How to quickly unlock every Midnight Battle (and their accolades) in Forza Horizon 5
Midnight Battles are 1v1 street races that take place at midnight and were previously held as part of Forza Horizon 3’s Festival.
Returning to the Horizon Festival after a 6-year hiatus, Midnight Battles are 1v1 midnight street races that previously took place as part of Forza Horizon 3’s festival.
It’s unclear how these new races are unlocked unless you’ve wandered into the awards section of Forza Horizon 5, but we’re going to show you a quick and easy way to unlock these races.
Fast unlocking of Midnight Battles
To unlock each Midnight Battle you must complete 16 street races, with one unlocked each time you win 4 of those races. Unfortunately, previous road race wins are not counted prior to this update, so new wins are required here. The Midnight Battles themselves do not count toward total races won, and each of them has different requirements for additional awards.
First, go to the awards screen in the pause menu, select Street Racing, then the Midnight Battles tab at the top. Look for the Night Owl achievement and pin it to track your progress.
Now for the street races. At the time of writing, the quickest way to complete them is to use Eventlab. This can be found in the pause menu, then select the Creative Hub tab, then Eventlab, and finally Event Blueprints. Press the button below to search and enter 0 Second Street Race as the title.
This should show a series of options for street races that include very fast finishes. Just load one of your choice, start the race and it should end immediately. Progress is only counted once you’re back in free play, and you can do this as many times as you like.
Unlock Midnight Battles conveniently
These Eventlab maps may get patched in a later update, so the other option is to do the normal street races that are available on the map. A quick and easy street race we found is the Horizon Callejera Street Race, which is just north of the Horizon Street Scene Outpost and southeast of Guanajuato.
With a fast car like the Hot Wheels Bad to the Blade or the Koenigsegg Jesko, a clean run can be in the region of 1 minute 35 seconds for a lap.
However, if you still have some Street Racing-related awards to unlock, this would be a perfect time to complete them. On the awards screen, look for awards you have yet to unlock and complete them to kill two birds with one stone.
The first Midnight Battle – 1971 Ford Mustang
After winning 4 races you unlock the first Midnight Battle, located in Guanajuato. This race requires you to win it in a C Class car, with an additional award called “Midnight Rodeo” that requires you to win the race in any Mustang.
Any C-Class Mustang will do, but if you don’t have one handy in your car collection, you can buy the 1986 Ford Mustang SVO at the auto show for CR15,000, or if you don’t have a car pass, the 1965 Ford Mustang GT coupe for CR46,000 CR and an automatic upgrade to the C class.
The second Midnight Battle – 1984 Honda Civic
After winning 8 races, the second Midnight Battle takes place near Aerodromo En La Selva and south of Mulegé, located in the southwest corner of the map, and requires you to complete the race in a B-class car to win.
The additional award, called What a Won-Da, requires you to win the race in any Honda. A good option to choose from is the 2009 Honda S2000 CR, which can be unlocked from the auto show for 25,000 CR.
The Third Midnight Battle – 2003 Toyota Celica
Next up is the third Midnight Battle, after winning 12 races, which is located in the northwest area of the map, northwest of La Gran Caldera mountain and northeast of the Horizon Baja outpost. This battle requires you to win the race in an A class car.
As for the additional Celica You Later award, you must win the race with any Celica. A decent option to use here would be the 1992 Celica GT-Four RC ST185 for 25,000 CR in the auto show combined with an A class car upgrade.
The Fourth Midnight Battle – 2010 Lambo Murciélago
After winning 16 races and completing the grind, the fourth and final Midnight Battle is in the southern area of the map, north of Uxmal and Gran Puente and south of Cordillera. The requirement is to win this battle in an S1 class car.
The final perk, Bulls-Eye, requires you to win this battle in any Lamborghini. The cheapest S1-class Lambo available at the auto show is the 2014 Lamborghini Huracán LP 610-4, available for 240,000 CR, but hopefully you should have one in your collection by now.
Additional Midnight Battle awards
Finally, there are three other awards. The Nighthawk Accolade is unlocked after completing each Midnight Battle, simple as that.
Lock, Stock, Battle requires you to win every Midnight Battle while driving a car that has no performance boosts applied. Therefore, using a car straight from the auto show that we mentioned in the previous entries is applicable here.
Finally, Chain Reaction requires you to earn 4 Ultimate Skill Chains in Midnight Battles. This can be completed by chaining multiple different skills in the same combo, meaning drifts, near misses, wrecks, burnouts, and so on. Don’t worry about the race, just let the other car pass and get that combo. Once you’ve earned this skill chain, stop your car and wait for the combo to end as you can only get one per combo. Repeat this 3 more times and you will unlock this award.
