This list of 15 tips and tricks for Forza Horizon 6 is everything you need to know to get ahead, from earning and conserving Credits, to unlocking free stuff from bonus Wheelspins and Super Wheelspins.

Driving Assists Preset Differences

Even if you are set to a Drivatar Difficulty of Novice, you should still set Driving Assists Preset to Hard, despite the difficulty implication. In gameplay terms there is barely any distinction between the three settings, but the Difficulty Bonus Credits range from 10% on Easy to a much more significant 30% on Hard, which is nothing to scoff at, especially in the early game when you need all the Credits you can muster.

Fast Travel Anywhere

You can use the Fast Travel functionality to teleport to any road that you have already explored, not just landmarks and points of interest.

Easy Map Secrets

Don’t stress over finding most of the secrets to be discovered in any given region. Once you have cleared a significant majority of the fog there, usually by simply competing in races, locations such as Boards and Mascots will show up on the map automatically. This will save you the effort of searching high and low, and in every nook and cranny for those 5000XP Boards.

Tracking Regional Completion

Carrying on from the previous tip, be sure to keep an eye on your completion level for various goals in a region. Do this through the Region Overview menu, which you can access using the relevant button prompt displayed at the bottom of the map screen on your platform for ‘Change Filter’.

Button Prompts

Forza Horizon 6 has a great deal of functionality buried deep within menus and sub-menus accessible via an ever-changing array of button prompts displayed at the bottom of a given screen. Pay close attention to these so you can tweak everything from visibility of region borders on the map to accessing prop placement in the World Builder.

Skip Story Race Challenges

If getting a full three stars in the story mode races is exhausting you, you can ‘Skip To The Last Challenge’ by using the relevant button prompt displayed at the bottom of the Stories menu on your platform.

Aftermarket Cars

If and when you encounter these random car purchasing opportunities on the map, consider snapping them up if you have the Credits. They will be discounted by 25%, and will certainly come in handy in restricted races.

Saving Credits

Even if you are prompted to join a race that requires an expensive car class in order to participate, don’t be tempted to buy one immediately. The race isn’t going anywhere, and you will earn one for free from the story or Super Wheelspin soon enough, or maybe even stumble upon a secret one.

Car Mastery Upgrades

When determining what to spend points on in the Car Mastery menu for the various vehicles that you own, prioritize ‘Exquisite Taste’ for a massive 10K XP boost from owning the car, if available. Then go for ‘Spinball Wizard’ for additional instant Super Wheelspins, so you have more opportunities to win big prizes.

Unlocking ‘A Fine Addition’ for the much lower 3K XP from most new cars should be borne in mind as well.

Player Houses

If you own the Tokyo Player House, remember that its Active Perk is a Daily Wheelspin, giving you yet another opportunity at free stuff.

Earning Wheelspins

Unlike previous Forza Horizon games, Wheelspins are now earned every three levels, rather than a fixed XP threshold. Your only recourse is going to be leveling up as much as possible, so try to find those 5000XP boards.

Barn Finds Free Fixes

While the Barn Finds are free to acquire, they have to be restored to full functionality by spending Credits. If you are in no particular hurry, just don’t bother. They will be restored for free, but the cost will be in time rather than your hard-earned Credits.

Easy Horizon Festival Promo Completion

A simple way to complete the Horizon Festival Promo is to whip out your camera at the start of every race you participate in, and snap a photo of the race grid. All cars captured in the photograph count towards the Promo score, regardless of how far in the background they may be placed.

Favorite Cars

There are 638 odd vehicles in Forza Horizon 6 at launch, spanning the various editions of the game, as well as secrets and variants. Even with a mere 10% of them unlocked in your collection, you will have a difficult time rifling through the menus for your preferred cars in a given performance class. Make use of Favorites, and then you can simply use the Filter button prompt in the My Cars menu to quickly find your ideal car.

Emergency Credits

Remember that you can always dispose of unwanted vehicles via the Auction House for some quick and easy Credits. If you are finding it hard to let go of your cars, at least Filter by Duplicates through the My Cars menu to rid yourself of unnecessary dupes.

Those are just a handful of things you should know to get ahead in Forza Horizon 6.

This Forza Horizon 6 guide is a listing of all 9 Treasure Cars and their exact locations within the various regions on the map. Be sure to press the relevant button prompt for your platform, shown at the bottom of the map screen in order to Toggle Map Regions visibility.

1991 Nissan Figaro

D 234

Tokyo City

One of the city’s car parks near the iconic Rainbow Bridge

Look for a tiny parking lot on a corner overlooking the waterfront and the bridge.

