Let me just get this out of the way: the best part about playing the preview build of Forza Horizon 6 was sitting on the couch. I’ve been describing FH6, which launches on Xbox and PC on May 19, 2026, and later this year for PlayStation 5, to friends as a delightful change of pace in recent driving games. No demanding license system or expensive sim rig required. Just a video game, a controller, and some free time. The way video games were meant to be enjoyed.
The actual driving still has that easy Horizon Festival charm. You gain nothing but firmware updates and expenses by playing this on a dedicated sim rig. The ability to design your own garage and transform an open area into your very own Pastranaland is just more evidence that FH6 is meant for joysticks rather than a steering wheel and pedals.
Playground Games
And honestly, the garage stuff is among our favorite new items in the game. The way it has been described in the teasers leading up to its launch doesn’t really prepare you for intricately adding, scaling, and designing every inch of your virtual shop space. The damn thing might as well be a tool for preparing contractors to build the real stuff. Gamers familiar with “detailing” in city-builders such as Cities: Skylines will appreciate the incredible level of customization.
It’s also where you’ll spend much of your time making your car look really cool—or embarrassingly cringe—depending on what you’re going for. We added mud flaps, rally lamps, and an engine swap to a Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 with what credits we could earn in the first hour of the game. It took a striking resemblance to both the design and contents of a hospital bedpan, but boy, was it fun to drive.
At least in the preview stage, the in-game currency is as easy to accumulate as passive income. Even in easier difficulties, there’s a chance for you to goof up and lose the race, but for the most part, if you approach events with the mantra of crashing into first place, you’ll finish most challenges somewhere on the podium. It doesn’t take many events to inflate your bank account, and just like in real life, we’re all just saving up for some completely offensive engine swap—the Galant obviously yearns for an LS.
Playground Games
Japan looks beautiful in Horizon 6, even if it continues to use the same ForzaTech gaming engine that’s over a decade old. The weather sounds and feels like an evolution of Forza Horizon 5, and it makes capturing gorgeous gameplay screenshots easy. Different biomes split Japan, while seasonal changes make it feel alive. Honestly, if Horizon just stayed in Japan for future iterations, we’d be totally cool with it. Downtown Tokyo feels dense and chaotic, while exploring mountain roads and open fields has us wondering if this is just all an elaborate Toyota GR GT mod in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, except with way more ponies.
Senior editor and resident Forza fanatic, Carter Fry, said during his playtime that the varying elevation in the new game stood out. “Tokyo City makes Surfer’s Paradise in Horizon 3 look like a Lego kit.” Sure, Carter, whatever that means. We also noticed that while there are more NPC vehicles (NPVs, maybe?), the roads are mostly empty. We’re the last group to beg for congested highways, but certainly downtown Tokyo is deserving of a few more taxis.
Playground Games
Early on, the game has you driving all sorts of good cars. Namely, the 641-hp Toyota GR GT, which is an absolute treat, but there’s also a widebody Nissan Silvia, and to our surprise, an off-road event that requires the very American K5 GMC Jimmy. Where is the 1987 Nissan 300ZR? Maybe it’s out there somewhere, and hopefully, the mention of it in this article is enough to convince the developers at Playground Games to add it to the game.
Mention of the Forza Horizon 6 preview in Microsoft Teams was enough to garner four flame emojis and 10 hearts from the gamers among the C/D staff. Then came the flood of feet toward our office’s Xbox Series X. We were impressed by FH6’s beautiful depiction of Japan, its new garage mode, and the driving. This is one we think even hardcore sim-racing fans can enjoy, as a break from professional driving. We hope the rest of the game is as exciting as its first few moments.
Playground Games
Forza Horizon 6 is available for preorder in various levels of bundles and perks via Microsoft Store, Steam, or you can wishlist it for PlayStation to be notified on its release date for Sony-badged consoles. If you’re already a Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass subscriber, you’ll get FH6 as part of your membership, though if you spring for the extra Premium Upgrade, you can get early access starting May 15.
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Austin Irwin has worked for Car and Driver for over 10 years in various roles. He’s steadily worked his way from an entry-level data entry position into driving vehicles for photography and video, and is now reviewing and testing cars. What will he do next? Who knows, but he better be fast.