It appears that Hot Wheels and the Forza Horizon franchise are about to cross paths again, as a seemingly accidentally posted listing for Forza Horizon 5‘s first expansion offered a glimpse at the new partnership. With this potential leak, it looks like Horizon 5 players might soon relive the days of the insane track-based action that the series introduced with the Forza Horizon 3‘s Hot Wheels-themed crossover.
The leaked Steam listing did not provide any specific details as to what this expansion will feature, but it did show off some key art that makes it seem like the content will hark back to Horizon 3‘s Hot Wheels expansion. There, players participated in events based on life-sized renditions of the classic orange Hot Wheels toy tracks, sporting insane jumps, rocket-powered boost pads, and animatronic dinos. These events took place on a fictional archipelago a few miles off the coast of Horizon 3’s virtual Australia.
Burnin’ rubber
The key art for Forza Horizon 5‘s first expansion indicates that a new Hot Wheels locale is being cooked up for the Horizon Festival in virtual Mexico. It’ll come complete with a new car that hasn’t been featured in any previous Forza Hot Wheels content packs. Considering that the EventLab for Forza Horizon 5 has some powerful new tools, it wouldn’t be surprising if this expansion allows users to create custom Hot Wheels-themed tracks and events; something the previous expansion for Horizon 3 did not feature.
The leaked key-art for the Hot Wheels expansion for Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5 already features a small selection of Hot Wheels cars from Forza Horizon 4, which got an entire car pack dedicated to a collection of iconic Hot Wheels vehicles back in 2021.
While the Steam listing was only live briefly, users have managed to save archives of it. Though this listing was clearly a mistake, it does seem to indicate that Playground Games is very close to properly unveiling it. Microsoft’s Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase will take place on June 12 as part of Summer Game Fest. This first expansion for Forza Horizon 5 could make its formal debut there.
Some might argue that this new expansion simply mimicks the Horizon 3 Hot Wheels collaboration. But keep in mind, Horizon 3 and its DLC were delisted some time ago. Newcomers to the franchise who entered with Horizon 4 or 5 will get to enjoy this as a completely new experience. And, should Playground truly expand on the idea by incorporating the improved EventLab functionality as mentioned before, it will be so much more robust than what Horizon 3’s expansion offered. It would effectively be a new experience even for returning players. And this is assuming Playground doesn’t have even more surprises in store for this expansion. We’ll know soon enough.