1969 Dodge Charger R/T

C 417

Minamino Region

Back of the golf course clubhouse

Squeeze through the fences near the golf carts parked at the corner of the Clubhouse to find the Dodge stashed around the back of the buildings.

1985 Mazda RX-7 GSL-SE

D 357

Ohtani Region

Near some radio towers

Head for the radio towers located on the western edge of the region, not the ones in the north. Find the Mazda near the base of the radio tower that is situated a bit away from the other structures here.

1987 Porsche 959

A 661

Shimanoyama Region

Outside a convenience store

Find this iconic Porsche stashed outside a convenience store just off of the main road in the northern part of the center of Shimanoyama, but not the extreme north of the region itself.

1981 BMW M1

B 510

Hokubu Region

Under one of the railway bridges

Along the northern edge of the region are rice fields along a railway bridge that runs north to south. Under one of the support columns covered in scaffolding is the BMW easily visible.

1995 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III GSR

B 517

Takashiro Region

Below a waterfall, near one of the temples

Head to the far north-west of the region to find a waterfall feeding a small stream, with the Lancer parked further away but within visible distance.

1974 Lancia Stratos HF Stradale

C 483

Sotoyama Region

Abandoned near Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route

Just off the main road in the center of the region, turn off into the snow towards the isolated building on the side of the mountain to find the Lancia parked outside.

2005 Ford GT

A 676

Nangan Region

Down one of the coastal trails

Head to the south-eastern corner of the region, taking the trail that overlooks Tokyo City in the distance. At the hairpin bend is a scenic viewpoint with the GT parked in the lot.

1985 Nissan Safari Turbo

D123

Ito Region

Left to weather the elements near the Wind Farm

The Turbine Trail Drift Zone in the north of the region has several wind turbines located between its tight bends. Parked at the base of one of these wind turbines is the Nissan.

Successfully tracking down every Treasure Car unlocks the ‘Lost and Found’ badge.

Those are all 9 of the Treasure Cars and where to find them in Forza Horizon 6.

Build A Custom Route To Set Weather And Time In Forza Horizon 6

Begin by accessing the World Builder from Anna’s menu, then create a new Route. You will be prompted to select a car first, so just pick any for now.

Next, EventLab will force you into World Builder for prop placement, so simply skip this by pressing the relevant button prompt for your platform in order to Exit World Builder.

Select ‘Yes’ in the dialog to Resume Route to continue creating your custom route.

In this Route Creator mode you would normally be placing checkpoints and a finish line. You only need a finish line for your actual purpose, so drive to an out-of-the-way position which you can definitely avoid driving through yourself once the route is actually created. Once at that spot, press the relevant button prompt for your platform to access Options, then select Place Finish Line.

Select ‘Yes’ in the dialog to Finish Route and continue onward.

Save Route using Create New, and either name it manually or simply use the auto-generated filename, it doesn’t matter.

Select ‘Create Event With This Route’ in the Route Creation Complete dialog.

In the EventLab menu, you will have the opportunity to edit a number of parameters, including Event Settings. Begin by setting Max Number Of Drivatars to Off. Change Season at your discretion, but set Weather/Time of Day Mode to Custom rather than Freeroam, in order to exert player control over them. Weather has a number of modes ranging from Clear to Cloudy and everything in between. Time of Day can be set to broad spans of time rather than fixed hours.

Be sure to set Time Progression to Fixed rather than Rolling, as the weather and time of day would otherwise progress and deviate from your preferred settings.

Go back and select ‘Validate’ in order to verify this custom route.

Now select a car of your choice to Start Validation, where you can simply drive around your custom route with your personalized weather and time settings, while remembering to steer clear of your previously placed finish line.

You can always back out again if you get bored and feel the need to change the weather and time settings to suit your current mood.

That is everything you need to do so that you can drive around in Forza Horizon 6 with your own preset time of day and weather conditions.

To be more specific, 1,191,886 players (and rising) have seemingly been tracked by the in-game leaderboard. And yes, in case you’re wondering, that’s already beyond what Forza Horizon 5 managed, that too in a shorter time frame.

Again, keep in mind that this is for Premium Edition owners, namely those who shelled out $120 or Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers who spent $60 for advanced access. One can only imagine what launch numbers will be when the Standard Edition launches on May 19th, but it could very well surpass its predecessor’s record of over ten million in the first week.

For more details on Forza Horizon 6, check out our review – we gave it a nine out of ten, praising just about everything, even if it doesn’t significantly change up the series’ formula. Of course, on a graphical scale, it’s one of the best-looking games this generation. Check out our analysis to learn more.

