And as if the hype wasn’t already through the roof, we’re going to be getting a peek into what the franchise’s Japanese chapter has in store for us, thanks to a hands-on preview from Jake Brigstock, who posted about getting some time with the game for indy100 on April 8th, 6 AM PT. Presumably, other outlets will go hands-on with the open-world racer as well, thus providing much more gameplay.

The preview follows some new trailers detailing returning cars, a new approach to Showcase events, the addition of window decals on its cars, and some new insights on Tokyo, all of which have steadily built up hype ahead of the game’s launch on May 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PC.

It’s a great time to be a Forza fan, or somebody looking to play it on a PlayStation for the first time in the franchise’s history (though that version arrives later this year). Either way, it’s time to rev those engines up and steady your hands on the wheel as you prepare to take on winding roads and lush scenes of Japan.

I'll be previewing Forza Horizon 6 for indy100 (honestly can't wait for this one) – embargo lifts Wednesday 8 April at 2pm BST (9am ET / 6am PT) so keep an eye out for our coverage.Access has been provided by @xbox.com. #ForzaHorizon #ForzaHorizon6 #Forza #Xbox #Gaming

— Jake Brigstock (@jakebrigstock.bsky.social) 2026-03-30T16:02:34.100Z

The former offers a 1.5-liter engine with 200 bhp, and while the jury is still out on whether it’s manual or CVT, its suspension and aerodynamics still make for a seamless driving experience. If you’re looking for a bit more power, the 2022 Acura NSX Type S is sure to impress. Between the 1.5L L-Series turbocharged engine and the ability to go from zero to 60 miles per hour at an eye-watering 97 km/h, it’s a must-have.

However, there’s also a newcomer to the roster – the 2022 Honda e. As the company’s first full-electric vehicle, it’s a supermini with a solid mix of retro aesthetics and modern functionality. It may not put up the fastest times, but for a more comfy drive exploring Japan, it’s more than serviceable.

Of course, there’s plenty more to see, especially with Forza Horizon 6 launching on May 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PC, and that’s not even including all the post-launch cars. Stay tuned for updates and check out details on a new event type, Horizon Rush, which aims to mix replay value with Showcase-level spectacle.

It’s a problem that hasn’t escaped Playground Games’ notice. Level design director Tom Dillow noted to IGN how, “We went back and looked at our telemetry from Forza Horizon 5, focusing in on Showcase events. And we noticed, for the most part, our Showcases are one-and-done.

“So the player gets given the Showcase as a reward, they go there and have an amazing three minutes, but then they drive off, and there’s no incentive to return. Now, we do try to remedy this in our live program, where we’ll take an existing showcase and we will change the time of day and the weather and the car choice and the music, and we find a lot of our players will return and play that event, but once that’s done, they drive off and there’s no incentive to return again.”

With Forza Horizon 6, it’s trying something different: Horizon Rush. Unlocked by earning wristbands during your Horizon Career, there are three available at launch, with locations ranging from a Tokyo City dockyard and Alpine ski resort to a spaceport. Akin to obstacle courses, you have to essentially beat the timer. The difference is that these are replayable and also support co-op and competitive play.

While they’re not as bombastic as the two new Showcase Events (though Dillow notes that they “may or may not make a rocket take off” so look out for that in the spaceport) – Horizon Rush introduces some much-needed replay value.

“If we build these amazing events, we want our players to enjoy them over and over again. And then we asked ourselves, what does replayability mean to us? And for us, it was a high score, or a better time. It was course mastery – so being easy to play the first time, but hard to master. And, most importantly for me as a level designer, it was about it being fun. If it’s not fun, I’m not going to go and return and play it. So that’s what replayability meant to us.”

Event Lab from Forza Horizon 5 also served as an inspiration for these courses, though Playground Games has designed the locations to tailor to the courses first and foremost. “The Rush courses take place in our gameplay locations, which are whiteboxed by level design and have a heavy focus on gameplay,” says Dillow. “Typically, in previous games we would build the whole location in one go and work events in afterwards; however, this time we built the Rush courses first and then built the locations around them.”

“Each Rush course starts off with a paper design, so with the docks, for example, we knew we wanted to begin on a rooftop, drive through some containers, enter an off-road section, then finish at the warehouses. Instead of building the docks and then trying to work this route in afterwards, we built the course first in isolation and then built the rest of the dockyard around that course. This ensured a premium quality experience for Rush and a final result we’re very proud of.”

Whether Playground Games will add more in the future or even make the event a permanent fixture of the franchise remains to be seen. For now, it’s a means to compete against others, but more importantly, oneself, as they attempt to master whatever Horizon Rush throws at them.

Fortunately, we won’t have long to see what that may be, as Forza Horizon 6 launches on May 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PC (though PS5 players will need to wait till later this year). Check out the admittedly reasonable system requirements here.

