Many Forza Horizon 4 players, especially newcomers, can get puzzled by the car ownership system. It’s a common scenario: you see cars listed as ‘owned’ in your garage, but when you go to select them, the game prompts you to purchase them again. This can be confusing and lead you to wonder if you’re encountering a bug or misunderstanding the game mechanics when trying to Buy Car. Let’s clarify how car ownership works in Forza Horizon 4 to dispel this confusion.
Understanding ‘Owned’ Cars in Forza Horizon 4
When Forza Horizon 4 indicates that you ‘own’ a car, it means you have acquired that specific car model at some point. This acquisition could be through various means such as purchasing it from the Autoshow, winning it as a race reward, or obtaining it from wheelspins. However, owning a car in Forza Horizon 4 doesn’t grant you an unlimited supply of that vehicle. Think of it more like unlocking the blueprint or the right to possess that car model within your collection.
Car Selection and the “Purchase” Prompt
The ‘owned’ status simply means the car is available in your collection. When you select an ‘owned’ car from your garage or house, the game takes you to the customization screen. Here, you can modify the car’s appearance with paints and liveries. Crucially, choosing to drive the car from this point requires you to essentially ‘retrieve’ a copy of that car from your collection for active use.
This is where the prompt to pay in Credits (CR) appears. You’re not actually buying the car again from scratch each time. Instead, you are paying to instantiate or bring a drivable version of that owned car into the game world for your current session. The cost is essentially the ‘price’ to use that car at that moment.
Game Mechanics, Not a Bug
This system is working as intended and is not a bug. The game is designed this way to manage your car collection and in-game economy. If you could freely switch between any ‘owned’ car without any cost, the in-game economy and the value of earning or buying cars would be diminished.
Think of it like having cars in a real-world garage. You own the cars, but you still need to prepare and use one when you want to drive it. In Forza, the CR cost is the representation of getting that specific car ready for you to drive from your broader collection.
In Summary
So, while it might initially seem counterintuitive to “buy” a car you already “own,” this is a core mechanic of Forza Horizon 4. You are not repurchasing the car model every time, but rather paying a fee to use a drivable instance of a car you have unlocked and added to your collection. This system encourages players to manage their in-game currency and car choices strategically while still allowing them to collect and experience a wide variety of vehicles.
