Xbox Game Studios and Playground Games’ open world racing game, Forza Horizon 5, is now available on PS5 and PS5 Pro, and if you’re wondering how it compares to the existing Xbox Series X version, read ahead.
In terms of graphical settings, the PS5, PS5 Pro, and Xbox Series X versions of Forza Horizon 5 offer two display modes, namely Quality and Performance. Both Xbox Series X and PS5 have very similar graphics settings across both configurations. Performance mode on both consoles decreases the quality of shadows, reflections, ambient occlusion, textures, and vegetation. Meanwhile, the PS5 Pro version’s Performance mode delivers graphical settings similar to those seen in the Quality mode on PS5 and Xbox Series X, and it also greatly reduces pop-in of foliage and rocks. Furthermore, in its Quality mode, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s mid-gen console enables ray traced car reflections during both races and free roam.
In terms image quality, the PS5, PS5 Pro, and Xbox Series X version of Forza Horizon 5 operate at a native resolution of 4K (2160p) in Quality mode. Performance mode, on the other hand, runs at a dynamic resolution that maxes out at 4K, running at an average of 2152p on Xbox Series X, 2115p on PS5, and 2158p on PS5 Pro.
With regards to performance, the PS5, PS5 Pro, and Xbox Series X versions of Forza Horizon 5 target a frame rate of 30 fps in Quality mode and 60 fps in Performance mode. all three versions maintain both targets on a consistent basis.
Despite the PS5 Pro delivering the best possible console experience in Forza Horizon 5 across both graphical modes, the improvements over the Xbox Series X and base PS5 versions don’t appear as substantial, given the hardware capabilities of the platform. The same is true for the recent PS5 port of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
The PS5 Pro versions of both Forza Horizon 5 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would have undoubtedly saved some GPU performance with the use of PSSR, the console’s AI upscaling technology. The additional headroom may have allowed the development teams behind both PS5 ports to squeeze more performance out of the console, which could have been used to further improve their Performance modes.
Thanks to the addition of PSSR, the PS5 Pro version of Gran Turismo 7 is able to deliver ray traced reflections on car interiors. Its implementation in Forza Horizon 5 may have led to ray traced reflections being enabled during races and free roam in Performance mode on PS5 Pro. Similarly, it may have brought an improvement to the quality of ray traced global illumination in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on the mid-gen console.
It will be interesting to see the extent to which Microsoft’s first party studios support PS5 Pro’s hardware features with future titles that are released day one alongside their Xbox counterparts, such as id Software’s upcoming DOOM: The Dark Ages. PSSR plays a crucial role in enabling the console to deliver significant graphical improvements over the base PS5 and Xbox Series X.
