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Forza Horizon 6

Forza Horizon 6 is an open-world racing game set in Japan, developed by Playground Games and published by Xbox Game Studios.[^9][^3] It was released on May 19, 2026 for Xbox Series X|S and PC, with early access for Premium Edition owners from May 15.[^5] As of Nov 7, 2026 its PlayStation 5 version is not yet out: it is due on Jan 26, 2027, and the game's first paid expansion arrives on every platform on Jan 21, 2027.[^2] Critics gave it a Metacritic score of 90 on both Xbox Series X and PC.[^11][^12]

An off-road truck races down the snowy Alps In-game footage from Playground's official Initial Drive gameplay video of Apr 8, 2026: a black off-road racing truck charges down a snow-covered mountain course between pine trees and orange checkpoint arrows, with the progress counter climbing toward the finish.

Developer
Playground Games (with Turn 10 Studios); PS5 version by Panic Button[9][1][2]
Publisher
Xbox Game Studios[9]
Genre
Open-world racing[3]
Setting
Japan, from Tokyo City to the Japanese Alps[7]
Platforms
Xbox Series X|S, PC (Xbox app and Steam), Xbox Cloud; PlayStation 5 from Jan 26, 2027[5][2]
Release date
May 19, 2026 (Premium early access from May 15, 2026)[5]
Price
$69.99 Standard, $99.99 Deluxe, $119.99 Premium (US Xbox Store); Standard included with Game Pass[8]
Metacritic
90 on Xbox Series X (83 critics), 90 on PC (67 critics)[11][12]
Steam peak
302,645 concurrent players, first weekend after launch[17]

Overview

Forza Horizon 6 is an open-world racing game developed by Playground Games and published by Xbox Game Studios.[9] Its official site credits the game to Playground Games together with Turn 10 Studios.[1] It moves the Forza Horizon series to Japan, a setting that its art director said had long been at the top of fans' wish lists.[3] The game was released on May 19, 2026 for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud and Steam, and it was included with Game Pass Ultimate from that day.[5] It launched with more than 550 cars, and Playground describes its Japan as the densest map in the series so far.[1] As of Nov 7, 2026 the PlayStation 5 version has not been released: it is due on Jan 26, 2027.[2] Playground said that more than 6 million people played the game within days of its release, a count that includes Game Pass players.[16]

An off-road truck races down the snowy Alps In-game footage from Playground's official Initial Drive gameplay video of Apr 8, 2026: a black off-road racing truck charges down a snow-covered mountain course between pine trees and orange checkpoint arrows, with the progress counter climbing toward the finish.

Development and announcement

Xbox revealed Forza Horizon 6 and its Japanese setting at its Tokyo Game Show broadcast on Sep 25, 2025, with a release on Xbox Series X|S and PC in 2026 and a PlayStation 5 version to follow after launch.[4] Art director Don Arceta told Xbox Wire that the studio now felt ready to realize Japan fully for players.[3] He said Forza Horizon 5's Hot Wheels expansion had helped the team develop the elevated roads of Tokyo City.[3] Playground worked with a cultural consultant, Kyoko Yamashita, who said the Japan she loved was one where a neighborhood shrine sits beside a small workshop and a neon arcade.[3] The Xbox Developer_Direct of Jan 22, 2026 gave the May 19 release date and early access from May 15 for Premium Edition players.[5] Design director Torben Ellert explained there that the team did not try to copy every corner of the country but to recreate the feeling of having something revealed on arrival.[5]

The reveal teaser ends on Mount Fuji The close of the official Tokyo Game Show teaser of Sep 25, 2025: after a workshop wall of license plates from earlier Horizon festivals, a plate reading "Legend" in Japanese and a beckoning cat figure appear, then Mount Fuji rises behind cherry blossoms under the Forza Horizon 6 logo.

