4 weeks, 8 incredible Italian cars. Are you ready for the challenge? Don’t miss out on the events featured on the Festival Playlist this series and look out for new challenges to smash the Yacht Piñata Collectible and Italian Automotive themed billboards available every week! New props will also be available in EventLab for creators to use in their custom events.
1992 Alfa Romeo 155 Q4
Earn 20 PTS during the Week 1 “Summer” Season on the Italian Automotive Festival Playlist. Available from Aug. 17 – 24.
Technically, the 1992 Alfa Romeo 155 Q4 can be termed a "compact executive", but this car has the heart of a touring car. Introduced in 1992, the 155 was a larger replacement for the Alfa Romeo 75. The Q4 version features a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine capable of 187 horsepower and, unlike the front wheel drive 155, sports an AWD drivetrain. Capable of a 140-mph top speed and a 0-100 kph in around 7 seconds, it’s little wonder that the 155 had success in touring car racing. It’s a fun drive with a body style that’s begging for a race replica livery in Forza Horizon 5.
1986 Lancia Delta S4
Earn 40 PTS during the Week 1 “Summer” Season on the Italian Automotive Festival Playlist. Available from Aug. 17 – 24.
An F1 car for rally is one way to classify this robust, any condition, any surface racer. From a distance it resembles its distant much milder, yet still utterly capable cousin the Lancia Delta. Underneath the bloodline is pure purpose-built racecar. A supercharger and a turbocharger lay rubber from all four wheels, try not to choke on its dust.
2016 Abarth 695 Biposto
Earn 20 PTS during the Week 2 “Autumn” Season on the Italian Automotive Festival Playlist. Available from Aug. 24 – 31.
In case you don’t speak Italian, “Biposto” means two-seater. In terms of this micro-sized hot hatch, two-seater means more fun than might be legal. That’s why Abarth – pronounced ‘Ah-Bart’ – calls the 695 Biposto an entry-level track day car. Celebrating 50 years since the introduction of the immensely popular Abarth 695, the Biposto comes with features that make it a screaming fast pocket rocket with handling that rivals sports cars twice its price. All the upgrades come from the most preferred brands in performance including: Akrapovic exhaust, Brembo brakes, OZ wheels, Garrett turbo, and more. These components and the tuning result in a car that is far from its diminutive daily driving cousins with a backseat and a thrilling driving experience that is anything but small.
2014 Alfa Romeo 4C
Earn 40 PTS during the Week 2 “Autumn” Season on the Italian Automotive Festival Playlist. Available from Aug. 24 – 31.
Look out, sports car fans, the 4C has everything needed for spirited driving and even a few creature comforts. First off, the form which has met with near universal praise from fans and critics alike. As with any sports car built by Italians, the looks are only the icing; it’s the cake that is tasty: a carbon-fiber tub between twin aluminum sub-frames, and a rip-roaring turbo-charged four-cylinder with enough gusto to give anyone a permanent grin. The engine is behind the cabin, where it should be. The resulting driving experience is visceral and will have you wishing for the next off-camber corner all day. Thank you, Alfa, we needed that!
1980 Abarth Fiat 131
Earn 20 PTS during the Week 3 “Winter” Season on the Italian Automotive Festival Playlist. Available from Aug. 31 – Sept. 7.
Carlo Abarth is rightfully famous for applying the dark art of tuning to some of the most unlikely cars in the world—simple, robust, but decidedly unsporting Fiats—and creating legitimate giant-slaying racers out of them. This Abarth 131 is a homologation version of the standard Fiat 131, a relatively tame family sedan until fitted with a 2-liter, 16-valve fuel-injected motor creating nearly 140 horsepower. Combined with lightweight fiberglass body panels sporting box flares and aggressive air scoops, the boxy coupe can scoot to 60 in less than eight seconds—incredible performance for such a small car developed during the 1970s. With independent rear suspension fitted by Abarth, the 131 is perfectly suited for hanging out its duck-tailed hindquarters on the tight, technical courses. This road version allowed the 230-horsepower rally version to dominate World Rally Championship racing between 1977 and 1980. With only 400 of the street cars ever produced, Forza is probably the best place to experience this diminutive Italian rally car on the road.
2007 Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione
Earn 40 PTS during the Week 3 “Winter” Season on the Italian Automotive Festival Playlist. Available from Aug. 31 – Sept 7.
From every possible angle, the 8C Competizione is a steel-and-carbon-fiber supermodel of the highest order. Yet you might be surprised that it wasn’t designed by one of the famous Italian coachbuilders—instead the 8C was designed in-house at Alfa Romeo’s own design center. The 8C also has the beast to back up the beauty, using a version of the 4.3-liter V8 that sees duty in the Maserati Coupe and the Ferrari F430, and is precisely balanced with a 6-speed transaxle mounted just ahead of the rear wheels. Keeping all the weight inside the wheelbase allows the 8C to dance with the finest corner-carvers around, and it can hold its own at a stoplight drag by handily laying down 12.4-second quarter miles. Of course, with those looks, a simple cruise down the boulevard will rack up double-takes without needing to even let the 8C’s 450 horsepower sing its warbling quad-exhaust note.
2017 Abarth 124 Spider
Earn 20 PTS during the Week 4 “Spring” Season on the Italian Automotive Festival Playlist. Available from Sept. 7 – 14.
Built on the same chassis and with many of the same components of the Mazda Miata, the Abarth 124 Spider takes that solid base and spices it up with Italian flair. This variant has the most horsepower available and an optimized suspension. The car’s bulging lines beg to cut their way through the wind with the top down. Under the long hood is the treat that separates the 124 from its Japanese sibling. Whether you actually find the turbo in the engine bay or note the distinguishing sound of it spooling up as you throttle up, the forced induction is what makes this little convertible a real treat. Like the Miata, this is a car you can drive at 100 percent all day and have loads of fun in the process. So, what are you waiting for?
1982 Lancia 037 Stradale
Earn 40 PTS during the Week 4 “Spring” Season on the Italian Automotive Festival Playlist. Available from Sept. 7 – 14.
When is a road car not (exactly) a road car? When it is a homologation variant of something as wild as a Group B rally car. As its name implies, the 037 Stradale is road-legal (stradale meaning “road” in Italian), sure, but under all of the road-approved gear like headlights, turn signals, and reflectors is the same spaceframe, Kevlar-reinforced fiberglass, and competition-bred engine as the Group B car. Of course, the Stradale versions couldn’t be as wild as their racing twins, with additional weight and an engine tune that wouldn’t require a tear-down every few races. Located amidships in a longitudinal placement is Lancia’s competition-tested 2-liter four-cylinder motor, supplemented with a supercharger provided by Abarth that adds extra power without the lag of turbochargers. As the last of the rear-wheel drive rally cars to see success in WRC, the 037 does have the advantage of lighter weight and less complexity than the early all-wheel drive competition, which helped propel the Group B 037 to a manufacturer’s championship in 1983. With a minimum construction of 200 cars to comply with racing rules, the 037 Stradale is exceedingly rare.
What’s Next
The next Forza Horizon 5 update celebrates our Horizon Creatives with some new community-requested improvements to EventLab. Stay tuned for details in September!