Mount Fuji looms in the background of Forza Horizon 6 as the Toyota GR GT races down a road. (Microsoft/TNS)
The Japanese concept of “kaizen” could be used to describe the evolution of the Forza Horizon franchise. It’s a series that began with a simple concept. Playground Games wanted to build an open-world racer that was truer to life than its peers, using the ForzaTech engine.
It’s a game that offered the realism of a sim but livened the genre’s cold edges with a vibrant environment full of activities celebrating car culture. Since then, Playground Games has taken on the “kaizen” ethos, continually improving every facet of the series. It has gone from an amusing spinoff to a Microsoft tentpole franchise and game of the year winner, a rarity for a racing title.
A huge cross section of Japan
For Forza Horizon 6, Playground Games brought the series to Japan, the origin of “kaizen” and an automotive capital. It’s a destination that fans have been clamoring for, given how the nation has developed its own car culture through anime such as “Initial D” and aftermarket customization. Japanese race tracks and street courses have been featured in video games, but rarely, if ever, has the country been part of a car-centric open world.
Playground Games found itself with a huge canvas to craft the ultimate driving game, and the team delivered. In Forza Horizon 6 players again take on the role of the star driver in the Horizon Festival. The game’s structure is split into two parts. Players can enter contests and earn points toward a Showcase race, which is essentially a boss confrontation. The wild events are spectacles that show off the developers’ creativity as players race planes and a giant robot, which stretch the boundaries of realism.
Organizers reward players with a new wristband for each Showcase victory, which opens up more events that require faster and more expensive vehicles. Players keep going until they earn the gold wristband and become a Horizon Legend.
Forza Horizon 6 has one densely populated area in Tokyo City and plenty of wilderness. (Microsoft/TNS)
The side quests make exploration a dream
The other track is the Discover Japan path, which focuses on exploring the locale’s culture. This is where players can take on side quests that dot the map. They can earn extra money as a Tokyo City food delivery driver or take day trips with Mei Hasegawa, one of the organizers who explains the history of the land. This is also where players can do one-on-one Touge races, in which they drift down the winding curves of a mountain like Takumi Fujiwara in his Toyota AE86.
This is what separates the Forza Horizon series from other open-world racing games. The developers put care into these side quests and diversions, but they never feel like busywork because they reward players with cars or other cosmetic collectibles. Moving up the ranks unlocks new Barn Finds and properties for sale.
The tasks add more dimension to the real-life environments, creating a deeper sense of the place and its people. Players will appreciate Mei discussing Hirosaki Castle or driving down the legendary Mount Haruna. One of the most memorable tasks is in the Yuji Auto questline, which has players gathering stock cars and then racing souped-up versions after the staid mechanic Yuji Kono and his colleague Keiko Tamaguchi get their hands on them.
These side quests and other diversions strewn around the map make exploration worthwhile, but they also highlight some shortcomings in the world. Forza Horizon 6 does a fantastic job of re-creating parts of Japan, but I wish there were more metropolitan areas beyond Tokyo City. I also wish the environment felt more alive with birds and other animals. Aside from all that, it would have been nice to see more trains running across the map, since Japan has tons of rail lines.
The Yuki no Otani in the Japanese Alps section of Forza Horizon 6 adds a change of pace to the environment. (Microsoft/TNS)
New paths toward creativity
Playground Games makes up for some of that with the return of seasons in Forza Horizon 6. The environment and driving conditions change as summer turns to fall and snow begins falling in winter before spring comes. This time around, roads are more drivable during the winter without the need for all-wheel drive vehicles, and the team carved out a portion of the map in the mountains where players can enjoy snow year-round if they want that experience.
Forza Horizon 6 also adds more refinements by letting players customize their garages and even build tracks on the Yashiki House estate. All of this creates another avenue for Forza creativity on top of the livery designs, photography options and online get-togethers.
That has always been the strength of the Forza Horizon series. Whereas some racing games drill down on creating the most realistic racing game available, the Playground Games series revels in car culture and wants to give players the most opportunities to explore it and turn it into their own art.
Platforms: Xbox Series X and Series S, PC
Online: forza.net/forzahorizon6
