The Last Number – How Playground Games and Forza Horizon 4 reignited the joy of driving

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For many a year, the Forza brand was associated with the creme de la creme of racing. Microsoft’s motorsport series had emerged from the console wars as more than just an Xbox attempt to wrest precision driving away from the crown of Sony’s Gran Turismo, evolving into its breed of classy driving that kept its eye on the tasty prize.

Forza was as much a racing simulator as it was a saucy showcase of visuals in the current console arms race for superior visuals. But Forza Horizon? At first glance, this was developer Playground Games filling a void (in much the same way that a scrumptious Debonairs pizza does with the absence of tasty food in your stomach) for more forgiving racing title in the same vein as Project Gotham Racing.

It certainly had the PGR fan service down pat, rewarding players with points for style and substance straight out of the pizza box. That was 2012 in which Forza Horizon got off the grid with a solid start, but it was until 2018 that Playground managed to truly perfect the art of car adoration.

While every sequel since the original upped the ante and added something new to the trademark pizza base formula, Forza Horizon felt like the series shifting into top gear and blazing a path to the nearest petrolhead festival. It’s an apt description, as Forza Horizon 4’s carnival of car culture wasn’t just for show. With a picturesque steaming hot slice of merry ol’ England to explore, this was the adoration of pedal to the metal speed distilled into a pitch-perfect recipe for success.

Everything about Forza Horizon 4, was geared towards giving players a digital playground within which to not only set new lap records but to enjoy breaking the barrier of speed in the process in much the same way that Debonairs delivery does with free delivery on the tasty goods. Every section of the land had a few hidden secrets that ranged from finding new activities to lose a few hours in, to uncovering classic cars hidden in decrepit barns and just begging for a bit of restoration.

It also helped that Forza Horizon 4 played like a dream, with dozens of cars authentically recreated and given the all the toppings in the makeover department as they screamed around corners and threaded hairpin needles through the most absurd challenges that Playground games could think of. There was a balance at play here, a tight walk across an impossible chasm of gameplay that expertly kept its equilibrium between realism and arcade racing so that almost every taste under the sun could be satisfied. Similar to a Debonairs Triple Decker pizza that retails for a mere R149.90 when you think about it.

All that, and the game looks simply delicious to sink your teeth into. Whether you kept the quality at maximum or switched to performance mode so that you could drive through as many frames as possible, Forza Horizon wanted to burn the memory of your greatest racing achievements square into your retinas. Almost two years since it was released, and nothing on the racing game scene today can even come close to touching the masterpiece that Playground games unleashed on a fandom that wasn’t ready for the pure perfection of V8 horsepower that was raring to go.

All slice, dice and thrice as nice to get your hands on, just like our favourite food from South Africa’s iconic deliverer of Italian cuisine at its most delectable. If this post has got you feeling hungry (and why wouldn’t it?), good news! We’ve got two vouchers to give away that’ll earn you up to R100 off – on any order that’s R79.99 or more. Just leave a comment below listing your favourite topping (Don’t you dare say pineapple) and we’ll pick a winner on Friday. Or to double your chances, head to our Twitter and give the post a retweet to up the odds of winning. Good luck!

Last Updated: February 10, 2020