Does the Horizon franchise use a different engine or physics, or something?

While I’m no prodigy, I could reasonably hang in FM7 on my Elite 2 controller. I get smoked in Horizon circuit races by just the “above average” AI. The whole thing feels different, somehow not as “tight” or maybe not as refined.

In addition, I’m incredibly disappointed that FM7 can’t even be bought right now, it’s sucks that it’s been replaced on Game Pass.

Also, the last Forza I played before FM7 was FM3 and I just liked that career mode better than the newer career mode. It seemed more straightforward, I could stick with a single car through the different classes, it had a more intuitive flow. The new career mode path just feels like Need for Speed but worse.