DLSS 5 can already be tested in Forza Horizon 6 on an RTX 5070, but it cuts performance by roughly half, which may feel unplayable to gamers who are used to high frame rates. In return, though, DLSS 5 noticeably changes the way lighting and reflections look.
So, this begs the question: is the visual upgrade really worth losing that much FPS? Here’s what the current RTX 5070 test tells us.
Can You Use DLSS 5 in Forza Horizon 6?
Yes, but this isn’t official DLSS 5 support from Playground Games. The test here uses an experimental version of DLSS 5 added to Forza Horizon 6 through modified ReShade tools and a preliminary DLSS 5 neural-rendering library.
Forza Horizon 6 officially supports DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution, along with Multi Frame Generation on RTX 50 Series graphics cards. So the DLSS 5 results below should be treated with a grain of salt and not like an official FH6 update or a finished implementation of the technology.
Forza Horizon 6 DLSS 5 RTX 5070 Performance
The screenshots from the RTX 5070 test, at first, make it look like DLSS 5 causes a huge performance hit. If you asked any gamer about frame rates dropping from around 151 FPS to roughly 45-46 FPS with DLSS 5 enabled and no Frame Generation, they’d tell you, “Nah, I’ll pass.” There’s more to it than meets the eye.
The tester has explained that the real performance loss was closer to half. They reiterate that the screenshot showing around 150 FPS may have been taken using DLSS Ultra Performance. That’s crazy because the other screenshots were using Performance mode.
Now it actually starts to fall into place. That pretty much means the 151 FPS versus 45 FPS isn’t a direct comparison. The tester saw roughly a 50% performance drop on the RTX 5070 when using the experimental DLSS 5 setup, which is pretty wild, by the way.
Does DLSS 5 Make Forza Horizon 6 Look Better?
The biggest difference is the way materials react to lighting. Take vehicle paint, for example. If you pay close attention, the reflections look more realistic with DLSS 5 and the car body looks less like one flat color. It also improves the overall lighting.
In areas with artificial lighting and colorful surroundings, this is more obvious. Take vehicle reflections, for example. It’s hard to miss. In the experimental implementation of DLSS 5, there was some image instability and slight flickering.
So DLSS 5 definitely changes the look of Forza Horizon 6, but the current test also shows that those changes come with a serious performance cost. Right now, the main thing to consider is the tradeoff.
So with DLSS 5 enabled, performance drops by roughly half. But at the same time, there are noticeable changes to lighting and reflections.
Is DLSS 5 Worth the FPS Loss on RTX 5070?
DLSS 5 looks noticeably better, especially in lighting and reflections, but on an RTX 5070 the visual upgrade is not worth losing roughly half the performance right now.
Forza Horizon 6 already officially supports DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution, and RTX 50 Series GPUs can use Multi Frame Generation as well. NVIDIA says the RTX 5070 can exceed 300 FPS at 1080p in its tested configuration when using DLSS Super Resolution and Multi Frame Generation 4X.
At the end of the day, the DLSS 5 results in Forza Horizon 6 are best treated as an early look at what the technology can do rather than an official replacement for the game’s existing DLSS 4.5 features.
