Which Forza Horizon game is the first to support ray tracing?

Which Forza Horizon game is the first to support ray tracing? The answer is Forza Horizon 5. The 2021 game was the first entry in the Horizon series to add hardware-accelerated ray-tracing features, initially focusing on detailed car reflections in ForzaVista, the series’ vehicle showroom and inspection mode.

Ray tracing calculates how light behaves as it reflects from surfaces, allowing reflections and lighting interactions to look more realistic than traditional precomputed or screen-space techniques. In Forza Horizon 5, the feature was carefully limited in its original console implementation because full ray tracing throughout a large open world would have placed a heavy load on the hardware while the game targeted high resolution and smooth performance.

This detail causes a common misunderstanding: early versions did not use ray tracing everywhere during ordinary races or free roam. The feature was most visibly associated with ForzaVista and later received additional PC improvements, including expanded reflection options. Forza Horizon 4 introduced dynamic seasons, but it did not precede Horizon 5 as the series’ ray-tracing debut.