You probably don’t need me to tell you that Forza Horizon is a big deal for Xbox – the fact that the last game was so successful should be enough of a hint. But Forza Horizon 6 is something special, and not because it’s finally venturing to Japan after years of requests. It’s bigger, sure, and definitely denser, but as far as open-world racing experiences – and Forza Horizon as a whole – goes, there’s a certain magic in the air.
With its launch on May 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PC and Premium Edition owners gaining access on May 15th, let’s dive into 15 more things you should know, starting with the main attraction…
Updates to ANNA
Forza Horizon 6 will bring back ANNA, but with some useful upgrades. According to Windows Central, the in-game assistant can now guide you toward your next progression objective and even drive you there automatically. There’s also a cinematic mode that removes the HUD, giving the journey a more relaxed feel, almost like Red Dead Redemption 2’s cinematic travel system.
Not Trying to be GTA
What you shouldn’t expect is people, or at least in the traditional open-world sense. Production director Mike Bennett told IGN outright, “We’re not GTA, and we’re not trying to be GTA.” The impression that this is a living city, as opposed to the aftermath of the Shibuya Incident, is due to the so-called “branding” of the Horizon Festival, where the team places its residents. It’s probably not all that different from the crowds cheering on the sidelines during races, but the effect should feel more subtle while still making Tokyo feel alive.
Fog of War
So in that sense, good luck finding it all. Remember: You’re a tourist in Japan, which means a good chunk of your journey involves discovering it. To further reinforce this, Forza Horizon 6 features, for the first time in the series, a fog of war (which is completely separate from the fog that just so happens to descend on a region depending on the weather). The idea is to encourage exploration, obviously, but Playground also wants to turn each new activity, each new Aftermarket car, and each new event into a discovery.
Legend Island
While all that exploration is about the journey, the competitive aspect of the Horizon Festival is very much about the destination: Legend Island. It’s a post-game area where all the top-ranking drivers end up, and it features the Legend Island Circuit. In a Discord Q&A with the community, design director Torben Ellert confirmed that it would have a dedicated Festival Outpost and events.
The Colossus Returns
Then there’s The Colossus. If you’ve experienced this in Forza Horizon 5, you’ll know that it’s an endurance race that can go on and on. In Forza Horizon 6, it now loops the entirety of the freeway, which is about 50 miles (or 80 kilometers). It’s the longest Goliath event yet, and it’s where you can truly put those new R-class vehicles – and your skills – to the test.
Chaser Zero
Horizon Rush may serve as a replayable take on the series’ signature Showcase Events, but that doesn’t mean the latter have disappeared. On the contrary, there will be two, which serve as milestones for progressing through the Festival’s ranks, including an epic showdown against Chaser Zero. You probably saw this at the tail end of the game’s reveal, but it’s a giant mech. Playground hasn’t offered up any more details, but if it’s anything like the Showcase Events of old, it could be the ultimate spectacle.
Horizon Online Play
Horizon Play has come to…well, play, allowing you to queue up for six different multiplayer modes. Aside from the Eliminator, Hide and Seek, Horizon Drift, and Horizon Racing, you can partake in Touge Showdown for a quick 1v1 across five mountain passes. However, you can also expect a dedicated online championship, racing across each of them, one by one. The other new mode is Spec Racing. It’s essentially the same road and dirt races, but now everyone is in the same vehicle, leveling the playing field. And yes, there is a Spec Racing Championship.
Barn Finds and Treasure Cars
Barn Finds are back, as if they could ever go away, and you’ll once again have to follow rumors to find them. The key difference is that those are obtained by collecting Stamps for the Collection Journal. But you also have Treasure Cars – famous vehicles like a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T or 1991 Nissan Figaro that have been abandoned, seemingly waiting for someone (read: you, hopefully) to find them. Rumors and Stamps won’t help you here – instead, you need to explore, relying only on a photograph to find them. Whether you restore or drive them as is will be completely up to you.
