In pretty much every discussion about the Forza Horizon series everyone always just skips over 1 and 2 and tells everyone to just play 3 and 4 instead. That's, uh, wrong. Idiots. Forza Horizon 1 is a solid racer and looks great on Xbox One X. Forza Horizon 2 is freaking amazing and deserves way more love. FH2 is the forgotten middle child of the franchise and that just isn't right. Read more and watch gameplay here.
I kind of get it. Forza Horizon 3 and 4 both look freaking ridiculously great and offer much more of a "wow" factor than FH2 does. That doesn't mean that Forza Horizon 2 looks bad, though. In fact, it still looks really, really great with awesome weather effects and lighting and brilliant car models. It also plays just as good as 3 and 4, too. And I think it has a better map than 4 that is more fun to explore, though 3's chunk of Australia is still the best. I also have to say that Forza Horizon 2 has much more of a focus on actual racing compared to 3 and 4, so if the racing and progression are what you're looking for, you shouldn't skip Forza Horizon 2.
Forza Horizon 2 had the misfortune of coming out back when the Xbox One was still young and wildly unpopular and still recovering from the backlash of the original reveal, and games from that era still have a sort of stigma attached to them. Halo MCC (even though it has been fixed), Sunset Overdrive (even though it's amazing), Gears of War 4 (eh ...), and Forza Horizon 2 all sort of get forgotten because they came out in the dark times and gamers have surprisingly long memories (but only if it's negative about Xbox).
Forza Horizon 2 also had a really, really, really crappy Xbox 360 version as well, and it seems likely that perhaps a lot of the people who tell others to skip it only ever played the 360 version and not the Xbox One version. There is a huge difference between them. The 360 version has a smaller map missing some key locations from the X1 version. It also plays kind of bad. And looks putrid. Don't play this version. Please, please, please don't play this version.
You absolutely SHOULD play the Xbox One version of Forza Horizon 2, though. Just look at my gameplay video! It looks gorgeous and plays awesome. Do it. Play it. You pussies.