Forza Horizon 6 looks and feels as good as the cars you’re going to be driving, and its take on Japan is probably as close to the real thing as you can find in a modern video game. It’s going to be quite hard not to sound like a fanboy when we’re writing this one, and that’s simply because this title is a beast for visual fidelity in the racing sim genre.

So, what’s got us this enthusiastic about the visuals on display in this latest addition to the Forza franchise? We’re delighted to tell you. Let’s get right to it.

A Deep Dive Into ForzaTech

Forza Horizon 6’s visual splendor is going to be evident from the very first minute you spend in the game as you make your way through three different races designed to give you a taste of what’s to come, both on the track and off of it. Let’s begin with Japan itself. There’s an astounding amount of environmental detail to see as you make your way across winding roads, coastal highways, city streets, back alleys, and so much more.

The foliage on trees stands out as well as individual blades of grass, while specks of dust or perhaps purple flowers fly up around your car as you tear across the road. Drops of water are pushed across your camera lens when they fall on it, just as they would move if they were on a glass surface that was moving at some very high speeds in the real world.

The draw distance is especially eye-catching, and you’re going to see the road and scenery in the distance, all of it rendered so beautifully that it lends Japan a sort of ethereal quality and a subtle beauty that makes you feel like you’re right there, speeding along the road to your next race.

The level of detail in the environment is equally present on the cars you drive, with each material being reproduced so darn well that your ride can look good even without a fancy paint job to make it stand out in a crowd. Roll into a city, and there’s such a seamless shift into a more urban vibe.

We do think that cities like Tokyo felt weirdly empty, with only minimal traffic on its roads and activity on the pavement. It’s almost as if news of the Festival had most people either choosing to stay in or leave early to find a great spot in the stands of whatever event you’re driving to on empty streets. Does it help sustain smooth performance and make exploring feel easier instead of being forced to navigate traffic? Sure. But it does break the spell a little bit if you’re not willing to suspend your disbelief.

Thankfully, the ray tracing and global illumination make light such a lovely part of Forza Horizon 6’s visual design that we were able to move past our previous complaint quite quickly. Sunlight bathes the roads and open fields in a warm glow, creeping through thick forest cover to light up patches of the ground so well.

Glossy paint jobs on cars reflect the world around them so darn well, and that’s irrespective of whether they’re in motion or standing parked in the sun. The car models are fantastic, as are the character models for the humans who drive and otherwise interact with them. The animations on characters are top-notch and make the entire experience very believable and immersive.

Material quality is brilliant across the board, while shadows work as well as reflections to create very authentic effects when the light interacts with either you or your ride. The weather system and the effect it has on the visual presentation are probably our favorite bits about the game’s graphics.

While this isn’t the first time we’ve seen Japan transformed into different versions of itself based on the seasons, this is definitely the first time that it’s come as close to what the country is likely to look like if we were to visit it today. Our pick was probably when the Wisteria flowers were in full bloom, but each season has something to offer based on where you’re at when you experience it.

It’s all so realistic and works well with excellent texture quality and streaming to really sell the experience on offer. Streaming stayed stable even at higher speeds, making this one a graphically strong offering with well-implemented physics.

Each car felt distinct and unique to handle, making you adjust your handling of it to coax every bit of performance you could get out of it. The collision physics are spot on, while damage is clearly visible and quite believable in the event of a fender bender. Each engine, and the environmental sound design as a whole, is done very well, and a good set of speakers can make this one all the more immersive for it.

Of course, it goes without saying that all of this beauty has been so good to behold thanks to some stable performance across the board.

An Evolution From Forza Horizon 5

Before we talk about how well this one runs on all available platforms, we thought it would be a good idea to comment on how the latest Forza flagship has made meaningful upgrades over its predecessor’s take on Mexico. The shift between urban and rural settings is a big one, and it’s much better in the new game. Tokyo’s scale makes that easier, of course, but its density and the way in which it seamlessly jumps between different settings showcase how exploration through curiosity is baked into its design, and that’s a serious upgrade over Mexico in Horizon 5.

When you’re in urban environments, there’s verticality in the form of elevated highways, which contrasts well with street-level industrial docks, tunnels, and alleys. Of course, Tokyo is the star of the show as the largest urban area in the Horizon Festival’s history so far, and its neon-heavy vibe is the perfect showcase of the game’s visuals. Of course, the weather system throws in another layer of nuance into the mix, and the way in which it makes even familiar roads feel fresh is something that the previous game doesn’t really come close to.

The lighting and the way it all interacts with car models are another highlight. Horizon 5 might have done pretty well to make things look and feel real, but being current-gen only allows the new title to take things up a notch, and it shows. No matter the scene, you’re going to find both objects and environments reacting so well to the game’s lighting, with reflections and shadows so well-implemented that they make this one a phenomenal showcase of what ray tracing done well looks like.

