Almost five years after the previous entry, Forza Horizon 6 is finally coming this May, and sometime later for PS5. Playground Games has just shown the very first look at the racing title, highlighting some of the major features coming into the open-world arcade racing, which unsurprisingly promises to become the biggest and most ambitious yet.
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Even with only the essentials being revealed thus far, it’s apparent that Forza Horizon 6 is packed with brand-new and returning fan-favorite features that would definitely please long-term players and newcomers alike. The Forza Horizon games have long occupied the sweet spot between fun arcade driving games and more hardcore racing experiences, with flexible customization options to get exactly the kind of game each player wants for themselves, and the sixth entry is shaping up to be no different. Let’s take a look at some of the most exciting features officially confirmed for Forza Horizon 6 so far.
The Biggest Map with the Largest Explorable City Yet
Not Just the Largest, but the Most Dense, Layered, and Vertical World With Cities That Feel Like It
Forza Horizon 6 is set in Japan, one of the most-wished destinations for the series for years now, with dynamic seasons of the year returning as well. It seems to be a refreshing contrast to FH5’s Mexico, where seasons weren’t as distinct as they were in FH4’s Britain. With its rich variety of rural countryside, modern sprawling cities, high mountaintops, and dense forests, Japan will offer an unmatched array of colors, road surfaces, temperatures, and seasonal changes. The devs promise the biggest and most dense map, full of verticality and diverse biomes, and from the brief look at it, the game’s world looks nothing but stunning.
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On top of that, Tokyo City is confirmed to be the largest urban area in a Forza Horizon game ever, five times larger than Forza Horizon 5’s Guanajuato. The city will be fully explorable and big enough to be separated into districts, almost like the huge cities from the best open-world Need for Speed titles.
550 Cars with Advanced Customization at Launch
More Cars Than Ever Before, With More Tuning Options
Forza Horizon 6 will offer over 550 real-world detailed cars from day one — notably more than any of its predecessors. For comparison, Forza Horizon 5 featured around 500 vehicles on day one, although their number has grown substantially over the years. Forza Horizon 6 will seemingly feature plenty of the cars from Forza Horizon 5, as well as brand-new additions, mostly from the unmatched Japanese car culture.
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Numbers aren’t everything, as the devs also promised updated steering animations, cutting-edge audio for each vehicle, as well as special Forza Edition cars fitted with extreme modifications and rare Aftermarket Cars. The game’s car roster was fully overhauled as well to better balance available models across different performance classes. As Japan is the birthplace of the JDM style and car modification brands, players can also expect advanced customization for most of the game’s cars, including previously unavailable options like extra body kits, Forza Aero options, alongside the ability to paint custom liveries on windows. Still, it’s better not to expect anything comparable to the latest Need for Speed games’ tuning depths here.
Reworked Progression Where Players Start As a Rookie
You’re No Longer a Superstar, but Just a Humble Nobody
One of the most exciting features confirmed for Forza Horizon 6 is the reworked campaign progression, taking a step back from FH4 and FH5, where players start the game as the renowned Superstar of the Festival, with the special sugarcoated treatment from anyone that quickly becomes tiresome. In Forza Horizon 6, players will start the campaign as a simple tourist who has to prove themselves just to join the Festival events as a rookie driver.
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From there, it’s a classic racing campaign where players have to actually put in some effort, qualify in races, complete obstacle courses, and rise through the ranks slowly, earning their name and reputation, rather than getting a constant stream of never-ending rewards to claim. The final goal is to earn the Gold Wristband, which is described as a true accomplishment that unlocks the new Legend Island — a new region of the world with unique events. Naturally, it’s still the Forza Horizon game we’re talking about, so it’s probably better not to expect too much of a challenging ride overall, but lowering the levels of king treatment was really necessary.
Base-Building Elements and Customizable Car Garages
It’s Time to Set Up Not Only Cars, but Their Homes as Well
Perhaps the most notable addition to the series is the base-building elements of Forza Horizon 6, known as “The Valley Estate”. Like in previous games, players can buy properties around Japan; however, this time, each house’s garage is a deeply customizable place with flexible options to set up the interiors of car warehouses as players want, to then showcase their car collections. It’s also possible to simply download some of the best blueprints for setting up garages from other players, which would be as simple as browsing cars at the Auction or applying custom liveries.
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On top of that, at some point in the game, players unlock an entirely new feature of the Estate, which grants access to a specific point in a mountain valley where players can build freely in the open world, creating their own buildings and an entire huge base with several hangars, houses, and garages — somewhat reminiscent of Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Hideout feature. The best thing about the Estate is that everything built will be permanently displayed in the open-world, and not just for the players, but also for their friends, invited into this shared world.
Custom Co-op Track Builder and Expanded Multiplayer Modes
EventLab 2.0 and Seamless Multiplayer Challenges in the Open World
Custom track builder (EventLab) makes its return in Forza Horizon 6, with an even more flexible toolset and the freedom to create custom events all over Japan’s sprawling world, literally anywhere. Players can also co-create new tracks with their friends via the new Horizon CoLab feature with full multiplayer support. There are also dedicated Car Meets points across Japan for meeting with friends and other players — before deciding what’s next for this gaming session.
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The game’s multiplayer also gets injected with new races and activities, including Time Attack Circuits and Drag Meets that exist seamlessly in the world, allowing for quick participation as players explore. The signature separate modes of The Eliminator and 5-vs-1 Hide & Seek (introduced in Forza Horizon 5) will also be available from day one.
Two Post-Launch Expansions
What’s Next for the Fans After All the Roads Have Been Conquered?
Traditionally for the series, Forza Horizon 6 will receive two post-launch expansions (included in Premium Edition or purchased separately), as was the case with previous entries like Forza Horizon 4 and Forza Horizon 5. Of course, it’s too early to focus on the post-launch updates for the upcoming game, so no details about them have been revealed just yet, but it’s good to know that there’s more coming. Typically, the Forza Horizon expansions are pretty sizable, offering new, separate explorable maps, plenty of new cars, and dedicated events and activities.
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For when fans can expect Forza Horizon 6 expansions, we could look at Forza Horizon 5 just to draw a point of reference. The first DLC for Forza Horizon 5, Hot Wheels, was released eight months after launch, with the second, Rally Adventure, released another eight months later. With that in mind, Forza Horizon 6 expansions will likely more or less follow this scheme, launching on a six- to ten-month schedule.
Forza Horizon 6
- Released
- May 18, 2026
- ESRB
- Rating Pending
- Developer(s)
- Playground Games
- Publisher(s)
- Xbox Game Studios
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Prequel(s)
- Forza Horizon 5
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Racing, Open-World
