When I found Forza Horizon 5 (2021) a couple of years back on Xbox Game Pass, I mainly tried it out because I had a new graphics card and wanted to see how pretty it could be on my computer. I did not expect to get stuck and eventually also buy one of the dlcs (Hot Wheels). And so I wrote a little thing here about how I’ve been playing a lot of games lately, or rather, to quote myself, “A lot of games for the very limited amount of spare time I have at hands”.
Well, now when Forza Horizon 6 (2026) was on the… horizon. I was quite hyped. A new and hopefully improved game, set in Japan. What could go wrong? Nothing, apparently. It’s exactly as expected! And this time I didn’t have time as a limiting factor. Instead I’ve managed to jam in closer to 45 hours since I bought it, 10 days ago. Yesterday I also managed to get through the last “main story” event, so from now on, it’s just free play.
Mind you, the main story is not much of a story. The driving and customization is amazing, and that’s what carries the entire game. The dialogue is so bland it’s boring. Thankfully, each story segment is really short, or on the phone while you’re driving. Like in FH5, your play through is also commented on by the radio hosts, one of whom, is Simon Niel, host of Horizon XS, which plays rock / punk. Home to A Day to Remember, BABYMETAL, Biffy Clyro (of course), Linkin Park, Poppy, Spiritbox, Turnstile and many others.
Since it’s set in Japan, a new radio channel this time around is the expected j-pop / j-rock channel Gacha City Radio, which houses artists such as Ado, KANA-BOON and YAOSOBI.
There are obviously also a lot of Japanese cars. Unfortunately, they’ve also cut back on Swedish cars :/ There’s only the Volvo 242 Turbo Evolution from 1983, which is quite the step-down from FH5s 4 Volvos. Like, at least one modern one would have been nice. Another notable car that’s missing is the Toyota Yaris from ca. 2003. There’s a newer model, sure, but it’s not the same thing 🤷