Pack your bags, gamers; you’re going to Japan. Forza Horizon 6, the latest in the award-winning, open-world driving adventure series, drops May 19. Playground Games took Intel Gaming Access out for a practice spin to preview what players can expect from their most ambitious entry yet.
Who’s Got Your Back
Playground Games is a UK-based team of developers dedicated to the creation of unforgettable gaming experiences. Formed in 2010, the studio is not only responsible for Forza Horizon but also the forthcoming reboot of Fable. On Forza Horizon, the team worked closely with Turn 10 Studios, creators of the similarly award-laden Forza franchise. The publisher working with this perfect pairing is Xbox Game Studios, home to the teams behind Age of Empires, Forza, Halo, Minecraft, Sea of Thieves, and many more.
Now that you know who’s behind the wheel, you can relax and focus on the terrain ahead.
Bigger in Japan
“The Horizon Festival is a celebration of beautiful cars, iconic music, and breathtaking locations around the world,” Playground Games tells us, “and Japan is the ideal location for Forza Horizon 6. It’s full of beautiful landscapes and stunning contrasts of rural and urban, modern and traditional. It’s also the largest map in a Horizon game yet, and it’s full of verticality, diverse biomes, seasonality, and breathtaking driving experiences—all elevated by Japan’s unique car culture.”
The cars are the stars, after all, and in Forza Horizon 6 you can drive over 550 of them—including Japanese domestic market (JDM) classics—while experiencing cutting-edge engine audio and updated steering animations with up to 540 degrees of wheel rotation. “As you explore Japan,” Playground Games says, “you will collect special Forza Edition cars fitted with extreme modifications and find rare Aftermarket Cars to test drive and buy. Your path to making a name for yourself will see you meet the Legends of the Horizon Festival, participate in Touge Battles, and experience authentic car culture stories.”
You don’t arrive in Japan as a star yourself, however. You’ll have to qualify to develop your path. “When you first arrive in Japan,” Playground Games explains, “you start out as a tourist, there to explore a world full of hit music and Japanese culture, with curated J-pop tunes and special mascots. Exploration is at the heart of Forza Horizon 6, and everything you find on your road trip is something for you to collect: cars, houses, landmarks, mascots, and more. You get to build a valley estate and have the opportunity to buy awe-inspiring homes with fully customizable garages, [where you] show off your hard-earned collection of cars.”
Cars. Culture. Community
Forza Horizon 6 is about culture as much as competition, and you won’t be alone on the journey from tourist to driver to committed petrolhead with a garage full of incredible cars for you to drive and customize. “The Horizon Festival is always better with others,” Playground Games affirms. “Seamlessly participate in Time Attack Circuits and Drag Meets, or show off your customized cars at Car Meets. Earn new co-op LINK skills with other players, compete in Spec Racing Championships, or jump into the Horizon Multiplayer modes you know and love including The Eliminator and nail-biting Hide & Seek.”
This collaborative aspect gives players multiple opportunities to create. “In Forza Horizon 6, players can now create with unprecedented freedom anywhere in Japan as they build custom events with their friends in CoLab,” Playground Games enthuses. “The upgraded EventLab toolset now features multiplayer support and the ability to build literally anywhere in the world. There is an evolving catalog of exciting new content created by the community to check out!”
Under the Hood
When you see cars cutting through a glistening canyon of snow and ice or tearing up a carpet of cherry blossom, you can appreciate the artistry and engineering that went into creating Forza Horizon 6. “As a location, Japan offered numerous unique challenges and opportunities for us, versus previous projects,” Playground Games explains. “Our version of Tokyo is far larger, contains much more variety, and a completely different visual. This required us to develop a new approach—our buildings are now highly-modular in their construction, comprised of many individual pieces which are procedurally assembled in-line with rulesets curated by our artists. This allows us to retain that hand-crafted look while being much more efficient, and was pivotal to delivering something of this size. Another unique feature of Horizon’s Japan is the sheer amount of bridges, tunnels, and elevated road infrastructure. This again required us to invest in our procedural tools and technology to be able to deliver those features at scale and within our production timeline. We’re immensely proud of what our artists and engineers have achieved on this project.”
The investment pays off, but what’s the best way to appreciate it on your set up? Playground Games has the answers: “Forza Horizon 6 unleashes the power and flexibility of the PC platform with 4K HDR visuals, enhanced ray-tracing features, and high uncapped frame rates. With support for ultrawide monitor resolutions, you can fully immerse yourself in Japan’s endless beauty. Pairing the Intel® Arc™ A580 with an Intel® Core™ i5-12400F or higher, PC players can experience the breathtaking landscapes of Japan with our ‘High’ graphical preset, a resolution of 1440p and a 60 FPS target frame rate.”
This isn’t Intel’s first time around a circuit with Forza Horizon, and it’s a relationship that continues to develop. “Our collaboration with Intel started in Forza Horizon 5 with the release of our Series 20 Update, which introduced Intel® Xe Super Sampling (XeSS) as a temporal up-scaling solution for our players on PC,” Playground Games recalls. “We’re incredibly excited to take the next step in Forza Horizon 6 with the addition of the Intel® XeSS 2.1, which will be available at the launch of the game.”
On the Starting Line
Forza Horizon 6 drops May 19, but players can purchase the Premium Edition to gain advanced access four days ahead of the full release (May 15). After that? Playground Games are not going to let their engines idle. “The release of Forza Horizon 6 is only the start of our adventures in Japan! We’ll continue to support the game through our Live Program, regularly introducing new cars and content in series updates. Players can look forward to new weekly events on the Festival Playlist, and we’re also working on two expansions included in the Premium Edition that will be made available after release. These each introduce a new location to discover, exciting new vehicles to collect and drive, and fun new gameplay to engage with.”
Start your engines, gamers; Japan Awaits!
Pre-purchase Forza Horizon 6 on Steam
Download the XBox PC app here
Forza Horizon 6 is included in the XBox Game Pass
