Your credits are limited, but there’s an overwhelming number of cars to choose from. We’ve narrowed down the best in each major category to help get you started, including the fastest car and the best cars for offroading and rally races.
Fastest cars Best S2 cars Best S1 cars Best A cars Best rally cars Best drift cars Best offroad cars
Fastest car in Forza Horizon 5 Several cars have a 10 for speed, but the 2020 Koenigsegg Jesko and Porsche Taycan Turbo S “Welcome Pack” are our top picks. The Koenigsegg has superb handling, and that combined with slower acceleration make it closer to a fast tank than your usual sports car. Normally, the Jesko costs a staggering 2.8 million credits, but if you get three stars in the Baja V10 event, you can get it for free. If you don’t feel like grinding, the Taycan Welcome Pack is the next best choice. It’s free from the start, and what it lacks in more precise handling, it makes up for with some of the best acceleration in the game. Just don’t take it offroading. Best S2 car in Forza Horizon 5 The Lamborghini Sesto FE is a popular pick for best S2 car. It’s not the fastest, but its handling, braking, and overall stability mean it can handle almost any situation — as long as it’s not an off-road situation. The problem is just how expensive it is. Expect to pay anywhere from 5 million to 7 million credits at the Auction House for this one. Once your eyes have stopped watering from that shock, consider checking out our second best choice: the Apollo Intensa Emozione “Welcome Pack.” Speed is almost identical to the Sesto, but it’s handling is slightly better, thanks in small part to slower acceleration. The best part is it’s free. You can tinker with it as soon as you start the game to see if it suits your needs. Best S1 car in Forza Horizon 5 The Porsche Taycan is an S1 car, but if you want something different, give the humble Ford Supervan a try. S1 cars in Forza Horizon are a significant step down in terms of top speed. Most of them average around 6 out of 10, and while the Ford Supervan 3 is just slightly lower than that average, it’s better in handling, acceleration, and braking. You can buy the Ford Supervan 3 for 500,000 credits at the car show. Our second choice is the Lotus Elise GT-1. It’s faster and flashier, but has worse acceleration and costs almost 2 million credits. Best A car in Forza Horizon 5 The Hot Wheels Bone Shaker is a wild ride in more ways than one. Few cars in Forza’s massive stable let you actually drive a hearse with flames painted on it, but aside from its unique appearance, it performs surprisingly well. Its top speed rivals the S1 cars, and everything else, while not impressive, is still better than most A cars. You can buy this one for 150,000 credits at the Car Show. If you’re short on credits, you could pick up the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution GSR 2008 “Welcome Pack.” It scores slightly lower in every category, but it’s also a mere 43,000 credits at the Car Show. Best Rally car in Forza Horizon 5 Rally cars are what you want for situations that aren’t fully offroad but aren’t completely paved either — or, in other words, most of Forza Horizon 5’s races. Spots cars don’t do well here, prone as they are to spinning out as soon as they leave the tarmac. The Ford Racing Puma is one of the best in this category. It’s an S1 car, but with fairly low top speed. That combined with good handling and acceleration mean it works fantastically in almost any race. The problem is it’s a DLC car. If you don’t have the DLC, try the Hoonigan Ford RS200 Evolution instead. You can buy this for 500,000 credits, and it has some of the best speed, acceleration, and handling of any rally car. It’s definitely worth saving for. Best Drift car in Forza Horizon 5 Drift cars are tricky because you need enough handling to avoid spinning out, but not enough where drifting becomes a chore. Our top pick for this category is the Caterham R500. It’s perfectly middle of the road in terms of stats, and it’s incredibly easy to get great and awesome drift with nearly any turn. The downside to that is, of course, you need to practice with it to avoid drifting too far off the road. The Caterham does not count offroading as one of its strengths. It’s relatively affordable too, at 82,000 credits. Willy’s Jeep is another good pick for drift, and you might even have one, or more, already. It’s slow, but that makes handling corners for drifting easier anyway. This one costs a mere 42,000 credits. Best Offroad car in Forza Horizon 5 The best offroad car is the one you start with: the Ford Bronco. It’s free, and while it won’t rival the likes of the Apollo or Porsche in speed, you don’t really want it to in offroad races anyway. The last thing you want is having to take a sharp turn into the woods going 200 mph. We call it an offroad car, but the Bronco is more of an all-’rounder that can carry you through rookie and intermediate races of any kind. Once you’re ready for something else, consider the 2014 Rally Fighter. It scores a 10 in the offroad statistics and has good top speed as well. Lower handling and worse acceleration make it slightly more difficult to recommend, though, especially since it costs 100,000 credits. Whatever car you choose in Forza Horizon 5, make sure to explore the world as much as possible. The Barn Finds unlock even more cars, and better yet, they’re free. With more than 4 million players on the roads, you’ll likely never be short of someone to start a race with.