Setting

The game's Japan is a condensed interpretation of the country, which Playground calls the most dense and vertical map in the series.[7][24] It runs from the downtown streets of Tokyo City to the snowy Japanese Alps, with roads inspired by Tokyo's C1 expressway loop and mountain passes such as Mt. Haruna and Bandai Azuma.[7] Xbox describes Tokyo City as the largest urban area in any Forza Horizon game.[5] GameSpot reported that it is five times the size of Guanajuato, the city in Forza Horizon 5.[24] The city is split into districts and is not a one-to-one copy, but it includes real places such as Shibuya Crossing, Ginkgo Avenue and Tokyo Tower.[24] Beyond the city the map takes in traditional villages, rural areas and winding passes suited to drifting, all under the series' changing seasons.[24] Ellert called Tokyo the most visually different space Playground had ever built for a Horizon game.[5]

GameSpot on Tokyo City and the countryside GameSpot's pre-release explainer of May 11, 2026 describes the condensed Tokyo, five times the size of Forza Horizon 5's Guanajuato, with its districts, highways, Shibuya Crossing, Ginkgo Avenue and Tokyo Tower, then the villages, mountain passes and seasons outside the city, and the player's arrival as a tourist.

Gameplay and the Horizon Festival

The campaign is built around the Horizon Festival.[6] Unlike in earlier games, the player arrives in Japan as a tourist, with none of the fame of past festivals carried over.[6] Ellert described the character as attending only as a fan, with a dream of taking part.[5] Progress is measured in seven Festival Wristbands, and earning all of them makes the player a Horizon Legend with access to Legend Island, an area kept for the best drivers.[6] Hypercars are barred from Festival races until the player holds at least the Purple Wristband.[6] Legend Island's events include the Colossus, which Playground calls the longest Goliath race the series has had, a loop of the whole map on the freeway.[6] IGN's reviewer noted that the curated Wristband structure returns from the original Forza Horizon of 2012, and that each Wristband ends in a large event, either a Showcase race or a new Horizon Rush obstacle course.[13] The cover cars are the 2025 GR GT Prototype and the 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser.[5]

IGN on the Wristband campaign From IGN's review of May 14, 2026: the reviewer welcomes the return of the 2012 original's Wristband structure, a sealed-off area for those who reach the top of the Festival, and the Showcase and Horizon Rush events that end each Wristband.

Release and editions

Premium Edition players started on May 15, 2026, four days before the general release on May 19.[5] About a week before launch, Thurrott reported on May 11 that the full game had been preloaded on Steam without encryption, so some users were able to run it early; Microsoft and Playground had not commented at the time.[18] On the US Xbox Store, as of Nov 7, 2026, the Standard Edition costs $69.99, the Deluxe Edition $99.99 and the Premium Edition $119.99.[8] The Premium Edition adds the Car Pass, both planned expansions, the Italian Passion and Time Attack car packs, a VIP membership and a Welcome Pack.[8] The Standard Edition is included with Game Pass.[8] Xbox Play Anywhere lets one purchase play on both Xbox consoles and PC, while the Steam version is sold through Valve's store.[4][9] Steam lists the developer as Playground Games and the publisher as Xbox Game Studios.[9]

Updates after launch

Playground adds content to the game in a run of themed series updates, each with its own Festival Playlist of timed events and reward cars.[23] An update on Sep 7, 2026 turned the Shimanoyama Circuit into a permanent Drift Attack arena, where players chase the highest drift score rather than the fastest lap.[22] Its reward, earned through the campaign, is the 1990 Jaguar XJ-S Forza Edition.[22] Series 7, City Life, was released on Nov 2, 2026, and its Festival Playlist runs from Nov 5 to Dec 3, 2026.[23] It added two permanent races in Tokyo City, the Edo Circuit Road Race and the Shuto Charge Street Race, and 35 IKEA furniture props for custom garages.[23] Its reward cars include the 2016 Honda S660, with Car Pass cars still arriving each Thursday.[23] For December's Horizon Holidays series, Playground has promised another permanent race route, new Evolving World updates and three cars new to the series.[23]

HokiHoshi on City Life's new races HokiHoshi's Series 7 summary of Nov 2, 2026, recorded before the new routes went live: he introduces the Edo Circuit road race and the Shuto Charge street race in Tokyo City, then the 35-piece IKEA collaboration for the garage editor.

