How to Drive Manual/Shift Gears in Forza Horizon 5

If you’re looking for the most realistic driving experience in Forza Horizon 5 you may be wondering how to change the controls to include manual gear shifting for your cars.  This options is one that is not selected by default so you’re going to need to do a little digging in the menus.  In this guide we’ll explain exactly where to find the option to select manual transmission for driving, allowing you to switch gears in Forza Horizon 5.

How to Drive Manual Forza Horizon 5

The first thing you’ll need to do is turn on manual shifting.  This can be done by heading into the game menu and selecting the “Settings” option.  Within settings you will look for “Advanced Controls”.  In the Advanced Controls menu you will turn on the option to “Switch Gear Up/Down”.

Once you’ve got the option turned on you can then shift gears while out on the road.  If you’re driving with the keyboard and mouse the default option is to have the E key for shift up and the Q key for shift down, but this can be changed.

If your playing on the Xbox controller you will need to use the X button to shift up and you will need to assign a button for downshifting.

To see the control schemes head into the controls option and then select the Change Input Mapping to assign the controls to the keys/buttons that you prefer.

Forza Horizon Manual Transmission Controls

• On PC – E key for Shift Up, Q Key for Shift Down
• On Xbox – X button to shift up, must assign downshift key

And that’s everything that you need to know about selecting the manual transmission option in Forza Horizon 5 and using it in game.  Hopefully this helps you out as you hit the open roads of Mexico for this latest Horizon adventure.