Which is a pretty big deal really. Forza Horizon 4 is a massive title, and so is the series on the whole, so to have existed up until now in the PC space without ever having been available on the most popular PC platform in Steam sounds strange when said out loud, but has finally been rectified as of today.

We've held this series in very high regard for a long time, and can't recommend it enough as far as open-world gaming goes, as well as racing. And obviously the marriage of the two is what stands out best here.

As well as being available on Steam, the new release joins the cross-play party, allowing players across the Xbox family of devices and Windows 10 PC to be able to play together with Steam players. But enough from us, here's the official word from creative director, Mike Brown:

Last month we announced Forza Horizon 4 was headed to Steam for the first time, and today we welcome new players as Forza Horizon 4 is officially available for purchase. We’re excited for Steam players to experience the joys of driving in beautiful, historic Britain alongside players across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows 10 PCs and cloud gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

There are three ways to customize your Horizon Festival experience and car collection, with the Standard, Deluxe and Ultimate Editions offering players options in kickstarting their garages and seeing everything Britain has to offer. Choose one of the below bundles to get started, or head to ForzaMotorsport.net for more details. You can also purchase car packs and expansions separately.

Standard Edition digital bundle $99.95:

• Forza Horizon 4
  
• Formula Drift Car Pack

Deluxe Edition digital bundle $129.95:

• Forza Horizon 4
  
• Formula Drift Car Pack
  
• Car Pass

Ultimate Edition digital bundle $149.95:

• Forza Horizon 4
  
• Formula Drift Car Pack
  
• Car Pass
  
• Best of Bond Car Pack
  
• Welcome Pack
  
• VIP
  
• Fortune Island
  
• LEGO® Speed Champions

The world of Forza Horizon 4 has grown tremendously thanks to the support of the community, with game modes including The Eliminator and Super7 joining expansion content Fortune Island and LEGO Speed Champions alongside over 600 available cars to create an expansive and social driving experience. Players looking to add even more playful fun to their garages can also check out the Hot Wheels Legends Car Pack, which introduces iconic favorites such as the 1949 Ford F-5 Dually Custom Hot Rod and 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk ‘Dream Roadster’ to Forza Horizon 4.

Interested in adding a very special car to your garage for free? Starting today, all Forza Horizon 4 players across Xbox Game Pass, Xbox One, Windows 10 PC and Steam can add the 2019 Porsche 911 GT3 RS to their collections for free by playing Forza Horizon 4 while logged into their Xbox profile between now and March 14 at 10 a.m. PDT. Upon their next log-in, players will receive a message in their message center about the reward car, and upon opening the message it will redeem to their garage. More information on this promotion can be found on forzamotorsport.net.

New to Forza Horizon 4? Check out our beginner’s guide filled with advice and tips from our community of seasoned and welcoming racers. With cross-play, you can cruise with a convoy of your friends no matter where they play—across Xbox consoles, Windows 10 PCs, cloud gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and now Steam!

Grab the game now directly from Steam, and get ready to hate a bunch of Drivatars. Additionally, logging into the game between now and March 15, (5am AEDT) will net you a free 2019 Porsche 911 GT3 RS.

And as far as we've come with the Battle Royale genre, this is one that we're pretty excited about - because Forza Horizon 4 is pure fun. Called The Eliminator it arrives tomorrow as a free update. So then, how does a racing game become a Battle Royale?

Glad you asked because as per the following trailer and brief description the answer is - taking elements from the genre and transposing those onto the open-world racing hit.

The Eliminator invites up to 72 players to face-off within an arena set in the open world of Britain. Eliminating one another in head-to-head races to earn upgrades and a chance to pick up faster cars. Arena walls contract throughout the game, forcing players closer together until a final white-knuckle race among the survivors determines the winner.

So yeah, head-to-head races in a shrinking play-area with winners getting access to faster cars leading up to a final showdown. It'll be interesting to see how the races play-out in a live setting, which we're assuming will follow the format laid out by Forza Horizon 4's in-game live events where you need to follow markers.

Described as the most treacherous location to ever be featured in a Forza title, Fortune Island introduces some truly wild weather and terrain. Racing along cliff edges? Check. In the middle of a storm? Check. Thankfully there's the beauty of aurora borealis or Northern Lights to balance things out. The new island location is available now for all Ultimate Edition owners, and as a standalone expansion for Xbox One and Windows 10 PC.

Here's the launch trailer.



Of course it wouldn't be an expansion for a car racing game without new cars - with Fortune Island adding the 2019 Lamborghini Urus, 2017 Ram 1500 Rebel TRX Concept, and 2010 Saleen S5S Raptor among others. Truth be told we randomly picked the other two there after only recognizing the name Lamborghini.

Fortune Island also introduces dozens of new events, including a brand new event type called Trailblazer that tasks you with coming up with the fastest way to get from point A to B. Plus a very cool treasure hunt that lives up to its namesake. Hunting down treasure chests and smacking them open with your vehicle of choice. Which, sounds like a lot of fun and certainly better than the billboard hunt we've been getting in each Horizon entry so far.

The changing of the seasons is one of the biggest additions to Forza Horizon 4 -- a game we recently lauded as "a game you’ll be picking up and playing at will, a game you might consider console or TV upgrades for; a game that will just glue you to your seat for its purity in content, then Forza Horizon 4 will be it". And overnight Playground Games unleashed their post-launch content plans for the game, which we can add is very proactive in ambition and content.

Specifically, the game's seasons will change once every week until an in-game year has taken place, which if your maths is solid means four weeks. After that, a new in-game year starts and comes with fresh, new content. The first new year of the game is slated to kick off on October 25th, while the opening season upon release of the game will be Summer. You can see a list of the events that will take place seasonally throughout the game's first in-game year below:



New cars will also become available throughout each season, such as the Ferrari 812 for Summer or the Chevrolet ZR2 in Winter. Playground Games remains committed to making their open-world game less conquerable in a single sitting-type of situation (worded that way for comparison; 'finishing' the game in a single sitting would be almost impossible), and more a place to be experienced in different ways based on a schedule. Almost to be 'lived' in, if you will.

Click here for our in-depth review of Forza Horizon 4.

That headline might read a bit weirdly, but it's more or less a statement about how each Forza Horizon entry just adds new life to the car and racing genre, with Forza Horizon4 being no different. As we explore in our review.

And more than just introducing us to new seasons and dynamic weather from those seasons, as a game built from the ground up to really captitalise on the Xbox One X's architecture and 4K HDR, Forza Horizon 4 is a visual masterpiece and should definitely make you consider upgrading, if you're still not in that camp.

Here's some words from our review:

And this is an easy dot-point to highlight: it changes the game beyond visual sheen and charges players with new ways to think about races; about their cars or their car setups (if you’re so inclined). It makes the racing even more visceral this time around, which when you consider the heritage here, is no small feat. Moreover, smaller, more social and streamlined additions have come to the game. It’s not just you flying solo amidst Drivatars and AI anymore, now alongside those androids who dream of electric sheep are real people. No more posing Deckards -- some cars are the real deal, and you can interact with them through a simple and inoffensive emote system that also allows you to invite them into a co-op or competitive race, or to just join you in a general driving session. And while we love our Roy Batty Drivatars and their oft Batty like-for-like unpredictability, having actual real-time humans in the game just helps it feel more alive.

Maybe the next DLC needs synth, hover cars and lots of neon...

Click here for our Forza Horizon 4 review.