Forza Horizon 6 Review – MORE SPECTACLE PLEASE!

After the awesome, piñata-themed thrills of Mexico, I was way overhyped about tearing up Japan in Forza Horizon 6. They even got the Trueno from Initial D, man! Time to bust out the Eurobeat!… But alas, I didn’t quite have the same goofy, gremlin-looking grin on my face as the last entry, and I think there’s still a bit of lingering burnout from 5’s design.

Say “Geronimo!”

Now, don’t get me wrong, the streets and vistas of Japan are a sight to behold on high settings, with awesome seasonal changes. Sitting at a mostly solid 60FPS, even on my crusty relic of a PC. However, I did notice a few significant frame drops and hangs at points, which did break the immersion more than once. Something I didn’t experience in Forza Horizon 5. That said, the different racing types (especially the off-road and drift events) were a lot of fun and felt noticeably unique in terms of handling, terrain and speed.

Flipping over rival cars after a slow-motion launch had me straight cacklin’ like J.K. Simmons. And just like Forza 5, there were fireworks and visual shenanigans for days, with courses where you need to crash through walls and soar off ramps like that Italian guy on a kart. At one point, you even gotta outgun an anime-style mech, which is exactly as hype as it sounds. Albeit, the main reason why I didn’t enjoy it as much as 5 (though it was close) is that the activities simply didn’t lean into the arcade-ness as much as before.

Eventlab doesn’t have that consistent, over-the-top craziness out the gate like Bowling in the Deep, where you had to drive head-on into literal bowling pins. But while I wasn’t able to test out the 12-player Horizon CoLab, where you can customise events together, it still feels extremely good to play all around. Whenever you’re driving through the streets of Japan, it’s still a cinch to find activities like speed traps, stunt jumps and races all over, so you’re not just cruising around like a gaijin for too long. The ANNA system can now self-drive you to a new destination as well, so you can casually make a sandwich between trips. Plus, getting into multiplayer matches is as easy as pausing and jumping into a preferred set of race types, then being fast-travelled to a course’s starting line: ba-da bing, ba-da boom. Done.

They Heard You

Car meets is one of the most highly requested features in Forza 6, and it is… pretty barren at the moment. Though it won’t be long before slick cars start pouring in, snapping photos while we get bombarded with social media flexers, left and right, trust me. The good thing is, for the cockpit view, you can now actually see the steering wheel turn! What a concept! It’s only 540°, but it’s better than nothing.

You can also customise your car with mixed wheel setups and activate a proximity radar to see upcoming cars if you’re a big racing nerd. There is a bit more traffic on the roads this time around too. Yet, it is a little odd why high-traffic spots like the Scramble Crossing in Tokyo only contain a couple of cars and pedestrians. I mean, that is clearly not lore accurate, people. Come on. I get why they made it like this, to be more suitable for gameplay. But again, immersion is key for moments like these.

I am glad they kept the Horizon Festival cutscenes to a minimum here, because some of the ones in 5 were just soooo bad. Good grief. Forza 6 is also markedly better at doling out higher-class cars more efficiently, with wristbands that you unlock opening up new events and cars that match the growing level of competition. And thankfully, the music is killer again too. From the amount of times I pulled up the Shazam app, I’m quite confident in saying this is my favourite Forza soundtrack so far! Featuring a banging catalogue of EDM, J-pop, rock, hip hop, synthwave, city pop, indie and even anime opening tracks that suit the mood perfectly. I don’t think this collection will be topped anytime soon, folks.

Decision

Forza Horizon 6 hasn’t burst out of the gate as strongly as 5, yet it’s still a great game overall. It trades some of Horizon 5’s arcade chaos for a slightly more grounded experience. Although tearing through Japan is still an absolute blast thanks to its seasonal visuals, fun event variety and gloriously stupid spectacle moments, including a 1-vs-1 Gundam showdown. Oh, yeah! The racing feels fantastic across drift, off-road and street events, multiplayer and progression are as smooth as butter, and the soundtrack is straight-up the best in the series. Packed with EDM, J-pop, synthwave and anime openings that go ridiculously hard. However, some PC performance issues and a lack of Horizon 5’s EventLab insanity hold it back from reaching the same status—for now.

By Anthony Culinas – Reviewed on PC

Great

Forza Horizon 6 doesn’t hit the same turbocharged highs as its Mexico-set predecessor, trading some of the series’ wacky arcade chaos for a more grounded spin through Japan. Though when it lets loose with drift events, Horizon Rush and a soundtrack packed with EDM, J-pop and anime bangers, it genuinely rips.

This game was reviewed using a download code provided by Xbox Game Studios. The Beta Network uses affiliate partnerships, however, this does not influence reviews or any other content published. The Beta Network may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links that are on the website.