Forza Horizon 6 is set to become one of the best-looking racing games of the current generation. According to a recent analysis by Digital Foundry, the game not only sports some transformative ray tracing features that elevate the experience but also offers a potential sneak peek at what the next-generation Xbox Project Helix could deliver with its powerful hardware.
Forza Horizon 6, however, introduces both a complete package of ray-traced reflections across cars and environments alike, along with a new RT global illumination (RTGI) system that "works in tandem with its more traditional rasterized lighting to bring additional nuance", says John Linneman in the video review.
Ray-traced global illumination, in particular, is highly transformative. In the example provided in the video, RTGI makes the game spring to life, with the shadows around objects grounding them in the world. Similar effects can be seen on roads, with objects dynamically bouncing light onto the car paint.
Better yet, this is easily noticeable even while racing at high speeds, thanks to the realistic light propagation enabled by RTGI. "You may not be able to pinpoint exactly what's changed, but your eyes will recognize that the behavior of light across the world, and each car is now more realistic. And if you play in the third-person camera, you're looking at the car a lot, and how the paint reacts to light is very important," said the Digital Foundry expert.
Forza Horizon 6's ray-traced reflections are equally impressive. Not only can cars reflect within one another, but there are also self-reflections that make the game feel extremely alive and realistic. Ray-traced reflections also shine in the urban environments.
"Similar to something like Spider-Man on PlayStation 4, the buildings across Tokyo rely primarily on dynamically generated cube maps to create the illusion. SSR is of course layered on top, but that breaks easily. Toggle ray tracing on, however, and suddenly the city reflects like a mirror back on the player. The same kind of difference we saw with Spider-Man's PS5 debut. It's a great feature that is perfect for an open world urban-based driving game. You can even pull up to a storefront and see your own car and the surroundings reflected very realistically," the analysis continues. Even in the countryside, ray-traced reflections shine thanks to bodies of water.
While only PC players with top-end hardware can enjoy Forza Horizon 6 in all of its ray-traced splendor at high resolution and 60 FPS right now, this impressive showing could be an exciting early look at what the next-generation Xbox Project Helix could deliver. "So, it's these two features that had me thinking about Project Helix because if it is what we think, the PC version should just run on that hardware and thus these features should become available as well. Just something to think about."
While a leak allowed users to play Forza Horizon 6 before its launch (and get their hardware banned for nearly 8,000 years), the wait is truly almost over for most. The new entry in the series by Playground Games launches tomorrow, May 15, for all those who purchase the Premium Edition, and on May 19 for everyone else.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
