Forza Horizon 6 may not have been your first guess, but what we’re being told about it definitely fits the bill. Yes, it’s bigger, but it’s pretty well-established that bigger doesn’t necessarily translate to better in open world titles. But Playground Games seems to have kept that in mind, crafting a version of Japan that may not recreate it mile-for-mile, but packs in density and contrast in an effort to make discovery a crucial part of the experience.

That’s a welcome move for the obvious reason of getting to drive swanky cars around, and take on Japan in a game that’s looking very good. But it’s more than that, and we’re here to take you through why we think Forza Horizon 6 could be a game that’s going to be very nice to players who like to indulge their curiosity when they’re not tearing up race tracks. Let’s jump right in.

To Tokyo and Beyond

Beginning with Tokyo, everything we know of it points to it being more than just the “city area” but a pillar of the game’s exploration all on its own. Playground has already confirmed that it’s five times bigger than Forza Horizon 5’s Guanajuato, which was quite large to begin with. But as what’s touted to be the ” largest urban environment in Horizon history”, it isn’t just a huge concrete jungle with a Japanese vibe.

Instead, it’s set to be layered with enough variety to keep those of you looking to visit all of its streets, shortcuts, docks, industrial zones, and districts quite busy for a while. That variety is what makes Tokyo interesting, not just as a giant city that’s hosting the latest Horizon Festival, but as the beating heart of the upcoming title’s exploratory design language. As the capital of Forza Horizon 6’s take on Japan, Tokyo is looking like it’s ready to play that part to perfection.

But that doesn’t mean that the rest of the map is going to be any less attractive. And if Tokyo brings scale to the table, the game’s distinct biomes and the variety that’s contained within them bring scope. We’ve got the Coast, Plains, Mountains, Highlands, and Lowlands, each of which responds differently to the different seasons on board – a detail we’re going to discuss in a bit.

That sounds like a car enthusiast’s dream, and if visiting Japan has been out of your reach for whatever reason, this year’s Horizon Festival could be a dose of copium that could tide you over until you’re able to make the trip on your own. Contrasting landscapes, chasing seasons, and the fact that Alpine regions are covered with snow all year round make for a world that’s just begging you to get behind the wheel and experience it all, stopping at some stunning vistas for a photoshoot while you navigate complex paths through locations that could balance urban and rural landscapes quite organically.

The developers have been very enthusiastic to discuss popular landmarks, and there are also important locations from the real Japan woven in, including but not limited to Shibuya Crossing, Mt. Haruna, and many more. It brings authenticity to a world that’s looking very layered, while also bringing another important facet to the experience that could help it stand out: verticality.

Scaling New Heights

The word verticality has been thrown around quite a lot in discourse about the game in the run-up to its release, and we believe it matters a lot when examining the immersive potential of any open world. That’s especially true in Forza Horizon 6, as Japan is a land that cannot truly be represented authentically by a flat landmass. We’ve seen how verticality can help open worlds look and feel more interesting to players before, and the fact that it’s a factor in this one has us quite interested to see how it all pans out.

A vertical design would give the game’s take on Japan a layer of organic discovery, with overpasses, layered highways, descents, and climbs around mountains all feeding into the illusion that you’re actually driving through the country and seeing what it can bring to anyone who loves cars and different cultures. And with the game all set to let you discover new shortcuts, points of interest, and new activities as you drive around without actually sending you to them via fixed markers, that verticality becomes all the more relevant to our look into how this is an open world that’s built to encourage organic, curiosity-driven exploration.

Of course, integrating Japanese car culture into it all is something that feeds into the world’s allure. There are winding mountain routes, C1-inspired roads, Car Meets done Daikoku style, and an overarching JDM identity that looks like it underscores everything you do in the game. The developers have been quite vocal about working with consultants in an effort to capture not just how Japan looks when you drive around in it, but how it feels, which is always welcome in a title that’s built around authentic representation.

Well, that covers most of what you can see in the world. But any open-world game worth its salt must also come with enough to do in order to have you coming back to it every time you power on your systems, and possibly thinking about it when you’re away. Can the Horizon Festival manage to do that this time around? We think it’s got quite a good shot. Here’s why.

The Joys Of Discovery

The first major talking point that stands out is the fact that the entire map has a fog-of-war over it, and you’re going to have to actually drive to new places before you find what they have to offer. Venturing off into the unknown is always a big part of what keeps a massive map interesting, and making exploration a core part of the gameplay loop is not just a smart choice for a tile with Forza Horizon 6’s ambitions, but it’s also a practical one.

