After Forza Horizon 5, the series needed a major reset. From the get-go, you’re basically given dozens upon dozens of cars and access to hundreds of wheel spins. It all felt like too much of a good thing and took away the sense of progression I yearned for.
So, upon learning that Forza Horizon 6 would not only take players to Japan but also reset the status quo, I was pretty ecstatic, given that it was exactly what I had wanted for ages.
Over the last week, I’ve spent about a dozen hours playing through a preview build of Playground Games’ Forza Horizon 6, and I’m convinced that the studio took feedback to heart. From the toybox layout of the diverse roadways you’ll encounter, paired with Japan’s iconic aesthetic, I’m so happy to see how different each biome feels as I enter a new region, each time filled with new sights and sounds.
Welcome to the streets of Tokyo
For starters, you’re not some hotshot already racing in the Horizon Festival. Instead, your friend Mei invites you to head to Japan, saying you and your friends are working on getting a wristband to enter the festival. Don’t go in expecting a memorable story because that’s not why these games exist, and they deliver just enough to get you from the start of the festival to the end of it.
The basic premise of Forza Horizon 6 is that you’re given these journals to capture your experience in Japan. Since you’re a tourist, that means you’ll be travelling all over, unfamiliar with the territory and the people, so it’s a perfect opportunity to master the roads. It’s also the best way to gain access to the Horizon Festival since your character is a huge fan.
Beginning with another impressive series of introductory races that include three classes of cars spread out across the island nation, your character is given one of three C-class cars: a Celica, a Silvia, or a Jimmy. I had access to three race types, including circuits, cross country, and drift races, and all were equally challenging in their own right but as much fun as expected, too. The first hour you’re relegated to story moments and the aim of qualifiying for the Horizon Festival before being let loose to explore to your heart’s content.
The first race is one of the few you need to complete to progress. Once you’ve completed a few races, the roads around Tokyo and the surrounding area become available. In a surprise, the streets are surprisingly lively. Having visited Shibuya Scramble, I was shocked to see just how large the crowds are in high-traffic areas, with dozens upon dozens of models lining the sidewalks to watch you compete.
Similarly, traffic density is higher than in Forza Horizon 5, with more cars (though questionable variety) on the roads. The number of races I was competing in where I had to actively dodge and avoid cars is easily far more than in other games. And the density extends to the countryside, too. The further I went out to the countryside, the more I met with a steady stream of cars on the roads. Even when I made a mad dash to the Tanegashima Space Centre, I found it was even more challenging to drift down winding roads, with NPCS vehicles ready to be overtaken.
Forza Horizon 6 course corrects its predecessor
The game also sounds and feels incredible. At home on my surround system, I can genuinely feel the sound of the engines around me. That’s my major takeaway after the time I’ve spent parading the streets of Tokyo before moving to the countryside, where I can hear almost everything coming at me. Whether it’s crowds, rainstorms, or tires squealing, the sound design is some of the best the series has seen so far.
In particular, the crowd effects are probably my favourite. Drifting through the scramble and hearing the crowd go wild as I successfully maneuver a corner, with my meter building, is an easy highlight of my preview session.
I spent a lot of time exploring the countryside, where I found some random cars available for purchase, like a bubbleback Honda Civic and later found a Nissan 370Z tucked into a parking lot near Tokyo Tower. You can pick these up if you have enough credits, but unfortunately, the car choices were pretty limited, and once you hit a certain point, you couldn’t progress past a qualifier round, as it kicks you back to the main menu.
Later on, I encountered Togue quests, which are some of the coolest races I experienced in the preview. These are some of the hardest races I’ve gone up against, and despite having a capable Celica with some minor tuning adjustments to acclimate to the unfamiliar roads, I was quickly thrown through the wringer and humbled by how much practice was needed to get familiar with the winding and often beautiful roads of Japan.
Ultimately, my dozen hours spent earning credits and exploring Tokyo and the surrounding landscapes have me excited for May’s launch. Playground Games is clearly putting everything it’s learned throughout the years into crafting one hell of an open-world racer in a setting that’s been requested since the beginning. And for all intents and purposes, Forza Horizon 6 might just be the best-looking game I’ve played on the Series X, with tons of incredible vistas given life with excellent ray-tracing.
Seeing Mount Fuji as I’m darting through curvy roads, rain-soaked streets, and even at night, is beautiful. Rural corners hiding little secret mascots, like bowls of ramen, tanghulu fruits, green tea, and peas, are well worth exploring every nook and cranny for extra credits. Scouring for billboards and signs to bash through for extra experience is as fun as ever, and bolting down the expressways connecting Tokyo with one hell of a soundtrack is all I’ve wanted from the series.
Forza Horizon 6‘s preview session was set to 30 FPS and Quality mode, with a 60 FPS Performance mode set to arrive for launch. I’ve grown accustomed to playing at a minimum of 60 FPS these days, but I’m surprised by how easily I adjusted to Quality mode.
For all I loved about Forza Horizon 5, it offered up far too much right away, taking away the sense of progression the series needs to keep me coming back. Too many wheel spins, too many free exotic cars, and far too many credits mean you’re not rightfully earning your place in the Horizon Festival. However, if the course correction in the Forza Horizon 6 preview is what I’m going to judge the next game by, then it’s pretty clear that Playground Games understands how important it is to give the player the tools to earn their way to the top of the podium.
After spending just shy of one week in Playground’s version of Japan, I’m so damn impressed that they’ve found a balance that keeps someone like me invested in progressing to first place. Forza Horizon 6 has always been one of my most anticipated games, but this week cemented it as my most anticipated game for 2026.
