Look, everyone wants the fastest car. It's the first thing you do when you drop into Mexico. You head straight to the Auction House or the Autoshow, looking for that 300 mph beast that will make the speed traps look like a joke. But after spending hundreds of hours drifting around the caldera and tearing through the jungle, I've realized that the "best" Forza Horizon 5 cars aren't always the ones with the highest top speed.
Most people just look at the performance index (PI) and call it a day. That's a mistake. A huge one.
The reality of Mexico is that it's bumpy. It's dusty. One minute you're on a pristine highway, and the next, you're bouncing over a temple ruin in a car that has the ground clearance of a pancake. If you're building your garage based on a spreadsheet, you’re basically playing the game on hard mode without even knowing it.
The Koenigsegg Jesko Trap
Let's talk about the elephant in the room. The Jesko. It is, technically, the fastest of all the Forza Horizon 5 cars when you tune it right. You can hit 300+ mph on the long highway stretch, and it feels incredible. For about ten seconds. Then you hit a slight curve or a piece of debris, and you're flying into a cactus at Mach 1.
The Jesko is a specialist. It’s a drag strip king. But for actual racing? For the S2 class street races? It's often a nightmare. The handling is twitchy, and the power delivery is so aggressive that if you aren't using a wheel setup or some seriously delicate trigger fingers, you're just going to spin your tires. Honestly, most high-tier players I know actually prefer the Mercedes-AMG One or the Brabham BT62 for actual circuits. They might be slower on the straight, but they actually turn. Turning is good. You want to turn.
Why the B-Class and A-Class are Secretly Better
There is this obsession with S2 and X-class. I get it. Speed is addictive. But if you want to experience the best physics the developers at Playground Games actually baked into this engine, you have to drop down to A-class.
In an A-class car, like a tuned 1990s Nissan Skyline or a classic Ford Escort, you can actually feel the weight transfer. You can feel the tires struggling for grip in a way that makes sense. In S2 class, everything happens so fast that the physics engine sort of... blurs. It becomes more about twitch reactions and less about the "joy of driving."
Check out the 2017 Alpine A110. It’s light. It’s nimble. In A-class, it is an absolute scalpel. You don't need 1,000 horsepower to have fun in Mexico; you just need a car that talks to you through the controller.
The Dirt Factor
If you aren't spending half your time off-road, are you even playing Horizon? The dirt racing in this game is arguably better than the road racing. But players keep bringing supercars to dirt tracks because they think the PI rating carries over. It doesn't.
A Lamborghini Huracán with off-road tires is funny, sure. It’s a meme. But a Hoonigan Ford RS200 Evolution? That thing is a weapon. It’s arguably one of the most versatile Forza Horizon 5 cars ever released. It handles dirt, gravel, and pavement with the same level of "I'm going to eat this corner for breakfast" energy. If you only have credits for one expensive car, make it the RS200.
The Auction House Economy is Weird
Don't buy everything from the Autoshow. Just don't.
The economy for Forza Horizon 5 cars is driven by the "Festival Playlist." This is where the FOMO (fear of missing out) kicks in. Every week, there are cars you can only get by completing challenges. If you miss them, the only way to get them is the Auction House. This creates a secondary market where a seemingly "boring" family sedan or a vintage Japanese commuter car can cost 20 million credits while a Ferrari costs 200,000.
Take the Lynk & Co 03+ or the Nissan Sentra NISMO. To a casual observer, they look like traffic cars. To a collector? They are gold. If you see a car in the Playlist that says "Hard to Find," get it. Even if you hate how it looks. You can flip it three weeks later for enough credits to buy ten supercars.
Tuning: The "Auto-Upgrade" Lie
The "Auto-Upgrade" button is a trap. It's the fastest way to ruin a perfectly good vehicle.
When you let the game auto-upgrade your Forza Horizon 5 cars, it usually just throws the biggest engine and the heaviest tires at the car to hit a specific PI number. It ignores things like weight distribution or gear ratios.
You're much better off looking at "Find Tuning Setups." Look for names like SepiSP4, Nalak28, or UGRZ. These guys are the wizards of the community. They understand that a car with 700 horsepower and good suspension will beat a 900-horsepower car that handles like a shopping cart every single time.
The real secret to a "meta" car isn't the parts; it's the differential settings. Most stock cars in the game have differentials that are way too open, causing you to lose power when one wheel lifts off the ground or loses traction. Tightening that up changes everything.
Misconceptions About All-Wheel Drive (AWD)
For a long time, the Horizon series was "AWD or nothing." If you didn't swap your drivetrain to AWD, you couldn't compete online.
In Horizon 5, that's less true, but AWD is still dominant for most players. Why? Because the maps are huge and the terrain is unpredictable. AWD gives you "launch" and "recovery." If you mess up a corner in a Rear-Wheel Drive (RWD) car, you're probably spinning out. In an AWD car, you just mash the gas and the car pulls you straight.
However, don't sleep on RWD for S1 class road racing. With the right tire compounds (especially the semi-slicks), RWD cars have a higher top-speed potential and better mid-corner rotation. It’s harder to drive. It takes practice. But it's more rewarding.
Hidden Gems You Probably Ignored
- 1986 Ford Escort RS Turbo: Build this for C or B class dirt. It's a pocket rocket.
- 2021 Sierra Cars 700R: It looks like a lawnmower on steroids. It drives like a UFO.
- 1997 BMW M3: A staple for drifting. It’s predictable and cheap.
- Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR: The ultimate "I just want to win this cross-country race" starter car.
The "Perfect" Garage Strategy
Stop trying to own 700 cars immediately. You’ll end up with a garage full of junk you never drive.
Instead, focus on building one "Hero Car" for each discipline:
- A-Class Dirt
- S1-Class Road
- S2-Class Hypercar (for the Speed Traps)
- B-Class Cross Country
Once you have those four, the rest of the game becomes a playground rather than a grind. Mexico is massive, and the variety of Forza Horizon 5 cars is staggering, but you only need a few reliable tools to dismantle the hardest "Unbeatable" AI drivers.
The biggest mistake is thinking the game ends when you get the "fastest" car. The game actually starts when you find the car that matches your specific driving style. Maybe you like a car that slides a bit. Maybe you like a car that feels like it's glued to the road.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Session
If you want to actually improve your experience with Forza Horizon 5 cars, start here:
- Check the Festival Playlist immediately: If there is a "Hard to Find" car, do whatever it takes to unlock it today.
- Avoid the Jesko for Trials: If you're doing the weekly "Trial" co-op event, bring something with high grip and acceleration, not top speed. Your teammates will thank you for not flying off the first bridge.
- Learn to Downshift Manually: Even if you use automatic normally, switching to manual (even without clutch) gives you way more control over your car's power band. It makes B and A class cars feel significantly more powerful.
- Filter your garage by "Duplicates": Periodically clear out the cars you have two of. Gift them to new players or sell them. It keeps your car selection screen from becoming a cluttered mess.
- Experiment with Tire Pressure: If your car feels "floaty," drop the tire pressure by 2-3 PSI. It's a tiny change that makes a massive difference in how the car connects with the Mexican pavement.
The beauty of this game isn't the 0-60 times. It's the fact that you can take a 1960s microcar, put a motorcycle engine in it, and outrun a Ferrari on a dirt path. Don't get bogged down in the stats—get out there and drive.