PlayStation 5 version and expansions

In January 2026 Xbox said the PlayStation 5 version would come later that year.[5] On Oct 8, 2026, Playground gave it a date: Jan 26, 2027 for the Standard and Deluxe Editions, with Premium Edition early access from Jan 21.[2] The port was developed by Panic Button, and it supports cross-platform play and cross-save with the Xbox and Steam versions.[2] A disc edition for PlayStation 5 is sold at supporting retailers.[2] The first Premium Expansion comes to all platforms on Jan 21, 2027, included in the Premium Edition and also sold on its own.[2] Its store page promises a new location to discover, new cars and new gameplay, without naming the place.[10] Thurrott reported that a free update for all players arrives on the same day and that the second expansion is planned for later in 2027.[25] Playground itself has said only that Expansion 2 will be available at a later date.[2]

The PS5 pre-order trailer Playground's official PS5 pre-order trailer of Oct 9, 2026: footage captured on PS5 of a valley under Mount Fuji, a neon Tokyo street, a sedan drifting through cherry blossoms and a car meet, then the Jan 21 early access date and the promise of the new expansion on day one.

Reception

As of Nov 7, 2026, Metacritic lists a score of 90 from 83 critics on Xbox Series X and 90 from 67 critics on PC, a rating it calls universal acclaim.[11][12] Several outlets gave perfect scores, among them VGC, Giant Bomb and Dexerto.[12] IGN's reviewer said the game "runs like a titan" and called it the best-looking and best-sounding game Playground has made.[13] The most common reservation was familiarity.[14][15] Kotaku's Zack Zwiezen praised the driving and the choice of Japan but found the series' formula getting repetitive and some new features underdeveloped.[14] GamingBolt judged its changes evolutionary rather than revolutionary, while arguing that the quality and amount of content kept the formula from wearing out.[15] Players have been cooler than critics: on Nov 7, 2026, Steam rated the game Very Positive overall, with 82% of 43,781 English reviews positive, but Mixed for the previous 30 days, at 65% of 2,799.[9]

IGN's verdict The verdict of IGN's review of May 14, 2026: the reviewer says the game runs like a titan, calls it Playground's best-looking and best-sounding game, praises the map and the campaign's payoff, and names it the new standard in open-world racing.

Players

Playground announced on X that Forza Horizon 6 had passed 6 million players within days of its full release.[16] KitGuru, reporting the figure on May 25, 2026, noted that it counts everyone who played through Game Pass and so is not a number of copies sold.[16] On Steam, the game reached 302,645 concurrent players over its first weekend, according to SteamDB figures reported by Gamereactor on May 25, 2026.[17] Forza Horizon 5's highest count on Steam was 81,096, so the new game's peak was more than three and a half times higher.[17] Gamereactor put the difference at an increase of 273%.[17] Steam shows only part of the audience, because the game is also sold on the Xbox Store and played through Game Pass on Xbox consoles and PC.[8][9]

Playground Games

Playground Games was established in 2010 at Rossmore House in Leamington Spa, England, and opened further studios nearby at St Albans House in 2018 and 6 Dormer Place in 2024.[20] Microsoft announced at E3 on Jun 10, 2018 that the studio had joined Microsoft Studios.[19] Xbox noted then that Playground had partnered exclusively with Turn 10 Studios since its founding, and said it would also bring its open-world experience to an entirely new project.[19] That project became Fable, unveiled at the 2020 Xbox Showcase.[20] Fable is due on Feb 23, 2027, so Forza Horizon 6 reaches PlayStation 5 four weeks before the studio's next game comes out.[21][2] Playground's previous racing game, Forza Horizon 5, won Racing Game of the Year at the 25th D.I.C.E. Awards and British Game at the 18th British Academy Games Awards in 2022.[20]

  1. Playground Games is established in Leamington Spa, England.[20]
  2. Microsoft announces that Playground Games has joined Microsoft Studios.[19]
  3. Forza Horizon 6 and its Japan setting are revealed at the Xbox Tokyo Game Show broadcast.[4]
  4. The Xbox Developer_Direct dates the game for May 19, 2026 and reveals the cover cars.[5]
  5. Premium Edition early access begins.[5]
  6. Release on Xbox Series X|S, PC and Xbox Cloud, and with Game Pass.[1][5]
  7. Drift Attack opens as a permanent mode at the Shimanoyama Circuit.[22]
  8. Playground dates the PlayStation 5 version and Expansion 1.[2]
  9. Series 7, City Life, adds two permanent Tokyo City races.[23]
  10. Expansion 1 on all platforms; PS5 Premium early access begins (scheduled).[2]
  11. PlayStation 5 release (scheduled).[2]

What we think

This section is Heartipedia’s own opinion, not sourced fact. Each view is reasoned from the facts cited above and from trends we see; it may turn out wrong. A prediction’s words are never changed once made: when the facts are known we add the result under it, right or wrong. Every prediction we have made.