Aside from these three main highlights, the engine audio and steering animations are all noticeably better in the new game, and it’s a true evolution of what the Forza franchise can achieve in a new game.

PC Performance

Playing Forza Horizon 6 with all of its graphical settings maxed out (with only environmental geometry quality and shadows set to Ultra), and the quality on reflections and global illumination set to low, along with balanced DLSS on our PC, was nothing short of breathtaking.

It helps that it manages a consistent 50-60 fps on our system, which includes an RTX 3080 Ti, 32GB RAM, and an AMD Ryzen 9 5950X. It did annoy us that cutscenes are locked at 30 fps across platforms, but that’s something we can live with since the gameplay remains buttery smooth.

It’s definitely a great game to play with all of its bells and whistles toggled on, or at least tuned to higher settings, as watching it in action is about as current-gen as it can get today. Forza Horizon 6 looks, sounds, and performs so well that you’re going to find yourself marvelling at how well it all comes together.

Xbox Series X Performance

On our Series X, we got to pick between Quality and Performance modes, with the former bringing Native 4K capped at 30fps, prioritizing greater details in environments, along with a better draw distance and higher quality shadows. The latter brings the resolution down to a dynamic 4K with a locked 60 fps to give you smooth and responsive gameplay, an important detail in an experience like this one.

Performance was flawless between both modes, and we didn’t encounter any noticeable issues, although we’d suggest going with Quality for the visual bump on this one.

PC Vs Xbox Series X Comparison

Of course, the PC version comes with advantages over its console counterparts, with support for ray-traced reflections on cars and RTGI support. But how much of a difference does that make to the experience? Quite a bit, actually. It’s a world of difference when you compare details like neon lights, sunrises or sunsets, the quality of car models, and the way different materials respond organically to a scene’s lighting, environmental detail, and so much more.

Car model quality is largely the same across PC and Xbox, with paint, glass, carbon fiber, interiors, headlights, and tail lights all holding up well on both versions, so the cars themselves do not show any major visual gap. The bigger difference comes from the world around them, where PC takes the lead.

Tokyo’s buildings, rural roads, docks, tunnels, mountain routes, road textures, signs, walls, foliage, and interior textures all look cleaner and sharper, while pop-in is also better handled, especially at high speeds through the city and across highways. World streaming, however, remains largely similar. A good PC setup can feel slightly cleaner in motion, but the Xbox version still keeps up well during fast driving and does a solid job of holding the world together.

The superior visual capabilities of our PC made a pronounced difference between the two versions, and that isn’t too surprising. The load times were blazingly fast across the board, and we didn’t see any drastic differences between platforms.

Conclusion

But irrespective of what you’re playing this one, as far as its graphical fidelity and performance go, Forza Horizon 6 is a masterclass and a great title to show off what your PC or console can do. It’s replaced its predecessor as a new benchmark for graphical fidelity among racing sims, and is definitely the one to beat on that front.

The real kicker? The open-world racing sim is currently in advanced access. Only those who bought the Premium Edition for an eye-watering $119.99 on Steam are currently playing. Of course, Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can purchase the Premium Edition Upgrade for early access as well, so player counts should be much higher overall.

Regardless, this is an excellent start for Forza Horizon 6, which has already earned extensive acclaim from critics before launch. It’s currently the highest-rated game on Metacritic for 2026 with a 92 Metascore based on 65 reviews on Xbox Series X/S. Then again, considering how well Forza Horizon 5 was received, earning the same Metascore from 103 reviews, it’s probably expected.

As for when Standard Edition/non-Premium Upgrade Game Pass subscribers can start playing, Forza Horizon 6 launches on May 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PC at 9:01 PM PT. Check out our thoughts on it here – we gave it a nine out of ten, and praised just about every single aspect.

Forza Horizon 4 drops you into the rolling foothills of Britain’s Lake District, while Forza Horizon 5 whisks you to sunnier climbs of sub-tropical Mexico. Starting either excursion, you’re already a racing legend; a superstar of the Horizon festival, where flash hypercars are served in an all-you-can-eat buffet. Progression exists, but the climb to the top is already done. The result is a strange contradiction: a racer full of forward momentum that lacks meaning. 

This is what makes Forza Horizon 6’s approach to progression so interesting. Yes, Japan’s living painting is the game’s magnetic pull, but beneath the new setting are systems which aim to fix something more fundamental: the feeling of the climb itself.  

