From BMW's to BAC's, many sim racers love their real-life cars. Could Forza Horizon 6's deep customisation and broad car list be the perfect playground for those who love to mess around with a virtual version of their own car?
A lot of sim racers are big car guys and girls in the real world, and whilst most of us might not own a Porsche GT3 RS or a classic Corvette, our real car means a lot to us. Building our real cars, either as accurately as we can or as we would if money were no object, is often a lot of fun. Could Forza Horizon 6 be the perfect base for this?
Car meets are set to be a big part of the Forza Horizon 6 experience. Image: Playground Games
Editors note
For me, my car is what I spend all of my spare money on and something that I try and look after the best I can. You might recognise the car from other articles, but in case you haven't seen it before, I own this BMW E39 535i Sport in one of my favourite BMW colours ever: Imola Red.
The car has a 3.5L V8, and whilst it sounds like Zeus shouting from Olympus, it's an automatic and lacks the raw power of the E39 M5, and this is where Forza Horizon 6 comes in. Seldom does the E39 appear in sim racing or racing games in general, outside of the Forza franchise. A brief appearance in Gran Turismo 5 and Need for Speed: High Stakes is on record, but both Forza Horizon and Motorsport franchises have always had the E39's number.
I built my car as accurately as I could in Forza Motorsport 4 whilst researching and playing through what is still one of my favourite racing games ever released for an article back in October 2025.
Building the M5 version of this car just set in stone that an M5 E39 is on the horizon for me; even just thrashing it around Silverstone in Forza Motorsport 4 gave me enough childlike glee that my realistic dream car became something I began to seriously consider once a few more life obstacles had been cleared.
Looping back to Forza Horizon 6, this new game has a heavy focus on second-hand cars and customising them to exactly how you want them to be, at least tha tis what we are expecting. The reality is looking slightly more worrying for those who want full creative freedom.
There are still crazy Forza cars, and the modification catalogue will not be like looking through the back pages of a Japanese magazine from the 1990s, but it does appear to be a serious step forward for the franchise. Check out mine and Yannik's opinion piece on the future of Forza Horizon and let us know what you think about the game's pre-release information so far over there!
Forza Horizon 6's Customisation Promises
With the new game set in Japan, customising and modifying cars was always going to have to take on a much more central role in how the story and playthrough pan out. If we look through the Forza Horizon 6 car list, there is such a wealth of JDM and European cars that are stereotypically modified that a stock one is rarer to see than a modified one. The Mk1 Mazda MX-5 and Subaru BRZ STI are two obvious examples of this.
All the new tyre choices, pre-release preview build of Forza Horizon 6.
The so-called deep-dive on customisation that Playground Games released in preparation for the launch showcased window stickers, more Forza Aero parts, and lots of new tyre options and sizes for cars. This addresses some wants from Forza Horizon 5, but is that really enough for new content when modifying cars is at the core of Japanese car culture?
The wider Forza community seems excited for the customisation options, but those who take it seriously and love perfecting their cars have had a lot to say in the build-up to the game. Reddit user R00kridge puts it brilliantly.
"They showed off these really cool Forza edition cars, not so much the Miata, but the Nissan escargot with the time attack style rear wing. That's the level of customisation I want. Obviously, I get that I can't fill my vehicle with chassis stiffening and then relocate the engine to the middle of the vehicle and then have it detailed inside, but still I want to be able to put on the really big over fenders and remove a headlight and turn it to an intake and then give my vehicle this really huge homemade Flat full floor downforce generator like it hanging out of the back of that car.
And it kind of made me angry when they were talking about how cool it was to be able to build this in the game that they were able to do it, and that we weren't able to do it kind of made me a little annoyed if I'm being honest with you." - R00kridge via r/ForzaHorizon
We want to see what cars you have, any modifications you have done and if you want to recreate them in Forza Horizon 6 in the comments down below! There is a lot of creativity in the OverTake community, so we cannot wait to see the builds you have planned!