Forza Horizon 6 is magnificent, and one new feature cements it as my favorite in the series to date

Date:
Thu, 14 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Description:
Forza Horizon 6 is a huge improvement over the fifth entry, and a reminder of what makes Playground Games one of the best studios in Xboxs repertoire.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Forza Horizon 6 is the long-awaited latest entry in Playground Games open-world racing game series and theres a lot thats been riding on this one. Many, myself included, found Forza Horizon 5 to be underwhelming. After that, Forza Motorsport while decent at release suffered from an array of glitches and poor post-launch updates. Review info Platform reviewed: PC Available on:
Xbox Series X|S, PC (coming to PS5 in 2026) Release date: May 19, 2026 Even though its operating well within the series trappings, Forza Horizon 6 is a breath of fresh air. The setting of Japan doesnt disappoint, with
impressively varied biomes and sublime vistas. From Tokyo City to the
Japanese Alps and the gorgeous countryside and quaint little villages dotted in-between, theres a ton of brilliant environmental design to marvel at.
Forza Horizon 6 at very.co.uk for 49.50 The games race events are greatly helped by this variety. The usual selection of road, dirt, cross-country, and street racing events is all still here. But clever routing and vehicle categorization make almost all of them feel one-of-a-kind. There are even a handful of purpose-built circuits and drag strips, with their own time attack events and leader boards. Latest Videos From

The solo experience is by and large excellent, but Forza Horizon 6 does a
much better job than its predecessors at encouraging you to enter multiplayer spaces. A new recommended event menu highlights ongoing multiplayer
activities like Eliminator and playlist events. Car Meet locations let you hang out with players to check out their cars or start lobbies. Plus, fully customizable garages and an entire compound for you to build on are huge wins for the more creatively-minded players out there.

My favorite new addition, though, has to be the aftermarket cars you can find dotted about the map. These always have more oomph than stock vehicles you
can buy in the showroom, and often come with unique aero or livery touches.

Throw in some of the best Horizon Showcase events to date and a further refinement of that wonderful simcade handling, and you have what is the best Forza Horizon game to date. No small feat when the third and fourth entries
in particular were so great back in the day.

I do have the odd qualm or two. Voiced side characters are still pretty one-dimensional, but decidedly less insufferable in this game. Ive spotted some visual oddities, too, like NPC vehicles duplicating themselves occasionally when you rewind after a crash, or the camera freaking out a bit if you drive under a low-enough surface but overall, Forza Horizon 6 has been more than worth the wait. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from
us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Place, Japan (Image credit: Microsoft) If you know one thing about Forza Horizon 6, itll be that its taken the open-world racing formula
to Japan. Japan, by Playground Games own admission, has been the most-requested setting for a Horizon game among the fanbase. So the pressure to not disappoint said fans mustve been palpable.

Fortunately for us, the developer has delivered one of the most striking, impeccably-designed open worlds Ive seen in any game let alone within the racing genre. Some of my previous favorites have been Forza Horizon 4 s
United Kingdom, and The Crew Motorfest s Hawaii but I think Forza Horizon 6s Japan is more compelling than both in variety, level design, and just plain looks.

Virtual tourists will find much to love here. The sweeping highways, luscious countryside, temples and shrines off the beaten path, radio stations, quaint gardens and villages, docks, the coastline, and the Japanese alps off to the north. Its seriously impressive just how much variety Playground Games has placed into a map that in reality isnt all that much larger than Forza
Horizon 5s Mexico.

There are plenty of real-world locations to discover, too. Tokyo City is the most obvious, and its massive. Its a real visual treat, with tons of winding slow-speed corners and subtle back alleys. Youll spot some iconic landmarks here, too, such as Tokyo Tower and the Shibuya Scramble. Beyond the city, youll find plenty of iconic racing spots like the Daikoku Parking Area, the
C1 loop, and yes, even Mt. Haruna where you can attempt intense touge race battles.

