Forza Horizon 6 is real, and the franchise is finally heading to Japan after years of fan outcry for the Asian nation to feature in the series. Truth be told, we’ve been happy with most of Horizon’s location choices so far, but Japan is pretty exciting, so we’re looking forward to heading East and cruising around with our digital pals next year.
Having said that, this week’s reveal was very thin on the ground with details; that was a true teaser trailer if we may say so. In that case, we’re being left to speculate on what the game may entail, and it’s already got our minds creating a little wishlist for Forza Horizon 6 and its Japan setting. We thought we’d share that with you now and get some discussion going!
Here’s some of what we want to see from Forza Horizon 6:
1. A Varied But Authentic Japanese Map
So far, we’ve been shown a glimpse of what looks like a fairly rural part of FH6’s Japanese map, complete with a gorgeous mountainous backdrop. It certainly sets the tone for what Playground is going for, and there’s definitely potential for this to be an all-time great Forza map.
Having said that, after Forza Horizon 5, we absolutely have some strong wishes for the next map. Horizon 5 tried to add variety, but something about it felt a little artificial – and with huge expanses between its most interesting areas, the whole thing just didn’t flow very well for us. Horizon 6 needs to combine variation and authenticity with a well-crafted map that’s stitched together in all the right ways – and then the team will have done this much-requested location justice.
2. Proper Verticality, Especially In Tokyo City
With Tokyo City confirmed as the major city location, Playground needs to nail this part of the map in particular. Again, the last game in the series didn’t really feature a compelling urban area, and we’re hoping FH6 returns to the form of Edinburgh and Surfer’s Paradise from the prior two titles. We want winding city streets, dense highways and a busy city that pays proper homage to Tokyo.
Adding to that, proper verticality will be key. If the team manages to build massive height into its map, we’re going to be on for some amazing Tokyo City racing, which has us giddy just thinking about it. That verticality should extend to the more rural parts of the map too; elevation makes such a difference for driving and Japan has the potential to provide the series’ best racing routes yet.
3. Mix Up The Formula, Give Us Major New Event Types
Speaking of racing routes, how about some big new events to take advantage of them? Forza Horizon has always tried to tweak the formula with each sequel, but it does feel like we’re ready for something truly new here with the sixth entry. I was just talking to someone in the office earlier about Horizon 6 having some dense-highway-traffic, Tokyo Xtreme Racer type events. Really lean into that Japan setting!
Drifting is likely to be a big focus given its culture over there too, and in general, we just want to see Playground get creative with some new event types. Of course, they have to be fun first and foremost, but Horizon 5 just played things a little too safe in our opinion. Let’s breathe some new life into the Forza Horizon franchise next year!
4. More Rewarding Progression
This one is always quite a tightrope to walk for racing game devs, but we do think Forza Horizon is perhaps a little too generous at times with its content and currency rollout. It’s fantastic to experience some of the high-end cars pretty early, but you’ve got to give folks an incentive to keep playing and progressing through the main campaign. We think the speed of progression could be toned down a smidge in Horizon 6.
Or, better yet, what about some options for that? Rather than broad difficulty levels (which FH tends to leave to AI difficulty anyway), how about presenting some different settings after finishing the intro that allow us to tweak progression rates? You could even weave it into some character choices where you opt for like; ‘rich kid’ that gets cars and money thrown at them, hardened street racer that has to work their way to the top, etc. Get creative with it!
5. New-To-Horizon Vehicles That Tap Into Japanese Car Culture
Japanese Kei Cars have already been confirmed for FH6, so we’re well on the way with this fifth point here – we just want the team to go all-in on Japan next year. Go niche like Gran Turismo does, add in some crazy custom street racers and drifting cars – as long as they have some base in reality and capture the nation’s culture, we’re up for as much uniqueness as possible.
At this point, the Forza series probably has a hard time finding brand-new cars that aren’t already in past games in some fashion, but Horizon 6 presents a good opportunity given Japan’s rich car culture. We can’t think of a better location to mix things up in this regard!
6. Really Push Visuals As A Current-Gen-Only Game
Finally, we’re super excited by the possibilities that current-gen-only can afford. Sure, the Forza Horizon series is already no slouch visually, but FH5 was optimised for base Xbox One consoles, and that will have surely held the team back in some way.
Seasons are apparently returning, which added great variety to Forza Horizon 4, and that combined with a focus on modern tech should do wonders for the visuals in Forza Horizon 6. Give us a super-duper graphics mode that goes nuts, whilst also providing some good performance options for those who prefer a smoother ride above all. We’re not nervous about this one — we’re sure Playground will nail the tech — we just want to see a big difference from the last cross-gen Horizon game.
That’s just some of what we want to see! But what are your top requests for Forza Horizon 6?
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