Have you ever thought to yourself, “I wish Forza Horizon would take it to the next level.”? If so, I’ve got amazing news for you. Forza Horizon 3 Hot Wheels takes it to the next level, destroys that level, and then goes up 5 more. In short, it is the best racing expansion I have ever played.
When you first load up Forza Horizon 3 after installing the DLC, you get notified that there’s a new icon on your map that will take you to Hot Wheels Island and you should check it out ASAP. Once you arrive at the new location, the game doesn’t waste a single minute and throws you on the track and tells you to drive. The intro race is incredible and I had a massive smile on my face the entire time. You’re quickly shown the new track types, speed boosters, upside down loops, and a whole lot more.
The progression of Hot Wheels is very similar to that of Blizzard Mountain. You compete in events to win medals. As you unlock medals new event types become available and after around 100 medals are earned, the Hot Wheels finale is unlocked. You get one medal for completing an event, one for winning, and one for achieving a goal such as skills or lap time. Completing PR stunts and bucket list challenges also reward you with medals. I really like the way progression has been handled in Horizon 3’s expansions because it shows incremental progress and pushes you to focus on other things besides just winning when racing.
In terms of gameplay this is the exact same Forza Horizon 3 that we’ve all come to love but just faster and occasionally upside down at 250 mph. Speed boosters are scattered throughout the map and they give you a huge boost in speed that is needed to climb some of the ridiculous track pieces on the map. My favorite moments involve climbing a massive incline straight up, banking hard right, coming straight down, and immediately going into an upside-down loop. The sense of speed is incredible and just super fun to do! I do suggest that you use a camera view that is outside of the car. It can be a little difficult to see in cockpit mode on some of the races due to being upside down and vertical along the track.
Content wise, Forza Horizon 3 Hot Wheels has plenty to do. I’ve spent the past three days since launch playing nonstop and I just got around to the finale. It’s also a bigger expansion than Blizzard Mountain in my opinion and offers more varied events and situations. After you’ve completed all the stand-alone races and won the finale, every race that you completed turns in to a championship. Which means you get access to tons of events, extending the life of the game by hours.
Summary
If you are looking for a good reason to hop back on Forza Horizon 3, this is an amazing one. With some of the most intense racing I’ve experienced in years…for $20 you simply cannot go wrong.
Jonathan was a regular ICXM contributor between 2015–2017, publishing 57 articles across opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news. Their work focused on hands-on reviews, platform commentary, and breaking-news reporting during the Xbox One X launch year and Microsoft’s wider Play Anywhere / UWP gaming initiative. They post on X as @jtainsworth13.