See, the issue with recent Horizon games is not that they reward you too often, but that rewards come too quickly. Friction is minimised, with emotional weight in your progress notably absent. Milestones blur when the game constantly gives new cars, events, and accolades in rapid succession. You should feel like you’ve achieved something, but instead the next “thing” is, inevitably, mere moments away. 

This has a knock-on effect with how you engage with the game. If high-performance vehicles arrive too early or too frequently, there is little incentive to master the slower classes, to understand each car’s mechanical nuances, or hone your craft across different track surfaces. In Horizon 4 and 5, progression stopped being about learning and development, and became a process of mass accumulation. Yes, these games are visually striking, but they peak too early.

So, to begin counteracting this, Forza Horizon 6 introduces one simple change: in Japan, you’re a tourist. A racing outsider with dreams of becoming a legend. This shift reframes your ideal from the start; rather than arriving as an established superstar, you’re racing, instead, to earn that title. Your desires are reset, and early events are reframed as footholds. You need to be invited to compete in the Horizon Festival, and obtaining that coveted golden ticket means proving yourself worthy through preliminary rounds – the Horizon Qualifiers, then the Horizon Invitational. 

Starting from nothing gives your progression somewhere to go, and thankfully Forza Horizon 6 provides a clear sense of direction, albeit split between two diverging philosophies. First is the return of Wristband-tied progression, which introduces a visible ladder where each new step brings invitations to compete in more events across Japan. Faster, more thrilling cars are unlocked as you rise too, mirroring your growing status amongst the Festival’s competitors. Plus, by tying advancement to clear milestones like Wristbands, Forza Horizon 6 establishes an emotional weight – and hopeful payoff – which the series has been struggling to communicate. 

It’ll reinvigorate enthusiasm to master your racecraft too, with car restrictions forcing you to engage closely with each vehicle class. See, unlike previous entries, Forza Horizon 6 limits which vehicles can be used in official Festival events, so that problem we outlined earlier – high-performance vehicles arriving too early – is gone. You’ll need to study the slower classes if you want a garage full of supercars. But in doing so, you’ll learn how they handle, where they excel, and where their performance tapers. You’ll experience how vehicles evolve through each tier, preparing you, ultimately, for when the high-performance machines land in your garage. 

If Wristband progression is tightly structured, Horizon 6’s other progression philosophy embraces the series’ signature freedom. Discover Japan is as much a journey of cultural insight as it is a progression system. Here, you’ll collect stamps by snapping photos, undertaking delivery side-hustles, or completing Horizon Stories, but the emphasis is very much on measuring your pace in parallel with the Festival’s more purposeful structure. Car restrictions are more lenient in this mode too, so if you do have a hypercar fuelled and ready to go you can take it for a spin across Japan’s open tarmac without encountering roadblocks. The bottom line: you can explore, experiment, or even grind, without breaking away from the main climb. 

Diverting back to Forza Horizon 6’s Festival progression, the mode comes with something relatively novel for the series: a true endgame. See, being a superstar in earlier titles meant racing with a label, but here in Japan it’s more of a destination. Once you’ve acquired all seven Festival Wristbands, you’ll gain access to Legend Island; a region reserved exclusively for the Festival’s most accomplished drivers, featuring the most challenging circuits and unique events. 

By placing prestige content behind meaningful progression, Forza Horizon 6 creates a clear throughline from humble beginner to elite master. Legend Island is something to work towards; to earn, rather than have it fall on your lap. And crucially, it gives your “Legend” status weight beyond labels and recognition.

What makes Forza Horizon 6’s approach stand out is that it isn’t only addressing a series-specific problem, but an issue that prevails across the racing genre as a whole. In a push for accessibility and immediate reward, perhaps, many modern racers have been blurring the lines between progression and gratification. Games like anti-grav arcade-speeder Redout which outpaced your own skill level by dealing copious XP and in-game cash whether you won an event cleanly or pinballed to last place. Horizon-wannabe The Crew Motorfest prefers to trigger your dopamine receptors with non-stop unlocks, while burnout in DiRT 5 comes quickly thanks to rapid gear acquisition for little-to-no challenge. What Horizon has noticed is that rewarding you for simply showing up isn’t generous but weightless. 

The contrast becomes clear when looking at racing games that treat progression as a core pillar rather than background noise. Titles like Need for Speed: Most Wanted build their entire structure around escalation, earning the right to compete by completing specific milestones. Another way to ensure you have the skills to progress is to gate advancement through license tests, like in Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec and Gran Turismo 4, while Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition used category restrictions to force you to appreciate each car’s characteristics before moving on. Forza Horizon 6 is cherry-picking something from each of these methods for its own progression systems, and the only way it’ll prove unsuccessful is if it gives too much too soon. 

