Forza Horizon 5 is a great racing game that has a habit of crashing (in the gaming sense) for some players. For example, this is what one Horizon 5 player said on Reddit, “For that last week, my game (Horizon 5) keeps crashing for no obvious reason; I’ve reinstalled it on multiple drives, and without fail, it always crashes after about 20 minutes of playing.” Regular in-game crashing can make FH5 almost unplayable. This is how you can fix regular in-game Forza Horizon 5 crashing on Windows PCs.
Read also: 8 Ways You Can Fix Forza Horizon 5 Not Launching on a PC
Run Forza Horizon 5 With Admin Rights
Some players say they fixed Forza Horizon 5 crashing all the time by setting that game to run with administrator rights. Applying this possible fix will give the game full PC system access. This is how you can set the Horizon 5 Steam game to run with elevated privileges.
- Bring up the Steam gaming client and click on its Library tab.
- Right-click your Forza Horizon 5 game to select the Manage > Browse local files option.
- Next, right-click the Forza Horizon 5 EXE file to select Properties and Compatibility.
- Select the Run this program as an administrator compatibility setting for admin rights.
The Run this program as an administrator option
- Then, click Apply and OK to set the selected settings for Horizon 5.
If you’ve installed Horizon 5 via the MS Store, you won’t be able to access the app’s installation folder. However, you can still set the game to run with admin rights via the search box. Input Forza Horizon 5 into the Windows search box and right-click the app found to select Run as administrator.
Lower the General Graphics Preset
Lowering general graphics settings in Forza Horizon 5 will free up system resources. This is a common troubleshooting method that can fix game crashes caused by resource limitations. Try lowering the general graphics preset option like this:
- Start the Forza Horizon 5 game.
- Bring up the in-game settings menu.
- Select the Graphics tab.
- Change the Preset option to a lower setting. For example, select Medium for that option if set to High.
The Preset option
- Press Space to save selected settings.
Roll Back Graphics Drivers
Although it’s usually recommended to update graphics drivers for troubleshooting, some players have said they’ve fixed Forza Horizon 5 crashing by rolling back to previously installed graphical drivers. New, buggy graphics drivers can cause gaming issues to arise. If you’ve recently installed a new graphical driver on your PC, select to roll it back like this:
- Right-click Start and select the Device Manager to access that Windows utility.
- Double-click Display adapters to view graphics cards.
- Right-click your GPU to select Properties.
- Next, select the Driver tab.
- Click Roll Back Driver if you can select that option. That option will be greyed out if there isn’t a previously installed driver available.
The Roll Back Driver option
- Select My apps don’t work with this driver and click Yes.
Turn Off Overlays
A few players confirmed turning off overlay features has fixed in-game Forza Horizon 5 crashing on their PCs. The Forza support service also recommends players disable overlays to fix crashing. So, try disabling the overlays in Steam, Discord, GeForce Experience, and AMD Radeon software if installed on your PC.
The Steam overlay setting
Disable Windows Defender Firewall Before Playing
Disabling Windows Defender Firewall is another player-confirmed way to fix regular in-game Forza Horizon 5 crashing. This is a confirmed way to fix freezing and disconnect crashing issues for the game. Go through the steps on this Microsoft page to disable Windows Defender Firewall before playing Horizon 5. However, I recommend turning that firewall back on after playing.
The Windows Defender Firewall
Disable or Remove Conflicting Background Apps
The Forza support service confirms that numerous third-party apps can cause in-game Forza Horizon 5 crashing issues. To address this possible cause, you should either disable or uninstall the conflicting background apps. These are some of the conflicting third-party background apps the Forza support team recommends disabling or uninstalling:
- Sonic Audio
- Xsplit
- OBS
- EVGA Precision
- MSI Afterburner
- Logitech G Hub
- Wallpaper Engine
- WeMod
- Nahimic (Audio Driver)
- Warsaw Banking App
- MacType
- SeeThroughWindows
If you don’t want to uninstall those software packages, make sure they’re not running in the background when playing Forza Horizon 5. Open Task Manager using the Ctrl + Shift + Esc hotkey and select Properties. Then, select processes for the software listed above and click End task.
The End task option
Verify or Reset Your Fora Horizon 5 Game
Game file corruption is a potential cause for Forza Horizon 5 crashing. You can address this possible cause by verifying or resetting your Horizon 5 game. If you’re a Steam user, try verifying the game as outlined on this help page. Those who have installed Forza Horizon 5 from the MS Store can reset the app as covered on this Microsoft website page.
The Verify integrity of game files option
There’s no guaranteed way to completely fix regular in-game Forza Horizon 5 crashing. However, the potential fixes above have worked for some players. Applying them might at least make the game more playable by reducing the regularity of the in-game crashing.
