Forza Horizon 5 Uses Ray-Tracing for its Audio Design

Forza Horizon games (all Forza games in general, in fact) always tend to be on the cutting edge of visuals with new entries, but at the same time, audio design is another area where the franchise has traditionally excelled. Forza Horizon 5 is obviously going to be no different, based on all that we’ve seen of it so far, and while we’ve gotten a pretty good taste of how good it’s going to look, Playground Games are now providing more details on the advancements they’ve made for the game’s audio as well.

Speaking in the latest Forza Horizon 5: Let’s Go! episode (via VG247), the developers confirmed that the open world racer uses ray-tracing in its audio design as well. While visual ray-tracing is restricted to the game’s vehicle viewing mode, Forzavista, in terms of audio design, it’s much more crucial.

Essentially, the developers are using ray-tracing to make audio bounce off of objects in the environments much more realistically, including buildings, rocks, trees, and more. Distance and the nature of objects are constantly being detected, bringing about more authentic and varied audio design. So depending on where you’re driving and how fast you’re driving through those environments, you’ll hear different sound effects.

For instance, the sound of your car driving through a town might sound crisp and loud, but if you’re driving through a heavily forested area, that sound will be much more muffled. Lead audio designer Fraser Strachan also says that with spatial audio and with headphones on, the effect will be even more pronounced.

You can view the full episode below.

Forza Horizon 5 launches on November 9 for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC.