Forza Horizon 5 Series 36 Brings V12 Fury And JDM Goodness

Even nearly three years on from its launch, and with the announcement of Horizon 6 surely not that far off, Forza Horizon 5 still has the updates coming thick and fast. Developer Playground Games has just announced details of the game’s 36th monthly series, which has a broad Cars and Coffee theme. Between free cars and paid DLC, there’s a total of nine new vehicles for players to put to the test in Mexico.

Headlining the free cars are two V12 bruisers from Europe. The Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Coupe is a spectacular reworking of the old, 5.9-litre Vanquish by Italy’s most consistently mad coachbuilder. Then there’s the Lamborghini Aventador Ultimae, the final iteration of Lambo’s previous V12 range-topper, which took power up to 769bhp from its 6.5-litre, naturally aspirated lump.

Very much helping slow things down are a pair of air-cooled Volkswagens, both using the original Beetle’s tried-and-tested flat-four. The first is the Type 181 – known to us in the UK as the Trekker and sold in the US as the Thing (no, seriously), it’s a rugged open-roofed buggy-type vehicle. Much more stylish but not a lot faster is the SP2, a Brazilian-market obscurity that attempted to create a sports car out of Beetle bits.

Finally, there’s a new addition to the stable of Mazda MX-5s available in the game in the form of the MX-5 RF. This version of the current ND MX-5 has a coupe-ish profile and a targa-style roof panel that opens up via a very nifty mechanism, which the game has happily integrated. It features in 2.0-litre, 181bhp form.

All five free cars will be available to claim by completing various challenges in the game over the course of the month, with the Aventador the ultimate (pun not intended) reward for claiming 80 points across all four weeks. If that’s not enough, there’s also a new paid DLC pack with a distinctly Japanese flavour.

It brings four new cars, headlined by the 1997 Nissan Stagea RS Four V. This big wagon is best known for sharing its underpinnings with the Skyline and in this guise gets a 2.5-litre, single-turbo RB25DET engine. There’s even the in-game option of an R34 front clip swap, so you can virtually live out your dog-carrying GT-R fantasies.

Next up is the Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution, a beefed-up homologation special version of Mitsubishi’s long-running off-roader designed to give it an advantage in the Dakar Rally. It’s badged in-game with its Spanish-market name of Montero, and if you don’t know why, ask a Spanish speaker.

Finally, there’s a duo of coupes with fascinating doors. The Autozam AZ-1 is a tiny, mid-engined kei sports car with gull wings, while the Toyota Sera is a front-drive Starlet-based coupe with butterfly doors that directly inspired those on the McLaren F1.

The aptly-named JDM Jewels Car Pack costs £3.99 ($4.99), and is available now alongside the rest of the update.