The year’s biggest racing game brings the thrill and danger of rally to Colorado with new cars, terrain, and off-road racing challenge

Microsoft, Playground Games, and Turn 10 Studios have announced that the “Forza Horizon” Rally Expansion Pack is available to download starting tomorrow, Tuesday 18 th December on Xbox LIVE. The Rally Expansion Pack brings a thrilling new automotive experience – with new cars, terrain, and off-road racing challenge – to this year’s biggest racing game. The “Forza Horizon” Rally Expansion Pack will be available to download for 1,600 Microsoft Points or as a free download for players who own the “Forza Horizon” Season Pass.

With the Rally Expansion Pack, the Horizon Festival is expanding to include epic rally racing and iconic rally cars that have been specifically tuned to handle the extreme terrain of Colorado’s most formidable off-road stages. Players will test their driving mettle with new multiplayer rally events, leaderboards, and Rivals challenges, as well as a new set of career events that take place on rally stages built across Colorado to push rally drivers and their cars to the limit. These stages feature severe and sudden elevation changes, massive jumps, and more surface variety than has ever been seen in “Forza Horizon,” providing an intense and varied off-road driving experience.

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Screenshots:

The Rally Expansion Pack will include five iconic rally cars, each with its own storied real-world rally history. Players will be able to upgrade these cars with new rally-specific upgrades including tires, suspensions, transmissions, and body kits specifically created to maximize each car’s potential on the varied terrain of the Expansion Pack’s rally stages. In addition, players will be able to create their own dirt-eating machines by applying rally upgrades to any car in their “Forza Horizon” garage for use in the rally stages and in the main game.

The five cars in the Rally Expansion Pack include:

2005 Subaru Impreza WRX STi – The traditional blue and yellow Subaru is nearly synonymous with rally racing. The Subaru World Rally Team has been active since 1980 and has employed a “who’s who” list of rally-driving greats including Ari Vatanen, Colin McRae, and Petter Solberg. The 2005 WRX STi saw minor interior upgrades over the 2004 version. It is powered by the turbocharged and intercooled 2.5-liter flat-four that cranks out more than 300 horsepower. Subaru’s invincible all-wheel drive system provides grippy traction on any surface.

1982 Lancia 037 Stradale – The words “Group B” will send a chill of excitement down any rally lover’s spine. These cars were so fast they were eventually banned from rally competition. The Lancia 037 Stradale represents the last of the RWD cars to be competitive before AWD cars took over the sport. With a silhouette similar to its predecessor, the Lancia Stratos, the 037 is a mid-engine, tube frame beast with body panels made of Kevlar. The 200 road going versions built for homologation had an Abarth-developed 16-valve four-cylinder 2.0-liter engine with a Volumex supercharger. Power output of the street car is right around 200 horsepower, although the final evolution of the rally 037 had as much as 325 horsepower.

1992 Ford Escort RS Cosworth – Built with the intent of winning the World Rally Championship, the RS Cosworth was a successful stopgap model between the Sierra Cosworth and the later Focus. Although the Escort did not win the championship, it did win eight events between 1993 and 1996 and was extremely competitive as a Group A car. What makes the Escort RS truly special is the Cosworth YBT 1993cc turbocharged I4 engine. Its standard output of 224 horsepower has been tuned to as high as 1,000 horsepower in competition trim. Its full-time 34/66 front/rear split AWD system also give it excellent handling on any surface.

1992 Toyota Celica GT-Four RC ST185 – Driven by Carlos Sainz, the ST185 won the driver’s title in 1992. This was the pinnacle of Sainz’s rally career and the first time a Japanese car won trophies in an otherwise European manufacturer-dominated motorsport. The GT-Four RC is an AWD, turbocharged, 4-cylinder with a water-to-air intercooler and close-ratio transmission. A total of 232 horsepower give it plenty of juice and, when you upgrade to the rally body part components, the Celica is an obvious standout rally-racing icon.

2004 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII MR – The Lancer’s AWD performance is equal to supercars costing exponentially more. With 276 horsepower ready to be unleashed, the lightweight 3,109-pound Evo VIII MR is a formidable car on any surface. Lightning-quick turbocharged acceleration is put down to the surface through a six-speed transmission and helical limited-slip differential, making the Evo VIII a natural choice for any rally lover.

“Forza Horizon” Season Pass owners will be able to download the Rally Expansion Pack for free on Dec. 18. In addition, Season Pass owners will have access to the December Season Pass bonus car—the 2003 Ford SVT Focus, which also comes with rally-inspired body upgrades—effectively giving Season Pass owners a sixth rally car to enjoy in the Rally Expansion Pack.

Season Pass owners will also receive five exclusive cars, with one car being released per month through March.