PC Gamer - UK (2022-01)

(Maropa) #1
L

ikemillionsofother
GamePassmembers
eager for something
pretty to play, I’ve
beensinking myteeth
intoForza Horizon 5. It’sonlymy
secondForza gamesince I played
Horizon 4 earlier thisyear, and I’ve
already had a blast onthe new map.
It’sbright, cosy, and extremely fast.


While Horizon 5 overall feels
extremely familiarto the lastgame, I
figuredthiswould be a great
opportunity to shake thingsup a bit:
Instead of downloading all 100GB of
Horizon 5 to my poor, chronically
packedSSD, I decided to lookto the
cloud. That’s right, I’vedoneall of my
Mexico racingso far using
Microsoft’s Xcloudstreaming on PC,
and I’m a littleamazedat how well it
works. Just click the Cloud Gaming
buttonon the Windows 10 Xboxapp


(you’ll needGamePass Ultimate, by
the by), picka gamefromthe huge
library, and wham-bam-presto: Forza
Horizon 5 comes alive.
But not the PC version of Horizon,
itseems. It looks likeall Xcloud
games are actuallystreaming you the
XboxSeriesX version of whatever
gameyou’re playing. It’s a littleweird
tosee the Xboxversion’s limited
video options on the mainmenu, but
I guess it makes sense for how simple
the process of cloud gamingis
supposedto be. Plus, running a
virtual Xboxmeans thatyou’vealso

got accessto tonsof backwards
compatibleXbox360 and original
Xboxgames as well.

CLOUD CHASING
Anyways: backtoForza. It plays way
betterthanI’d hoped overthe cloud.
The delay is undeniablythere, but
after switching to the Performance
preset inHorizon and clockingup the
framerate to 60fps, I honestly
stopped noticingthe lag. I’veeven
beenableto beatmy friendIan in a
few races, who loves driving games
somuchhe plays on a racingwheel
withpedalsand a shifter. There’s
something funny about winning

Getting lostinthe XcloudinFORZA HORIZON 5


“I’vedoneallofmyracingsofarusing

Microsoft’s Xcloudstreaming onPC”

THE EXCEPTIONAL

FRAMERATE SMOOTHS OUT

THE STREAM’SROUGH EDGES

ABOVE: When the
light’sjustright,Forza
5 ’s gorgeous
landscapes come
through well.

CONTINUED ADVENTURESINGAMING

EXTRA LIFE


MORGAN PARK
THIS MONTH
Drove some very fast cars
among the clouds.

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