Forza Horizon 6 Hands-On: More of the Same

2026 is going to be a big year for Xbox Game Studios as Microsoft’s tentpole franchises are all making a comeback. It starts with Forza Horizon 6, which will launch in early access tomorrow, May 15. Halo: Campaign Evolved, Gears of War: E-Day, and Fable are also coming later this year, and the latter is being developed by the same studio that worked on the Forza Horizon series.

For a while, the Forza series used to be on an annual release cycle, with alternation between the more realistic Forza Motorsport series and the more arcade Forza Horizon series. We used to have a new Forza Horizon game every two years, but Forza Horizon 5 came three years after the fourth episode released in 2018, and Forza Horizon 6 is launching almost five years after the fifth episode set in Mexico.

The fact that PlayGround Games was simultaneously working on the much-anticipated Fable reboot certainly caused this long wait. Last year, Forza Horizon 5 was also released on the PlayStation 5, and Forza Horizon 6 will also be coming to PS5 later this year.

The Xbox team gently sent me a Forza Horizon 6 review code, but this isn’t going to be a full review: I’m just getting close to 10 hours of gameplay, and I’m far from being finished with discovering everything the game has to offer. Still, having played (and enjoyed) the two previous games, I can already share my first impressions with you.

I played the game on my Xbox Series X connected to my LG 4K OLED TV. I prefer to play on the 60FPS Performance mode with uses a dynamic 4K resolution, but a native 4K/30FPS Quality mode is also available. The PC version of the game supports ray-tracing, Nvidia DLSS 4, AMD FSR 3 and 4, and Intel XeSS 2.1, and you can find more information about PC specifications on this blog post.

The biggest map in a Forza Horizon game

Forza Horizon 6 is set in Japan, and I have yet to explore the entire map. Some regions are initially locked when you start the game, which reminded me of how old GTA games unlock new areas as you progress through their stories.

There are various biomes in Playground Games’ fictional version of Japan, and you’ll transition from rural countryside to snowy mountains, coastal roads, and a dense urban space. Playground Games says that the Tokyo area is the biggest city ever seen in a Forza Horizon game, and it’s five times larger than Forza Horizon 5’ s Guanajuato city. However, that city still feels lifeless with no pedestrians.

One of my favorite things to do in Forza Horizon games is to fully explore the open world, discover every road, and smash through all the bonus XP boards scattered across the map. As I’m writing this, I have just discovered 243 of the map’s 671 roads, and I need to progress further to unlock some parts of the world.

Forza Horizon 4 introduced a new season system that changes every week, and it’s coming back in Forza Horizon 6. Seasons were on an alternate schedule during the review period, but you can expect new challenges every week to reward players returning to the game over time.

The fundamentals are still there

If you previously played a Forza Horizon game, you’ll feel right at home when launching Forza Horizon 6. The game starts with a scripted introductory race, then you’ll need to choose a first car before you can explore the open world freely.

There are different race types you can participate in across the map, including road racing, dirt racing, cross-country racing, and more. Even if you don’t participate in races, the map is filled with “PR stunts” such as speed traps, drift zones, jump zones, and bonus boards to smash to unlock XP, and more.

Car traffic is still very light compared to games like GTA, and the cars that spawn randomly are very slow and easy to hit. However, you’ll still encounter “Drivatars” based on real-world player data, as well as other players exploring the map on the same multiplayer server as you. When you drive close to a Drivatar, you can press ‘X’ to begin a point-to-point race against it, and you can also challenge other human players this way. While you can join multiplayer convoys and play races with friends, you’re free to play the game entirely solo.

The Automated Natural Navigation Assistant (ANNA) is still there to suggest things to do across the open world. Every hour, you can also participate in Horizon Stunt Parties to earn rewards. Starting on May 21, Seasons and the Festival Playlist will launch, offering weekly and monthly challenges to complete.

Forza Horizon games use an XP system and skill points you can use on every car you own. You earn XP by completing races or just performing skills such as drifts, jumps, near misses, etc. You can then spend skill points on any car in your collection and get unique bonuses with that car.

It’s still very easy to earn XP, free cars, and money via the wheelspins lottery system. You can spend your money on new cars and houses, which also offer unique perks. There are also hidden treasure cars you can discover on the map, offering an additional challenge.

Storytelling never was a strong point in previous games, and Forza Horizon 6 doesn’t change this. I can just tell you that you play as a rookie driver entering the Horizon Festival in Japan, and you’ll need to rank up and unlock new wristbands to progress through the story and compete against the best drivers across Japan.

You’ll meet different characters that are completely forgettable along the way. It doesn’t help that your character isn’t voiced at all. While Playground Games is great at building open worlds, the studio has a lot to prove on the storytelling front, and I really hope they will do that with the upcoming Fable reboot.

Forza Horizon 6 offers some new features

First of all, Playground Games said that each of the game’s 550 cars features improved engine audio and updated steering animations, with up to 540 degrees of wheel rotation. There are also new car customization options with Japanese-style plates, window liveries, updated Forza Aero parts, new Paints and rims, and the ability to have different rims on the front and rear of the car. And you can still share your unique car customizations with the Forza community.

Forza Horizon 6 introduces a new Garage Customizer, which reminds me of base building in Fallout 4 and other games. It’s available at every Player Home, where you can pay to customize your garage, pick cars to show off, and create personal spaces with unique decoration. You can also share your garage designs with the community, just like car liveries.

Forza Horizon 6 still lets you create your own races with the Eventlab, which has received substantial upgrades. You can now start creating a custom race from anywhere in the world, with more tools like prop stamping and Undo/Redo capability. A new Colab feature also makes it possible to build custom races in collaboration with other players.

I was also surprised to see new activity types in Forza Horizon 6, including GTA-like food delivery missions that aren’t that interesting. There are also food-based mascots to collect across the map, similar to the XP bonus boards to smash. Lastly, there are some parking spots where you can go to meet other players, take pictures of your car, and more. This is another thing I find quite superfluous.

It still plays it safe

Overall, I feel like Playground Games is mostly sticking with its well-oiled formula, and Forza Horizon 6 is a game that takes very few risks. I’m sure Forza fans will have a lot of fun with it, and I’ll keep playing it until I have explored 100% of the map. I’m not sure if I’m really going to “finish” the game, however.

Both Forza Horizon 5 and 4 obtained a 92 score on Metacritic, and we haven’t seen another Xbox Games Studio title beat that score since 2021. However, I suspect that Forza Horizon 6 may rank lower than that as it’s probably too similar to previous games in the series.

I can’t help but think that Playground Games should be more ambitious and work on its own GTA-like game. And it wouldn’t need to be as “big” as GTA: There are plenty of memorable open-world action games with arcade driving that I enjoyed, such as Mafia, Sleeping Dogs, and Watch Dogs, to name a few. I would really like to see Playground Games apply its world-building and racing expertise to something different.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 was very similar to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. Still, for the first time in the series’ history, it allowed players to step off the plane and explore the entire world on foot. I’d like to see Playground Games take a step forward, too.