Experience Donut Media’s Hi-Low Cars in Forza Horizon 5 Upgrade Heroes

Car tuners, you’re in the spotlight at Horizon Mexico’s latest event. This is Upgrade Heroes, the freshest series update in Forza Horizon 5 packed with new reward cars, new story missions and new unlockable cosmetics. Drive the iconic Hi-Low cars from our friends at Donut Media, build your cars and push them to their absolute limits at the Horizon Test Track, and fit a selection of new rims to your favorite cars.

Download the next game update on Xbox, Windows and Steam from Tuesday, June 20 and immediately check out the Horizon Test Track and new rims. Once the series begins on Thursday, June 22, play the new Donut Media Hi-Low Story and unlock some sweet new cars.

Games Fixes & Release Notes

Below is a snapshot of the fixes and improvements you can look forward to in this update:

• New engine sound for the 2003 Nissan Fairlady Z (350Z).
• ASL/BSL has been introduced for Donut Media Part 1 Horizon Story.
• Improved replication of ghosting during anti-griefing measures in Multiplayer races.
• Game could crash after receiving an invisible “DLC Car” as a gift.
• Traction Control reactivated after restarting an EventLab from the finish screen.
• Smashed Bonus Boards would sometimes display the incorrect stat in the UI.
• [Console] Steering Wheel Rotation default value was incorrectly set.
• The Eliminator timeout bar would display the incorrect time and eliminates players early.
• “Racing Champion” accolade wouldn’t unlock despite winning a Horizon Open event.
• 2021 Audi RS6 Avant steering wheel had inverted shift paddles and incorrect media controls.
• Anti-lag pop animation was missing or clipping on specific car and body kit combinations.
• Player’s character might disappear after saving a Photo Mode preset.
• Select cosmetic items were marked incorrectly as available through wheelspins.
• Quick Chat phrases not shown when using the Logitech G920 d-pad in Freeroam and events.

We will share the full list of fixes in our release notes once the update is released. Here is where you can find the issues that we’re currently investigating. You can also report the game bugs that you encounter on the Troubleshooting Hub, an official issues tracker available on the Forza Forums.

Donut Media Hi-Low Story

The Donut Media crew are back and since their last visit, they’ve driven their Hi-Low cars to Horizon Mexico so you can experience them in a new Horizon Story.

Get started by playing the intro mission and progress through 2 unique paths: Hi and Low. Each has 6 chapters to complete with four incredible cars to unlock:

Donut Media Nissan 350Z Hi-Low Cars

Complete the Donut Media Hi-Low Story Chapters.

This iconic pair of “Hi-Low” Nissan 350Zs were highly modified by the Donut Media crew. The “Hi” vehicle was customized with expensive components, while the “Low” vehicle features cheaper, more budget-friendly parts. The result is a duo of wildly varied cars, both transformed from their original shared chassis.

Both 350Z's have "MO POWA BABEH!" thanks to an $8,100 Jim Wolf twin-turbo kit on Hi car and a $3500 single turbo on Low car. Hi car produces a solid 373hp (measured at the wheels) whilst Low car manages an impressive 302hp.

Team Hi car's bodywork features a classic C-West body kit and Advan RG-II rims to give the car a classic JDM tuner style. Team Low car opted for a much cheaper Duraflex N1 kit, a "JGTC style" carbon hood, XXR rims and a surprisingly expensive Street Faction rear wing. Covered in light blue Plasti-dip, low car definitely stands out from the crowd!

In the series, both team Hi and Low struggled with reliability, with the teams eventually choosing to V8 swap both cars later in the series. With the Horizon Festival's upgrade shop on hand, you can do the same, hopefully enjoying much more time behind the wheel and much less time wrenching than the Donut crew managed!

1994 Ford Supervan 3 'Donut Media Edition'

Complete the Donut Delivery Story Chapter.

First built in the 1970s as promotional vehicles, the Supervan combined Ford Transit vans with sports car underpinnings, for some reason. It made its first appearance at Brands Hatch, before experiencing two more iterations between 1971 and 1994. That was the year that the Supervan 3 made its debut, sporting the V8 that would eventually be used in the Benetton F1 car. In a Transit van. This special 'Donut Media Edition' features an esteemed livery topped off with an actual, literal donut. Delicious.