So, in conclusion, Forza Horizon 6’s most meaningful change isn’t in its setting, its cars, or even its expanded list of JDM-specific activities, but in the way it encourages you to progress through them. By introducing structure, pacing, and emotional weight across two complementary progression systems, Playground Games’ latest open-world racer has potential to redefine the entire experience, from the first tentative steer through blossom-lined roadways to the chequered flag of Legend Island’s most colossal circuit. 

And, importantly, the game isn’t abandoning the series’ signature sense of freedom to achieve that. All it’s doing, in essence, is steering you in the right direction. Giving your climb to the top a sense of purpose. As hyperbolic as it sounds, Forza Horizon 6 isn’t just about driving incredible cars across exotic lands anymore, but about meaningfully becoming someone within its world.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Tokyo Brings New Levels of Complexity

Forza Horizon 6’s version of Tokyo isn’t just bigger. According to Playground Games, it’s designed to be more complex, intricate, and vertical. Multi-level parking garages, underground tunnel systems, elevated expressways, industrial dockyards, and more combine to create a city that’s layered in ways previous Horizon maps simply weren’t, ensuring races won’t be confined to flat, sprawling streets anymore.

Dynamic Traffic Density Makes Roads Feel More Authentic

Roads in Forza Horizon 6 will reflect their surroundings more authentically than official pre-release gameplay would have you believe. Whilst low traffic was a highlighted concern, the only quiet stretches of tarmac you’ll find across Japan will be in the sparsely populated rural regions. You can expect heavier congestion in urban areas, as each of the map’s locations will have its own rhythm, enhancing immersion whether you’re freeroaming or competing.

Weather Impacts Driving

While seasonal variety was already covered in our FH5 vs FH6 “15 Biggest Differences” feature, we didn’t mention that Forza Horizon 6 pushes weather further into gameplay. Heavy rain and snowfall influence traction, grip, and braking distance more than any earlier Horizon title, encouraging you to adjust your driving styles and tyre choices. Furthermore, weather is extremely localised throughout Japan; dense fog, for instance, is more likely to appear in specific areas. Finally, weather patterns dynamically shift over time; look out for storms rolling in unexpectedly, forcing you to adapt on the fly.

Touge Battles Introduce Technical Drift Racing

Inspired by classic Japanese street racing culture, FH6’s Touge Battles focus on tight, winding mountain roads. You’ll engage in one-on-one battles in JDM-modified cars, where the emphasis is on precision, rhythm, and controlled drifting over raw speed. You’ll find these events at preset mountain passes, and when in single player you can attempt them at any time; they’re not tied to festival progression. The shared open world will cycle through locations too, so you can challenge real-life opponents when online too.

Drifting Has Been Refined

Based on early gameplay footage, it appears Forza Horizon 6’s updated car physics have provided meaningful refinement to drift handling, where greater emphasis is being placed on balance and car control. Holding long, consistent slides is more technically demanding, requiring deliberate input, patient trail braking, and transition management. The result should make drifting – a staple of JDM car culture – feel more natural, challenging, and rewarding.

AI Drivers Behave More Realistically

To address complaints that AI drivers behaved robotically, Forza Horizon 6 is bringing improvements to computer-controlled Drivatars to promote more varied, realistic behaviour. Through a new “multi-line” approach, AI-controlled drivers won’t follow a single, most-optimal racing line but will weave naturally, exhibiting more skill which should eradicate the often-erratic style that overshadows earlier entries in the series. Better AI racing logic extends to traffic handling too, making races feel fairer and less unpredictable.

The Festival Playlist Returns

The Festival Playlist is back, and it follows a structure familiar to anyone who raced in any of Horizon’s earlier entries. Bringing weekly challenges, photo objectives, rotating activities, and collectible rewards, including Playlist-exclusive cars, as part of a live service format happening across Japan, the Festival Playlist remains core to personal progression, encouraging you to engage with a wide range of content which refreshes on a weekly basis.

Convoys Now Share Progression

In earlier Horizon titles, you arrived already a superstar racing champion. Not so in Japan – you’re a tourist with dreams of making it big and becoming a Horizon Legend. And now, in Forza Horizon 6, you can share that dream with others via a campaign that’s playable in co-op. So, whilst convoys aren’t new to the series, now they are more meaningfully tied to progression in that you can share your progress across activities. You or one of your friends can set up an event as a convoy leader to participate in a range of events and customisable races, with campaign progress counting for all participants.

