Talking Point: Xbox’s Forza Horizon 2 Changed The Open-World Racing Game 10 Years Ago

The start of a racing game dynasty

by Ben Kerry 7:30pm

Well folks, it’s come to our attention that Forza Horizon 2 is a decade old today, so yep, we had to make all of you feel like you’re getting on a bit as well. Aye, believe or not, Xbox’s second stab at open-world Forza is now 10 years old, and we just want to take a moment to reflect on what’s been a rather good decade of racing on Microsoft’s platform.

You see, Horizon 2 might look and feel a bit dated in 2024, but this really was where the series started to take off for Team Green. Gone were the constraints of Xbox 360 – developer Playground Games had Xbox One hardware to tap into this time around. And tap into it, they did.

This was the first Forza title to have proper wet weather simulation, and the first Forza game where actual off-road racing was a real fleshed out feature. It also just felt like a real open-world title compared to Forza Horizon, which was more ‘open road’ with it’s fenced off areas and lack of cross country cruising over there in Colorado. We put tens and tens of hours into Horizon 2, and this one is up there with Forza Horizon 3 in how big of a leap it felt for the series.

Another thing worth pointing out is just how much of an influence this game and its feature set had on the genre. Yes, we know, Forza Horizon didn’t invent open-world racing, but the structure of the 2nd game in the series — and a bunch of the activities crammed into it — are now genre mainstays. As is the happy, buzzing-to-be-there festival atmosphere in open-world racers these days – for better or for worse on that last point!

We still look back on Forza Horizon 2 as a real highlight for the series, especially when you take the time of its release into consideration. Back then, it really did feel like it was in a league of its own for open-world racing, with older competitors falling out of favour and newer games like The Crew not quite getting it right until much, much later. All of this probably explains why we put so much time into this one back in the day!

Although it’s a little scary that we’re now a decade on from Forza Horizon 2, we must wish it a happy birthday nonetheless. This is still a really good open-world racer in the context of today, let alone 10 years ago when it shone even brighter. Unfortunately you can no longer buy this game on the Xbox Store or access it via Game Pass, but all of you digital owners and disc users out there might want to hop back on to mark the game’s 10th anniversary. Cruising Italy and the south of France is still a heck of a good time today.

Who else has fond memories of FH2? Tell us if you might boot the game back up to celebrate down below!

Ben is a News Writer at Pure Xbox, and is a fan of action, racing and straight-up shootin’ in any Xbox game he can get his hands on. When he’s not clutching an Xbox controller like his life depends on it, Ben spends his time listening to music that’s far too old for him, watching football on the telly and probably eating somewhere.

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