Forza Horizon 5 – Crashing / Low Performance / Not Loading Fix

The guide will help you  Fix any Crash related and Performance related problems such as Lagging, Frame Rate Drops, and Stuttering with Forza Horizon 5.

Forza Horizon 5 – Crashing / Low Performance / Not Loading Fix

Forza Horizon 5 is finally out for the Xbox consoles and of course the PC. The game looks incredible as always with even more environmental depth and detailed car models. Forza Horizon had been my favorite racing game franchise ever since its release. I feel this game gets almost everything right every time. One of the few racing games out there you just cannot have complaints on.

Forza Horizon 5 plays great on most PCs. However, a lot of users complained about the game crashing midway or at startup. Some would have very low performance with annoying frame rate drops every time.  Well, let’s say you have come to the right place because I will tell you how to fix this problem easily.

Firstly we need to make sure you have the right hardware for Forza Horizon 5. Most of the time we ignore this when actually this is the most important step. Without the right hardware, you will not be able to run the game properly. It will keep crashing and you will be facing a lot of performance issues.

System Requirements for Forza Horizon 5 :

Let us check the requirements for the game first :

Minimum:

    • OS: Windows 10 version 15063.0 or higher (64-bit)
    • Processor: Intel i5-4460 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: NVidia GTX 970 OR AMD RX 470
    • DirectX: Version 12
    • Storage: 110 GB available space

Recommended:

    • OS: Windows 10 version 15063.0 or higher (64-bit)
    • Processor: Intel i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
    • Memory: 16 GB RAM
    • Graphics: NVidia GTX 1070 OR AMD RX 590
    • DirectX: Version 12
    • Storage: 110 GB available space

The game is definitely heavy when it comes to requirements. If you have a setup below the minimum requirements most likely the game would be crashing. You will face severe performance issues and there would not be anything you can do about it. Let’s be frank, no fixes in the world would help you get better performance. Anything equivalent or higher than the Recommended setup will give you the best experience. Better as you go higher. Anywhere in between the recommend and minimum would of course help you get good enough performance but you may have to sacrifice a little on visuals.

Essential Downloads that you need for Forza Horizon 5 :

With the right system setup, you need the right GPU drivers too.  Outdated GPU drivers may cause performance issues which could even cause the game to crash. I have provided you with the necessary links to driver updates below. Also, make sure you have the correct C++ Redistributable and Net Framework as well :

Firewall Fix for Forza Horizon 5 :

If the game crashes on startup use this fix. I would guide you on how you can easily override your Windows Defender Firewall for Forza Horizon 5.

  • Type Windows Defender Firewall on the windows search bar and select that
  • On the left side click on Advanced Settings
  • On the left panel again right click on Inbound Rules and select New Rule
  • Just click on Next and then under the option that says “This program path” click on Browse and add Forza Horizon 5. exe from the folder where it is installed. It should be in your steamapps folder in your Steam Directory
  • Now keep clicking on next until it asks for a name. Type ForzaHorizon5  and click Finish
  • Repeat the entire thing again and this time select the Outbound Rules
  • Restart your PC and the game should work fine now.

 Close All Background Apps :

Background applications may use up a lot of your RAM and CPU which will definitely cause lag and stuttering problems in-game. Make sure you have all browsers like Google Chrome, Opera, and Mozilla turned off. Also make sure you have Overlays like Discord, Nvidia, and Steam off as well. They crank up your CPU usage to a point where gaming would literally feel annoying.

Game Not Launching on Laptops :

If the game is not starting on your laptop it could probably be that the game is using your integrated graphics rather than you dedicated GPU. This is how you fix this :

  • Type Graphics Settings on the windows search bar and select that
  • Under Graphics Performance Preference select Browse and add Forza Horizon 5.exe 
  • Now select High Performance 
  • Restart PC

Use this Launch Command for Better Performance :

Steam allows you to input launch commands. You can easily get a performance boost when you try this command which I am about to show you.

  • Launch Steam and go to your Game Library
  • Right Click on Forza Horizon 5 and select Properties. Now select General
  • Under launch options, type this – -high – USEALLAVAILABLECORES
  • Type it exactly as I have shown you
  • Restart Steam.

Best GPU Control Panel Settings for Better Performance :

The GPU that you use would allow you to specifically tweak settings according to the way you would want your games to perform. You can either sacrifice on visuals and get an incredible amount of performance boost or you can improve visual quality and sacrifice on performance. For super high-end setups, you can afford to cut down on the performance for quality. But for average setups you can try these options :

Nvidia :

  • Right click on the desktop and select NVIDIA Control Panel
  • Now choose  ‘Adjust image settings with preview’
  • Then select  ‘Use the advanced 3D image settings
  • Click on Manage 3D settings
  • Do these :
    Power Management: Prefer Maximum Performance
    Texture filtering Quality: High Performance
    Threaded optimization: On
    Vertical sync: Off
  • Click on Apply

AMD :

  • Right-click anywhere on your desktop and select AMD Radeon Software.
  • From the gaming, tab choose Global Graphics and set the profile to eSport

Do these :

  • Radeon Anti-Lag: Disabled
  • Radeon Chill: Disabled
  • Boost: Disabled
  • Image Sharpening: Disabled
  • Enhanced Sync: Disabled

This should help you get a decent performance boost for Forza Horizon 5

Check Game Files :

A lot of times there could be a corrupted file causing the game to crash or have performance issues. Steam lets us check the files we have installed for the game to see if any went missing during the installation or if any of them were corrupted. This could be because of an update or the initial installation.

  • Launch Steam and go to Library
  • Right-click on Forza Horizon 5
  • Now select Properties
  • Select the Local Files tab
  • Now click on Verify Integrity of game files 

You can also try to Re-Install the game if this does not work for you. A fresh Installation could do the trick.

Well, there you go, easy steps to fix any crash and performance-related problems with Forza Horizon 5. As I said before, having the right hardware is the first step. If you do not have a system good enough to run the game none of these steps would actually make a huge difference. You may benefit from a little increase in performance but do not expect a miracle. However, if you have a good enough setup and you have lowered the in-game graphics, followed the steps I showed you, and still facing the issue, it could be a problem with the game. Waiting for a patch would be the best thing to do then.

I hope the guide was helpful. Do let us know in the comment section below.

3 thoughts on “Forza Horizon 5 – Crashing / Low Performance / Not Loading Fix”

  1. Hi, I’ve tried all of these things, and the game still won’t load. It gets stuck on the “signing In” part of the loading screen and stays there for at least half an hour before I get frustrated and close the tab. Any ideas?

  2. The game still crashes when I play for a while.. I have a Ryzen 9 5600x and an Rtx 3080 Ti so it isn’t my gpu or cpu….

  3. These don’t work, I’ve been playing fine from early release up until about 12hrs ago when after about 10 mins of play the game’s frames drop from roughly 90 FPS to under 20 FPS and the game strutters so bad I have to turn it off. I have made no changes to my pc this weekend so… The problems I’m having are not isolated to just myself, Its got to be a problem with the base game. Very annoyed having paid for the ultimate edition to play early for this to happen.
    If anyone is interested my pc specs are
    Ryzen 5 2400g
    MSI Rx 5700
    16gb ddr4 3000mhz
    1tb nvme ssd
    Running on windows 10.

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