Forza Horizon 4 demo offers a free tour of the beautiful British countryside

Forza Horizon 4 comes out on October 2, and it looks to be pretty good. Wes spent some time with it at a recent preview event and found it to be an unexpectedly relaxing experience, with "just-right" car physics and "a scenic Britain so beautiful and detailed, picturesque feels both descriptive and literal."

Forza Guides

Ready to race? Check out our Forza Horizon 4 car list of the best cars, and guides to super wheelspins, barn finds and house locations.

If you'd like to sample that experience yourself without waiting until October—or having to pay for it—you can now do so, with some limitations, by way of the free Forza Horizon 4 demo that's now available from the Microsoft Store. The demo will offer "a tour of beautiful, historic Britain," Forza community manager Brian Ekberg said in an update at forzamotorsport.net, with "a healthy heaping of open-world gameplay to enjoy."

"Seasons change everything in Forza Horizon 4 and demo players will experience each of the four unique seasons in the demo," Ekberg wrote. "From the ice and snow of winter time to the blazing summer heat, each season has its own charms and challenges."

Forza fans will also be able to get a head start on earning "influence" by playing the demo, streaming it, or watching other people play it, on Mixer. Streamers will earn Influence for every two minutes they spend broadcasting (with bonuses for larger audiences), while viewers will be rewarded for every five minutes spent watching. Either way, Influence earned via streams can be claimed by logging into the full version of the game (when it's available) using the same Gamertag you use to watch streams, after unlocking the Mixer thread in the Horizon Life campaign.

The update also unveils the Best of Bond Car Pack as the Forza Horizon 4 "Day One Car Pack," which includes a selection of Aston Martins and various other Bond machines plus related goodies like Bond outfits and "quick chat" phrases. And finally, the release of the Forza Horizon 4 demo also marks the start of the Forza Horizon 4 Demo Sweepstakes, which will send two winners from the US and/or Canada on an all-expenses-paid trip to Pure McLaren, "the official track driving programme of McLaren Automotive." Unfortunately, that is only available through the Xbox One version of the demo. Sorry about that.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.