1996 Formula Drift #51 Donut Media Nissan 240SX

Adam Knapik is Donut Media's Technical Producer and "Shop Daddy". Having taken part in multiple different series of both Time Attack and drifting in his career, he gained his Formula D drifting license and has built this ProSpec Nissan 240SX to compete in. Under the hood of the Donut Media 240SX is an LQ9 engine, an iron-block 6.0 litre V8 usually found in much more humble SUVs and trucks. This engine has been supercharged and now produces a mighty 823hp and 884lb-ft of torque - perfect for turning rear tyres into smoke! ProSpec Formula D cars are fully specialised drift cars, Knapik's 240sx is no exception. With a huge amount of steering lock and power, they are regularly thrown into a drift at speeds in excess of 100mph. This makes the 240SX perfect for the drift zones of Horizon, maybe even with a few donuts thrown in!

The Donut Media Hi-Low Story also introduces 20 new accolades:

Horizon Test Track

The first Donut Media Story introduced you to the Horizon Test Track. It’s back for Upgrade Heroes and without car restrictions. Tune your car in real-time and test drive your modifications on the track.

Once you’re comfortable with your build, you can save the tune which automatically purchases the necessary parts, or discard the tune to keep your credits – it's entirely your choice.

The Horizon Test Track can be accessed at the Horizon Festival in Mexico through its dedicated map icon. It can also be played alongside your friends with up to 12 players in a Convoy.

There are 15 new accolades associated with the Horizon Test Track:

In addition, 5 new Badges can also be unlocked at the Horizon Test Track:

New Rims

Express your driving style with 27 new rims available to fit on your favorite cars in the ‘Upgrades & Tuning’ menu at any Horizon Festival Outpost or Player House:

New Car Horns

Give your car horn some Donut Media flair with 6 new sound effects available to unlock this series:

• Donut Media Lightning
• Donut Media Pop Up Headlights
• Donut Media Trying to Race
• Donut Media Beep Beep
• Donut Media Honk Honk
• Donut Media Meep Meep

Horizon Racing Car Pack

Discover your next favorite car in the Horizon Racing Car Pack, featuring 4 incredible new-to-Forza cars for you to collect and drive! These high-performing cars are perfect for all the unique driving experiences the Horizon Festival offers:

2023 Lotus Emira

Experience the latest icon in the Lotus story, the Emira. This exotic supercar features a powertrain built to deliver blistering performance and maximum thrills – a 400-horsepower 3.5-litre supercharged V6. Once your foot is on the accelerator, it reaches 60mph in just over 4 seconds with a top speed of 180mph.

2022 Pagani Huayra R

Drive the most extreme Pagani hypercar ever. Built for the racetrack, this celebration of performance and technology is an early preview of the future of Pagani craftsmanship. It's also the pinnacle of Pagani design with a V12 monster that produces 850 horses of heart-racing action. While only 30 models are destined to make their way to the real-world, the Horizon Festival has reserved one just for you.

2021 Forsberg Racing Nissan ‘Altimaniac’

Possibly the most fitting vehicle name ever, ‘The Altimaniac’ built by three-time Formula Drift World Champion Chris Forsberg is simply epic. This GT-R-powered, four-seater drift machine undertook an extensive drivetrain swap to RWD to ensure it slides once your foot hits the accelerator – a small push is all it needs to kick sideways because this Altima can deliver over 2,000 horses of ludicrous drifting power!

2020 Saleen Sportruck XR Black Label

Master the off-road trails and challenges of Mexico in the rugged Sportruck XR. With a modified 5.0-liter supercharged V8 that produces 700 horsepower and 600 lb-ft of torque, as well as specially tuned front by-pass shocks with 12-inches of travel and rear shocks complete with an impressive 14-inches of travel, this performance truck deserves to be the vehicle of choice for your next expedition.

Once the pack is purchased, you are granted a one-time only, free addition of each car to your Forza Horizon 5 garage, with no additional in-game credit cost. The Horizon Racing Car Pack is available from June 20 for $4.99 on the Microsoft Store and Steam, and is not included with the Forza Horizon 5 Car Pass, Standard, Deluxe or Premium Editions.

Festival Playlist

During the Upgrade Heroes series, look out for 3 Donut Media Merch Stalls located around Guanajuato and Horizon Mexico. You will also find a smashable Tank Mechanic Pinata Collectible around the Horizon Baja circuit in the Week 2 Festival Playlist.

5 incredible reward cars are featured on the Festival Playlist, including the new-to-Forza 2021 Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series and 2023 Formula Drift #64 Forsberg Racing Nissan Z.

2023 Formula Drift #64 Forsberg Racing Nissan Z

Three-time Formula Drift champion Chris Forsberg’s latest drift car is a 2023 Nissan Z, modified to produce an incredible 1,300 horsepower! Drifting is all about more power, and with Forsberg Racing already familiar with the 370Z line in previous competitions, its newest drift car is meaner, safer, and more performant than ever before, ready to produce an endless supply of tire smoke. This custom drift ready Z features a highly modified VR38DETT twin-turbocharged V6 engine, as found in the Nissan GT-R, but re-tuned for the drift track. It’s also an eye-catcher with its widened body kit featuring a splash of NOS Energy Drink and its exhausts popping through the hood. With numerous chassis and bodywork modifications, this Nissan Z is primed for drift competition.