Of course, the Horizon Festival and the major events that it brings are important, no arguments there. But weaving in other options for engaging with the game’s systems, such as the aforementioned Car Meets, Time Attack Circuits, Horizon Rush, and player-driven spaces like The Estate, are all ways to ensure that the game stays fresh, whether it’s your first couple of hours in it or your hundredth.

There’s also the facet of replay value, which is already poised to be great thanks to the Forza franchise’s ability to draw in players and keep them invested in the worlds it creates. But the changing seasons are a feature that we’re quite excited to see in action, and we think that they could have you revisiting places that caught your eye in one season just to see how they change according to the weather and other factors. We already have a list of places in mind, and we’re sure that a lot of you are itching to get started as well.

As far as the world you’re set to explore is concerned, Forza Horizon 6 might already be a winner. Granted, there is the small possibility that things could fall flat, and that’s a reason for the cautious optimism we always approach new releases with. But there’s little reason to believe that this is a take on Japan that fails to capture what it’s going to be like to engage with it.

When you tie all the factors we’ve examined together, it’s easy to see how Forza Horizon 6’s size, scope, and approach to organic discovery can translate to an open world experience that ranks high with the best ones out there. The franchise is already well-known for authentic recreations of the cars you drive. By making the roads you drive them on as compelling, Playground Games is aiming for the stars with this one, and might just end up getting as close to them as it can. Perhaps not as high as the metaphor suggests, but we’d say getting to the top of one of Japan’s mountains is still going to be an acceptable result.

The studio seems to have understood the difference between a large map and one that’s actually worth engaging with, and crafted systems that feed into a loop of driving around with intent, or aimless wandering, and rewarding both in equal measures. And for that, we’re itching to get behind the wheel and rev our engines as we wait for the chequered flag to start off what feels like an adventure with some great racing thrown in.

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.

However, the reveal brought a lot of details, along with new additions and a few classic mechanics that, unfortunately, didn’t make the cut. Among those revisions is the morality system that was featured in the original games, which affected your character’s appearance, with either a halo or horns manifesting themselves based on your in-game actions.

That’s been scrapped in favor of a region-based reputation system, and its exclusion hasn’t gone unnoticed. IGN spoke to Peter Molyneux, the former head of Lionhead Studios, which crafted the originals, and he’s disappointed that the nifty mechanic isn’t making its way to the reboot.

“Yeah, that’s a real shame. I don’t know why they’ve done that…I mean, it’s hard to do that because to do it well in today’s incredibly high definition world just makes it more tricky. And to do that and to allow different genders, that doubles and triples your work. But I wonder if there is going to be a little bit of evil alignment and good alignment in there. I hope so.”

Of course, your actions will still have consequences. It’s just that your character isn’t going to wear their inclinations on their sleeves (or should we say heads), especially when traveling to a brand new city where they’re completely unknown. That’s a reasonable middle ground if you ask us, though we’ll still wait to see how it plays out when Fable launches this Fall for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC (barring any last-minute delays).

That’s because Virtuos, which worked on Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, and more, says that the title sold over five million copies on PS5 last year. It also claimed it to be “one of the best-selling titles” on the platform for that period.

What’s interesting is that we never really heard too much about the studio’s involvement (Panic Button, Turn 10 Studios and Playground were credited for the PS5 port). However, it not only worked on environmental assets, unique characters, and a Performance Mode introduced in Forza Horizon 5 and brought over to the sequel, but also apparently created “roughly 90 percent of the photo-realistic vehicles featured in the game, including DLC.”

Regardless, we’ve heard reports about Forza Horizon 5’s success on PlayStation, with Alinea Analytics estimating five million-plus sold around last January. This is just the first time that a developer has shared these figures, but take them with a grain of salt, especially with how guarded Microsoft tends to be with sales numbers.

As for Forza Horizon 6, it’s out on May 19th and has reportedly sold over 500,000 copies on Steam alone before launch.

“Kanto is different from anywhere else we visited,” says Chen in the video. “This is where tradition and modern life collide, where quiet mountain roads lead straight into one of the biggest cities on Earth. And it feels like the only place we could finish this journey.”

The journey starts off with Chen driving up to the train station in Hakone to meet Takita. When the artist brings up the fact that the Skyline is her father’s all-time favorite car, Chen brings up similar sentiments. “Well, he and I are alike, because this is my favorite car also,” he says.

