The Forza Horizon game franchise has long been in the pole position of racing titles. Not only are the games praised for their stunningly realistic-looking vehicles—so beautiful that you almost worry over driving for fear you’ll scratch them—but the games come with a massive car roster, sweet driving mechanics and an open-world racing appeal.
Forza Horizon 6, for instance,takes the speedy fun to Japan this go-round. It gives players a huge “sim-cade” racing experience tailored to Japan’s varied terrains—ranging from drifting through the streets of Tokyo to 4×4 highballing in the Japanese Alps to drag racing down the runways of Ito Airfield. Regardless of what you come in expecting, you’ll likely find FH6 to be packed with more than you anticipated.
Much like past games in the series, the first few minutes of play are designed to let you quickly try a variety of cars and racing styles to help you get a feel for what’s coming. And that introduction also lets you gage how good or bad you are at driving high-powered cars in a digital world.
The game offers eight different difficulty settings along with possible braking and maneuvering assists in the menu. You know, the sort of optional help you might appreciate while getting your, uh, wheels under you.
From there, it’s time to disengage the parking brake and qualify for the country-wide festival you’re a part of. You participate in beginning Horizon races and amass enough points to gain access into higher tier events—offering you better cars and a wider variety of racing locales and road conditions.
There are also some “Discover Japan” events on tap that let you slip into street races, food delivery jobs, some laid-back open-world roaming and the like. These options help players lift their foot off the gas pedal when they need a break from the hard-driving grind of the racing circuits. They also help gamers get a handle on the huge map of Japan they’ll be navigating.
As far as that hard-driving grind is concerned, FH6 offers a pretty wide variety of races.
You’re welcomed into high-speed point-to-point races on winding roads. You’ll slip behind the wheel for illegal-style, drifting street competitions. There are cross-country drives through fields, forests, and trails; dirt races that transition from asphalt to off-road; and one-on-one mountain pass contests. Racers can take on airstrip drag races, closed-course timed events and epic, 50-plus mile marathons.
The game also features some special multiplayer events such as the Hide-and-Seek mode that challenges players to blend in with civilian traffic and play cat-and-mouse while their opponents attempt to keep them from reaching a specified location. And on top of all that, the game offers deep vehicle customization options and specialized mechanical adjustments.
Forza Horizon 6 can be played completely offline in a single-player campaign. But it also offers multiplayer and co-op play (and game saves) across a variety of platforms. Players can, for instance, form crews of up to 12 gamers to work together on the open-world activities.
There are no world-saving or lofty goals in this game, but Forza Horizon 6 absolutely nails the beauty of its real-world cars and Japan’s scenic sights. The game is an incredible advertisement for a vacation to the Japanese islands.
This huge game offers digital racing fans a large variety of courses to speed through—alone or with friends.
There is very little in this E-rated game that could be labeled as a concern other than, perhaps, the fact that the thrill of racing might compel players to push the gas pedal harder in the real world.
It should be noted, though, that sloppy driving—which is a very common occurrence in the game’s early stages—can cause cosmetic damage and/or mechanical difficulties with your vehicle. However, that damage is far less than some other racing titles and it can be turned off completely in the game’s menu. (The game does not encourage vehicular destruction.)
FH6 also features a racing soundtrack that includes some occasional crude language, such as uses of the words “d–n” and “h—.” However, there are options in-game and in the game menu to turn the music volume down or off at the player’s discretion.
Digital racing fans will rejoice over the scenic beauty, variety and fun of this latest Forza Horizon game. And even beginners will find enough training-wheel assists to ease comfortably into the driver’s seat.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
