Forza Horizon 6 vs. Previous Games: Is It Worth €70 for Your Teen Gamer?

The Forza Horizon series has perfected a popular formula. Unlike annualized sports games, which are criticized for repetition, Forza’s less frequent releases usually escape that scrutiny. Yet, despite its dominance of the arcade racing genre over the last decade, the core formula changes little from entry to entry. A new setting, a few tweaks, and the cycle repeats, appealing to millions but rarely innovating. Is this consistent approach enough to justify the rising asking price, especially for teen gamers?

That's the case with Forza Horizon 6, which means this should be an easy review to write. I could minimally modify a thought from my Forza Horizon 5 review and write: everything I praised about the fifth installment, I can praise about the sixth one, and everything I complained about in that game, I don't like in this new one either. However, the new Forza is €10 more expensive than its predecessor, and the same tricks it's been using for the sixth time now are starting to feel worn out to me.

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The Initial Promise of Something Different

The initial premise actually promises a different approach. We don't start Forza 6 as a driver guaranteed a spot at the festival; instead, we have to qualify for it first. Even better: we've arrived in Japan without a penny to our name and without a car to drive for qualifications. Right at the beginning, the game hints that we can earn money by delivering food around Tokyo, and I immediately thought this was an unexpected way to start a Forza game. However, it turns out that the so-called Raku Raku food deliveries are optional missions, and not having a car is solved by the game giving you not one vehicle, but three at once. Like, choose the car you want to drive, but don't worry – all three cars are yours!

That's where the famous Oprah Show begins, where cars are given away left and right. Not only did I get three cars for free for three qualification races, but after completing those qualifications, I received three more new cars. Then the game informed me it was giving me an additional car as a thank-you for playing Forza Horizon 5. On top of that, I got a reward just for qualifying for the festival, spun the wheel of fortune, and boom – another vehicle as a gift. I thought to myself how it would only be fair if I bought at least one car out of the eight they'd given me for free. So I buy the first car I see, and guess what happens – seriously, try to guess what happens. Of course, the game rewards me for buying my first car with yet another car! After barely 30 minutes of playing, I had ten cars in my garage… even though I didn't even have a garage!

I know, I know – that's just how this game is, and I assume new generations of players love that dopamine rush when someone gives them things without having to work for them. Fortunately, this is the worst at the beginning because later the number of gifted cars starts to decrease. However, it still bothers me that in FH games, you can get a superb vehicle without any effort whatsoever, practically within the first hour of play. There's simply no sense of progression toward higher vehicle categories, no feeling of upgrading your car for an important race. Whenever something matters in Forza, the game itself chooses what you'll drive.

Forza's Mastery of Directed Races

If nothing else, at least Forza's sense of directed races is still world-class. The tracks and races take place in varied environments and in different conditions. Everything is always arranged so that during the drive, you notice attractive views: an impressive mountain in the distance, a rain-soaked city, etc. Whether it's street races or off-road competitions, Forza Horizon 6 makes the most of its map in interesting ways. And besides that, there are spectacular showcase races that are scripted but still impressive, serving to break up the monotony. In one of them, you race against a giant mecha – when was the last time you did that in other racing games?

Japan is the main star of Forza Horizon 6, and Playground Games has, as is now customary, outdone itself in creating an interesting map. They weren't lying when they said Tokyo is the largest city we've seen in FH games so far – you definitely have the impression that you're in an urban environment, not just in a slightly larger settlement. Of course, there's no talk of any authenticity here, especially not in the traffic segment, but in the context of a Forza game, you feel the difference compared to previous maps. It's enough to just drive through the urban parts of the map, where you'll see a beautiful network of overpasses, or through winding mountain roads, where you can easily fall off if you overdo the gas.

Players in FH6 are treated like tourists, and many activities are themed around "Discover Japan." There are missions where you can hear brief trivia about Japan, and then you go through drift school and similar things. Unlike Mexico in the fifth game, here the location is expressed through native Japanese music, so the atmosphere of Japan in Forza Horizon 6 is overall well captured. However, you're probably more interested in how it feels to drive around Japan than the atmosphere itself.

The Driving Model and Physics

And the driving model is identical to the previous games. This means a good sense of speed and almost non-existent physics when destroying things. If you didn't like the barriers, poles, and trees in Forza before, the barriers, poles, and trees in Forza are as solid as styrofoam; your impression won't change in the sixth installment either. Similarly, the AI settings when racing against computer opponents still feel like they're designed to artificially maintain tension in the race. The effect of drafting is sometimes non-existent, and opponents who drive the entire race flawlessly somehow conveniently leave an opportunity to overtake them in the last corner. It's comforting that you have plenty of difficulty settings to choose from, but I think the most fun racing is found in competing against other players.

To summarize what you're getting with Forza Horizon 6, here's how the game breaks down across its core dimensions:

Like all previous Forzas, this one has a ton of content that can be played in various ways. If this is your first Forza, all of that will be new to you, and my complaints about the lack of novelty won't bother you. However, if in the sixth installment you're just "continuing your driving career," I must admit that, apart from the new driving location, I don't see any novelty I would describe as significant. One of the selling points is the return of seasons that change the map, but for some reason, during my 15 hours of gameplay, the map only changed once; I didn't notice any difference, and I didn't even see when the next season should have occurred. Maybe it's a bug, and maybe I just missed an important part of the game, but I can't comment on the seasonal changes in Forza Horizon 6 at all.

