Forza Horizon 6 Review: The Best Racing Game in Years?

It’s been a five-year wait since Forza Horizon 5, but it’s been worth it. Forza Horizon 6 is here, and while the series was hitting a little bit of a “been-there, done-that” feeling, this instalment breathes new life into the franchise thanks to a stellar world, variety of races, and a great balance of slick fantastical gameplay and realistic car physics.

While most franchises and series entries get bogged down with technical details and over-elaborate management modes, the best things about Forza Horizon are all about making racing games feel fun again, and Forza Horizon 6 is the pinnacle of that endeavour.

For this Forza Horizon playground of vehicular chaos, the franchise has moved to Japan, which is a stellar showcase for the colourful visuals and diversity of racing tracks that Horizon has become known for. From pink cherry blossom-laden streets and the neon-lit cityscape to gorgeous coastal roads and lush forests, Japan is arguably the best location for a Forza Horizon game to date.

While the worlds have always been “pretty”, Japan has delivered the most detailed and interesting world to look at – it’s as great flying through it at 200km/h as it is slowly cruising around, and that’s not something many racing games can claim. There’s been a painstaking attention to detail this time around, and there are so many ‘lively’ things happening in the city, making you feel like you’re a part of this ongoing world, rather than just racing through set-dressing.

Gameplay-wise, FH6 sticks with the tone of previous Horizon entries. For newcomers, this is not a hardcore racing sim, but rather a fever-dream fantasy of what high-end racing should be. Cars are all fully licensed and reflect their real-life counterparts, but steering is loose and drifty, the highest of speed limits are easy to hit, and taking a Lamborghini on an off-road shortcut is the norm. This arcade feel, while approachable, has a load of depth to it too, which makes Forza Horizon 6 an extremely accessible experience for those who like a little bit of ‘edge’ to their racing, but still appeals to those who love the finer appreciation of timing drifts and planning meticulous overtakes.

The festival element that has been present throughout previous Horizon games is also present throughout the game world, with vivid flags, structures, and designs splattered across the Japanese landscape, really making you feel like you and your racing buddies have taken over the town and surrounding areas for the weekend.

Of course, the Forza Horizon series has always been a looker, and the sixth entry ups the ante on the graphical front. The racing is silky smooth, and you won’t see a framerate hiccup anyway (at least not in our experience). In addition to the meticulously detailed cars, the particle effects — whether mud flying or shooting gravel — always look superb and add a tangibility to the racing, making you feel like your car’s wheels are firmly planted in the game world… well, at least before and after you ramp over a giant mech (it makes sense when you play it).

The Forza Horizon series has been setting the benchmark of an open-world arcade racer for quite some time now, and with Forza Horizon 6, the team at Playground Games are leaving little room for anyone to catch up. It’s one of the best-looking, best-feeling, and overall best racing games you’ll have the pleasure of getting your hands on.

Forza Horizon 6 is available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.