Really, the only glaring omission I can think of is Mt. Fuji. It does loom in the background, looking mightily impressive, but you cant actually go there in-game. It's rather baffling considering the mountain and its surroundings featured prominently in Horizon 6s original reveal trailer. Maybe its a location Playground Games is saving for a DLC expansion? Well have to wait
and see. Let's go away (Image credit: Microsoft) If youre familiar with the series, Forza Horizon 6 doesnt change up the campaign structure too much, but there are some notable tweaks.

Your main goal in the campaign is to obtain higher tiers of wristband by participating in road, dirt, and cross-country races. And if you fancy a
break from those, smaller activities like speed traps and danger zone jumps contribute to your campaign progress, too.

Each wristband tier is bookended by showcase events, which act as nice
palette cleansers and set piece marvels. Showcases in this game arent my favorite in the series, but its hard not to grin from ear to ear when youre racing a giant mech while Ados New Genesis blasts from your car stereo. Best bit (Image credit: Microsoft) I'm in love with Forza Horizon 6 's aftermarket car system. You'll find these dotted across the game's giant map, and are often seriously souped-up versions of iconic cars from a wide variety of manufacturers. You'll often get unique liveries by buying these, too. I want to highlight the impressive event variety, too, in that Horizon 6s wonderful map design allows for rapid and seamless changes to scenery. Tracks that
start in the snowy alps can rocket down into rocky ravines.

Street races through Tokyo City can end in lovely countryside villages. The various actual circuits dotted around the map also have their own race
events, and allow for a variety of surfaces and corner speeds. Its all great stuff.

You have the usual Horizon Festival stuff, then, but another avenue of progression available to you in Forza Horizon 6 is labeled Discover Japan. This is a pretty clever repackaging of events like street races, side
stories, smashing mascots and EXP boards, photography, barn finds, and
general exploration.

I found these really nice to dip into when I wanted a break from more traditional racing, and it has its own progression rewards ranging from cars and credits to horns and clothing for your avatar. Like Forza Horizon 5, all progression is tracked in the handy Collection Journal, giving you pointers
on what you can be doing next. Start your engines (Image credit: Microsoft) Forza Horizon 6 would obviously be nothing without its cars, and theres great variety here. Youre getting over 600 cars in the base game, and as you might expect, theres heightened focus on Japanese manufacturers.

That means youre getting everything from lovely little kei cars to roaring R-class hypercars and everything in between. Its not all makes from Japan, though, of course. You can still expect tons of whips from international manufacturers; BMW to Volkswagen, Lamborghini to Ferrari.

You should absolutely be on the lookout for aftermarket cars a new addition
. As I said earlier, these are modified rides you can find dotted about the map. Many of them helpfully spawn near relevant race events, too, often
giving you a chance to buy something seriously cool before signing up. Aftermarket cars and their parts seem randomly generated to a degree, meaning you can often find Legendary class cars in the middle of nowhere (though
youll be paying a fair chunk of credits for these, mind).

Another neat addition are the Treasure Cars. Theres one for each region, making for nine in total. Unlike barn finds, the map wont tell you the
general area of where to find these. Instead, the Treasure Cars menu will offer a photo and some text, and youll figure out the location from there. Most of these were really enjoyable to find and, honestly, I wish there were more. Horizon as a series could really do with more cool little scavenger hunts like these.

That brings me onto customization, which for the most part is equally brilliant. Your personal garages (which are part of every house you buy on
the map) are now fully customizable, and you can place down your favorite vehicles here, as well as add furniture and other visual flair. You can share these online, too, making garage customization a fun social endeavor.

This extends on a macro scale with the compound, which you can unlock early on. This is, essentially, a huge blank slate out in the countryside for you
to build basically anything you want. Youll work with prefabricated parts in the map editor, and you can make anything from custom circuits to even more ambitious projects like a driveable village, if you desire.

