Forza Horizon 2 on PC with Azimuth – Setup, Requirements and Known Issues

Forza Horizon 2 never had a PC release, but since 10 October 2026 an unofficial port called Azimuth runs the Xbox One version on Windows 10 and 11, on Linux through Proton, and on the Steam Deck. You have to bring your own game files from an Xbox One copy you own, and there is no Xbox Live, so it is offline only. Azimuth 1.0, released on 27 October, also added Forza Horizon 3 and Forza Motorsport 5 and 6.

My favourite era of the Horizon series is 2 to 4. I played Horizon 2 on Xbox One, and after it was pulled from the store in 2018 there was no easy way back to it. So I looked into what Azimuth actually is, what you need, and what doesn’t work yet.

At a glance

• What it is: a free, unofficial port of the Xbox One version to Windows. It isn’t an emulator: it translates the Xbox’s system calls to Win32 and its DirectX 11.X to desktop DirectX 12
• Current version: 1.0.4 (29 October 2026), updated almost daily
• You need: your own Xbox One game files (Forza Horizon 2 version 1.0.0.64), Windows 10/11 or Linux (Proton), 16 GB of RAM, a CPU with F16C and AVX
• Works: supersampling up to 8K, 60 fps and higher, ultrawide and 32:9, HDR10, Xbox controllers, Steam Deck, racing wheels (experimental)
• Doesn’t work: Xbox Live (multiplayer, achievements); macOS isn’t mentioned
• Also runs (since 1.0): Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious, Forza Horizon 3, Forza Motorsport 5 and 6
• The other route: the Xbox 360 version is rated “playable” in the Xenia Canary emulator (September 2026)

Why Forza Horizon 2 never came to PC

Horizon 2 came out in September 2014 on Xbox One and Xbox 360. Playground Games made the Xbox One version and Sumo Digital made the 360 version separately, with a different map and features. The series only came to PC with Horizon 3 in 2016, so the first two games never had a PC version.

Date	Event
September 2014	Forza Horizon 2 released (Xbox One / Xbox 360)
September 2016	Forza Horizon 3 launches on PC as well
30 September 2018	Xbox One version delisted from digital sale because of expiring licences
22 August 2023	Horizon 2 online services shut down (single player still works)
10 October 2026	Unofficial PC port Azimuth released
27 October 2026	Azimuth 1.0: Forza Horizon 3 and Motorsport 5 and 6 added

With digital sales gone, the only way to buy it now is a second-hand disc, and until Azimuth the only way to play it was to dig out an Xbox.

Three ways to play Forza Horizon 2 on PC

There are three known routes right now. Azimuth is the one everyone is talking about.

Method	Version it runs	Runs on	Status
Azimuth	Xbox One	Windows 10/11, Linux (Proton), Steam Deck	1.0.4, actively developed
Xenia Canary	Xbox 360	Windows, Linux	Rated playable to the end
fh2-recompiled	Xbox 360 (North American disc)	Android, Linux	Test builds, low frame rates

Azimuth stands out because it runs the Xbox One version, which has the better graphics and more content, at PC resolutions.

What Azimuth is: a port, not an emulator

Azimuth is made by Almost There Games and published on itch.io. It doesn’t emulate a whole Xbox One. Instead, it translates the calls the game makes to the Xbox into Windows and DirectX 12 calls. That makes it much lighter than an emulator, and it can offer resolution and frame-rate options the console never had.

