Forza Horizon 5 - How to win the Eliminator?

Eliminator is a mode known from previous parts of the game and has not changed much. A lot depends on your luck, but there are some tips to help you win.

Eliminator mode

The Eliminator is a racing battle royale. Up to 96 players are scattered on the map. You must stay with in the designated zone which continually gets smaller. Anyone can challenge someone to a duel, and the loser is eliminated. The rules of the Eliminator are quite simple, at the very beginning you choose a car, there is only one on tier 1: 1963 Volkswagen Beetle. The tiers of the cars determine their performance, in the Eliminator there are cars with tiers 1-10, where 10 is the highest possible. It is not possible to start a race with a higher level. Once you've chosen your car, you'll need to pick your starting location on the open world map. This is a crucial decision to increase your chances of getting a better car, although it's based heavily on luck. The game starts and you appear on the map together with other players. Now you can look for a better car, or you can race 1vs1 against others, so you can get the loser's car, or choose one tier better than your current one. During the competition, the arena gets smaller as the number of players decreases. After the final arena shrink, the 1vs1 mode is blocked, the countdown starts and the final race to a random target on the map begins. Whoever reaches the target first wins the entire eliminator. During the 1vs1 and final race, there are no rules and checkpoints. It's just about getting to your destination first.

Rewards

Eliminator is a great method to increase experience points. You don't have to win at all to earn a lot of points. For example, for taking second place I got 38,000 XP, first 55,000 XP. These points would take quite a lot of time earning them in other modes.

1 Choosing a starting location

The choice of the start is crucial because your success may depend on it. You will notice that the cars drop in fixed places. However, there is no guarantee that the car will be dropped at the specific place every time. The only thing that changes every time is the level of the car dropped.

From my observation, I can recommend the north-east part of the map, the center of the map, and around the largest junction on the highway. In this locations there will always be some cars to pick up.

2 Starting the Eliminator

As soon as you get on the map, avoid the other players! 1vs1 racing at the very beginning is a waste of time. Not only that you risk losing, but when you win, you will get a car only one level higher at best.

Therefore, immediately look for drops and find at least a level 4-5 car. If you're lucky, you can get better, but these levels are a good start and then it is worth racing with others.

Pay attention to the minimap when you drive to the desired drop point, because if another player is there in front of you, he may get a better car and challenge you to a duel. If you have a level 5 car it is enough to win 1v1 races several times. You can confidently compete in the final race with a car that has a level between 8-10.

Once you've found a level 5 car it's time to move on to racing, so look for your victims. As soon as you win the first race, forget about searching for the next drop. The chance of finding something better decreases, so it will be faster to eliminate players in weaker cars. The sooner you start looking for an opponent, the greater the chance that you have the highest level car.

3 1vs1 racing

If you already have a car with the appropriate tier (minimum 4-5) look for your victims with a lower level. The slower it goes, the lower it is, the easier it is to win and you will easily level up your car. What if someone has the same car or better ?! It is best to avoid such players, but if this is not possible, remember that you still have a chance:

A 1vs1 race with a similar class of car

It is safe to stop, or if your opponent is rushing towards you, turn towards him and try to move at a similar direction. When the race starts, your chances of winning will be similar. Of course, there is also a tactic to go in the opposite direction, but it's a big risk that works against better cars. Don't just stand still, acceleration takes a few precious seconds, especially in the low grades.

A race with a much better class

You have a lvl5 car and a lvl8 player rushes to you. Overall, this is a big problem and it's better to run, but if you know they will catch you, there is no turning back. This is where you should use the risky tactic of starting in the opposite direction. So the player rushes straight at you to challenge you, you are rushing in the opposite direction. There is a 50/50 chance that the finish line will appear in your favor. When doing this, pay attention to the boundaries of the arena. The race will not lead you beyond the allowed zone.

General tips:

• Remember to keep trying until the very end. There is always a chance that the opponent will jump over the finish line, crash at the very end or despite the big advantage, you will get ahead of him.
• Either you play aggressively or you are a potential victim. If you are riding side by side, remember that there are no rules in Eliminator and few players will be honorable in the race, so if possible, they may unscrupulously try to push you onto a tree or other obstacle.
• Sometimes it's a good idea to slow down before jumping. Hills and other places from which you will probably take to the air, slow down (you have no acceleration in the air). In addition, there is always a risk that the car will land incorrectly, and in the worst case it will overturn or be stopped by an obstacle.
• There are very steep mountains on the map, so be careful what you are driving and who you are racing with. I happened to drive a rally car from level 6 and the opponent had a Jeep with lvl 4. We were going up the steepest mountain and I had an overwhelming advantage until at the very end my car could not keep going. I started sliding down the mountain and had no way to finish the race. Meanwhile, the opponent calmly reached the end in his jeep.
• The best option is an off-road car with a slightly lower tier than the faster one, adapted to road racing. Whether it's a 1vs1 race or a final race, you won't be driving a lot on the street so you'd better avoid those cars..

4 The final race

The countdown begins, no one knows the target yet, but you can try to predict the most likely directions. But first, the most important thing - don't stand. Even if you have to drive in circles, it is definitely better to have 100-200km/h on the clock than to accelerate from scratch. If you have a problem with this, find at least stable ground, on the road, so that your car accelerates as quickly as possible after the race starts. You now have two tactics to choose from:

The first "safe" tactic is starting from the inside. You have equal chances regardless of which direction you will have to go to the finish line. Unfortunately, the player who stands near the border has a significant advantage in this case.

The second tactic is to try to guess the finish location. It is possible in many cases, although it is never 100% sure, hence this tactic carries a greater risk, while offering an overwhelming advantage. Predicting the final race does not have to be based on intuition, pay attention to the location of the current arena. If the arena is in the lower left corner, the top right corner will be the best shot. And do not wait near the border, you have a specific countdown, so as I wrote at the very beginning, speed up and try to hit the border with the highest possible speed when it starts to disappear.

Below is the map of the final stage in the game, just before the final race starts, and the route guessing tactic is marked:

I have marked in red the areas where the final race will definitely not end. For the simple reason - the route would be too short. So now that the arena is in the upper right corner of the map, it is known that the finish line will be somewhere to the west. The map shows the perfect momentum, because the motorway is located more or less centrally in the area of interest to us. I marked in orange the path that I planned to cover in the last seconds during the countdown to the final. In this case, starting from the motorway, we have the perfect room for maneuver to correct the direction and the best possible momentum. Ideal conditions, it is easy to exclude most directions. But when it's not that obvious, a little more luck will come in handy.

And remember. drive to the very end and never give up, because even before the finish line, your opponent may fall off the track or stop in an obstacle. Good luck in Eliminator!