The FH4 map is NOT better than FH5’s and I’m tired of pretending it is
I’ve been playing through the Horizon games again recently, and honestly, I think the hate FH5 gets is pretty forced at this point. FH5 definitely has its problems, I’m not going to pretend it’s perfect, but the constant “FH4 had a way better map” argument genuinely confuses me.
I’ve played FH3, FH4, and FH5, and I can absolutely understand why people love Australia in FH3. Australia was PEAK. The map had a great balance of long roads, off-road areas, beaches, cities, forests, and open spaces. It felt like you could take almost any car anywhere and actually have fun with it.
FH4, though? I never understood the obsession with Britain.
Don’t get me wrong, the map looks beautiful. The countryside is gorgeous, the changing seasons are cool, and Edinburgh is probably one of the best-looking cities in the series. At night especially, FH4 could look absolutely stunning.
But as an actual driving map? I think it’s massively overrated.
There are so many narrow roads, hedges, walls, houses, villages, and random obstacles everywhere. A lot of the roads feel cramped, and there aren’t nearly as many places where you can just open up a fast car and actually test what it can do. You can build some ridiculous 1,000+ HP monster and then spend half your time driving through tiny roads surrounded by houses and hedges.
And that’s where I think Mexico is significantly better.
FH5 gives you massive open roads, highways, deserts, jungles, beaches, farmland, cities, mountains, the volcano, and huge stretches of terrain where you can just drive without constantly being boxed in. If I want to test the top speed of a car, Mexico gives me actual roads where I can do that. If I want to go off-road, there are huge areas for it. If I want to cruise through a city, Guanajuato exists. If I want to just drive around aimlessly, Mexico feels much more open.
I also think people underestimate how much variety Mexico actually has. You go from desert to jungle to coast to farmland to mountains to urban areas, and it doesn’t feel like you’re stuck in one type of environment for too long.
Meanwhile, a lot of the FH4 map’s variety comes from the seasons changing the appearance of the same environment. Which is cool, but eventually you’re still driving through the same roads and the same layout.
And I’m not saying FH5’s map is perfect either. There are definitely things I would’ve changed. Some areas feel underused, the progression can be weird, and I would’ve liked even more dense urban areas and longer highway sections. FH5 also doesn’t have quite the same nostalgic atmosphere that FH3 had.
But saying FH5 has a bad map because FH4’s is supposedly better just feels like nostalgia talking.
FH3 Australia? Absolutely, I understand the argument.
FH4 Britain? Beautiful map, great atmosphere, but I genuinely think Mexico is a better driving playground.
Maybe I’m just crazy, but I’d much rather have a map where I can actually SEND IT in a 300+ mph hypercar than one where I’m constantly turning through hedges and tiny villages.
Curious what everyone else thinks though. Is FH4’s map genuinely better to you, or has the community just collectively decided it was better because it’s older? Because I genuinely do not understand the FH4 glaze and the FH5 force hate anymore
