Forza Horizon 6 Review (Xbox Series X|S)

After 14 long and thrill-filled years, Forza Horizon has finally landed in Japan; where fans have wanted the series to go for some time now. Heading to Tokyo and its surrounding areas was the no-brainer, the banker, the one that couldn't fail - and Xbox & Playground Games have indeed delivered a Japanese car culture extravaganza with Forza Horizon 6. This is the most accomplished Forza Horizon experience to date, complete with the largest and most varied map in franchise history. Really, a little too much familiarity is the only thing preventing me from giving this game a perfect score - and chances are, you're going to have an amazing time with it either way.

Let's talk about that map a bit more, shall we? Look, I'll be honest, I reckon I'll always have a place in my heart for Forza Horizon 4's take on Britain and its inherent real-world familiarity to me, but UK-tinted goggles aside, Horizon 6 has the best map in the series' history. Downtown Tokyo is dense and provides the biggest urban environment we've seen in Forza Horizon so far, the mid-map marshland is quaint and drop-dead gorgeous to look at, the upper mountainous region is like something out of a movie, and it all comes together good and proper, unlike the barren-feeling Forza Horizon 5 map. Driving across this thing is just pure joy.

There's a lot packed into Horizon Japan as well, as you'd probably expect from the series' sixth iteration. You've got your usual smattering of Forza Horizon races, PR stunts, barn finds and so on, with some nice additions here in FH6. 'Treasure Cars' are a lovely addition — where you're given a little poster-card clue as to a car's whereabouts on the map — as are these 'Aftermarket Cars' dotted about the place that Playground has already spoken about in pre-release material. In general, there are some neat new ways to acquire vehicles within the environment itself rather than heading to the Autoshow or Auction House, which I really rather like.

That's especially true in the case of the aftermarket cars because they often lean into Japanese car culture quite nicely. Not all of these rides are tricked-out Civic Type-R's, but plenty of them are of that ilk - and honestly, there's just something very cool about discovering a little Japanese sh*tbox out in the open world, for you to then rip up the streets of Tokyo with. Anyone that has a particular affinity to Japanese cars of the '80s, '90s and '00s is going to love what Horizon 6 throws at you throughout the adventure - me included; I'm one of those people!

Speaking of all-things Japanese, another nice addition to the collectible roster are these region-specific Mascots you can drive and around and crash into within the open-world. They function similarly to XP boards but they contribute to your 'Discover Japan' progression rather than the Horizon Festival campaign, and they're just fun to find. You get a cool little audio cue on smashing into them, and in general, they just make it feel more 'Japan' when you're cruising around and running into these things. They're not a dramatic addition, but features like this really add up when the team is trying to immerse you in a new location, especially six games into a series like this.

As I've touched on progression here, let's get stuck into that, because I know it's been a point of contention for fans in the last few Horizon games. The good news here is that FH6 is definitely an improvement in that regard, even if it's still not perfect.

Core progression is split into two tracks; Horizon Festival and Discover Japan. As the categories hint at, one is based on festival races and events such as PR stunts, whilst the other is all about cruising around and finding things within the open world. From there, further in-world activities unlock as you progress through each track, which does make it feel like you're being rewarded to taking part in the elements of FH6 you like best.

However, separating progression in this way doesn't entirely prevent an over-abundance of content being thrown at you very quickly. Yes, the Horizon Festival progression track — complete with its Wristband system — does gate races into car classes, meaning you can't race the biggest and best cars until further in the game. However, you can still drive around and have access to lots of them very early on; after completing the intro, I had 27 cars from various pre-order packs and legacy gifts — right up to the top class level — and it still feels like the game is keen to throw things at you pretty quickly. It's an improvement on 5 in this regard, for sure, but folks who are after a more FH1-esque campaign structure may still be left wanting.

Personally though, I think the new campaign progression has a decent balance to it, and I very much enjoyed ticking things off on both tracks. There's always something to find in terms of that discovery track, and the standard festival racing was broken up nicely with both Showdown events and Horizon Rush races with each wristband earnt. The Showdown races have been toned down a little bit from past games (although there are still some big set piece moments), and the Rush events are a campaign highlight. Those ones basically send you off on a giant obstacle course, and require some precise driving to get full marks on. They really do showcase the best of Forza Horizon racing.

One thing I will say though is that, well... there's just not much new here in terms of events outside of those Horizon Rush races. The standard Horizon Festival races and PR stunts are exactly the same as the last few games, and whilst the Discover Japan element adds new things like food deliveries, 1v1 street races and co-operative day trips, they largely feel like re-skins of similar activities from past games. Some new race types — particularly ones that take advantage of the Tokyo City area (there's not enough to do in the city, imo) — would have gone a long way. Japan is very well realised, but I did want a little bit more in terms of new races and events, especially in the Tokyo area.

At the end of the day, Forza Horizon is about fun though, and FH6 delivers fun in spades. I mentioned it in my preview last month, but man, Horizon Japan is just so rewarding to explore. I covered the core regions when talking about the map earlier, but there's a lot more to it than that. It's about the little hidden car parks, the temples, the cherry blossom-lined streets. It's about the cool Japanese cars you see cruising around, navigating the infamous Tokyo expressway in all conditions; those bright sunny afternoons and during those dark, rainy evenings. Forza Horizon 6 has a fantastic sense of place, which absolutely elevates the experience, even if I think Playground could have squeezed a bit more juice from Tokyo in particular.