Forza Horizon 6 is shaping up to be the killer open-world racing game of the year

For racing game fanatics and Japan lovers, Playground Games and Turn10 Studio’s Forza Horizon 6 has probably been long on your radars ever since it was teased. 

For those unfamiliar with the different subgenres of racing games, the simcades like the Gran Turismo series uses a menu-based, circuit and tournament-bound progression system. Meanwhile, the Forza Horizon series is an open-world racer, where players are dropped into a huge map full of races and activities to discover. 

Games such as Need for Speed and Midnight Club pioneered these, but have long taken the back seat, with Forza Horizon essentially holding the banner for this type of game.

Now, with more details released early this morning, there is a lot to like for the upcoming open-world racer. The biggest draw is the game’s setting, which takes place in Japan. 

Obviously, the team took creative liberties in recreating the Land of the Rising Sun for this installment’s Horizon Festival. You can clearly make out some landmarks and familiar places. 

These include industrial zones of Yokohama, rural towns, and mountain passes similar to Mount Haruna, the Hakkoda Snow Corridor in Aomori, the roads leading up to Mount Fuji, and flower fields similar to those found across the country.

More importantly, the sprawling Tokyo Expressway and its C1 Loop, the Meiji Jingu Ginkgo Avenue, Akihabara, and even the Daikoku PA, are important areas within Forza Horizon’s interpretation of Tokyo, which is said to be the biggest map they have ever made.

In fact, the multiplayer aspect has been improved, with players now being able to have their own Player House with a customizable garage (similar to what Test Drive Unlimited used to do), an Estate area that allows you to build and construct a permanent area that can be visited by your friends, and of course, it wouldn’t be a Japan-based game without Car Meets.

Here, you can show off cars and characters, plus even buy some of the cars you see, plus copy and download different tunes and liveries. And from there, you can start a Convoy with your friends to freely roam the map, and join events such as street races and Touge Battles, especially in the mountain areas.

This wouldn’t be complete without the game’s launch car list of more than 550 cars, each one of them customizable with an update to the livery editor that allows you to now add decals on windows and on body kits, too.

There’s now cosmetic tire wear for an added layer of realism, performance classes have been revised to now include track-only cars, and you are incentivized to explore the open world, as there are modified Aftermarket Cars littered all around.

And what could be more fitting than having the Toyota GR GT Prototype as the game’s cover car (also featuring the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 250), which allows players to get behind the car even before it’s launched to the public. 

This is more surprising considering that the game managed to beat out Gran Turismo in terms of having the car be playable, a game normally associated with Japanese exclusives.

Now, if you own a PC, Xbox Series X or S, you’ll be able to play the game come May 19, 2026. Buying the Premium Edition grants you early access to the game four days earlier, and it is also coming to the PlayStation 5 eventually. Of course, more information will be revealed in the coming months, but are you looking to get this game eventually?

Photos from Forza