Forza Horizon 3 – Hot Wheels – straight up
XBOX One Game DVR – XBOX Record That
Wwookie Cookie
Let’s be completely real: racing games can sometimes take themselves a bit too seriously. But back in 2017, Playground Games threw the realism rulebook out the window, looked at a bucket of bright orange plastic tracks, and gave us the greatest arcade expansion ever made: Forza Horizon 3 Hot Wheels.
If you never got to experience this absolute fever dream of a DLC before it was delisted, or if you just want to relive the madness, let’s break down why this map remains legendary.
The Map: A Sky-High Playground
Suspended hundreds of feet above the coast of Australia, the Hot Wheels expansion replaces traditional tarmac with miles of looping, banking, giant orange tracks. We’re talking:
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Massive Loop-de-Loops: Where dropping below 50 MPH means a direct plummet into the ocean.
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Boost Pads: Giving you instant, neck-snapping acceleration.
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Mechanical Dinosaurs: Because why not have a giant T-Rex cheering you on from the sidelines?
The Cars: Real-Life Toys
The vehicle lineup in this expansion is pure wish-fulfillment. You get to take the wheel of world-famous die-cast icons like the twin-engine Twin Mill, the aggressive Bone Shaker, and the rugged Rip Rod. Tearing down a corkscrew at 230 MPH in a car you used to push around your bedroom floor hits a very specific kind of childhood nostalgia.
Straight Up: Why It Rules
What makes this gameplay loop so special is the pure sense of speed and verticality. The physics engine of Forza balances beautifully with the absurd stunts. It forces you to rethink how you drive; braking lines change completely when you’re fighting G-force on a massive vertical wall.
It’s fast, it’s loud, it’s unadulterated fun, and it proved that Forza knows exactly how to let its hair down.
