Forza Horizon 4 PC Performance Review

VRAM Usage – This game likes having lots of VRAM!

Microsoft’s Xbox One X console was designed for resolutions beyond 1080p, with one of the console’s key upgrades being the addition of 4GB of additional VRAM. This extension to the console’s frame buffer that has allowed Microsoft’s first party developers to release games with high-resolution texture packs, allowing Xbox One X enhanced games to look a lot better than their console counterparts.  

Now how does this impact PC? These same Xbox One X-oriented high-resolution textures will also appear within modern PC titles, with the X-series console giving developers more an more reason to utilise plenty of VRAM within their games, making many modern PC titles VRAM hogs. Long gone are the days where 2GB of VRAM is enough for today’s PC games with maxed  out textures. 

Below is a table which should show you how VRAM usage scales with Forza Horizon 4’s graphical settings, fulling the GTX 1060’s frame buffer when w used the game’s maximum settings. These VRAM measurements are maximum values that are taken from five minutes of gameplay, which includes driving in Forza Horizon’s overworld and racing in the Autumn rally season. Forza Horizon 4’s in-game benchmark typically uses less VRAM than this testing scenario.  
  

Below we have also included some data which should show how VRAM usage scales with resolution, with 1080p Ultra settings being able to fill more than 4GB of VRAM, while 4K Ultra can occupy more than 6GB of VRAM. Forza Horizon 4 will have no trouble making use of your system’s VRAM, though it remains a long way off filling graphics cards like the GTX 1080 Ti or RTX 2080 Ti.