On his decision to use a Skyline for this trip, Chen explains that “it wasn’t about how fast it was when it was brand new. It’s about the tunability. When people start tinkering and changing a couple of things, it’s very easy to make a lot of horsepower.”

The first episode of the series, released earlier this month, featured Satoshi “DRAGON76” Fujita as Chen’s partner for the journey to Tohoku. The trip involved a Toyota Land Cruiser as the two started off in the north.

“The first stop takes us north to Tohoku,” says Chen in the video. “Tohoku isn’t the first place most people think of when they imagine Japan. It’s colder, quieter, and a little more rugged.” Chen explained his choice of a Land Cruiser by saying, “For a journey through snow-covered mountain passes, there’s really only one choice.”

Episode 2 of The Art of Driving featured Kazuhisa Uragami, with the two traveling to Kyushu in a Honda Civic Type R. “Stop number two takes us south to Kyushu… Japan’s southern island,” said Chen in the introduction of the video. “A region shaped by active volcanoes, heavy industry, and a gateway for cultural exchange.”

“This is my first time driving the Honda Civic FL5. What you’re looking at is a K20C1. It’s a 2-litre inline-four turbo engine with VTEC. Out of this small engine, it makes 315 horsepower. The Type R moniker has never been about all-out speed. It’s about driving feel and fun. My favorite part about this is the fact that it’s a normal usable vehicle,” he explained.

Forza Horizon 6 is making its way to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on May 19th. Those who pick up the Premium Edition of the game can access it a few days earlier, on May 15th. Reports have indicated that pre-order numbers for the open-world racing game have been doing quite well, with 500,000 copies having been sold on Steam alone, according to one rumor.

For more on Forza Horizon 6, check out what its depiction of Tokyo looks like. Also, look at the new controller, headset, and charging dock themed around the title.

Embossed in shades of cyan, green, pink, and white, they definitely catch the eye, and the $134.99 headset even comes with custom sounds designed to make you feel like you’re getting behind the wheel every time. What’s more, they’re compatible across the Xbox ecosystem’s board, so you can grab them for a wide range of platforms. That paint job is definitely worth a second look, and it goes pretty well with the controller.

Oh, and there’s a charging dock from 8BitDo with all the usual bells and whistles that brings 1100 mAh of rechargeable juice for your brand new controller with a matching color scheme to boot. If you’ve been thinking of treating yourself, these are limited edition, so pre-order now ahead of Forza Horizon 6’s launch on May 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PC.

The firm estimates that the open-world racer is already close to generating $30 million in revenue when accounting for its various editions and regional pricing. It’s estimated to sell two million units on Steam in the first 24 hours of launch, and considering that this is only one storefront, you can imagine how it would perform overall.

Much of the hype could be attributed to the incredible reaction to Forza Horizon 6, which had more than 10 million Game Pass players in its first ten days, but there’s more. It’s the first title in the franchise in almost five years, and given how disappointing Forza Motorsport turned out, it’s understandable that fans are craving some quality sim racing.

Of course, finally heading to Japan after years of fan requests doesn’t hurt. Forza Horizon 6 is available on May 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PC, with the PS5 version due later this year. In the meantime, check out this brief new teaser of Tokyo City, which is so massive that it had a dedicated team at Playground.

Although all the other biomes in the game are quite impressive, there’s something about Tokyo City that calls to us, and we can’t wait to tear through its streets with a host of cars that include some fan favorites like the 2023 Acura Integra A-Spec and 2022 Acura NSX Type S. You’re going to have to get quite good with a bunch of them if you’re planning to chase down every Achievement on a very extensive list.

Regardless, we’re very eager to dive in on May 19th when Forza Horizon 6 drops for Xbox Series X/S and PC (alongside Game Pass). PS5 players will have to wait till later this year, though, but by then, there should be multiple free content additions and new vehicles to play with.

When asked about whether the various studios under Xbox were all siloed off and insulated from each other, Booty explained that this was not the case. He noted that his own job was to provide connections between these teams so that they could work together more effectively.

“It is the case that we have got a lot of different kinds of studios, and they’ve all got their own cultures, so we think of it as a culture of cultures,” he explained. “I see a big part of my job is to provide just enough connection and just enough structure across those that they can communicate with each other, they can share things back and forth, but never to the point that we’re coming in over the top trying to change who they are.”

“We’ve got the Blizzard cinematics team helping out on Fable,” Booty continued. “We’ve got our studio in Montreal, Compulsion Games, using the Activision Mo Cap studio. We’ve got the team at Rare with a lot of multiplayer experience working on Sea of Thieves, helping out Double Fine on Kiln, the pottery game.”

