[Updated] Forza Horizon 5 players unable to join friends or friends disappear in convoy

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on November 06, 2021) follows:

Forza Horizon 5 is the latest installment in the long-running Forza franchise. Developed by Playground Games and published by Xbox Game Studios and will be released on November 9, 2021.

Set in a fictional version of Mexico, the racing game has the largest Forza map to date. Compared to Forza Horizon 4 that was based in the UK, the map is 50% larger in size.

It features several geographic landscapes such as an active volcano, lush green jungles, beaches, famous Mayan structures, and even the city of Guanajuato.

Additionally, there is also a new game mode called Horizon Arcade. This mode features several mini-multiplayer games spread across the map while the EventLab toolkit allows users to create custom games.

Thanks to the games’ open-world aspect, players can roam around and explore Mexico or team up with friends and play multiplayer. That being said, those who got access to Forza Horizon 5 are now reporting that they are unable to join their friends when trying to play multiplayer.

I can’t invite my friends thru Steam as steam doesn’t even show that we’re playing. We somehow managed to join eachothers convoy via the Xbox app, but everyone is the convoy leader at the same time but nobody can start a race because it says “only convoy leader can start a race”
(Source)

So the title explains my problem, what can I do with it? My friend is using FH5 on Microsoft Store and I am a Steam user but when I try to create column it infinitely setting it up and when I click “horizon life” I’m getting a little circle loading for 2 secs and then nothing. My connection to XBOX services is perfect, I checked.
(Source)

Moreover, it looks like another issue is preventing players from joining a convoy with the game getting stuck on an infinite loading screen. Players say they are disappointed since they are unable to enjoy the game with their friends.

My mate and I are trying to free roam together and we try convoy and it gets stuck on the loading circle and if it does work they dont appear in game anyone having this issue?
(Source)

Has anyone else not been able to join there friends convoy? He’s on series S and i’m on series X. We can invite each other but it just loads and wont connect.
(Source)

The number of reports suggests that the is on the developer’s end. With Microsoft yet to acknowledge the problem, players are wondering when multiplayer will be fixed.

If and when the developers acknowledge the Forza Horizon 5 issue where players are unable to join friends, we will update this article.

01:35 pm (IST): Forza Horizon support did acknowledge the problem and confirmed that they are looking into it.

We’re aware that some folks in Forza Horizon 5 have been having trouble connecting to Horizon Life and experiencing disconnects. We’re looking into it! (Source)

02:04 pm (IST): It seems that the Forza team has deployed some fixes for the issue and has also confirmed that more are on the way.

We’ve rolled out a few fixes and more are being rolled out over the next day or so! We will send out more updates when we have further information. (Source)

12:43 pm (IST): The Forza team is still investigating multiple issues with Convoys as highlighted in the official ‘Known Issues‘ tracker for the game.

According to the page, no Convoy bug has been fixed yet. Hence, players may have to wait a bit for the issues to be taken care of completely.

01:00 pm (IST): The connectivity bugs that could be causing problems joining friends have been officially acknowledged by the Forza Horizon 5 team.

We are expecting a Hotfix to drop later this week that will address multiple crash, wheel and connection issues for #ForzaHorizon5 We will update as soon as its live!
Source

For the moment, it only remains to wait for the fix rollout not to take long.

12:00 pm (IST): In case you’re getting stuck on the loading circle when your try Convoy, then you might want to check out this user-shared workaround:

I have figured out a solution. get into your convoy and go to the festival and come out and it will work. i know it sounds dumb but it works. (Source)

11:26 am (IST): Forza support has come out with some bad news. According to a recent tweet, the team claims that they found an issue with the hotfix that will need some more testing, and thus the hotfix will go live next week.

Unfortunately, we have found an issue with the hotfix that will need some more testing. We have decided to push this hotfix out until next week. (Source)

03:40 pm (IST): In another follow-up, Forza support confirmed that they are still working on the hotfix and will hope to have more information to share later this week.

