‘Forza Horizon 3’ Demo Available On Xbox One, For Real This Time

After a false start on Sunday night, the Forza Horizon 3 demo just went live for the Xbox One on Monday. Console owners can test drive the open-world racer now, while Windows 10 PC gamers are left waiting.

The Forza Horizon 3 demo weighs in at a hefty 18.34 GB and is available to grab from the Xbox Store right now. Windows 10 PC owners will receive a demo for Forza Horizon 3, but an actual release date for the game is unknown. Turn 10 Studios confirmed the platform will be included in the fun during a Twitch live stream to kick off the demo.

Xbox One owners will get a chance to see what driving down under is like as the festival racer moves the action to Australia. Demo players will get just a taste of the content that will be available in the full game.

“You’ll blast along ocean-side roads, and race on the beach alongside the famed Twelve Apostles landmarks. You’ll grab ludicrous air off of danger sign jumps buried deep in the Australian rainforests, and have a chance to get sideways through Drift Zones in Byron Bay. Once you’ve finished all the events in the demo, you’ll be able to hop online and join your fellow Forza friends in an online free-roam session to explore the demo’s map together.”

The drivable free-roam area is approximately a quarter of the Forza Horizon 3 map. There is also a Showcase Event, a Circuit Race, and a Bucket List. Photo and drone modes are also included.

The demo also comes with a small selection of cars meant to show off the variety of rides in Forza Horizon 3. The Lamborghini Centenario is present along with a couple of dune buggies, an American muscle car, and more.

“The drivable vehicles in the Forza Horizon 3 demo are a ‘who’s who’ of automotive hotness. Of course, you’ll be spending time in one of the game’s cover cars, the Lamborghini Centenario. Along the way you’ll also get to drive more than one dune buggy, a rough-and-ready trophy truck and your choice from cars such as the BMW M4 Coupe, the Ford Shelby GT350R, as well as that Australian legend in the making, the 2014 HSV Limited Edition GEN-F GTS Maloo. And remember: this is just a small sample of the more than 350 cars that will be available for you to collect, customize, and race in the full version of the game.”

Forza Horizon 3 is one of the first titles in Microsoft’s Play Anywhere initiative for the Xbox One and Windows 10. A digital purchase of the racer or any of the other Play Anywhere titles from the Xbox Store or Windows Store will give buyers access to the game on both platforms. This will grant access to games on the Xbox One and Windows 10 with cross-saves and, depending on the title, cross-play.

Turn 10 Studios shared the recommended PC specs needed to run Forza Horizon 3 via the studio’s official website. The provided specs will are for running the game at 1080p. Specs needed for 4K resolutions have not been shared yet, but expect a GPU bump to the Nvidia GTX 1080 along with an SSD hard drive based on past experience.

Forza Horizon 3 Recommended Specs:

• CPU: i7 3820 @ 3.6GHz
• GPU: NVIDIA GTX 970 or NVIDIA GTX 1060, AMD R9 290X or AMD RX 480
• VRAM: 4GB
• RAM: 12GB
• Hard Drive Type: HDD
• Available Space: 55 GB
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080
• Windows Version: Windows Anniversary Edition 64-bit 14393.101

As a reminder, the original Forza Horizon is available as a free download for Xbox LIVE Gold subscribers. The Xbox 360 backwards-compatible title is part of the September Games with Gold package and will be available to download for free until Thursday, September 15. This is Microsoft’s attempt to grease the skids for the release of Forza Horizon 3 and is actually a well-done bit of marketing to get Xbox One owners prepared and excited.

What are your impressions of the Forza Horizon 3 demo? Share them in the comments below.

[Image via Turn 10 Studios]