The Forza Horizon franchise is leapfrogging its bigger brother. Microsoft announced Forza Horizon 5 today at its E3 showcase, and the open-world racer is launching November 9 for Xbox and PC. That means the game is debuting before Forza Motorsport 8, which likely won’t release until 2022.
Forza Horizon 5 takes the franchise into Mexico for its car-racing action. This will likely act as something of a sendoff for Forza on Xbox One. While Forza Motorsport 8 is in the works, Microsoft and developer Turn 10 Studios are reworking the franchise to take advantage of the more modern Xbox Series X hardware.
Forza Horizon 5, meanwhile, is launching as a cross-gen game. Developer Playground Games will then likely take advantage of the engine improvements in Motorsport 8 for the next sequel.
Forza Motorsport 7 launched in 2017, and Horizon 4 launched for Xbox One in 2018.