We are continuing to work on the #ForzaHorizon5 hotfix and hope to have more information to share later this week. As always, we greatly appreciate the patience, support and submitted tickets! (Source)

04:45 pm (IST): A new hotfix is live for Forza Horizon 5 but it does not bring a fix for the convoy bug that prevents players from playing with their friends.

STILL can’t play with friends, convoys still not fucking working after 2 weeks and a apparent patch? This is beyond pathetic. (Source)

So you guys are more worried about exploits than players not even able to launch the game?? I can’t even play with my friends or follow someone in a lobby because they just dissapear, it’s been almost 2 weeks and you guys fixed nothing even the draw distance… (Source)

01:13 pm (IST): As per the latest updates on the official known issues page, the following Convoy bugs were fixed:

Convoy – Joining a player after sending them an invite causes an absence of convoy leader
Convoy – Players are removed from their current stunt party and placed in a new one if they join a convoy while already in a stunt party

However, the bug or glitch where friends would disappear from the Convoy is still listed under the known issues section.

03:35 pm (IST): Forza support has confirmed that they are still working on addressing the known issues with Forza Horizon 5, likely including the Convoy bugs. Unfortunately, there’s no ETA for the next patch.

We hear you and continue to work hard on resolving the Known Issues for #ForzaHorizon5. Thank you for submitting those tickets that help us log and investigate issues. (Source)

10:54 am (IST): The latest content update that’s available for the Xbox One, Xbox Series, PC, and Steam apparently brings improvements for the issue where convoy members disappear. The full release notes can be found here.

11:30 am (IST): The content update that we highlighted a couple of days ago may have not fixed the issue entirely since the bugs with convoy are still listed in the known issues section of the official issues tracker.

12:00 pm (IST): In a recent update on multiplayer issues on the community forums, a Forizon staff member confirmed that the team is still actively working on improving the experience with convoys.

Unfortunately, it does not seem like there will be a one-time fix that completely resolves the issue anytime soon. Here’s a snippet from the post:

Convoys – There’s nothing more disappointing than going on a road-trip with your friends and seeing them all disappear. We’ve experienced it and it never gets any less of a letdown. With that said, we are actively working on improvements around players erratically disappearing or not being pulled into Horizon Life servers with their Convoy. (Source)

01:52 pm (IST): It appears that the latest content update broke convoys even more as highlighted by a few users.

Update has made the game worse. Convoys completely broken now, game keeps crashing when it didnt before, online is still buggy and broken and infinite loading screens in all aspects of the game and no traffic or players to be seen around. This isnt an update at all. Total downgrade. (Source)

Convoys and online play have become even worse with a new issue appearing where for example my friend can see me but I can’t, not even on the minimap. (Source)

04:00 pm (IST): Forza Horizon 5 recently picked up a hotfix update, however, it was to address the issue where players were getting stuck in an infinite loop while saving content.

The update didn’t bring any improvements or fixes for the bugs in convoys.

12:16 pm (IST): Forizon Support is assuring players that the relevant teams are still working on fixing the various bugs and issues in the game.

Further, another patch is in the works focused on game stability and online connectivity improvements.

Multiple teams are continuing to work on fixes for #ForzaHorizon5. We’re currently working on another patch focused around game stability and online connectivity improvements. Thank you for your continued support and letting us know when you run into issues. (Source)

Unfortunately, the team didn’t make any direct comment regarding the issue in convoys.

03:48 pm (IST): Forza support confirmed that another update with multiple fixes is in the pipeline and is set to go live tomorrow if all goes to plan.

There are no specific details as to what issues will be addressed with the update yet so we’ll just have to wait and see once it goes live.

The team is currently working on another set of fixes and stability improvements for #ForzaHorizon5. If all goes well with testing, an update will be released tomorrow. (Source)

Note: We have more such stories in our dedicated Gaming Section so be sure to follow them as well.

PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.