Expansion 1 takes the Festival to a warm island

We expect Forza Horizon 6's first expansion to be set on a subtropical island in the style of Okinawa, with beaches and coastal roads, rather than in another part of the Japanese mainland.

Why: Playground promises only "a new location to discover", and the base map already runs from Tokyo City to the snowy Alps, so a second slice of mountains or city would add little. Okinawa is the one Japanese landscape the main map lacks. The card closing the PS5 trailer, a sunset over the sea with rocky islets, points the same way.

Prediction Confidence: Possible Check by: Jan 2027 Made

Expansion 2 is Hot Wheels in Japan

We think the second expansion is a Hot Wheels expansion, a world of orange track built above or beside the map, released in the second half of 2027.

Why: Playground's art director credited Forza Horizon 5's Hot Wheels expansion with teaching the team to build Tokyo City's elevated roads, so the studio already treats that work as part of this game. Thurrott reports Expansion 2 for later in 2027, and a branded fantasy world is the natural pair for a first expansion set in a real place.

Prediction Confidence: Possible Check by: Dec 2027 Made

December's new race goes up a mountain

Our prediction is that the permanent race route Playground promised for the Horizon Holidays series is a mountain or touge route outside Tokyo City, not a third Tokyo circuit.

Why: City Life has just added two permanent races in Tokyo City, the Edo Circuit Road Race and the Shuto Charge Street Race. Mountain passes such as Mt. Haruna and Bandai Azuma are among the map's signature roads, and a winter holiday series is the best moment to show them in snow.

Prediction Confidence: Possible Check by: Jan 2027 Made

Ten million players after the PS5 launch

We expect Playground to announce more than 10 million Forza Horizon 6 players across all platforms by the end of March 2027, two months after the PlayStation 5 release.

Why: The game passed 6 million players within days of its May 2026 launch, Game Pass included, and set a Steam peak of 302,645, almost four times Forza Horizon 5's. The PS5 version arrives on Jan 26, 2027 with every update and the first expansion already out, and Playground tends to announce round numbers when a new audience arrives.

Prediction Confidence: Possible Check by: Mar 2027 Made

The Wristbands, not Japan, are the real upgrade

We think the best thing in Forza Horizon 6 is its Wristband campaign, not its map: Japan is the reason people bought it, but the Wristbands are the reason the game has a shape.

Why: The main complaint critics made about Forza Horizon 6 is a familiar formula, yet the one structural change answers it: the game starts the player as a tourist with no fame, locks Hypercars until the Purple Wristband and ends at Legend Island, and IGN's reviewer said the sense of progression is considerably better because of it. The map gets the headlines, but the structure is what fixes the series' oldest complaint.

Opinion Made

What others predict

Predictions made on video by creators, experts or the subject of this page, in their words, each linked at the second it is said. The one line after each is our view. When the facts are known we add the result, right or wrong.

HokiHoshi: a holiday circuit in the stadium

HokiHoshi , at 8:32 Check by: Jan 2027

"Probably going to be a holiday themed circuit in the stadium is my guess" (YouTube's automatic captions)

Our view: We think he is right about the holiday theme but wrong about the stadium, since our own call is a mountain route outside Tokyo City.