Booty went on to describe a more complicated form of this kind of partnership with State of Decay developer Undead Labs and Obsidian Entertainment. During the development of survival crafting game Grounded, Obsidian was able to make use of complex tools and technology that were already created by Undead Labs for State of Decay 2 in order to create its multiplayer experience. Now that Obsidian has added its own improvements to the technology, Undead Labs is able to benefit from this for the development of State of Decay 3.

“That’s kind of a cool example of how, once we build these pathways, there’s a lot going on in between the different teams,” he said.

The cinematics team from Blizzard helping out Playground Games shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Since at least the release of Diablo 2 back in 2000, Blizzard has been praised for its high-quality pre-rendered cinematics across its various games. While 2002’s Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos also saw major improvements in this regard, fans of the studio’s work have been able to see its cinematics team’s capabilities evolve throughout the life of World of Warcraft.

In the meantime, Playground Games has recently reaffirmed that Fable will be coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S this Fall, despite rumors floating around of a potential delay so that the studio can avoid coming out against Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto 6, which is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on November 19th.

Another major change in episode 2 is the method of transportation. While the first episode featured a Toyota Land Cruiser, this time around, Chen and Uragami will be journeying in a Honda Civic Type R.

“Stop number two takes us south to Kyushu… Japan’s southern island,” says Chen in the introduction of the video. “A region shaped by active volcanoes, heavy industry, and a gateway for cultural exchange.” Starting the journey from Kitakyushu, Chen rolls up in his Type R to pick up Uragami.

“This is my first time driving the Honda Civic FL5. What you’re looking at is a K20C1. It’s a 2-litre inline-four turbo engine with VTEC. Out of this small engine, it makes 315 horsepower. The Type R moniker has never been about all-out speed. It’s about driving feel and fun. My favorite part about this is the fact that it’s a normal usable vehicle,” explains Chen.

The Art of Driving has been a series with which Playground Games has hoped to highlight some of the artists it is working with to create in-game murals for Forza Horizon 6. The studio had announced a collaboration with nine artists earlier this month, which includes Fujita and Uragami. Fujita had spoken about how his in-game mural blends cyberpunk elements with fantasy and was inspired by the Nebuta Festival.

“The Nebuta Festival features massive, illuminated floats called ‘nebuta,’ constructed from washi paper and wire, often depicting figures from Japanese mythology. For this piece, I reimagined one of the most frequently portrayed mythological figures, Susanoo-no-Mikoto, along with a dragon, and rendered them in a near-futuristic style,” he said.

More details about Forza Horizon 6 had recently been revealed thanks to its list of earnable Achievements. Playground Games has confirmed that, in total, players can earn 57 Achievements, which all add up to a Gamerscore of 1,000. These Achievements will range from simple accomplishments like winning race qualifiers and progressing through the campaign to more complex ones, like growing your garage and getting your hands on rare vehicles.

The studio also recently gave us a look at the opening minutes of Forza Horizon 6, which features a drive through the Japanese countryside in a 2024 Nissan GT-R Nismo, with a high-speed bullet train next to the road. After this, the game then jumps to the mountainous sections of the Japanese Alps, putting players behind the wheel of a 2021 RJ Anderson #37 Polaris RZR Pro 4 Truck. For more details, check out the prologue trailer.

Forza Horizon 6 is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Players who are looking forward to getting into the game earlier than the planned release date can grab the Premium Edition, which includes advanced access starting on May 15th.

They range from completing your first Job to clearing the first Qualifier. Campaign progression revolves around obtaining Wristbands to ascend to higher ranks, culminating in becoming a Horizon Legend. Of course, the game doesn’t end there – you’ll receive access to Legend Island, where only the best congregate.

Interestingly, even exploration has its own associated progression with Stamps. What happens when you collect them all and become a Master Explorer? Unclear, but you should roam Japan freely whenever possible. It unfogs the map and presents Aftermarket Cars as custom, affordable vehicles that may come in handy during specific events. Of course, there are also 200 Bonus Boards and Regional Mascots to smash, and even an Achievement for attending a Car Meet and parking the 2025 GR GT Prototype.

Forza Horizon 6 launches on May 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PC, with the PS5 version available later this year. Check out the full map, which Playground calls its “most dense and vertical yet,” or watch the Prologue with its eclectic mix of sights, sounds and premium vehicles. Expect even more details in the coming weeks, especially as the Art of Driving series, which spotlights Japanese artists who crafted murals, billboards and more for the game, continues.