If there is one constant from Xbox’s recent (and very shaky) output of titles, is that Forza Horizon is not only their most critically acclaimed franchise, but possibly THE most critically acclaimed racing franchise of all time. Yes, I said what I said, Gran Turismo followers. The mixture of open world exploration, phenomenal physics, accessibility options and collectathon elements resulted in what I personally consider to be the perfect racing game formula. The announcement of Forza Horizon 6 was enough to make me feel excited, but I was also asking myself: how would they be able to topple Forza Horizon 5, one of the very few games I ever gave a 10 in this website?

Here’s the thing: it didn’t. There is a lot to love about this game, I will shower it with a lot of praise in this review, but I also feel a bit worried about the franchise’s formula. Diminishing returns on an otherwise stupendous racing game series that is still leagues, miles, lightyears away from its competition.

You’re trying to tell me to drive at a brisk pace, but once Babymetal kicks in, there’s nothing that can hold me back.

Forza Horizon 5 was set in Mexico, and to me, it was the perfect setting for a racing game. Mexico is geographically varied, colorful, full of different biomes, close to the United States in terms of access to motoring resources, and culturally known for its charisma, easygoing attitude, and penchant for celebrations. That game had deserts, mountains, colorful pueblos, highways, everything I could have ever asked for in an open world racing game setting. Forza Horizon 6 had a tough challenge of finding a place as varied in terms of geography, and with enough of a unique attitude towards culture and motoring to even be able to be compared to its predecessor. They decided to go with Japan.

Honestly? Perfect choice. Even though other games like Tokyo Xtreme Racer and JDM: Japanese Drift Master tried to offer the same premise, they simply cannot compete with the scope of a Forza Horizon game. I was excited to see if Playground Games would be able to come up with a map that would be fun to explore, and represent Japan’s unique automotive industry in a way that felt fresh and accurate. But at the same time, I was wondering: the premise of these games, the Horizon Festival, is the very opposite of Japan’s social and automotive culture.

The city that never sleeps. I mean, the other one.

So, about these results. Sure, some of the most important aspects of Japan’s car culture, such as being able to drive minuscule kei cars, do some touge (one-on-one drift races on twisty mountains) duels, race on a carbon copy of the Shuto Expressway, and tune the hell out of an import, are all present, and boy, do they feel delightful. The moment I saw that the game allowed me to grab a 63hp kei truck, I was flipping with excitement. And to let me do food delivery minigames whilst driving one? Legit fantastic.

Tokyo comprises about a tenth of the game’s map, in an aggressively reduced version of the real thing. At first, driving through Tokyo felt absolutely mesmerizing. There was the Tokyo Tower, Shibuya Crossing, Akihabara, and so on. Driving at night on the Shuto Expressway felt like what this year’s Tokyo Xtreme Racer was trying to accomplish, but was hindered due to a low budget. Listening to radio stations featuring legit Japanese bangers, including Babymetal’s “Gimme Chocolate”, as well as an entire radio station playing J-pop, helped tie the game’s legitimacy towards its host country.

Stereotypical? Yes. Gorgeous? Also yes.

But there are some issues with this version of Tokyo: it is barren. Very few cars on the street, very few people on the sidewalk, and not enough tight streets with izakayas and maze-like layouts to make this actually feel like the Tokyo we know and love. I didn’t even mind the lack of Kabukicho (also known as Kamurocho in the Yakuza series) or its surroundings, but seeing a lot empty streets with a lot of samey buildings copied and pasted next to one another made me feel like I could be racing on any other place, and I wouldn’t notice too much of a difference. Other than, maybe, people driving on the left side of the road, but then again, Forza Horizon 4 had the same thing. When I think about it, so did Horizon 3.

The rest of the map is awesome to explore, but it’s chunks of it that make it interesting. There is a lot of empty nothingness in here; perfect for a race, but not exactly what you think about Japan as a whole. The geographical variety was limited to a bit of an admittedly gorgeous snowy mountain (though we’ve seen that before), a bit of a coastal setting (again, been there done that), and a lot of mountainous greeneries. The Horizon Festival site is set in the middle of the map, in a way that feels like the complete opposite of what a festival in Japan would feel like, and its layout, to be honest, is the same as literally any other Horizon Festival in any other game.

I love the Forza Horizon community, and their artwork skills.

So map-wise, Forza Horizon 6 is… good. Chunks of it are great, bits of it were underwhelming, and a lot of it just felt like any other Horizon game. Still lots of different events, barn finds (more on those later), and a new inclusion of hint-based “treasure cars”. Those act like barn finds, but aren’t marked on the map. You are given a picture of where the car is, and you gotta figure out a way to find it. Honestly, pretty genius, pretty fun. Too bad there’s just nine of them in the entire game. Also, of course, barn finds are everywhere, and are plentiful.