For those seeking the utmost in visual fidelity, a Core i7-12700K or Ryzen 7 7700X, 32 GB of RAM, an RTX 5070 Ti or RX 9070 XT, and an NVMe SSD are necessary. This is on Extreme settings with ray tracing enabled (which applies to reflections and global illumination), targeting 60+ FPS and an upscaled 4K resolution. One has to wonder if an even stronger graphics card would be capable of native 4K.

Regardless, there are plenty of options available for smooth performance, including support for Nvidia DLSS 4, AMD FSR 3/4 and Intel XeSS 2.1. Uncapped frame rates and ultrawide monitors are also enabled, while Playground Games promises “robust” controller and wheel support. If that wasn’t enough, it’s tuned for the Xbox ROG Ally and Steam Deck, though performance parameters have yet to be revealed. Interestingly, the installation space remains a mystery.

Launching on May 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PC, Forza Horizon 6 is a massive step-up from its predecessor, offering the developer’s biggest and most packed map to date. Such is the sheer size that Tokyo City is effectively its own biome and five times larger than any previous city.

The premise is simple – execute a skill, like drifting, alongside another player, and you’ll receive a reward. If it’s similar to the current Skill Chains, then perhaps LINK Skills will provide more XP, making leveling each car (and your profile) that much faster. Time will tell, but it certainly encourages Convoys to be more coordinated.

Also, as previously announced, Car Meets, and while you can meet other players at the Horizon Festival site, Japan offers two more unique areas: The world-famous Daikoku in Tokyo City and Okuibuki Parking Lot in the alpines. But wait, there’s more – you can also use the Festival Playlist’s Live Program to enter temporary Meets.

Overall, it’s a great way to meet other players, perhaps forming a Convoy and taking part in Street Races, Time Attack Circuits, and more. There are even new leaderboards for Convoys.

With Forza Horizon 6 launching on May 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PC (later this year for PS5), it’s shaping up to be one of the most enjoyable and feature-packed entries in the series. Head here for more details on the addition of window decals and check out everything there is to know about the new Treasure Cars.

“When you choose a color, you can easily switch between gloss, semi-gloss, matte, and metallic finishes. You can also mark colors and materials as favorites for quick access, such as the new metal flake and candy paint options. In addition, you can paint elements of the Forza Aero Bumpers and Forza Aero Rear Wings independently. This includes the material and supports on the wing, and the tow hook on the bumpers.”

The customization goes beyond cosmetics, however. If you want to swap in motorcycle engines for Kei vehicles (which ordinarily possess 660cc engines), go ahead. Over 100 new rims are available, with options for different types on the front and rear, never mind all the new tire patterns.

And while Barn Finds returns, you can discover Aftermarket Cars throughout Japan, either near Time Attack Circuits (with the accompanying modifications) or near a Horizon Festival site. Described as “extremely rare” with unique models, they include the 2003 Honda S2000 with Rocket Bunny body kit, the 1993 Autozam AZ-1 (kitted out with Mazdaspeed parts) and the Duke Dynamics-modified 2015 McLaren 570S Coupe.

But that’s not all, as there are also Treasure Cars. Armed with nothing but a photograph, you’ll need to use it as a reference for their locations, after which it can be restored. Of course, you can also drive it right, and with discoveries like the 1991 Nissan Figaro, the 1985 Nissan Safari Turbo and the 1969 Dodge Charger R/T, that impatience may win out. Not that you can blame us, especially with how slick and detailed the world is (Tokyo is its own biome, if you haven’t heard).

Forza Horizon 6 launches on May 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PC. It’s coming to PS5 later this year, courtesy of Turn 10 Studios.

Considering that this is for over 550 cars (with more to come), it’s a pretty big leap for the franchise as a whole. “So there’s work we’ve done across our whole suite of vehicles in carrying them forward,” says production director Mike Bennett to IGN First. “So, for example, if you look at our headlights and taillights, we’ve got a new refraction-based shader on them, which gives them this really authentic look of depth and feel.

“Also, with things like where you have the more polycarbonate-style headlights, there’s a sort of rainbow refraction effect that you get through there, like an iridescence as the light is cast through it. We’ve also reworked our materials used across the library of vehicles as well. So we’ve done some basic stuff like that outside of customisation.”

Of course, new vehicles mean new parts, but another big addition is one that the community has requested for years: Window decals. As simple as it sounds, adding support for every car is anything but.

“That requires a massive investment,” per Bennett. “You have to go back and do work to every single car in order to support that. So we’re really thrilled that we’ve been able to bring that to players, and that allows everything from doing huge ornate designs that span across the windows – wrap all the way around the car – to simpler stuff like having a sun strip in the windscreen. Or even just smaller, low-key things like having window stickers that you can go and place on there.

“And that’s kind of a fun one as well, because we link that into the campaign as you progress. You’ll unlock little graphics you can go in and proudly display in there as well.” It certainly helps reinforce the “journey” aspect of the title, where you’re discovering Japan and even capturing all those core memories in the Collection Journal. And before you ask, yes, it’s possible to create decals that cover your entire field of view.

