way for Microsoft to promote their 6-year deal with Porche. With over 700 cars and over 30 locations, Forza Motorsport was a great addition to the Motorsport series.
Forza Horizon 4 (2018)
This game was considered one of the best racing games for the Xbox One but received subpar reviews for the PC. The game came with many new features, including the one that made the most impact: changing seasons. Every week, the season in the game would change between Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring. Winter would be a really interesting season, as it would freeze over bodies of water and would allow players to discover new parts of the map they couldn’t access before.
Forza Street (2019)
Forza Street is widely considered the worst game in the Forza franchise, with many even forgetting about its existence when talking about the games. Forza Street first came on as a free-to-play racing game for Windows, and it slowly evolved to get to the IOS and Android markets. The game is overly simplistic and involves short street races that weren’t part of the Forza trademark.
Forza Horizon 5 (2021)
The final one on the list, Forza Horizon 5, is the biggest success in the series’ history, with over 10 million active players at launch. It implemented cross-play between Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC from the start and featured some of the best graphics and gameplay mechanics in the franchise’s history.
