Playground Games kicked off the Xbox’s Developer_Direct with our very first look at the upcoming Forza Horizon 6. The Developer_Direct shared new details on some of the cars coming to the game, along with the beautiful Japan and the iconic car culture that will be featured. We also got to see a bit of gameplay, which showed some returning vehicles from Forza Horizon 5 and some new ones.
Revealed during a surprise announcement during the Tokyo Game Show 2025, Forza Horizon 6 will be the sixth entry in the franchise, and it takes us to Japan, a location that was probably the most-requested one at this point. Apart from releasing a short teaser trailer for the game, we just got tons of additional details through the Xbox Wire blog.
Forza Horizon 6 Reveals Cars, Culture, The Setting, and More During Developer_Direct
In Forza Horizon 6, you will begin your journey as a tourist of the country and have the dream of attending the Horizon Festival in Japan one day. Unlike the previous games in the franchise, you do not have a racing pedigree this time around, but rather, you only have a dream and a will to participate in the festival. Design Director, Torben Ellert details:
You have this motivation to go to Japan with the Horizon Festival, but you’re only attending as a fan, with a dream to take part in it
Throughout your journey, you will visit iconic Japanese locations, including beautiful mountains and urban spaces. Forza Horizon 6 is the biggest title in the franchise so far, and it comes with mountain vistas and passes, neon-soaked city plazas, and dockland strips. This time around, the team’s goal was not to accurately recreate Japan’s roads and spaces but to capture the essence of the place in a ‘smoother, condensed reality’.
It’s easy to think of an authentic space as a recreation of a place, but it’s less about that accuracy and more about the feel of it.
The game’s map comprises distinct districts that can easily be recognized. The suburbs on the outskirts of Tokyo feature narrow streets with telephone wires sweeping overhead, while a docklands district features huge cranes and towering freighters. The downtown area will allow you to drive through the iconic Shibuya Crossing, Ginko Avenue, and Tokyo Tower. This section of the map features urban streets, clever shortcuts, and hidden paths.
Accompanying you on your Horizon Festival adventure are two of your friends, Jordy and Mei. Jordy is also passionate about motorsports, while Mei is an experienced Japanese car builder. She is your key to the city of Japan as she provides an insider’s perspective on every step of the journey. This character was inspired by the real-world Playground Games’ Cultural Consultant Kyoko Yamashita.
Coming to the game’s Career and progression, Forza Horizon 6 goes back to the original wristband system, which was present in the earlier games of the franchise. As you begin your journey in the game, you will have a lower-ranking wristband with you, but as you progress further, you will upgrade to a new colour wristband, which will unlock new content for you, such as better cars and tougher races.
The Collection Journal is a new mechanic that is inspired by Japan’s rich stamp-collecting history, and it allows players to build a digital collection of mementos discovered throughout Japan. This is one of the key aspects of the new progression system of the title, offering new ways to explore the in-game world. As you take pictures of murals, landmarks, and other spots in the game, they are saved in your Collection Journal to give you a visual reminder of everything that you have visited so far on the map. Another classic Forza feature introduced in Forza Horizon 3 is coming back as well: houses.
There are eight houses in the game, and players can unlock them throughout their journey. These houses serve as fast travel spots, a customization space, and a detailed garage that can be modified according to the players’ taste and liking. The biggest change to this mechanic is the addition of The Estate, which is an empty piece of land in the game, and players are free to expand it however they want.
The Estate idea comes from the Japanese concept of Akiya, an abandoned piece of property in rural Japan, and these homes are passed down through families. In Forza Horizon 6, this piece of land belongs to your friend Mei’s family, and she has asked you to fix it for her. Every expansion on this piece of land will come from your hard-earned money, called CR, and as long as you have enough cash, you can buy and place anything here, like a personalized race track or even a mountain hideaway.
Japan’s automotive culture emphasizes car meets as well, where car enthusiasts gather late at night and admire each other’s rides or take part in street races. Car Meets are a part of Forza Horizon 6 as well, inspired by the Daikoku car meet, a spontaneous meeting place which is considered sacred ground for car enthusiasts. As a starting point, players will find three Car Meet spots in the game, one at the main Horizon Festival site, one towards the Alps, and the third one is the iconic Daikoku itself.
At these Car Meets, players can arrive in their favourite vehicles, meet other players, check out different rides, and download custom paint jobs. If they prefer, they can also buy a vehicle that they like. It will be a copy of the original owner’s ride, but it is an option. This is a brand-new way for players to form communities and interact with each other. Forza Horizon 2 featured Car Meets, and now they have returned, bigger and better.
Coming to the cars, Playground Games did not reveal too much at this point. We have the 2025 Toyota GR GT Prototype and the 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser as cover cars. Both of them are found on the official artwork of Forza Horizon 6, which was unveiled during the event as well. The artwork is inspired by the idea of ‘Japan as a land of contrasts: urban, rural, modern, and traditional.’ The visual style is influenced by the traditional Japanese ink style paintings known as
Pre-orders for Forza Horizon 6 are now live across PC and Xbox. The game is slated for release on PC via Steam and Microsoft Store, along with Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Cloud, and Xbox Game Pass. It is skipping PS5 for now, and it is aiming for a late 2026 release. Forza Horizon 5 will be released on May 19, 2026, on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud, and Steam alongside Game Pass Ultimate. The PS5 version will arrive later in 2026. Premium Edition players will get Early Access starting May 15, 2026.
What are your thoughts on the official reveal of Forza Horizon 6 during the Developer_Direct, and what are you hoping to see in the game when it comes out? Let us know in the comments section below.
