Forza Horizon 6 | REVIEW | PC/STEAM

''WELCOME TO JAPAN''

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Developed: Playground Games

Published: XBOX Game Studios

Genre: Racing Simulation

Release Date: May 19th, 2026

Platforms: PC/Xbox Family/Game Pass

Forza Horizon 6 is the latest entry into this beloved racing franchise and it is developed by Playground Games and published by X-Box Game Studios. With Forza keeping its name steadily in the running for being some of the best racing simulators on the market, the team at Playground Games decided, you know what? let's try to make it even more awesome and take our skills to the gorgeous views of Japan. But was racing through all the land of Japan the right hook in order to reel people in? or would another location have been a better choice? Only one way to find out, so lets do some zoomies!

''DELIVER THAT TOFU!''

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GAMEPLAY:

I want to set the record straight from the get go before getting into this. I am not a big racing game fan or even heavily into the racing simulator genre. Most of my racing days involves arcade style racers like Diddy Kong racing, Mario Kart, Garfield Kart racing and even All Stars Fruit Racing. Well... maybe not All Stars Fruit Racing since when I started my content creation journey in 2017, I was denied the opportunity to cover the game due to ''not having enough outreach'', but a week later received DOOM VFR from Bethesda, so.... uhh, not good enough for Fruit Racing but I am for DOOM, try to make sense of that one why don't ya. Jokes aside, All Star Fruit Racing did and still does look very fun, but it's a joke and a gag that will haunt me for the rest of my career. Personal ribbing aside, the point is the only racing related game I've even covered so far is Gran Turismo 7, and surprisingly enough, It got an overwhelming positive take from me, which I feel is good considering its really not my style of game. So what do I think of Forza Horizon 6? Well first off, out of the 14 some odd entries into this franchise, I've played maybe just under half of them so give or take 5 or 6 of them I've dabbled into here and there casually. However Forza Horizon 6 gained my interest due to the games setting being Japan. For one thing I've always wanted to be able to freely drive around the landscapes of Japan or at the very least take part in races with that specific backdrop, and one of the catalysts fueling my urge? Initial D. Yes, I want to be your Space Girl and I want to dive into your heart baby. Granted, I'll never be as good as Takumi or his chain smoking dad who never opens his eyes just like Brock in Pokemon because I'm absolutely terrible at driving in ANY game that involves cars, planes or vehicles in general, which has been a running gag for awhile now, but its the truth. Still, that doesn't mean someone like me, even with a lack of skill and knowledge of the genre, couldn't have a fun time, because spoiler alert, I actually had a great time with my experience here in Forza Horizon 6 all things considered.

Forza Horizon 6 tries to push the franchise forward, albeit at a snails pace, its definitely not one of the more ambitious games in the franchise, but it knows what it is and does those things well to the point where you can appreciate the slight deviation to an attempted new direction, but at the same time see that it remains true to its roots with why its been a fan favorite for so long. Forza Horizon 6 has you take charge of a garage that has you grow inventory from things like supercars, racing cars, normal vehicles, etc, if you can name it, it will probably be in this garage, followed by a DEEP voice that keeps following you around talking about family. Yes, Dom followed us here to Japan as well, we'll just try to ignore him and hope he goes away though. Using these wide variety of vehicles, you can take part in events spread out all across the land Japan as you take part in Horizon Festival and Discover Japan, which are dual campaigns for players to take part in. Horizon Festival involves you searching the map for dots that indicate that there are events to be played, such as road races, dirt racing, time trials, cross country races, places to drift, etc, all of which once completed give you..... no Dom, Horizon points don't give you FAMILY, go away. Again as I was saying, completing these events gain you Horizon points every specific completion or milestone reached, which unlocks items like Showcase events that further unlocks other races like racing past obstacle courses in various settings like a pier, or stunt racing. Now for most players, they will look sleek and amazing and all the clips posted on social media will look wow inducing, unlike my footage that just looks like a complete train wreck and utter chaos. For every completion of these showcases, you are awarded as well with a wristband and once you've collected all 7 of them, like they're Dragon Balls, you unlock a map called ''Legend Island'' that are some of the harder and more challenging races that you will encounter in the game, and DEFINITELY worth the time and effort to unlock and play, especially for die hard players of the franchise. The other mode players have to choose from is Discover Japan. While it does contain night time speed racing across twist and turning mountain paths, again, making you want to get your inner Initial Dee on and sing ''No one sleep in Tokyo'', the mode overall focuses on exploration above anything else. Exploring and driving around Japan, you're free to take photos of famous landmarks, find mascot statues, listen to the tour guide give you the run down on facts and history of Japan and the cars you're driving, collecting new cars and giving them brand new upgrades - there's actually a lot to do as a whole just in the Discover Japan alone, and its honestly my favorite mode of the two if I had to pick. Its just way more relaxing and immersive, and for me, it feels like this is the developers vision they were trying to show us to begin with when choosing the setting in the first place. I see you devs, I see you. No Dom, your family is NOT here, so I don't know how you can SEE family at all whatsoever - Universal Pictures, come get your boy, he's hallucinating.

New features, at least for me as a casual player of this franchise, noticed the feature called Drivatar as well, which takes A.I. from your opponent and emulates the behaviors of your friends, mainly ones on your friends list. Great, so now my friends can whip my ass in real time AND in ghost mode against A.I. - gee thanks Playground Games, that's not very KACHOW of you, but I'll survive. Even though I'm not very good at the game, like at all, I still had an amazing time during Horizon Festival events taking part in its traditional races, finding locations on my map to take part in, free roaming at my leisure to just unwind and do street racing, the controls, music and overall atmosphere is near perfect with how fluid and responsive all gameplay mechanics are, even when you fight against a huge mech like monster. What? that sounds absurd? well I mean, it is absurd, but I would be lying if I said that it wasn't freaking awesome - just think of something like Gundam and you have the right idea of the type of mech I'm talking about. Partaking in random events in Discover Japan like food delivery mini games as well just reminded me of how much I wanted another Crazy Taxi game and also made me want to put a cup of water in my car so I can speed and try not to spill it like I'm Takumi delivering Tofu....yeah we came back around again to Initial D, whatever, sue me. No Dom I said SUE ME, NOT FAMILY, you know what, I hope the next Fast movie bombs, just to teach you a lesson.

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''YOU MECH'N ME ANGRY!''

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OVERALL:

At the end of the day Forza Horizon 6 ends up giving you over 30 hours of content to complete between two main modes, but if you choose to tackle EVERYTHING and earn extra points and extra money and collect everything you can, your experience with the game can easily climb to 60 hours or higher. Driving through the gorgeous rendition of Japan felt amazing to do and every new discovery felt like an event in itself, especially driving along and then getting a glimpse of iconic scenery like Mount Fuji was just superb. Granted it doesnt ultra evolve the series further like some people may have hoped it would and some even would consider that a downside, however with fluid controls, dozens of markers on the map to discover, plethora of traditional racing, street racing, time trials, stunt missions, exploration incentive, upgradeable cars and the near endless amount of collectibles, makes Forza Horizon 6, at least in my limited history with it, the best iteration of the games franchise I've encountered yet, and I'm sure most long time fans would probably agree with that sentiment after giving it a go. So with all that having been said, my verdict is clear, GameNChick says BUY NOW.

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