Here's a thread to track incoming seasonal changes, events, exclusives, and new features.
THREAD UPDATE: Series 29See the updated chronology in post #2.
For content update release notes, see the
Support page.FIRST TIME PLAYERS
For players starting the game for the first time, the first 4 to 5 hours is a prologue before you're synchronized with the current world season:
Originally Posted by: JONK1969 
The first 10 minutes is a lot like the e3 demo, then you arrive at the Festival and start your first summer. A quick tour of all four seasons.
Then you enter the "Horizon Life Prologue" where you get to spend time in a full Horizon year doing what you want, progressing based on what kinds of things you like to do. Sure there's some hand-holding here, but it opens up very quickly.
At about 1 hour, once you finish your first prologue Autumn event, the Drivatars in your freeroam world are replaced with real players and you have online modes available. Or you can play Solo if that's your thing. The players you see in the world with you are at the same point in their Horizon Life as you, same season. But you can do whatever you want.
At around 4-5 hours, depending on how you play, you qualify for the Horizon Roster, your second summer, and earn your first Wristband. You enter a fully synchronized world where each season lasts a week. How fast you get there depends on how much "influence" you earn (think of it like XP). You get Influence for racing, stunting, creating and sharing content, streaming - whatever. You're doing all that from hour 1 onward.
Seasons will transition for everyone each week on Thursdays at 7:30am Pacific / 10:30am Eastern / 3:30pm British time. After a countdown and cutscene transition, the Horizon map will be updated with the new seasonal weather effects, new seasonal events (including seasonal Barn Finds), new weekly #Forzathon challenges and rewards, and new #Forzathon Shop cars/clothes/horns etc.
2018 LAUNCH SCHEDULE
Once you're synchronized with the world, you'll be in the current season:
Summer: September 27 - October 4
Autumn: October 4 - 11
Winter: October 11 - 18
Spring October 18 - 25
Livestream replay with Ralph Fulton discussing schedule and content:
https://youtu.be/XsFZQU7xY8g
Daily #Forzathon challenges are in addition to the hourly #ForzathonLive online events; dailies can be done offline. The new Exclusive car for each season is offered to all players for free in the Forzathon Shop using the points earned from daily, weekly, and hourly Forzathon challenges. You can bank your Forzathon Points over weeks.
SUMMER (September 27 - October 4)
- Events: 5 Summer season events | 1 new Trial event | 1 new Speed Trap challenge
- #Forzathon: 7 new daily challenges | 1 new weekly challenge
- Free car:
2018 Ferrari 812 Superfast 2019 Porsche 911 GT3 RS (Forzathon Shop, possibly Wheelspin reward)
- Forzathon Shop: new stock and exclusives
- DLC cars: 2 new cars for Car Pass owners (2017 Koenigsegg Agera RS | 1962 Triumph TR3B)
AUTUMN (October 4 - 11)
- Events: 5 Summer season events | 1 new Trial event | 1 new Danger Sign challenge
- #Forzathon: 7 new daily challenges | 1 new weekly challenge
- Free car:
2019 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 2018 Ferrari 812 Superfast (Forzathon Shop, possibly Wheelspin reward)
- Forzathon Shop: new stock and exclusives
- DLC cars: 2 new cars for Car Pass owners (2002 Mazda RX-7 Spirit-R Type A | 2018 Nissan Sentra NISMO)
WINTER (October 11 - 18)
- Events: 3 Winter season events | 1 new Trial event | 1 new Danger Sign challenge
- #Forzathon: 7 new daily challenges | 1 new weekly challenge
- Free car: 2019 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 (Forzathon Shop, possibly Wheelspin reward)
- Forzathon Shop: new stock and exclusives
- DLC cars: 2 new cars for Car Pass owners (1985 Porsche #185 959 Prodrive Rally Raid | 1959 Porsche 356 A 1600 Super)
SPRING (October 18 - 25)
- Events: 5 Spring season events | 1 new Trial event | 1 new Speed Trap challenge
- #Forzathon: 7 new daily challenges | 1 new weekly challenge
- Free car: 2018 Honda Civic Type R (Forzathon Shop, possibly Wheelspin reward)
- Forzathon Shop: new stock and exclusives
- DLC cars: 2 new cars for Car Pass owners (2018 BMW i8 Roadster | 2018 Honda Civic GRC )
Edited by user Sunday, November 15, 2020 5:45:03 PM(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified