Forza Horizon 6 Review – Japan Was Worth the Wait

For over a decade, the Forza Horizon community wanted one thing above everything else: Japan. Every reveal season became the same ritual. Reddit threads exploded with theories, Discord servers filled with speculation, and fans convinced themselves that this would finally be the year. Instead, Playground Games kept sending us elsewhere. Australia. Britain. Mexico.

Now, after years of anticipation, Forza Horizon 6 finally arrives in Japan.

And honestly? It was worth the wait.

The biggest achievement in Forza Horizon 6 is the world itself. Playground Games clearly understood what people imagined when they asked for Japan. This is not just Tokyo with some mountains attached to it. The map stretches across dense urban districts, winding touge roads, alpine passes, volcanic terrain, snowy regions, countryside villages, and neon-lit highways that feel ripped straight from an old street racing fantasy.

Tokyo is massive compared to previous Horizon cities. At night, especially during rainstorms, the city becomes one of the best-looking open worlds ever made in a racing game. Reflections bounce across wet tarmac, neon signs flood the streets with color, and the new ray tracing implementation genuinely transforms the atmosphere. This is easily the best-looking Horizon game to date.

But Japan is more than visuals. The setting fundamentally changes how the game feels to drive.

The touge roads are the standout addition. Tight downhill mountain sections force you to actually think about braking points, throttle control, and weight transfer. It still remains an arcade racer at heart, but there is enough depth here to make the driving engaging, especially with assists disabled. Drifting also feels far more natural in this environment than in previous Horizon titles, even if it still lacks the danger and intensity of proper sim racing experiences like Assetto Corsa.

One of the smartest additions is the Discover Japan progression system. Previous Horizon games often gave players beautiful worlds without much reason to slow down and appreciate them. Here, the game actively encourages exploration through cultural landmarks, side stories, and smaller events that focus on Japanese car culture and scenery instead of pure speed.

The result is a Horizon game that finally feels connected to its setting rather than simply using it as a backdrop.

The handling model also sees noticeable improvements. Horizon has always sat in the middle ground between full arcade and full simulation, but Horizon 6 feels more believable than previous entries. Cars rotate naturally, trail braking matters more, and momentum management becomes surprisingly important during touge races. It still prioritizes accessibility, but there is enough nuance here to keep experienced racing game players engaged.

That said, steering wheel compatibility remains inconsistent.

If you use sim racing hardware, expect some frustration. Direct drive wheel support is functional, but clearly secondary to controller gameplay. USB compatibility issues still exist, force feedback can become unreliable depending on your setup, and some ecosystems require workarounds to function properly. Once configured, the experience is decent, particularly for casual cruising, but this is still fundamentally a controller-first racing game.

On PC, however, the game is exceptional technically. Performance optimization is excellent, DLSS implementation is among the best currently available, and the graphical fidelity scales incredibly well across hardware. Even mid-range systems can comfortably achieve high frame rates at 1440p with impressive visual settings enabled.

More importantly, the game is simply fun.

That sounds obvious, but it matters. Forza Horizon 6 constantly creates moments where you lose track of time. One more race becomes another hour of exploration. One road leads to another mountain pass. One drift event turns into a photo session in downtown Tokyo during a thunderstorm. The variety of cars, environments, and activities keeps the game feeling fresh for far longer than most open-world racers.

Could Playground Games have leaned even harder into Japanese street racing culture? Absolutely. There could have been more dedicated touge systems, more underground-style racing events, and deeper drift mechanics. The foundation is there, but occasionally the game feels slightly restrained compared to what fans imagined.

Even so, this is still the strongest Horizon game yet.

Japan delivers exactly the kind of atmosphere the series needed, the map is outstanding, the graphics are incredible, and the gameplay loop remains dangerously addictive. Forza Horizon 6 does not reinvent the franchise, but it perfects the formula more than any previous entry.

If you have been waiting years for Horizon to finally come to Japan, this one absolutely delivers.