The game is set in an open world based on areas of Great Britain, including condensed representations of Edinburgh, the Scottish Highlands, the Lake District (including Derwentwater), Ambleside, the Cotswolds (including Broadway), and Bamburgh. It features a route creator enabling players to design fully customised races, and operates in a synchronised shared world supporting up to 72 players, with offline play also available.
A dynamic weather system depicts changing seasons. The environment shifts accordingly — Derwentwater freezes in winter, opening areas inaccessible in other seasons. Seasons are synchronised across all servers and rotate weekly on Thursdays at 2:30 pm GMT, preceded by an in-game countdown clock and cinematic cutscene. The game features over 750 licensed cars. Players can purchase in-game houses that unlock items, cars, and perks including fast travel. Wheelspins (returning from Forza Horizon 3) provide random rewards — cars, Credits, emotes, horns, and clothing — earned through progression and seasonal challenges; Super Wheelspins offer upgraded prizes. The soundtrack features 20 original tracks from British drum and bass label Hospital Records alongside an unreleased track by Fred V and Grafix titled "Sunrise", created for the opening cinematic; the album was released on 26 October 2018. The game includes a Dolby Atmos soundtrack.
Due to licensing issues, vehicles from Mitsubishi and Toyota (including Lexus, with limited exceptions) were absent at launch but reintroduced via 2019 updates. Mitsubishi returned on 15 January 2019 with the Free Mitsubishi Motors Car Pack DLC. On that same day, two dancing emotes — "Carlton" and "Floss" — were removed following lawsuits filed by their creators against Epic Games over their use in Fortnite Battle Royale. Toyota vehicles returned on 12 December 2019 with the Series 17 update, headlined by the 1998 Toyota Supra RZ.
The game received regular updates every four weeks. The Fortune Island expansion (December 2018) added a new map, additional cars, and extreme weather conditions, plus a treasure-hunting campaign with up to ten million Credits in prizes. The Lego Speed Champions expansion (13 June 2019), similar in concept to the Forza Horizon 3 Hot Wheels expansion, featured Lego versions of real cars, a Lego-built map, and a dedicated campaign. It also added the in-game radio station Radio Awesome, dedicated to "Everything Is Awesome" by Tegan and Sara featuring The Lonely Island.
Additional car packs released over the game's life included cars from James Bond films, a Formula Drift pack, the Barrett-Jackson Car Pack from Forza Motorsport 7, and a Hot Wheels pack (22 February 2021). A 42-car Car Pass and a Welcome Pack featuring pre-tuned cars and a free player house were also available.
The Series 7 update (March 2019) introduced the Festival Playlist, where players complete daily, weekly, and monthly challenges; reaching 50% and 80% completion in a Series rewards exclusive cars or cosmetic items. The Series 9 update (May 2019) added systems to prevent wallriding and high-speed online collisions by ghosting the faster vehicle in predicted impact situations. The Series 11 update (July 2019) added a Horizon Story in collaboration with BBC's Top Gear, narrated by presenter Chris Harris, with rewards including the "Track-tor" and the Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6x6.
The Series 17 update (December 2019) introduced The Eliminator, a 72-player battle royale mode in which players start in weak cars, acquire better vehicles via map drops, and are eliminated by leaving a shrinking safe zone or losing head-to-head races. Microsoft stated in 2021 that The Eliminator was the game's most popular multiplayer mode. The Series 21 update (April 2020) returned Horizon Promo, a photo feature previously present in Forza Horizon 2 and 3. The Series 24 update (July 2020) added a Photo Challenge to the Festival Playlist. That month Microsoft announced an Xbox Series X/S upgrade via Smart Delivery, enabling 4K at 60 fps.
The Series 30 update (December 2020) added Super7 — seven random stunt challenges per session — alongside an expanded Blueprint Builder allowing players to place ramps and scenery to create shareable challenges. A fictional car, the 2058 Quadra V-Tech, was added concurrently with the launch of Cyberpunk 2077.
The game launched on Steam on 9 March 2021, initially with gameplay issues and crashes; a patch on 14 April 2021 brought stability improvements. The Series 37 update (July 2021) introduced Super7 High Stakes, a variant in which accumulated rewards are lost on three failures — the last major content update for the game, featuring a single new car, the VUHL 05RR. All downloadable content was removed from the Microsoft Store and Steam on 25 June 2024 ahead of the 15 December delisting.
Forza Horizon 4 received "universal acclaim" for the Xbox One version and "generally favorable" reviews for the PC version according to Metacritic. The Xbox One version is the highest-rated Forza Horizon title, tied with Forza Motorsport and Forza Motorsport 3 as the highest-rated entry in the Forza series overall on Metacritic.
Reviewers highlighted the seasonal weather system, the variety of events, the attention to car-modelling detail, and the online multiplayer. Criticisms included the festival system's complexity, the idealised and theme-park-like depiction of England, and winter being divisive for players who disliked low-traction driving. GamesRadar noted the British setting was considered less compelling than Forza Horizon 3's Australian backdrop.
Playground Games reported 7 million registered users in January 2019, 10 million by June 2019, 12 million by August 2019, and 24 million players by November 2020.
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