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"

Playground Games has made a lot of great video games in the last 16 years, but nothing as astonishingly pretty as Forza Horizon 6. The studio is presenting a vast and vertical playground, an open-world racing game that's working to capitalize on the stunning landscapes unlocked by shifting the Horizon Festival to Japan for the very first time. Design director Torben Ellert tells me that Playground has "created its largest, most diverse and seasonal map yet" – and after getting a first look at Forza Horizon 6 in action, I believe him.

"It's also the map with the most verticality, reflecting Japan's unique geography," he continues. "Drivability is key for a Forza Horizon game, so we focussed our map design on the driving experience – from iconic Touges, to city streets, and sweeping sea-side asphalt roads. We've also looked at how to facilitate traversal across-country, ensuring that more vegetation is smashable, and providing cut-throughs and shortcuts."

Easy Rider

Forza Horizon 6 arrives at its destination five years after its predecessor established itself as one of the best Xbox Series X games. So it's no surprise to hear that Playground is treating its success in the Mexico region as a foundation to expand further beyond. "Our approach is always to build on what we've learned in previous games, and push the envelope from there," says Ellert.

The design director points to the evolution between EventLab and Eventlab 2.0 in Forza Horizon 5 as a good example of this, with the toolset (which lets players create custom games and expressive races) "providing the baseline for the Estate and Garage features" coming to Forza Horizon 6.

There are eight player houses to unlock across Japan – each serving as fast travel points, and come equipped with a decoratable Garage which you can use to showcase your favorite cards. Forza Horizon 6 will also include a larger Estate, a piece of land you can acquire as you rise up the ranks which you can build just about anything on – including personalized racing tracks for use between you and your friends.

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The same sort of iteration can be seen in the verticality which is built into Forza Horizon 6's open world at a baseline, where you're able to freely race around the tight winding roadways nestled in the mountains of Japan. "Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels allowed us to explore multi-layered roads," Ellert says of the 2022 expansion, going on to explain that the mass of player data collected from FH5 also helped the studio refine its approach to race creation.

"We observed a lot of players just driving in the open world and not really engaging with race events, which led us to design new open world features like Time Attack Circuits, Car Meets, Drag Meets, and LINK skills." All of this contributes to Playground wanting to "give players new experiences in the places they spend the most time." Ellert says that, in an effort to support this, "we've built a campaign that allows players to approach the game at whatever pace they prefer."

Car Meets are a key reflection of this philosophy. There are three locations in Forza Horizon 6 where permanent Car Meets can be found, seamless social hubs where you can meet up with other players, download their custom designs, and even purchase pink slips if you find a rival ride particularly enticing. Better still, these freeform hangs aren't official Horizon events – there's no colored wristband required for entry and they are always open for business, whether you're riding solo or with friends.

Wristbands are a key commodity once you do turn your attention to official events. You'll begin Forza Horizon 6 as a tourist in Japan who gets caught up in the car culture. "We made the 'Horizon Festival' portion of the campaign more progression driven," says Ellert. "As you complete Festival races, you earn points towards your next Wristband. When you unlock that Wristband, you must complete a Milestone Event, which then unlocks a new round of Festival Races and PR stunts. As these are structured and progression driven, we were able to apply car classes and themes to each event, so that as you rise through the ranks, you will take on events that require faster, more thrilling cars."

If the Horizon Festival isn't quite your speed, then Playground has you covered. The studio is introducing a new feature called the 'Collection Journal', an element which catalogues everything you see and do, whether you're racing, exploring, or tearing up the open world. Ellert tells me that "Collection is the core mechanic' to Playground's philosophy of letting players approach FH6 at whatever pace they prefer. "Anything you can see is something you can add to your Collection Journal. This can be pictures of cars or landmarks, mascots found, characters met, Touge Races completed, and more. And all of these collections progress you through the “Discover Japan” section of the campaign."

With more than 550 cars to race, crash, and collect. With a wider and more expressive customization system (including the ability to finally paint liveries on windows) than ever before. A seamless world with dramatic seasonal changes that pull focus onto freely exploring lush open landscapes and dense urban environments. A Tokyo city landscape five times larger than anything to feature in the series before, and a smattering of iconic Japanese locales recreated with true passion and precision. Take all of that into consideration, and you may be wondering what Forza Horizon 6 is, exactly. That's easy, according to Ellert: "It really is just about driving wherever you want and exploring."

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