In-Game Economy Has Been Adjusted

In Forza Horizon 6, the in-game economy has been adjusted to be stricter and more structured as a way to regulate progression. Included in the changes are fixed auction prices aimed at preventing credit exploitation, restricted early access to supercars, and more methods for obtaining special vehicles, including the all-new option to purchase copies of other players’ tuned and customised cars. The latter should make it easier to access community builds without grinding for the modified wheels yourself.

Sandbox Mechanics Have Been Expanded

Forza Horizon 6 is placing greater emphasis on your creativity across the board. Systems like customisable garages, The Estate, EventLab, and Horizon CoLab combine to create a broad suite of sandbox mechanics. It’s an entire ecosystem which gives you the tools and control over how you build, customise, and interact with the world. See our “15 Biggest Differences” between Horizon 5 and 6 for the lowdown on all that’s new in The Estate; here, we’ll expand on EventLab’s changes in the next entry.

EventLab Receives Notable Quality-of-Life Improvements

EventLab is now more flexible and user-friendly thanks to a range of QoL improvements, including smoother building tools, such as the ability to place objects repeatedly, and intuitive creation options like the new “undo” and “redo” features, allowing you to quickly cycle back-and-forth through changes you’ve made. Your under-construction creations can be tested in real-time too with a new Free Drive option, whether that’s on your own land or anywhere else in the open world.

Custom Challenges Integrated Into EventLab

Forza Horizon 6’s custom Challenge Creator is also set to benefit from EventLab’s upgrades, including the community-made, stunt-based challenge mode Super7. Challenges can now be built and played anywhere across Japan, and they can be stored in a specific folder in the EventLab menu rather than be activated at specific event points. Playground’s goal here is to ensure all user-generated content is the easiest it’s ever been to create, and the simplest it can be to access and experience.

Custom Garages Turn Your Collection Into a Showroom

Your own personal garages have seen significant overhaul too, aligning them more closely with Forza Horizon 6’s community-led ethos whilst mirroring Japan’s car culture. Now, garages are fully customisable spaces where you can display your car collection, host meets, and even download layouts created by other players. You can freely move through your own or your friend’s garage too thanks to a nifty drone-cam.

Car List Brings 550+ to Collect

Forza Horizon 6’s roster continues the series tradition of blending a host of everyday road cars, modern high-performance machines, and iconic classics. And, seeing as this edition is in Japan, a host of JDM legends too. Notable amongst the 550-plus cars is the 2025 GR GT Prototype – the game’s cover star – and the 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser. Others include exclusive pre-order bonus the Ferrari J50, created by Ferrari to celebrate fifty years in Japan; the Hyundai i20 N is also new to the series, while the 2023 Aston Martin Valkyrie R and 2022 Gordon Murray Automotive T.50 bring some of the highest performing vehicles to the tarmac. Special Japanese cars include Nissan Skylines, Toyota Supras, and a Mitsubishi Minicab.

PC Players Get Cutting-Edge Features

If you’re playing on PC, and your hardware is capable, then you can take advantage of Forza Horizon 6’s cutting-edge features like ray-traced global illumination, ray-traced reflections, uncapped framerates, and technologies such as DLSS 4 and AMD FSR 4. There’s also support for ultrawide monitors, ensuring the game not only looks the sharpest it possibly can but plays closest to an immersive, cinematic experience.

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.

Unsurprisingly, Forza Horizon 6’s fictionalized recreation of Japan is one of the game’s biggest strengths. Fans of the series have been clamouring for a Horizon Festival set in Japan for pretty much as long as the series has been around. But though expectations are monumentally high, Forza Horizon 6 manages to meet them with striking confidence. For years, Playground Games has delivered one excellently crafted open-world racing map after another, and the studio has captured lightning in a bottle yet again here.

"You have your typical open-world racing content, from races and rallies to stunt jumps, speed traps, drifting zones, new cars to find and add to your collection, and more- and yes, there are also hundreds of bonus boards and mascots to seek out and smash throughout the map."

Forza Horizon 6’s Japan is absolutely stunning. Around every bend is a gorgeous new sight to behold, from dense forests, lush and colourful fields, and bamboo thickets, to snow-capped peaks, the dense streets of Tokyo, and more. Tokyo in particular is a highlight, boasting the series’ largest, most densely packed, and frankly, most impressively designed urban environment to date, complete with busy streets, eye-catching architecture, and landmarks such as Tokyo Tower, Shibuya Crossing, and others.

The map is massive but simultaneously diverse and immaculately designed, so that entering new regions, exploring new areas, and driving along new roads never loses its excitement or charm. Of course, typically enough for a Forza Horizon game, there’s also a bevvy of things to do as you explore the world. You have your typical open-world racing content, from races and rallies to stunt jumps, speed traps, drifting zones, new cars to find and add to your collection, and more- and yes, there are also hundreds of bonus boards and mascots to seek out and smash throughout the map.