• Released: 10 October 2026; version 1.0 on 27 October, with updates almost every day
• Price: name your own price, so it can be free
• Supported games and versions: Forza Horizon 2 1.0.0.64 with Storm Island 1.0.0.36, Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious 1.0.0.6, Forza Horizon 3 1.0.125.0, Forza Motorsport 5 1.0.0.20, Forza Motorsport 6 1.0.0.44
• Unofficial: not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft, Xbox or Playground Games. It ships no game files and no decryption tools

Version 1.0 was a big step: a new launcher that finds your games, up to 40% better performance with less stutter, and loyalty rewards, so Motorsport 6 and Horizon 3 can read your saves from the earlier games as they did on the console. (Azimuth 1.0 devlog)

PC requirements

Item	Requirement
OS	Windows 10 or 11, or Linux through Proton
CPU	F16C and AVX support (Intel Core 3rd generation, AMD FX Piledriver or newer)
Memory	16 GB of RAM
Graphics	A PC on par with or faster than a Steam Deck should be fine; the Ultra preset is for strong hardware
Intel integrated graphics	Runs; the 1.0 notes say the red and cyan squares around the sun and glows should now be gone (HD, UHD, Iris Plus, Iris Xe)

On the Steam Deck the developer aims for 720p at 60 fps or 1080p at 30 fps. As of 1.0, the busiest moments still dip below 60 at 720p, and more performance work is planned.

What you need: your own game files

Azimuth doesn’t include the game. You need the game folder from the Xbox One version of Forza Horizon 2, which contains era.vbi, Mount and EmbeddedXvd. The base game has to be version 1.0.0.64.

A few things to be careful about:

• The developer doesn’t explain how to get the files out of a console. The method shared in the community uses a security hole in an Xbox One that hasn’t been updated for a long time. That means bypassing the console’s protection, which can break anti-circumvention laws in many countries (the DMCA in the US, or Article 104-2 of the Copyright Act in Korea, where I live). I don’t cover extraction here.
• Don’t download “ready-to-play PC versions” shared on social media. Pre-packed game files are going around; they are pirated and can carry malware.
• Only download Azimuth from the official itch.io page. The developer has warned about renamed and modified copies, including a Forza Motorsport 5 “builder” built on Azimuth. (devlog)

How to install and run Azimuth

1. Download azimuth-windows.zip from the official Azimuth page.
2. Unzip it into its own folder. Your game folders can sit beside it or anywhere else.
3. Start the launcher. On first start it looks for your games and their expansions and offers to add them. You can also point it to a game folder yourself (the one with era.vbi in it).
4. Storm Island and Fast & Furious are found the same way. The launcher checks again at every start and tells you when something new appears.
5. Choose resolution, frame rate, graphics preset and anti-aliasing, then press Play.
6. In game, hold View/Back on the controller or Esc for two seconds to open Azimuth’s menu: volume, settings that apply without a restart, back to the launcher, or quit.

The first launch, and the first launch after every update, spends a long time on “Preparing graphics pipelines”, and the game can stutter for 15 to 60 minutes afterwards. It’s building its graphics cache, and the stutter fades as you keep driving. (devlog)

Recommended settings

Setting	Options	My pick
Resolution	720p up to twice your display’s height, at most 4320 (8K) with supersampling	Your display’s resolution, higher if your GPU has headroom
Aspect ratio	16:9, or your display’s shape (16:10, 21:9, 32:9)	Match your monitor
Frame rate	30, 60, or up to your display’s refresh rate	60 fps
Preset	Low, Default (Xbox One graphics), High, Ultra, or each part separately	High
Anti-aliasing	Off, MSAA 2x, MSAA 4x	4x if you have headroom
HDR	HDR10 with a calibration page	On, if you have an HDR monitor

You can also set shadow detail, shadow distance, shadow redraw, scenery detail, reflections and car detail one by one. The developer notes that High and Ultra are moving targets: they get prettier, and sometimes heavier, as updates unlock more of what the games can do. Default, the console’s own settings, stays the same between updates. (1.0.4 devlog)

Text language and speech language are separate settings, and audio can be stereo, 5.1, 7.1 or whatever Windows uses.

