With the first hands-on previews now out, Yannik and Connor are looking forward to Forza Horizon 6 a lot more than before - and that's due to one specific factor.
Arguably the biggest racing game release of 2026, Forza Horizon 6 will arrive on May 19 - or May 15 for those who preorder the game. That means some patience is still needed, and we won't fully know what the franchise's first trip to Japan will be about until shortly before the game launches.
However, the first hands-on previews released on April 8, including that by our own @Michel Wolk (which is embedded below for your viewing pleasure) did show enough for an initial impression. And that impression made our editors, Yannik and Connor, look forward to the new open-world racer quite a bit more than before, thanks mostly to one specific factor.
I guess I've given away what piqued my interest more than before right in that headline, didn't I? Anyway, the short version of it is: Forza Horizon 6 looks to be way less flashy and much more relatable when it comes to its car list than its predecessor, and I feel like that's a good thing - for me personally, that is.
You see, as much as I like the early Horizon games, Forza Horizon 5 and I never really clicked. And I did try to like it. But in the end, it was a bit too much in regards of wheelspins, insane challenges of racing planes while pulling off killer jumps in the jungle in a priceless hypercar, that sort of stuff. It seemed in your face all of the time, and that's not really something I enjoy.
It might be that Horizon 6 is similar and Playground Games simply hasn't shown that yet. But from what has been shown already, this seems toned down. Of course, it is still bold, loud and fast, but in a different way. It is what makes the open-world franchise what it is, after all. The official gameplay preview of the first six minutes of Horizon 6 is hectic in that way, absolutely. There's no way that ramping a widebodied Porsche off an gigantic ramp towards a rocket - you know, one that goes to space and stuff - isn't significantly over the top.
Start Low, Build Slow(ly)
But what appears to be different, and this goes hand in hand with the rest of the gameplay that Michel also showed, is that Horizon 6 seems to return to the "build your own box" concept of earlier titles a bit more. Not that I'm a buff on Japanese car culture - far from it, actually -, but there are a lot more relatable cars on the content list. Cars that are cool and desirable, but not ones that have lower odds of you ever seeing it in real life than F1 going a single race without a track limit discussion.
Instead, you have cars that were top of the line a while ago, but are still nice. Classics from the 1990s, icons from the 80s, or even what one might call a "shitbox" - they're all there for you to drive, upgrade, and make them your own, with them eventually turning into beasts. The stuff that Japanese tuning culture seems to be all about.
I am crossing my fingers that this will be leaned on more heavily in Forza Horizon 6 instead of the game just throwing cars your way as prizes every other minute. Personally, I'd love to have to spend time with a car, customize to really make it my own, and build up its own story a bit - no to do just three races with it, then tossing it aside for a shinier, more powerful set of wheels that I was simply presented with.
That would be the kind of game to really sink your teeth into, and if Playground Games and Xbox Game Studios do indeed put this approach into the game, then I can definitely see myself playing lots and lots of Forza Horizon 6 once it's out.
The footage that's out so far is relatively encouraging in that regard. The game returning to the wristband progression system of older Horizon titles - which I really liked in the first game of the series, for instance - could be an indicator that this is indeed possible.
Even the cover car is a bit less outrageous: Whereas Forza Horizon 5 had the Mercedes-AMG One, a hypercar stuffed to the brim with F1 technology and limited to 275 examples, Horizon 6 goes with the Toyota GR GT. A spectacular car in its own right, and probably not one most of us will ever drive, but it does seem closer to a car that some of us might actually drive someday.
So yes, I am ready to take a fairly unassuming mid-90s sedan and turn it into a powerhouse with its own personality eventually - but I'd like to take my time, please!
Connor - A return to form and accurate modifications
The Forza Horizon series plays a distant yet important role in my love for cars and all things racing-related. The first iteration of the series was by far the entry I played the most and have the fondest memories of.
Playing Forza Horizon 1 alongside Forza Motorsport 4 on the Xbox 360 with two of my early friends each day after school became somewhat of a tradition, and those games were much less about giving out free stuff and more about working and racing for each vehicle you got rewarded with.
I was the motorsport-obsessed one in that trio of schoolmates, so I played a lot of Forza Motorsport 4 instead of Horizon outside of those sessions, so eventually completing it and excitedly looking forward to the next instalment was, and always will be, a core memory for me.
Pre-release Honda Civic at a second-hand dealership. The price even matches what crazy JDM fans would pay for these cars...
I made the decision to switch to the PS4 when the next generation of consoles came out, and was suitably enveloped by the Gran Turismo Sport online racing obsession. However, the love for the Forza franchise never left.
Forza Horizon 3, 4, and 5 have passed me by with little to no interest after the series stripped the games of gamification and the actual work required to achieve the game's best parts. Forza Horizon 6 feels different. I am ready to be proved wrong, but for the first time in a long time, I want to give Forza Horizon a proper go again and see what it has to offer.
Yes, it will not compare to the original in any way with how the markets work or how you earn cars, but the ethos and mindset in which you play Forza Horizon 6 seems to be very different to the 5th game, and in a similar way to Yannik, the presence of a much more modest car list compared to the outragous creations of the previous game give me hope. Time will tell, but as an old Forza Horizon fan, I am very excited about what we could receive on May 19th.
Modifying cars
Modifying cars and making them just that little bit more individual and special is a huge part of cars and racing games for me. Creating a vision for a car as soon as I set my eyes on it is something I have not been able to kick ever since Need for Speed: Underground 2 and aforementioned Forza Motorsport 4.
Japanese car culture is all about expression through cars, or at least the underground scene is now, with all of Japan's new car regulations, so having a game that is blowing its own trumpet about its customisability in Japan is a match made in heaven.
A pre-release shot of the Toyota Celica's tyre choice
From the gameplay we have been able to try so far, the baseline is there. There is no total freedom, and there never will be with licensed car models, but there do appear to be many official aftermarket brands that bring a lot to the table for those of us who love modifying cars.
To conclude, Forza Horizon 6 looks to be very exciting and exactly what I am after in a chill arcade racing game. However, the old Forza Horizon mannerisms could be lurking ready to ruin that, time will tell once the title releases.
What do you think about Forza Horizon 6? Is there one specific thing that you are looking forward to about it? Let us know in the comments down below!