*Spoiler Warning: Mild spoilers for Forza Horizon 4 below
Although I have tried to stay as spoiler free as possible if you don’t want to know anything going into Forza Horizon 4 you might want to avoid reading this article until you’ve spent some time with the game yourself.
I started playing Forza Horizon 4 yesterday having pre-ordered the Ultimate Edition of the game granting me 4 days early access before the standard release on Tuesday 2 October 2018. So I thought I would share with you some of my highlights of my first day from screenshots and video clips I have captured. Footage was captured on Xbox One X in performance mode 1080p 60fps.

The very first thing I did, once the introductory sequence was over and the game took the reigns off and let me explore the open world, was make.a bee line for Edinburgh as I wanted to see just how realistic it is to the real life city. I was not disappointed it is absolutely spot on and very difficult to tell the difference between the graphics in Forza Horizon 4 and real life. I bombed it down Princes Street, past Waverley Station and took a left past Rose Street and I was in the gardens. To my right was a large clothing store representing Harvey Nichols.
After that I headed South side of the city past the Pentland Hills and found the Queensforth Golf Course pictured above. You can see me race through the city streets of Edinburgh in my video below. Playground Games have absolutely nailed the city and it is an absolute blast to race around harkening back to Project Gotham Racing.
As it is set in the UK, of course Forza Horizon 4 has a number of castles in it. Such as Bamburgh Castle pictured looking oh so lovely above. You can also see the level of detail Playground Games have injected into their representation of the UK with the authentic road signs here and old stone wall running along the side of the road in very British style. You can see the cottages off in the distance looking lovely and elegant.
Other highlights of the game so far for me were the rally races I have done diving through Lakehurst Forest. Playground have nailed rally in this game to the point were it is better than most dedicated rally games. I have always thought Forza Horizon rally races are excellent with the series improving with each iteration but here it is astonishing. The changing seasons representing a full spectrum of weather conditions adds to it of course, allowing you to experience rallying in various different conditions as well as all the other types of races. It tickles me that the rallying series in Forza Horizon 4 is called the Dirt Series. Certainly Codemasters have their work cut out for them to top this with Dirt Rally 2.0 being announced recently to be coming in February 2019. And rallying is only one part of the package in Forza Horizon 4 with street racing, cross-country, stunt car driver missions, bucket lists to name just some of the content in Forza Horizon 4.
Above is some of the beautiful scenery and locations I have visited and captured so far. The game is stunning with so many beautiful vistas like these. Here is 3 videos I have recored and clipped together below of some showcase and street races I have done so far. Enjoy and stay tuned for more Forza Horizon 4 content coming very soon!
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