Forza Horizon 3 Australia: Released 2016, Forza Horizon 3 took the festival to Australia. From Gold Coast beach roads to dust-kicking Outback trails, this was the first entry to put the player in the Festival Director chair — racing while expanding four festival outposts.
FH3 · Red interior meets the coast (AI illustration)
Map Setting
FH3's geography draws from the east coast of Australia — Gold Coast plus interior plus rainforest. Playground Games went native Xbox One / PC for the first time. Visuals leapt forward, and the PC release finally welcomed massive new audiences into the franchise.
The map simultaneously delivers coast / rainforest / red interior / mountain woodland / urban suburb — the strongest "terrain contrast" in series history up to that point. From swimming to dust-kicking takes just minutes.
Four Festival Outposts
FH3's biggest design innovation is the "4 Festival outposts" system:
Byron Bay — rainforest hub with waterfalls and lush green tones.
Yarra Valley — wine country with rolling pastoral hills.
Outback — red-dust interior, the off-road racing main stage.
Each outpost is an independent party hub. Players upgrade individual "Fans" counters to unlock more events at each. This spatial distribution made FH3 feel bigger than FH1 or 2.
Festival Director Debut
FH3 is the first entry to put the player in the role of Festival Director. Keira Harrison serves as the executive assistant — she doesn't drive, but coordinates events and assigns tasks. The character became one of the most beloved NPCs in the series and returned in FH4.
Progression switched to a "Fans" counter at each outpost, encouraging balanced development. Some players felt this management overlay diluted the pure-driving fun — and FH4 onward dialed it back.
Blizzard Mountain DLC
Released December 2016, the Blizzard Mountain snowy expansion took the festival to a fictional Australian snow peak. Permanent blizzard plus extreme off-road events — widely cited as one of the series' best DLCs.
Hot Wheels DLC
Released May 2017, the Hot Wheels DLC dropped orange plastic track physics into the game. Suspended elevated highways, loyalty loops, rocket boosters — driving an actual orange Hot Wheels car was iconic. The technology was reused in FH5 and culminated in FH6's full Tokyo elevated road network.
Service Status
FH3 was officially "End of Life'd" by Microsoft in September 2020 — removed from Microsoft Store and Steam. New players can no longer purchase it. Existing owners can still play, but online services are shut down. This was the first major controversy over Forza's delisting policy.
