Use these 4 tips to win every single auction in Forza Horizon 5

As one of the best racing games ever made, it’s no secret that Forza Horizon 5 has a vast collection of amazing cars to unlock, sell, and buy. But, while grinding credits to pick up valuable rides at the Auto Show may seem like the most sensible path to adding prized possessions to your garage, true Forza aficionados know the in-game Auction House can be a great way to maximize the funds you have. While winning auctions is far from an exact science, here are four tips we’ve learned to ensure you’re always in the running for a big purchase.

4. Know which cars have value

Especially if you’re looking to get into the meta of sniping cars and then reselling them for more than you paid, it helps to know which cars hold the most value. As new cars get added to the game that level of value is constantly in flux. There are, however, some mainstays that almost always remain true no matter when you start your grind. For example, older-model cars will almost always sell for a nice chunk of change.

If you ever have any questions about what a particular car is worth, the Auto Show prices listed in-game can serve as a solid barometer for what the demand might be. You can also search for other auctions of the car you’re looking to sell to see what the range of max payouts looks like. That plays nicely into our next tip.

3. Use Advanced Filters to hone your auctions

At any given moment there are lots of auctions happening in Forza Horizon 5’s Auction House. The single best way to find sales of valuable cars is to use the game’s advanced filter settings. You’ll see a button prompt when starting your auction query for “advanced” that’s mapped to the X button on an Xbox controller. Press that, and you’ll see a wealth of filters that look like this.

With these filters, you can make it so you only see cars listed for prices you’re willing to spend. In terms of sniping, this cuts down on the amount of trash you’ll have to wade through so you’re always clicking on cars that match your needs. As described above, this can also be used as a tool to see what specific model cars are selling for at a given moment. Some filters we like to use are the Max/mins for bids and buyouts as well as the year, and the “all unique” source label. These almost guarantee you’ll see opportunities to purchase high-value cars for what you want to pay for them.

2. Change your settings on PC

While we personally think this tip may be getting a bit too in the weeds for some folks, there are many Auction House snipers who swear by downgrading their game graphics settings to ensure sales are always loading at their fastest.

Some settings to be aware of are setting the resolution to 1024x768 and setting the frame rate to 20fps. The game will look and play terribly with these options set this way, but it might theoretically help auction menus load fast enough for you to have an edge over some players who are loading in high-res assets. Unfortunately, you don’t have control over these settings on Xbox, but you can change the graphics mode to “performance” if you’re looking for a similar theoretical benefit.

1. Learn what “ending soon” actually means

While conventional wisdom established by auctioning platforms like eBay suggests it’s possible to snipe valuable items in at the very last second of open auctions, the process works a bit differently in Forza Horizon 5. When you see a listing that’s classified as “ending soon,” that means there’s technically one minute left until the auction is delisted.

However, bids can only be placed at two precise points: one around the last 40 seconds of an auction and then a final bidding period closer to 20 seconds. So, once you see that “ending soon” label, you should start counting down from 60 seconds in your head and put in bids at 43 and 23 seconds respectively. As long as you have a shortlist of possible targets and follow these principles, you should have better luck at the Auction House in Forza Horizon 5.