Forza Horizon 6 Review: Japan as Driving Paradise
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- Forza Horizon 6 launches on PC and Xbox, setting the open-world racing series across Japan with a map spanning Tokyo, Mount Fuji, and the Ito coastline
- Playground Games reintroduced progression mechanics from the series' earliest entries, requiring players to start as C-class rookies and qualify for the festival before racing supercars like the Ferrari J50 and Lamborghini Huracán
- A new Discover Japan strand offers narrated driving tours of scenic areas, plus a Crazy Taxi-style delivery side hustle in a small truck to earn cash and unlock better jobs
- Players can purchase houses scattered across the map, customize garages, and let other players drop in to admire their collections — which the reviewer likens to a 'testosterone-fuelled version of Animal Crossing'
- Tokyo is intricately replicated with landmarks like the Shibuya crossing, Akihabara, and the radio tower, but the reviewer found it felt 'weirdly sterile, even post-apocalyptic' without the city's pedestrian crowds, sounds, and fashion
- Handling earned high marks across terrain types, with the Jeep Trailcat gripping mud and the Honda NSX-R GT cornering on tarmac; online servers held up with almost no glitches across a dozen-player races
- Accessibility additions include full auto drive, unlimited fast travel, and high contrast mode, though the reviewer notes the game does not fundamentally reinvent the series' winning formula
Why it matters: After years of fan demand, Playground Games delivered a Japan-set Forza Horizon with the franchise's largest and most visually ambitious map yet — but Tokyo's eerie emptiness, stripped of the chaos that defines the city, exposes a tension between scenic fidelity and the lived-in density the series' rival open-world games achieve. Fans get the setting they wanted; the design doesn't break new ground.
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