Forza Horizon 5’s new DLC is Gran Turismo personified

If you’ve already claimed Forza Horizon 4 while you still have the chance to do so, now’s the time to circle back around to playing its sequel once again. Notably, not only have we gotten a new update, but also the JDM Jewels DLC, which personifies Gran Turismo itself.

Over the past couple of months, the studio working on Forza Horizon 5, Playground Games, has seen it fit to release relatively small car pack DLCs with each and every seasonal update the game receives. Whether you hate this or not, it’s unlikely to change anytime soon, and it does mean that we get to see some cars that otherwise don’t necessarily fit into the Horizon festival vibe by default. After genuine touring vehicles seen during Series 33, we now have legendary cars from the Japanese domestic market, the DLC’s highlights being the awesome Autozam AZ-1 and the legendary Nissan Stagea RS Four.

Forza Horizon 5 gets its new JDM Jewels DLC alongside the Cars & Coffee update

While the Autozam and the Stagea are basically part-and-parcel for Gran Turismo, which has historically focused mainly on Japanese manufacturers and automotive industry at large, we now get to drive them in Forza Horizon 5 as well. For the lo🤪w, low price of $4.99, that is.

More specifically, the new includes four cars that have never before been seen in a Forza game:

• Autozam AZ-1 (1993)
• Nissan Stagea RS Four (1997)
• Mitsubishi Montero Evolution (1997)
• Toyota Sera (1991)

These cars won’t mean all too much to those that haven’t spent loads of time playing Gran Turismo on PlayStation, but they’re absolutely emblematic of the wider JDM niche from the 1990s. Whether they’re worth spending five bucks on is another matter entirely, of course, but I feel that this DLC, in particular, is absolutely going to find its audience, especially since all the featured vehicles come with some snazzy body kit swaps and other bonus upgrades that spice things up further still.

Of course, a huge JDM-themed season would’ve been preferable to tucking these cars away behind a DLC, but it is what it is, and for what it’s worth, the new Cars & Coffee seasonal offerings are no slouch:

• Lamborghini Aventador LP780-4 Ultimae (2021) – July 18
• Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Coupe (2017) – July 19
• Volkswagen SP-2 (1976) – July 25
• Mazda MX-5 Miata RF (2022) – August 1
• Volkswagen Thing (1973) – August 8

A solid selection, if you ask me, and the 2022 Miata is a modern take on the classic JDM legend, so even those who aren’t keen on paying extra get to experience some of that Japanese goodness. Certainly, this whole schtick is a far cry from Forza Motorsport‘s comparatively slim Update 10, but it is what it is.