Meanwhile, Forza Horizon 6 also introduces new types of activities, several of which are geared specifically towards showcasing Japan. There are Day Trips, guided tours that are a great way to learn more about the region and explore new areas; Touge battles, which pit you in high speed one on one downhill sprints on winding mountain roads; and even food delivery missions, which let you drive a food delivery truck (which might even be one of the most fun vehicles to drive in the game) in a variety of different food delivery-themed driving challenges.

There are also new obstacle course-style Horizon Rush events where players compete in races on superbly designed, technically challenging courses, while, of course, Showcase events also return- and yes, once again, they do live up to their name. Showcase events tend to be the highlights of every Forza Horizon entry, and things are no different here. One of my favourite moments in Forza Horizon 6 has been racing against a giant Gundam-esque mech- and that’s only the tip of the iceberg where Showcases are concerned.

"Forza Horizon 6 doesn’t do much to deviate from the series’ established formula. As someone who absolutely adores that formula, I personally don’t take any issue with that, especially given how well Playground Games continues to execute on its tried and true ideas and systems."

Outside of races and driving challenges, similar to previous entries, you can find and purchase a number of properties across the map. Forza Horizon 6 also introduces a building and customization aspect that allows you to personalise properties with a surprisingly robust, fun, and easy-to-use building toolset. Suffice to say, there’s no shortage of engaging things to do in Forza Horizon 6– and yes, that includes simply cruising around the map, listening to the radio, and just enjoying the scenery.

If there’s one area in the game that feels ever-so-slightly more limited compared to its direct predecessor, it’s how progression is structured. Compared to the loose and freeform structure of Forza Horizon 5, 6 brings back the somewhat more linear wristband progression system, which means making your way through the Horizon Festival feels a little more structured this time around. Of course, if you’ve played a Horizon entry before, you’ll likely be familiar with most of what you see here, as Playground ensures complete freedom and player agency where its open world design and exploration are concerned.

In fact, Forza Horizon 6 doesn’t do much to deviate from the series’ established formula. As someone who absolutely adores that formula, I personally don’t take any issue with that, especially given how well Playground Games continues to execute on its tried and true ideas and systems. If, however, you’re in the camp that wants Forza Horizon to do something radically new after having honed its formula to a sheen, that’s not what you’re going to find here. Forza Horizon 6 takes what has always worked best about the series and, like its predecessors, attempts to improve on it with evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, changes and enhancements. Thanks to the sheer quality of content, just how much there is to do, and the mastery of craft on display here, the game feels nowhere close to wearing out its welcome, but a reinvention of the Forza Horizon formula this is not, if that is what you are looking for.

Of course, it should also go without saying by now that the moment-to-moment act of driving in Forza Horizon 6 is an absolute pleasure. This is an area where Playground Games (and the Forza series as a whole) have never missed the mark, and that continues to be true. The roster of vehicles on offer here is typically gargantuan, and each of the hundreds of cars available not only feels amazing to drive but also feels meaningfully different from each other, which makes customization and tuning feel that much more rewarding and engaging.

"Forza Horizon 6 doesn’t reinvent the wheel, no, but it shows once again just how good the series’ formula can be when it is firing on all cylinders – which it usually is – while also making good on the massive potential of its long-awaited setting."

Meanwhile, Forza Horizon 6 is also a visual and technical beast, which also doesn’t come as much of a surprise, given how consistently impressive the Forza games have always been in this department. With breathtaking visuals, an unbelievable level of polish and attention to detail, best-in-class audio design, and near-flawless performance (I’ve spent most of my time playing the game at a dynamic 4K and 60 FPS and have had negligible issues with frame rates), Forza Horizon 6 feels like yet another technical home run for the series. It doesn’t feel like a massive leap over its direct predecessor, no, but that’s because five years on from release, Forza Horizon 5 frankly continues to look astoundingly good. That Forza Horizon 6 offers incremental improvements over that benchmark is still saying a lot.

All of that is to say that Playground Games has once again crafted a remarkable racing experience. The studio and the Forza Horizon franchise have reigned supreme over the racing genre for quite some time now, and with this newest entry, that dominance is re-established. Forza Horizon 6 doesn’t reinvent the wheel, no, but it shows once again just how good the series’ formula can be when it is firing on all cylinders – which it usually is – while also making good on the massive potential of its long-awaited setting. If you enjoy a good racing game, you shouldn’t miss this.

This game was reviewed on Xbox Series X.