There is a bit of a learning curve involved, and it is a bit annoying that your compound is gated behind a loading screen (and thus separate from the rest of the map), but its really fun to tinker around with ideas. Views for days (Image credit: Microsoft) Presentation is another highlight in Forza Horizon 6. In terms of visual fidelity, its not that far removed from the
last couple of Horizon entries. But thats not to say there havent been improvements. For one, cars look and sound fantastic, most of which have unique interiors and engine sounds.

Japan is rendered beautifully here. Playground Games has clearly put tons of time and effort into creating an authentic map. Draw distance is really quite breathtaking, but whats most impressive is that theres tons of elevation, winding roads, and obscured sightlines. That means youll never quite be able to see the whole map from any given vantage point, making your journey
through it feel much more immersive.

There are some visual oddities to make note of. Theres a bit of noticeable pop-in with distant objects; most notable when youre on the highway or within Tokyo City. I also had a few instances where, upon using the rewind mechanic, a vehicle I collided with would duplicate itself. A bit strange, but likely something future patches can hone in on.

Im a big fan of the licensed soundtrack this time around, too. I was worried that the game would pay lip service to just a few Japanese artists, but Im happy to be wrong. The new Gacha City Radio station houses the lions share, but tracks from Japanese groups are shared across pretty much all radio stations.

Its a lot of acts youll probably recognize, including Ado, Babymetal,
Yoasobi, Creepy Nuts, and Hikaru Utada among others. But there are loads of bangers from overseas, too. Even some of my favorites have shown up,
including Spiritbox, Ninajirachi, Turnstile, Biffy Clyro, and Linkin Park. Should you play Forza Horizon 6? (Image credit: Microsoft) Play it if... You love Japan This is an easy one. Forza Horizon 6s rendition of Japan feels
like a real love letter to the country. Tokyo City and its surroundings are utterly beautiful, and I think its the best map a Horizon game has featured
to date. You want to collect tons of cool cars Every notable manufacturer under the sun is present and accounted for, with tons of love gone to
Japanese makes and models in particular. Chuck in barn finds, Treasure Cars, and the new aftermarket cars, and theres a dizzying amount to collect. You enjoy multiplayer and social elements in your games Forza Horizon 6 has done
a great job fixing up its multiplayer suites, which could be rocky in prior entries with frequent convoy and event dropouts. In my testing for this review, I found multiplayer to be largely seamless. And I cant wait to jump back in to really get stuck into garage customization and car meets. Don't play it if... You were hoping for a real overhaul In terms of overall game flow and progression, Forza Horizon 6 isn't anything out of the ordinary when compared to other titles in the series. If you've recently dabbled in a past Horizon title, then you might feel a little fatigued here. Accessibility features Like prior games in the series, Forza Horizon 6 offers an array of accessibility features. Difficulty options are robust, letting you set AI capability and assists like traction control and anti-lock braking.
Meanwhile, subtitle customization and screen reader options are available in the accessibility tab. You can also slow down offline game speed if the default action is a bit hard to keep track of.

In the visual accessibility tab, you can adjust game and user interface
motion blur, as well as alter environmental color filters with the deuteranopia, protanopia, and tritanopia colorblind sliders. There is a
robust high contrast mode available, too, letting you add highlights to terrain, cars, objects, and more. How I reviewed Forza Horizon 6 I played 20 hours of Forza Horizon 6 for this review. That was enough to progress through the entire campaign, and unlock the endgame Legend Island location. In that time, I participated in almost every race event, and tackled a handful of street races and Discover Japan objectives like barn finds, side stories, and the like.

I primarily played Forza Horizon 6 with the Valve Steam Controller (2026) and greatly enjoyed the haptic feedback it provided during play. I also played on PC, able to run the game at High-Ultra settings with an Nvidia RTX GeForce 5060 GPU.

First reviewed May 2026 Forza Horizon 6: Price Comparison 54.95 49.50 View
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