The "Novelties" of Forza Horizon 6

Let's look at other updates then. From now on, it's possible to decorate houses and garages by buying a bunch of things and then arranging them so others can visit. I know some players will appreciate this, but in a racing game, I really don't play as a garage decorator. It seems to me that this feature was designed to keep players engaged with the game even after they've collected all the cars, as an additional way to spend virtual money. It's optional, so I can't complain, or as my colleague Dominik would say, it's definitely a good thing when you can put a dinosaur in the garage (to guard the cars). But if I were to decorate interiors, I'd play The Sims, not Forza.

Other updates are minor, so I'll just list them so you can judge for yourselves whether they're worth considering as new features:

• Touge Races: A new type of 1 vs. 1 confrontation on unlit, narrow, and winding roads

• Spec Racing Championship: A new multiplayer mode where everyone drives the same car with identical performance through a series of three races

• Car Meets: Serves as a gathering place for players whose vehicles you can view in the parking lot and download their visuals – and that's pretty much it.

• LINK Skills System in Multiplayer: Brings linked scoring with other players; for example, if you drift near another player, both you and they get bonus skill points

• Billboard Displays: You can see your multiplayer achievements on billboards within the game

• Autodrive Option: An autodrive option for free roaming, so you can have the car drive itself and then scroll through TikTok

Honestly, it's not much of a list of updates. We waited almost 5 years for a new Forza; it costs more than the previous one and brings fewer new features than sports games released every year. But on the other hand, the main novelty is still the new map, and everything within the game revolves around that.

Technical Performance and Graphics

On the technical side, Forza Horizon 6 is an impressive game, just like the last three installments. Besides the visual appeal of directed, romanticized shots of Japan, the game can boast of rich detail, effective environmental destruction, and realistic lighting… I think we can finally say that the impressive depiction of Japan from the decade-old Driveclub has been surpassed.

The game looks equally good with classic rasterization and when using ray tracing. In some parts of the game (for example, in Tokyo), the better reflections with ray tracing enabled are clearly visible, but even without it, the game looks excellent. Somewhat oddly, the rear-view mirrors were only active with ray tracing when using the cockpit camera, while in all other camera modes, they were black, which is probably a bug that will be quickly fixed. Besides that, I didn't notice any other anomalies, and there were no crashes in the PC version.

I'd say the game is fairly well optimized. With a GeForce RTX 4070 and an AMD Ryzen 9700X, I got stable 60 fps at 1440p with Extreme details without ray tracing, and even with ray tracing enabled on Ultra details, you could play at 60 fps with DLSS Quality settings. On consoles, there are also options to play at 30 and 60 fps, even on the Xbox Series S model.

In Conclusion

So, that's what Forza Horizon 6 is – another foreign country, another familiar routine. If you expected exactly that and nothing more from the game, there's no doubt that Japan's chapter of Forza will keep you engaged for a while longer. However, if you were hoping that exotic Japan might bring something different from the festival format we've driven in the previous five games, that clearly hasn't happened.

This doesn't necessarily have to be a problem because Forza Horizon 6, despite its lack of novelty, is still the most fun and content-rich arcade racing game in an open world. However, if you've spent the last ten years with Forza, chances are that with this installment, you might feel a slight fatigue with the material. The developers' effort to deliver an entertaining game is evident, but it's equally clear they're trying to push the same formula for the sixth time. So even though this is the richest and most diverse Forza to date, it's hard to experience it as such continuously. In the sixth installment, more fun will be found by players who are just starting to play this series or haven't yet gotten to know it.

Game Rating

7.5/10 — Forza Horizon 6 delivers a beautifully crafted open-world racing experience with excellent technical performance and an impressive Japanese setting, but the repetitive festival formula and lack of meaningful innovation make it feel like a well-polished iteration rather than a significant evolution.

Age Recommendation

Recommended for ages 10+ — The game features cartoon-style driving without graphic violence, focuses on racing competition rather than harm, and contains no mature content. However, the game's €70 price tag, online multiplayer elements, and gradual dopamine-reward mechanics (constant car gifting) make it better suited for players with some gaming experience and spending awareness. Younger children (8–9) can enjoy it with parental guidance, while teenagers and adults will find the most value in competitive multiplayer modes.

Gemini AI Summary

Forza Horizon 6 is the sixth entry in the wildly popular Forza Horizon arcade racing series, set in Japan and featuring Tokyo as its largest urban hub to date. While the game maintains the series' signature strengths—beautiful graphics, diverse race types, excellent technical optimization, and abundant content—it struggles with the fundamental issue of creative stagnation. The driving mechanics, reward systems, and overall formula remain virtually unchanged from previous installments, with the aggressive car-gifting mechanic (rewarding players with 10+ free vehicles in the first 30 minutes) undermining any sense of progression or achievement. Though the seasonal system promised meaningful map changes, players report minimal visual or mechanical differences. New features like garage decoration, Touge races, and the Spec Racing Championship add minor variety but fail to address the core repetition problem. The game shines technically, with impressive ray tracing, stable 60 fps performance even at high settings, and a meticulously detailed Japanese landscape. However, after nearly a decade of the same festival-based gameplay loop, Forza Horizon 6 feels like a beautiful but predictable continuation rather than a meaningful evolution. It will delight newcomers to the series and casual racing fans, but may leave veteran players fatigued by the familiar formula, despite the €10 price increase over its predecessor.