“When a player applies liveries or decals to their windows, they can tune their opacity level. This means they can set them to [be] fully opaque or highly transparent, so yes – if a player really wanted to, they could completely block their visibility through the windows if that’s what they choose! Rather than making that decision for the players, we thought it was better to allow them to make that choice,” says Bennett.

Practical? No, but certainly hilarious. While Forza Horizon 5’s liveries aren’t supported, Playground will offer a way to bring livery vinyls into the experience. How remains to be seen, but it will be available when the sequel launches on May 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PC, with the PS5 version out later this year.

The Horizon Festival’s changing seasons aren’t just stopping with variety in their weather effects across its six biomes, but poised to bring some very attractive changes to the scenery along the roads you’ll race on, per a new announcement on Steam. The pink cherry blossoms blooming in Spring look like they deserve their due attention, your position in the race be damned. There are also unkai clouds to look out for on those winding mountain roads, and they’re every bit as realistic as you’d expect in a Forza game.

While the announcement didn’t elaborate on other notable seasonal additions, images of snow-capped peaks and red flowers blooming in a field have been showcased. Of course, stopping to admire the sights isn’t something you’d want to do in every race, but it’s definitely making driving around Japan during your downtime quite an attractive option. And with Tokyo itself as a biome all on its own, we’re very curious to see how the city responds to the changing seasons.

This one’s highly anticipated and is making its way to PC and Xbox Series X|S this May. However, PS5 players will need to wait until later this year.

“We have a team making our city specifically, and a lot of that is: it’s our biggest city we’ve ever made. It’s so layered and so detailed – much more than anything we’ve done in the past. To make Tokyo City for Forza Horizon, we really need a dedicated team. It covers everything from roads, buildings, foliage, terrain; Tokyo has all of it. It’s just such a big biome that it just warranted its own team.”

“The headline is it’s our biggest ever, compared to Guanajuato; five times bigger than that last urban space,” says production director Mike Bennett. “But also just the diversity of it compared to previous games is pretty massive as well.”

“I think a criticism that could have been leveled at some of the previous games, within Guanajuato, we did have different areas within it – we did have different building styles, and they were really colourful – but maybe it was a bit one-note as you were moving around. There weren’t huge amounts to separate one area from another,” he continues.

“Whereas, I think with our version of Tokyo, it’s very diverse. You’ve got the tall skyscrapers in the central area. You’ve got the suburban areas with the nice houses as you’re heading in. This is probably the craziest feature, actually, we’ve never done anything like it; just the multilayered, multi-level road infrastructure that we’ve got going through the middle. Like, we had to go out and build new tooling to allow us to do this, leveraging what we’d learned through Hot Wheels.”

Like any well-organized concrete jungle, it’s divided into four main districts, per art director Don Arceta: The Suburbs (which he calls “the crust”); the Dockyard with thousands of containers, perfect for drifting and events (“Relive your favorite movie,” says Arceta); the Industrial Area, which is reached via the Rainbow Bridge and hosts Daikoku, the world famous car park; and Downtown, the beating heart of the city and where the Horizon Festival is most visible.

However, it serves as more than just a hot spot for racers in-universe. “You can imagine that one of the challenges we have is, you know, cars can drive everywhere in our game. And, when you’re building a city, one of the things that you expect to see is people,” says Bennett.

“We’re not GTA, and we’re not trying to be GTA, so cars and people don’t always play nice. So we always have this challenge of, ‘So, how do we integrate people into the scene while still keeping them safe from cars?’

“And the nice thing about having the Horizon infrastructure ever present within the city is that we can create areas within the city with Horizon Festival branding, and we can keep people in there, safe from cars, and you can still see a populated city as you’re driving around. So that fiction really helps us tie that in and solve one of those challenges.”

Overall, it seems like Forza Horizon 6 is doing more than just building on the legacy of its predecessors and packing in more fidelity. It’s capturing the look and feel of Japan while completely revamping its approach to city-building and immersion. The result is that Tokyo City, even if it doesn’t have NPCs with full-fledged schedules roaming around to interact with, feels as alive as it can be.

Of course, we’re keen to see how the rest of the region fares when Forza Horizon 6 launches on May 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PC. For an extended peek at the countryside and its many gorgeous sights, head here.

You’ll notice the sheer variety of vegetation, and even for biomes that aren’t showcased – like the Alpines – loom beautifully in the distance. This gameplay also confirms a few more regions that players will be able to visit, including Minamino and Ito. You’ll also venture inside the Osaka Tunnels and discover Satta Pass – a great spot to see Mount Fuji.

Of course, it’s hard to overlook the low amount of traffic on the road, especially when venturing into the city. Playground Games may have reduced the number of vehicles to highlight the sense of speed. Either way, expect it to feel more populated in the full game, since this is pre-release gameplay.

Forza Horizon 6 launches on May 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PC, with the PS5 version out later this year. Head here to learn more about the Career Mode and how it deftly balances immersing players in the competitive racing and tourism aspects of Japan.