Forza Horizon 6 is going full anime, from the Initial D-inspired nighttime Touge Battle mode to what appears to be a full-sized Gundam

Forza Horizon 6 takes the series to Japan, and while the gameplay reveal at today's Xbox Developer Direct was largely focused on real-life inspirations, there was also a strong undercurrent of pure anime throughout. The few seconds we saw of the nighttime Touge Battle mode looked like a straight-up adaptation of Initial D, and the whole thing ended on what appears to be a full-sized Gundam.

There was never any question that fans would turn an open-world racing game set in Japan into Initial D. The wildly popular anime and manga series is all about street racing, and is best known for its depictions of wildly dangerous one-on-one races down mountain roads in the dark of night, which helped to bring drift racing and Touge battles to the attention of mainstream audiences. Put a small car on a Japanese mountain road and it's like the Eurobeat starts playing on its own.

But Forza Horizon 6 has an explicit Touge Battle mode, Playground Games has confirmed. There aren't many details on what the mode entails, but the devs said in today's Direct that these will be "iconic nighttime races down Japanese mountain passes." As if the inspiration wasn't clear enough, the gameplay footage shown focuses on a Toyota AE86 – the iconic car at the center of the anime series.

Sure, a tribute to a beloved racing series in a Forza Horizon game makes sense, but the wild bit is the teaser at the very end of the gameplay breakdown. A car sits on an aged bit of road with cracked asphalt, and we zoom out to see what appear to be the feet of a full-sized Gundam striding up behind.

I'd guess this is the intro to a Showcase event, which we've seen in past series entries. These events typically have you, in a car, racing a train, plane, or other unusual vehicle, but a giant robot is certainly an escalation of the concept. The question on everyone's minds is, however, whether this is an officially licensed Gundam. The color scheme and general shape of the legs fits in with a variety of leading robots from the anime franchise, but it doesn't match any specific one – especially with those big wheels built into its feet.

Forza Horizon has always offered a pretty lighthearted take on racing, and it seems the sixth game will be no exception. My only real question is, with these anime references popping up in Forza Horizon 6's biggest marketing materials, what other Easter eggs are going to be hiding in the full game?

Forza Horizon 6 looks like the pinnacle of open-world racing games, and a vibe check from Playground sold me immediately: "It really is just about driving wherever you want and exploring."