2021 Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series

Let’s cut to the chase: the 2021 Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series is the most AMG you can have in a single chassis. By reaching impressive new heights in power, agility, style and even fun with unprecedented performance to boot, this track toy brings the latest and greatest innovations in motorsport to the open road. Under the hood is the most powerful turbocharged AMG 4.0-liter V8 engine, fine-tuned for optimal firing at minimal displacement. The numbers it achieves are truly staggering: 720 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque, 0-60mph in 3.1 seconds, 0-124mph in less than 9 seconds and a top speed of 202mph. This is the closest you’ll feel to the intensity of driving a racecar on the track. Aerodynamic design features like the carbon-fiber outlets on the hood help to improve downforce and high-speed control, while the mechanically adjustable diffuser and blades on the rear spoiler seamlessly adapt to the driving conditions. Its front-mid engine placement and rear-mounted transaxles also make for a perfect weight distribution. This allows for an optimal balance between speed and stability, which are undoubtedly the perfect words to encapsulate this incredible road-ready, track-focused car.

1991 GMC Syclone

Sure, it looks like a pickup truck. But don’t try to haul anything except tail because payload isn’t the Syclone’s strong suit. That’s because GMC conducted a sort of mad science experiment on the Syclone. Taking stock, decidedly un-sporting Sonomas off the line, they dropped a turbocharged V6 under the hood, and then bolted on a high-performance all-wheel drive system. Instead of flipping the switch to awaken some sort of deranged old movie monster, the result was a triumph vastly superior to the sum of its parts. Genuinely fast, remarkably grippy, the Syclone is a hoot to drive. More to the point, it comes close to outperforming a lot of very expensive, exotic cars of the time while costing a whole ton less—much to the irritation of anyone who’d dropped twice the coin on a slower car. The Syclone is slightly lighter than the similarly modified Typhoon SUV, and while there’s a bit more weight over the front end, it performs essentially the same—which is to say, it’s very fast. While the sport truck segment has grown recently, few are as innovative as this AWD mini-truck, and it will take something wild to dethrone the Syclone as the best GMC pickup ever.

1992 GMC Typhoon

How audacious is the GMC Typhoon? It’s an SUV that can’t go off-road but can out-accelerate a contemporary Ferrari. With tenacious grip from a full-time all-wheel drive system, it can pull nearly 0.8 Gs on a skid pad—and this with a live rear axle sitting on leaf springs. It even uses a relatively common powerplant, the GM 4300 V6, and bolts on an intercooled turbocharger to make totally uncommon horsepower. The 280 horses on tap allow the Typhoon to do things unthinkable for an SUV before its introduction, like blasting to 60mph in 5.3 seconds. A sleeper, however, the Typhoon is not. Slammed low to the ground and sporting a full aero kit, it couldn’t possibly be mistaken for the stock GMC Jimmy that it is inspired by, even at a distance. That’s not such a bad thing, though, as the Typhoon is a truck that backs up its show with an unexpected amount of go, for an unexpectedly audacious experience.

2009 Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG Black Series

If AMG’s already impressive creations simply aren’t enough for you, there are a very small number of models that have been improved to Black Series specification, and the SL 65 joined the ranks in 2009. Starting with the standard SL 65 AMG, already potently endowed with a twin-turbocharged V12, AMG mainly focused on weight reduction. The folding hardtop and metal fenders, front bumper, and trunk are ditched for units made of carbon fiber composite, saving more than 200 lbs. (a lot of which was in the roof, so the center of gravity is lowered somewhat). Engineers also managed to enhance engine output by almost 60 horsepower, for a total of 661 horsepower (although torque, while still immense, is unchanged at 738 ft-lbs.). Performance is about what you’d expect given the modifications to the SL-Class, with a 0-60 time of well under 4 seconds and a top speed beyond 215 mph. It’s not a coupe for the faint-of-heart, but if you’re looking for a DTM-style driving experience without having to wear a fireproof suit every time you drive it, perhaps the SL 65 AMG Black Series is your car.

What’s Next

Heat up the barbecue, get sunscreen on, and drive your fastest convertible – we’re throwing a Summer Party at the Horizon Festival in July. Look forward to a new Horizon Story, new cars, collectibles, and all the necessities for a good time out in the sunshine. We’ll see you there!