Forza Horizon 6 Review
- Jamie Robinson
- 2 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Anyone that knows me knows I’m completely obsessed with Japan. The food, the cars, the culture, the streets, the neon lights, the mountain roads, the vending machines every ten metres, all of it. So when I first heard that Forza Horizon 6 was finally heading to Japan, my excitement levels were honestly ridiculous. It felt like one of those settings racing game fans have wanted forever, and after spending quite a bit of time in Japan recently myself, this was easily my most anticipated racing game in years.
The good news is that Playground Games absolutely nailed almost everything about it.
Forza Horizon 6 is genuinely one of the best looking racing games I’ve ever played. At times it honestly borders on photorealistic at times on PC using max settings with ray tracing, especially at night when the rain hits the roads and every neon sign reflects across the streets. Driving through Tokyo in an R34 Skyline while city lights bounce off the bonnet just feels incredible. There were multiple moments where I actually stopped driving just to look around because some areas are recreated so accurately that it almost feels like a playable postcard of Japan.
Shibuya in particular looks amazing. The atmosphere is spot on. The crowds, the signage, the tiny side streets packed with lights and shops, it genuinely gives off that overwhelming but exciting feeling you get walking around there in real life. The Japanese radio announcers, the music selection, the overall vibe of the game all combine to create this really nostalgic feeling that honestly hit me harder than I expected. There’s something about cruising through the city at night listening to Japanese radio hosts while driving some of my favourite cars that just completely pulls you into the experience. It genuinely made me feel like I was back in Japan again.
That said, the map is probably also where most of my disappointment comes from.
Don’t get me wrong, the map itself is fantastic. It’s huge, varied, visually stunning, and there are moments where it absolutely captures the magic of Japan perfectly. But I was personally hoping for a much larger focus on the urban side of things. I wanted more dense city driving, more sprawling Tokyo streets, more tightly packed suburbs and highways that really leaned into the whole Japanese car culture scene.
Instead, what often happens is you’ll be driving through what feels like a near perfect recreation of Shibuya or another recognisable area, and then a few streets later you’re suddenly thrown into open countryside. Having been to Japan recently and knowing those streets relatively well, it felt a little jarring. The transitions between city and rural areas happen way too quickly at times, and I think the game would have benefited massively from committing harder to the urban environments instead of relying so heavily on massive open countryside sections.
The countryside itself still looks beautiful, especially around the mountain roads. There are some incredible touge inspired sections that feel absolutely made for Japanese performance cars. Flying through those roads in an RX-7 or an Evo while the weather changes around you is genuinely one of the best experiences the Horizon series has delivered. But I just kept finding myself wishing there was more city. More traffic. More dense roads. More of that authentic metropolitan feeling.
Even with that criticism though, the game absolutely nails the atmosphere.
Driving an R34 Skyline or Toyota Supra through Tokyo at night with the rain pouring down honestly gave me the exact feeling I wanted from this game. Some locations are recreated so accurately that it almost becomes emotional if you’ve actually been there before. The nostalgia factor is huge, even in areas that aren’t one-to-one recreations. It captures the feeling of Japan incredibly well, even if the scale and layout aren’t quite what I hoped for.
Gameplay wise, this is easily the best Forza Horizon has ever felt.
The driving is superb. Cars finally feel like they have proper weight to them without losing the accessible arcade style Horizon is known for. Grip feels more natural, drifting feels smoother and less floaty, and high speed driving feels genuinely thrilling. Every car category feels noticeably different too, which is something previous Horizon games sometimes struggled with. You can jump from a Toyota Tacoma to a GT-R to a Ferrari Supercar and each one has its own personality.
The races themselves are fantastic. The tracks are detailed, engaging, and visually varied enough that I never really got bored. There’s always something happening visually around you, whether it’s busy city intersections, mountain roads lined with cherry blossoms, or long coastal highways that look absolutely stunning during sunset.
The story mode is pretty much the same cookie cutter formula Horizon has always used, but honestly, I don’t even mean that in a bad way anymore. At this point it’s comfort food. You know exactly what you’re getting. Big festival energy, overly enthusiastic characters, cheesy dialogue, and a constant flow of events and unlocks. It works because the gameplay itself is so enjoyable.
Barn finds are still great fun, and the treasure car system does a really good job of keeping you exploring the map. One of my favourite additions though is the used car mechanic where you can randomly buy vehicles parked on the side of the road already tuned up at a discounted rate over doing it all yourself. Such a cool idea, and honestly one that feels perfect for Japan considering how huge their used car culture is. Finding an old performance car tucked away somewhere just adds a lot of charm to the world.
The house purchasing and building elements are probably the one addition I could’ve lived without. They’re not bad, they just feel somewhat unnecessary. Decorating and modifying properties is fine for people that enjoy that sort of thing, but it definitely slows the pacing down a bit. It also becomes pretty frustrating when using a steering wheel. This, I do not recommend!
Speaking of steering wheels, this game feels phenomenal with the Logitech RS50.
This is probably the most immersive Horizon game I’ve ever played with a wheel setup. The force feedback feels significantly improved over previous entries, and the roads communicate a surprising amount of detail through the wheel thanks to Logitech's trueforce technology. You can genuinely feel the difference between rough mountain roads, smoother city streets, wet surfaces, and gravel sections. Drifting especially feels fantastic on the RS50. Catching slides feels natural, counter steering feels responsive, and cruising through tight Japanese roads becomes ridiculously satisfying.
Where the wheel setup falls apart slightly is outside the actual driving. Menus, house building mechanics, property management and some of the more precise UI interactions feel awkward and clunky using a wheel. You can tell certain parts of the game were clearly designed with a controller in mind first. It never ruins the experience, but it definitely becomes noticeable after a while.
Actual racing though? Incredible.
There were moments where I completely lost track of time just driving around aimlessly with the RS50. No races, no objectives, just cruising through Tokyo listening to music and soaking in the atmosphere. That’s when I think Forza Horizon 6 is at its absolute best. It understands the emotional connection people have with Japanese car culture and really leans into it.
The soundtrack deserves a lot of praise too. The music selection suits the game perfectly, and those Japanese radio announcers genuinely add so much to the immersion. It sounds like such a small thing, but hearing Japanese hosts casually introducing tracks while you’re blasting through neon lit streets in iconic JDM cars adds this layer of authenticity that I absolutely loved. The moment I heard this IO was instantly transported back to Japan.
At the end of the day, Forza Horizon 6 feels like a game I’m going to spend an absurd amount of time with. It looks incredible, plays incredibly well, and despite my disappointment with certain aspects of the map design, it still delivers the exact feeling I wanted from a Horizon game set in Japan. The map issues I have are honestly mostly my issue and not one that I think a lot of people will have.
It captures the vibe, the nostalgia, the excitement and the freedom of driving through Japan better than I honestly expected.
Overall Score: 9/10
Score with RS50 Steering Wheel: 8.5/10
Mostly because some of the non driving mechanics really don’t translate well to a wheel setup, but when you’re actually out on the roads driving, it’s easily one of the most immersive arcade racing experiences I’ve ever had.