Controllers, racing wheels and the Steam Deck

• Xbox controllers are supported officially, with impulse triggers on Xbox One and Series controllers.
• Racing wheels (experimental, since 1.0): DirectInput wheels with the game’s own force feedback, plus an H-pattern shifter and a handbrake. Set them up under Controls in the launcher settings, with rotation from 180 to 1080 degrees. 1.0.3 fixed binding on wheels such as the Logitech G29 and G923 and added a force feedback strength setting. (1.0.3 devlog)
• Steam Controller or other pads: add azimuth.exe to Steam as a non-Steam game, and Steam Input will present your pad as an Xbox controller.
• Steam Deck: add it as a non-Steam game and force Proton Experimental as the compatibility tool. 1.0.4 fixed the picture being too bright on the Deck’s screen.

What doesn’t work, and known issues

• No online features: without Xbox Live there is no multiplayer, no achievements and no clubs. Players report that some online-only cars and locations stay locked.
• Stutter: 1.0 cut stalls when new areas stream in, but the Steam Deck still dips in the busiest moments.
• Back up your saves: the save format changed in 0.9.6 and the save location in 0.9.9. Saves carried over to 1.0 unchanged, and the new launcher has one-press save backups, so use them before updating.
• Brightness: before 1.0.4, Horizon 2 looked too bright on screens narrower than 1920 pixels. If you adjusted brightness or HDR calibration to make up for it, set it again.
• Modified copies: versions changed by other people aren’t supported.
• Bug reports: send the LOG file (and the DMP file for crashes) to the developer’s report address; the launcher’s About page opens the folder that holds them. Reports without a LOG file are deleted.

The Xbox 360 version: Xenia Canary

If you have the Xbox 360 version, the Xbox 360 emulator Xenia Canary can run it. In the compatibility list it was rated “playable” on 9 September 2026 after a user reported finishing the career. Keep in mind that the 360 version has a smaller map and fewer features than the Xbox One version.

• Requirements: 64-bit Windows 10 or later, or Linux; a CPU with AVX; a DirectX 12 or Vulkan graphics card. macOS isn’t officially supported.
• Game files: the Xenia wiki explains installing the disc to USB on a real Xbox 360 and copying it to your PC, or reading the disc directly with a supported PC drive. An Xbox One or Series console can’t extract 360 games.
• Title updates and DLC: install them with Xenia’s Install Content menu.

Settings shared by the community:

Setting	Effect
vsync = false	Removes the 30 fps cap
readback_resolve = "full"	Car thumbnails and photos show correctly, at a cost in frame rate
occlusion_query = "strict"	Fixes lens flares showing through walls (builds after May 2026)
Motion blur off patch	Removes a strange texture under the car

Frequently asked questions

Is there an official PC release of Forza Horizon 2?

No. Azimuth is an unofficial project by an independent developer and has nothing to do with Microsoft or Playground Games. There’s no news of an official PC version or a remaster.

Can I play online with friends?

No. The official online services shut down on 22 August 2023 (Forza announcement), and Azimuth doesn’t support Xbox Live.

Does it work on the Steam Deck?

Yes. Add it as a non-Steam game and use Proton Experimental. The developer aims for 720p at 60 fps or 1080p at 30 fps.

Can I play it on a Mac?

Not really. Azimuth only lists Windows and Linux (Proton), and Xenia doesn’t officially support macOS.

Does Azimuth run Forza Horizon 3 or Forza Motorsport?

Yes, since 1.0: Forza Horizon 3, Forza Motorsport 5 and Forza Motorsport 6, each from your own Xbox One files of the versions listed above.

Sources: Azimuth official page (itch.io), Azimuth 1.0 devlog, Update 1.0.4 devlog, devlog note about modified copies, DSOGaming – Forza Horizon 2 PC port is here, Xenia Canary compatibility – Forza Horizon 2, Xenia Canary quickstart, Forza Horizon online services closure

This is an English version of my original Korean article, 포르자 호라이즌 2 PC 구동 방법 – 비공식 포트 Azimuth, updated for Azimuth 1.0. Last checked: 30 October 2026 (Azimuth 1.0.4).