Forza Horizon 6 Review: The Map Finally Fits the Driving
Japan gives Horizon the road network it has needed for two entries. What it does not fix is the festival wrapped around it.
Verdict
The best-driving Horizon in years, on a map that finally rewards precision over speed. The progression scaffolding around it is showing its age.
Reviewed on PC, Xbox Series X|S
What we liked
- A road network with genuine character instead of scale for its own sake
- Handling model at its most communicative
- Mountain routes worth driving with no event attached
What we didn't
- Progression still buries you in rewards you did not ask for
- The festival framing has not evolved in three entries
Horizon has spent two games getting bigger. Horizon 6 gets tighter, and it is a much better game for it.
The roads
This is the headline. Japan’s mix of mountain pass, coastal route and dense urban grid gives Playground road types that ask different things of the same car, and the map is small enough that you meet all of them regularly.
Handling
The physics have not been rebuilt, but they have been re-tuned for roads that punish sloppiness. Weight transfer reads more clearly, and the difference between a good line and a great one is now something you feel rather than read off a timer.
Where it has not moved
The festival. Horizon’s progression still throws cars, wheelspins and unlocks at you at a rate that flattens any sense of earning something. It was charming in Horizon 3. Three games later it mostly gets in the way of a driving game that no longer needs the distraction.
Verdict
The best Horizon to drive since the series moved to open world. If Playground ever trims the festival back to match the confidence of the map, the next one will be remarkable.
