History YMMV / Forza

** The ''Horizon'' series has received this from some arcade racing game fans because its highly-praised mixture of simulation and arcade open-world racing with licensed vehicles has prevented other arcade racers from taking a more traditional high-octane approach to arcade racing with licensed vehicles, which only ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'' still does decently (and even then, that series suffered during UsefulNotes/TheEighthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames and only got some of its respect back with ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedHeat''). It also caused a growing resentment against open-world racing games in general, since major publishers seem to have become unwilling to release non-MascotRacer arcade racing games set on closed tracks.

** The penalty system in the new ''Forza Motorsport'' is something that isn't looked at favorably by anyone. Simply put, if the player goes offroad or bumps into other players, they'll get penalty time added on to your final race time (with the ruleset depending how severe the punishment for certain offenses is). For some reason, this also includes punishing players who get rammed off the road by people going at high speeds or get forcibly spun out by another player and not punishing the player who instigated it and makes starting the race below 6th place and trying to not get penalized a nightmare. The system also seems to give minor offenses more penalty time than major offenses. This also ties into the safety rating in online play, as players who will do their best to attempt a clean race will eventually get penalized for something not even their own fault and tanking their rating.

*** Oh, you think the next game will be stuck in [[ToughActToFollow the shadow of]] ''[[ToughActToFollow Horizon 4]]''? '''''Nope.''''' With additions such as Eventlab (which allows not only players to create their own routes, but also adding objects to the route the player created), even more character customization choices, increased accessibility and quality-of-life options on the players' side, a world more diverse in biomes, and of course, even more events, Playground is ''[[OverlyLongGag still]]'' [[OverlyLongGag improving upon themselves]] with ''Forza Horizon 5'', which also scored a very solid 92[[note]]for the Xbox Series X|S version; the PC version has a 91[[/note]] on Metacritic, tying with ''Horizon 4'' as the highest-rated game in the series, and, despite [[AwardSnub the GOTY snubbery]], won all three of its jury-voted awards at The Game Awards,[[note]]Best Audio Design, Innovation in Accessibility, and the ''Horizon'' games' perennial Best Sports/Racing Game, which actually saw two other racing games nominated that year[[/note]] ''tying'' with that year's GOTY winner ''VideoGame/ItTakesTwo'' for most wins at the ceremony. With the drop-dead ''[[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome gorgeous]]'' [[SceneryPorn setting]] of Mexico, being the first proper ninth-generation ''Forza'' title to showcase the true capabilities of the [[UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS Xbox Series]], and a better emphasis on customization and self-expression… yeah, you're in for the long haul on this one.