Does Forza Horizon 5 have a demo?

Source: Xbox Game Studios

No Forza Horizon 5 demo this time

Several previous Forza titles have featured an independent demo experience that gives players a taste of what the full game offers. In some cases, completing this free demo before the game released gave you some kind of exclusive in-game reward, which even gave hardcore fans a reason to visit the demo. However, Playground Games is shifting gears with Forza Horizon 5, and has elected not to release any kind of demo.

The reason Forza Horizon 5 doesn’t offer a demo is straightforward. Playground wants 100% of available resources to be focused on ensuring Forza Horizon 5 is as polished and stable as possible. Also, Playground believes that the veritable flood of trailers, live streams, gameplay footage, and info drops more than make up for the insights players might’ve gleaned from a demo. This is a pretty understandable stance, as there has been a colossal amount of information revealed, well before players began preloading and preparing to play Forza Horizon 5.

While Forza Horizon 5 won’t have a separate demo, there are ways players can gain the information they need to make a decision about whether or not they’re going to purchase Forza Horizon 5.

Other ways to demo

Our ultimate guide to Forza Horizon 5 is packed with trailers, gameplay footage, and everything we know about Forza Horizon 5 and why players should be excited for it. Of course, we’ve also previewed Forza Horizon 5, gaining access to a slice of the game similar in scale to many demos, and concluded that Forza Horizon 5 simply couldn’t come soon enough (and has the potential to be one of the best Xbox racing games of all time).

If Forza Horizon 5 road trips, mountains of videos and trailers, the largest car list, most diverse map yet, and more aren’t enough to convince you, there’s a painless way to jump into the full Forza Horizon 5 experience without putting down some cold hard cash.

On day one (Nov. 9, 2021), Forza Horizon 5 is releasing on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming simultaneously. Even better, FH5 will be available on all of these platforms through Xbox Game Pass, meaning you can access the entire game on your platform of choice, alongside hundreds of other titles, as part of your subscription.

After playing Forza Horizon 5 through Xbox Game Pass, or through Xbox Cloud Gaming (which saves you the hassle of downloading FH5), you can then decide whether or not you’re interested in purchasing the full game, or any of Forza Horizon 5’s DLC, with a discount courtesy of Xbox Game Pass.

All of this may not be a complete replacement for a more traditional demo, but players still have plenty of ways to learn about Forza Horizon 5 and decide if they’re interested or not. FH5 is the most immediately accessible game in the franchise, releasing on more platforms at once than ever before, and it’s almost too easy to jump in and play through Xbox Game Pass.