How to take and save photos in Forza Horizon 5

Forza Horizon 5 is, quite simply, one of the most visually stunning games ever made. Hundreds of cars rendered in painstaking detail and the gorgeous backdrop of Mexico is a recipe for some of the most beautiful visuals in all of gaming.

It’s fortunate, then, that Forza has a robust and fully featured photo mode. This feature freezes time and allows you to pan around the action to take the perfect shot of your favorite ride and the picturesque Mexican landscape. There are filters to turn your images into art and easy-to-use options for sharing and finding great pics.  Here is how to take and save photos in Forza Horizon 5.

Further reading

The art of Forza photography

Activating photo mode is easy to do. By default, the photo mode is mapped to Up on the D-pad on Xbox or P on PC. You can press that button anytime you are driving. Doing so will immediately freeze the action. Now you have control over the camera, allowing you to change placement, zoom, and angles from which you take your pictures.

From here, you have a few options. You can take photos with the press of a button. There are also controls to adjust your focus, apply visual effects, and even reset any cosmetic damage. If you just want a quick snapshot, then this is all you need. Once you take the picture, it will go through some quick processing, and you will see a button prompt to save the final image. Choose to save it, and you will be asked to name the file. Congrats! You’ve saved a photo.

Press the central Xbox button on your controller or Escape on the keyboard and navigate over to the Creative Hub. There are two places in the Creative Hub in which to view photos.  My Creative Hub, in the upper left of the screen, takes you to a sub-menu highlighting your custom content. Opening the Photos option will display pictures you have uploaded, allowing you to view them or reveal their share code. Share codes are unique numbers that can be given out to allow anyone in Forza Horizon 5 to find and view a specific picture.

How to find and share your pictures

The Photo Gallery is located on the bottom-left corner of the Creative Hub. From there, you can view your photos and look at featured or top-rated pictures from the rest of the Forza community. Community shots you particularly like can be favorited for quick reference.

There is also a search menu. This lets you find pictures with specific makes and models of cars, containing certain keywords, or from specific creators.  This is also where you can input a share code and retrieve a particular image.