Forza Edition Cars and “Extreme” Modifications
Arguably, the crème of the crop when it comes to pure collection value, Forza Edition cars also return, and like everything else, there’s a catch. They now sport “extreme modifications” that aren’t found anywhere else, and include custom versions of the 2010 Lexus LFA, the 1994 Mazda MX-5 Miata, the 1994 Subaru Vivio RX-R Forza Edition and others. Don’t count on picking them up from a showroom – some will appear as Aftermarket cars out in the world, while others must be obtained from rare Wheel Spins, unfortunately.
The Larger Number of Music Tracks
Anyone who’s enjoyed a Forza Horizon title will tell you about how essential the music can be, and Forza Horizon 6 is no exception. There are nine stations to choose from, almost fitting given the nine base biomes, and all the usual suspects – Horizon Pulse, Horizon Bass Arena and Horizon XS – are here, complete with artists like BABYMETAL, ONE OK ROCK ZUTOMAYO, Ado, and even Hikaru Utada. And that’s not even getting into the likes of Linkin Park, Rise Against, Yung Bae, Tame Impala, and more. It’s the largest collection of tracks in a Horizon title to date, and we can’t wait to get lost in it all.
Festival Playlist Cars Available Sooner
Much as we love the Festival Playlist and its rotating challenges, the fact that you couldn’t obtain its cars once that specific Playlist disappeared was not fun (especially if you’re new to the game). Forza Horizon 5 eventually patched this several years later and added them to the Horizon Backstage Shop, but Playground is changing things up for Forza Horizon 6. While it didn’t go into specific details, it confirmed in the same Discord Q&A that some vehicles will appear after Playlists have left, including occasionally as Aftermarket cars. Whether they’re obtained through other means remains to be seen, but it’s better than waiting for the same Playlist to return.
PC Requirements
I’m not going to sugarcoat it – if you want to run Forza Horizon 6 at its peak – 4K/60+ FPS with ray traced reflections and GI on Extreme settings – then you’ll need a Core i7-12700K or Ryzen 7 7700X, 32 GB of RAM, an RTX 5070 Ti or RX 9070 XT, and an NVMe SSD. And upscaling will need to be enabled. On the bright side, the other settings aren’t nearly as harsh. Playing on the Low preset at 1080p/60 FPS is possible with a Core i5-8400, 16 GB of RAM, and a GTX 1650, Radeon RX 6500 XT or Arc A380 on a regular SSD. The recommended requirements, which deliver 60+ FPS at 1440p on the High preset, require an Intel Core i5-12400F, 32 GB of RAM, an SSD, and an RTX 3060 Ti, RX 6700 XT or an Arc A580. Finally, for Extreme, you’ll need the same CPU and an NVMe SSD as the Extreme RT preset, but with an RTX 4070 Ti or Radeon RX 7900 XT and 24 GB of RAM. Sure, it doesn’t have ray tracing, but native 4K is a decent trade-off.
Benchmark, Real-Time Memory Usage, and More
While ray tracing, DLSS 4, FSR 3 and 4, and XeSS 2.1, alongside uncapped frame rates and Ultrawide support, are nice, it’s amazing to see all the little improvements made with the PC version. For example, you can now live preview most graphics settings and change them without restarting. A benchmark is also available, and you can check video and system memory usage in real-time. If that wasn’t enough, cross-save is supported across all platforms – even the future PS5 version.
Console Performance Modes
For those playing on Xbox Series X or S, you’ll have two modes to choose from – Quality and Performance. Quality offers native 4K, improved fidelity and 30 FPS, while Performance Mode is a dynamic 4K that scales to maintain 60 FPS on Xbox Series X. As for Series S, you’ll get 1440p/30 FPS and 1080p/60 FPS with dynamic resolution scaling on both, and hopefully, like it.
Post-Launch Expansions
Even with free updates and the Car Pass, which includes 30 new cars, each dispensed weekly, your Horizon journey doesn’t end with the base game’s launch. As with its predecessor, there are two Premium Expansions coming after launch. Their respective premises remain a mystery, but they each include a new location, new vehicles and “fun new gameplay to engage with.” For now, however, buckle up and dive into what may very well be the racing game to beat for years to come.