Moments

  1. An off-road truck races down the snowy Alps In-game footage from Playground's official Initial Drive gameplay video of Apr 8, 2026: a black off-road racing truck charges down a snow-covered mountain course between pine trees and orange checkpoint arrows, with the progress counter climbing toward the finish.
  2. The reveal teaser ends on Mount Fuji The close of the official Tokyo Game Show teaser of Sep 25, 2025: after a workshop wall of license plates from earlier Horizon festivals, a plate reading "Legend" in Japanese and a beckoning cat figure appear, then Mount Fuji rises behind cherry blossoms under the Forza Horizon 6 logo.
  3. GameSpot on Tokyo City and the countryside GameSpot's pre-release explainer of May 11, 2026 describes the condensed Tokyo, five times the size of Forza Horizon 5's Guanajuato, with its districts, highways, Shibuya Crossing, Ginkgo Avenue and Tokyo Tower, then the villages, mountain passes and seasons outside the city, and the player's arrival as a tourist.
  4. IGN on the Wristband campaign From IGN's review of May 14, 2026: the reviewer welcomes the return of the 2012 original's Wristband structure, a sealed-off area for those who reach the top of the Festival, and the Showcase and Horizon Rush events that end each Wristband.
  5. HokiHoshi on City Life's new races HokiHoshi's Series 7 summary of Nov 2, 2026, recorded before the new routes went live: he introduces the Edo Circuit road race and the Shuto Charge street race in Tokyo City, then the 35-piece IKEA collaboration for the garage editor.
  6. The PS5 pre-order trailer Playground's official PS5 pre-order trailer of Oct 9, 2026: footage captured on PS5 of a valley under Mount Fuji, a neon Tokyo street, a sedan drifting through cherry blossoms and a car meet, then the Jan 21 early access date and the promise of the new expansion on day one.
  7. IGN's verdict The verdict of IGN's review of May 14, 2026: the reviewer says the game runs like a titan, calls it Playground's best-looking and best-sounding game, praises the map and the campaign's payoff, and names it the new standard in open-world racing.

References

  1. Forza Horizon 6 Now Available on Xbox Series X|S and PC, Playground Games, 2026-05-19primary
  2. Forza Horizon 6 Welcomes More Players on January 26!, Playground Games, 2026-10-08primary
  3. Forza Horizon 6: Answering the Big Questions About That Japan Setting, Xbox Wire, 2025-09-25primary
  4. Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2025 Broadcast: Everything Announced, Xbox Wire, 2025-09-25primary
  5. Forza Horizon 6: More Details on The Country, The Culture and The Cars of Playground Games' Japan, Xbox Wire, 2026-01-22primary
  6. Earn Your Gold Wristband and Become a Horizon Legend in Japan, Playground Games, 2026-02-23primary
  7. Forza Horizon 6: Full Map Reveal, Playground Games, 2026-04-08primary
  8. Forza Horizon 6 on the Xbox Store, Microsoft, 2026-11-07primary
  9. Forza Horizon 6 on Steam, Valve, 2026-11-07primary
  10. Forza Horizon 6 Expansion 1 on Steam, Valve, 2026-11-07primary
  11. Forza Horizon 6 critic reviews (Xbox Series X), Metacritic, 2026-11-07press
  12. Forza Horizon 6 critic reviews (PC), Metacritic, 2026-11-07press
  13. Forza Horizon 6 Review (video), IGN, 2026-05-14press
  14. Forza Horizon 6: The Kotaku Review, Kotaku, 2026-05-14press
  15. Forza Horizon 6 Review - The Final Verdict (video), GamingBolt, 2026-05-14press
  16. Forza Horizon 6 has officially surpassed 6 million total players, KitGuru, 2026-05-25press
  17. Forza Horizon 6 reached over 300,000 concurrent Steam players during the weekend, Gamereactor, 2026-05-25press
  18. Forza Horizon 6 Accidently Leaked on Steam, Thurrott, 2026-05-11press
  19. E3 2018: Playground Games Joins Microsoft Studios, Xbox Wire, 2018-06-10primary
  20. About, Playground Games, 2026-11-07primary
  21. Fable: Meet the Incredible Cast, Including the Villain Played by Hayley Atwell, Xbox Wire, 2026-06-07primary
  22. Shift Into High Gear with Drift Attack!, Playground Games, 2026-08-26primary
  23. Embrace the City Life in Forza Horizon 6, Playground Games, 2026-11-02primary
  24. Forza Horizon 6 - Everything To Know (video), GameSpot, 2026-05-11press
  25. Forza Horizon 6 gets a January 26 release date on PlayStation 5, Thurrott, 2026-10-09press

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About this page

Drafted by
claude-opus-5-5 on 2026-11-07T12:00:00Z
Checked by
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Reviewed by
not yet reviewed by a named human
Status
Published and revised continuously; this version is the one described here.
Published
7 November 2026
Last updated
7 November 2026, see what changed
Sources
No Wikipedia source; the sources are listed above.
License
Text CC BY-SA 4.0; embedded videos and thumbnails remain their uploaders’ property, shown under YouTube’s Terms of Service; quotations excluded. Details

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