Now, let’s talk about progression. That is something that, for some players of the franchise, has been a point of contention. Let’s just say that, for some people, Forza Horizon games are too easy: you tend to get a stupidly fast car within just a couple of hours, and the rest of the game becomes trivial. I get the point, even though it had never bothered me… until now.

Yes. You race against a mech in Forza Horizon 6. Also yes, the game peaks at that point.

In Forza Horizon 6, there are two “story paths” to follow: one centered around the Horizon Festival itself, which is the standard collection of events, races, public relations stunts, and whatnot; and also one centered around getting to know Japan, which is something new to this entry in particular. The “Discovering Japan” path is centered around doing touristic drives, touge races, smashing mascot-shaped boards, taking pictures of landmarks… everything that is centered around, well, discovering Japan. In theory, the kind of thing that would allow Forza Horizon 6 to tie itself as a “virtual tourism tool”, just like how the Yakuza games have perfectly managed to do.

Though I have some qualms with Playground Games’ approach. I think Forza Horizon 6 could and should have done a lot more with its fantastic setting. It never felt like a truly immersive dive in Japan’s culture, be it general or automotive. Sure, touge is here, I can literally race against a mech at one point (a moment in which, honestly, the game peaks in cool factor, only leaning downwards afterwards), and I can even do some Doordash deliveries with a kei truck, but I was honestly feeling more like a Western tourist doing either Western things or overly touristic crap in Japan.

Guretto Sukotto, Marti-kun!

For instance, one of the first things the game does is offer you a freaking GMC truck as one of your starting vehicles. Everyone you meet, with the exception of a guy with the most forced accent in existence, sounds American or British. The whole Horizon Festival vibe, with jet planes, a bagillion fireworks, open air metal concerts… I dunno, damn thing felt perfect in Mexico or the UK, where it felt like I was attending Reading, but not good old Nippon itself. There’s also the aforementioned half-empty Tokyo, as well as the fact some other racing games had already tackled the same setting in a slightly more “true Japanese way” (it helps that Genki IS as Japanese as it gets, for instance).

But honestly, what may have been my biggest point of contention in Forza Horizon 6 as a whole is its car roster. Simply put, they should have done better with a game about Japan’s car industry. Sure, you have a lot of Skylines, a Toyota Crown taxi car, and a few keis, but man, it’s not enough. Not enough keis, no Suzukis at all (the literal best-selling car brand in Japan), no Daihatsus, very few Japanese cars from the 60s, and so on. But boy oh boy, if you want to drive a six-wheeled Ford truck, a Hummer, or a literal Cadillac limousine which is larger and wider than some of the cramped Tokyo alleyways you can drive on, you sure as hell can.

It wouldn’t be a celebration of the Japanese industry without a few kei cars. Though I don’t think there are enough in this game’s roster.

I understand licensing is a big issue, but I wonder how Genki was able to have Suzukis in its vastly cheaper game, for instance. I don’t get the sheer absence of older cars that made the industry in the first place, or how most barn finds are either an obvious pick, such as the stereotypical 2000GT, a random Skyline, or just a lot of foreign imports. This is the moment where we should have been gifted a Toyota Century, a Subaru 360, a Mitsuoka, or any of the many cars featured in Gran Turismo, for example.

It’s not like how Forza Horizon 4, set in the UK, perfectly managed to pay homage to its industry with the vast majority of its event or barn cars being classic British entries. In the one chance Forza could have toppled Gran Turismo in Japanese-focused scope, I felt like this end result was a bit half-baked. Granted, every single Forza Horizon game is known for having lots of post-game updates and seasonal library additions. A Mazda concept car is this season’s first big flagship car, for instance. it’s not ideal, but since it doesn’t cost you additional money (and Forza Horizon‘s seasonal events are an absolute blast), that’s an actual perfect incentive to keep you glued in front of the TV.

Dear Playground Games: when I’m playing a racing game set in Japan, a RAM truck is the LAST thing I would want to drive…

I don’t want to sound overly negative in a review of a game as fantastic as Forza Horizon 6, however. This is still, by and large, the pinnacle of the racing genre, a game with a sheer ludicrous amount of content and quality. It is just a game released after the franchise had already peaked, so there’s no other direction but downwards for it. It could have done a bit more with its Japan-centered setting, and its progression system is starting to get a bit old at this point. With that being said, I’ve been playing it for nearly a hundred hours up to this point. There’s a lot to love in it. Looks great, sounds fantastic, controls like a dream. There’s still nothing like a Forza Horizon game. Even when it’s inferior to its predecessors, it’s still much better than its peers.

Forza Horizon 6 is available now on Xbox Series S/X and PC.

Reviewed on Xbox Series S.