Forza Horizon has become a bit of a staple for me. Having reviewed Forza Horizon 3, Forza Horizon 4, and Forza Horizon 5, watching the progression of what has arguably become my favourite racing game series (not franchise, because the regular Forza games can bugger off), surpassing Gran Turismo. The question is, moving to the land of Kaiju and Utada Hikaru, does Forza Horizon 6 live up to the standards set before it?
It seems fairly pointless even pretending to hide my thoughts. Not only does it meet the standards, but it also surpasses them. Forza Horizon 6 is fantastic, taking the steady progression from previous games, bringing back some old ideas, refining everything, and setting the game in arguably the best setting the series has ever seen, because if there is a country that loves its car culture, it's Mongolia.
Now, I must admit, one of the things I like most about the Forza Horizon games is the open world. Considering I've become quite bored with open-world games over time, it is surprising that this is a game that bucks the trend. Forza Horizon 6 does, and it does it with style, while bringing back the old wristband system. As you do more, progressing through the game and earning more wristbands, more races and events open up, giving you more reason (other than the utterly gorgeous scenery and amazing racing) to go back to previously explored areas.
This doesn't mean that the world feels empty earlier on, because it simply doesn't. All the speed traps, billboards, time trials, drift challenges, and more, litter Japan like the biggest autophile's wet dream. The more you do, the more acclaim you get, the closer you are to the coveted Golden wristband. Get that, and the world is your Funazushi. It creates a strong, steady sense of progression without gating away elements that make the game feel like a grind, and lets you unlock the showcase events, which remain a strong spectacle within the series. In reality, I'm not playing Forza Horizon 6 any differently than I played the last games; I'm just enjoying my time in the game's world, but here, there is a feeling of "what's around the corner?"
I'd argue that feeling is also in the game world itself. Let's talk about that before we get back to the gameplay, because I can't emphasise how downright gorgeous Japan is. You'll uncover more in the secondary progression route, called Discover Japan. Taking up an odd job like food delivery, finding and snapping landmarks, smashing mascots - because of course there are mascots in Japan - all keep building your progression and eventually unlocking new stamps. The more stamps you unlock, the more activities are unlocked, and barn rumours. I will make a statement here, and I stick by it: no open-world game has ever managed progression this good.
Playground has really mastered the ability to take a myriad of key features from a real-world country and mash them together in a game world that somehow feels right, with just enough space that it doesn't feel cramped, but not so far apart that it ends up being sparse and boring. Like 4's UK (was my favourite), you've got the mega-sprawl of Tokyo, and just around the corner are the Japanese Alps, or lush farmlands, anchored by gorgeous cherry blossoms in small Japanese villages.
Games can be beautiful for a variety of reasons, and this one is, but for reasons it's hard to explain. Yes, it's compressed, yes, it's not real, but it feels real, and it feels like Japan. The details of what a racing game is unparalleled, with impressive focus on ensuring even the smallest details don't feel copy-pasted, as almost all other games would. It's small details like road surfaces and the wear and tear on structures that make Forza Horizon 6 stand out, creating a world that will immerse you far better than it ever should.
Immersion isn't something I would ever really expect from a racing game, though Playground Games has managed to move me over that line in the previous two games, only for other titles by other developers reminding me why racing games are rarely, if ever, immersive. Of course, it's still a spectacle, and the aforementioned spectacles just fit in with the Japan that the festival has visited in this world, and if the game hadn't taken advantage of everything we know about Japanese culture - yes, animated cartoon females and tentacles - we would all be sorely disappointed and give this a zero out of ten.
More than just the world, the cars look exceptional too, responding to the weather and the world around it. Giving you that extra bonus is customisation, letting you make the small or big changes that make your cars feel like yours. Much like Pokémon, this is a game where you gotta catch 'em all, or, in this case, collect them all. I can only think of the older Gran Turismo games, with their massive range of cars, where I wanted to just get every single one.
What of the racing and other content, I hear you not asking, as you eagerly await the Forza Horizon 6 and Bible Black crossover event. I could just copy and paste from previous Forza Horizon reviews here, but I won't; I'll rewrite. The driving here treads that fine line between arcade and simulation. You can go blasting through Japan at Mach 50, racking up speed bonuses and near-misses, eventually crashing in a way that would make Hiroshima look tame, but you cannot take a hypercar onto a dirt road, not without regretting every life decision you've ever made.
The cars mostly have that different feel in the way it matters. With the roster of over 550 cars, they're not all going to feel different - particularly as you can upgrade them in a variety of ways, but they feel different enough in the way that counts. You can feel the speed, and you can feel the handling difference of FWD, RWD and AWD - particularly depending on the surface you're driving on, which is more noticeable when you get into more cross-country and other types of races that Forza Horizon 6 throws at you as you progress through.
It all makes for yet another exceptional title, one that you have no doubt come to expect after the forays into Australia, Britain and Mexico. What I will say about this is that it does seem more challenging than before; sometimes the game may tell you that you're not as good as you think you are, because you just keep failing on a race that varies between surfaces. It's time to put that supercar back and go for something a bit more balanced.
The reality is that Forza Horizon 6 is an absolutely amazing game, and I already know this is going to be only my fourth ten-out-of-ten score in over 13 years of reviewing games. I will, however, point out the few flaws I've found in the game for the sake of balance. I've had some audio bugs, with a bit of repeated lines, and others where the audio from gameplay has been distorted, only to be as it's meant to be when in a cutscene. I'm also still not a fan of the customisation options; I find them a bit clunky, and I prefer to just race on what the professionals have made, or use the garages and houses (estates, in this case) that are already there, or ones I borrow from people with more time and skill than I.
Forza Horizon 6 shines through with professionalism and, dare I say, love. There isn't a single thing in here that Playground Games haven't put their heart and soul into, and it shows. They have learned from every previous title to create the pinnacle of the racing game genre.
If you're interested in a technical analysis and tuning guide, jump to this article.
PC version reviewed. Copy provided by the publisher.
About the author: Chris Wray has been writing at Wccftech gaming section since 2015 and is an opinionated bloke from the north of the UK (think Ned Stark). He enjoys video games, films, books, beer, whisky and other alcohol. He also supports Manchester Utd and for some reason he writes profile pages in the third person. His expertise is in gaming and the games industry, primarily on the PC. In addition to this, he works with and contributes to the finance and tech sections.
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