Japan: The Setting Fans Were Looking For
Since the series launched in Colorado fourteen years ago, Japan has been at the top of the Forza Horizon 6 community’s wishlist – not just at the top of the wishlist, but at the very top of it, year after year, with a tenacity that made it less a request and more a standing demand. The mountain passes, the neon soaked Tokyo freeways, the touge culture, the JDM heritage – the case for Japan always made sense. Finally, Playground Games has delivered, and from all accounts it was worth the wait.
A Living World
Tokyo in Forza Horizon 6 is dense, layered and genuinely navigable — an urban place where familiarity grows organically over time, where players start to learn shortcuts and develop preferences. The map seems to flow from one area to the next, as the real country does. One moment the world is open and spacious, with wide roads and scenic surroundings, then it moves into busier urban spaces with more density and visual detail, before hinting at higher ground and roads that look narrower and more technical.
From the first minutes of the game, players are thrown into an adrenaline-filled prologue that takes players on a sprint through villages under cherry blossoms at the wheel of a Nissan GT-R NISMO in a race against a Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train.
Cars, Cars, and More Cars
It’s the biggest open world driving adventure ever with over 550 real world cars to discover. The confirmed cars range from the Mazda MX-5 and Nissan GT-R to the Ford Bronco and monster trucks, with different handling models for different types of terrain. Each vehicle is completely customizable.
New Systems & Features
Playground Games delivered the game with five brand-new systems including a Fog of War map that fills in as you explore, making every road discovery feel meaningful, Aftermarket Cars, time-limited vehicles that appear at discounted prices throughout the open world, Collectible Mascots scattered across Japan’s regions that reward off-road exploration, The Journal, a stamp-collecting inspired feature drawing from real Japanese culture that builds a personalized visual record of your journey, and Garage Customization, where every purchasable home comes with a designable garage.
Sophisticated yet Familiar
Reviewers generally agree that the game doesn’t offer anything new. It’s slick, polished and consistently fun, but also a continuation of what the series has been doing for over a decade. Forza Horizon 6 is yet another big, bombastic racing festival like every Forza Horizon before it, with mostly the same event icons on a different map. The game modes, customization and even UI are very similar to recent entries in the franchise. Instead, Playground Games discovers freshness in its Japanese setting resulting in stunning new regions, distinctive cars and an overall slickness to everything you do.
Its faults are small – the story line is thinly layered, the building features won’t appeal to every player and the races are still very arcade like, with thrashing and bashing being an integral part of the gameplay.
Critical response
Forza Horizon 6 currently has a 92 Metascore on Metacritic based on 65 critic reviews, ranking among the best games of 2026 so far. It is a “majestic racing game and a real masterpiece that will keep players busy for years to come,” MondoXbox said. TheGamer gave it a perfect 5/5, writing “It is a culmination of the last five iterations, yet somehow remains light on its feet – a game that knows spectacle without being hollowed out by it.”
Conclusion
Forza Horizon 6 in Japan is an amazing addition to the franchise. Graphics and audio are improved, the world is more alive and everything is bigger and better. Just the most fun many players will have had with a Forza game since Motorsport 4, and that Japan was worth the wait. If you’re a racing fan, or just someone that wants to cruise the neon streets of Shibuya in a kei truck, this is the game of 2026 so far.
