Forza Horizon 5 cover cars include the transforming Mercedes-AMG One

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Playground Games creative director Mike Brown talks about Forza Horizon 5's cover cars

Forza Horizon 5 Cover Cars
(Image credit: Playground Games)

The Forza Horizon 5 cover cars have officially been revealed as the Mercedes-AMG One and the 2021 Ford Bronco Badlands SUV. 

During the recent Xbox Gamescom 2021 showcase, Playground Games gave us our first look at the opening drive in Forza Horizon 5. With plenty of four-wheel action across various locales, you can see the shiny new cover cars speeding across different terrains in the new setting of Mexico. 

Forza Horizon 5 creative director Mike Brown spoke about the cover cars featured in the latest entry in a recent live Q&A: "There is the AMG One, which is Mercedes' new hypercar. It's based on their Formula 1 technology, so it brings, effectively, the Formula 1 engine into a car that is road legal," says Brown. "It is, honestly, an incredible car - the amount of power it gets down with and [how it] maintains grip is quite unbelievable."

As well as packing a Formula 1 engine, Brown explains that AMG One also has a few different driving modes that will change up the performance of the car in-game, which is a new feature Playground Games has been able to bring to Forza Horizon 5.

"It [the Mercedes-AMG One] also has a couple of driving modes as well, which is a new feature for us," Brown explains. "So a lot of cars have a sport mode that you can put it in, which might make the exhaust a bit louder, or the steering a bit snappier. But the AMG One actually has a really significant track mode, which lowers the car, pushes up the wing, opens up different flaps around the car - so it really changes the performance of the car. You're able to just activate that whilst you're driving around in free roam. You can see the car change, you can see it either drop or raise depending on which mode you're changing from and to, and that instantly impacts on the performance and handling of the car as well." 

The 2021 Ford Bronco Badlands can be seen speeding across the gravelly terrain at the peak of the La Gran Caldera Volcano, while the AMG One closes out the opening race in the final drop through the Baja desert. As Brown adds, the Ford Bronco Badlands is a new SUV that is well suited to exploring the deserts and jungles of Mexico. "The other car is the 2021 Ford Bronco Badlands. Again, just the hottest SUV of the year - an absolutely awesome car for heading out and exploring the wilderness of Mexico," Brown says, "heading across deserts and into jungles... there's no cooler car for it to be honest." 

Want to know more about the latest entry in the Forza series? Here's how Forza Horizon 5 is trying to amp up authenticity without sacrificing its arcade sensibilities.

Heather Wald
Heather Wald
Evergreen Editor, Games

Heather Wald is the Evergreen Editor, Games at GamesRadar+. Her writing career began on a student-led magazine at Bath Spa University, where she earned a BA (Hons) in English literature. Heather landed her first role writing about tech and games for Stuff Magazine shortly after graduating with an MA in magazine journalism at Cardiff University. Now with almost seven years of experience working with GamesRadar+ on the features team, Heather helps to develop, maintain, and expand the evergreen features that exist on the site for games, as well as spearhead the Indie Spotlight series. You'll also see her contribute op-eds, interview-led features, and more. In her spare time, you'll likely find Heather tucking into RPGs and indie games, reading romance novels, and drinking lots of tea.