Forza Horizon 6 review: "the best racing game you'll play this year"

Even if your only exposure to Japanese car culture is a yearly drink-along rewatch of Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift, there's no denying the draw of the country's unique take on all things automotive. With that in mind, it's sort of surprising that the Forza Horizon series, with its remit to provide dream automotive holidays without you having to fold yourself into an economy airline seat for 12 hours, hasn't visited Japan before. But having spent several hours with Forza Horizon 6, we're sort of glad it hasn't.

After all, if Japan had appeared in an earlier Horizon game, perhaps the open world map might have been more restricted in size, less intricately detailed. Perhaps Tokyo would have been a handful of streets instead of a meaningful metropolitan area with recognisable districts. Perhaps the game's breezy progression, which keeps you propelled through a variety of recommended events while still offering the option to go off and explore wouldn't have been perfected yet. Most importantly of all, perhaps Playground wouldn't have had the confidence to pit you in a race against a four-storey tall sci-fi robot. That one really would have been a shame.

What we're trying to say is that Forza Horizon 6 truly does the setting of Japan justice. The compressed slice of the country that is included feels completely authentic, the contrast between Tokyo to the south and the snowy mountains to the north gives unlocking the map a proper sense of discovery and every inch of it is stunningly realised. There's one career dirt race in particular around a ski resort at sunset that was the stuff 16 million view Instagram reels are made of.

Beyond the headline inclusion of Japan itself, the rest of Horizon 6 is careful refinement of an already proven formula. Some new features are thematically appropriate, such as the Touge events and cutesy destructible mascots dotted around the map. Other additions such as more streamlined multiplayer drag racing, car meets where you can ogle other players' rides and the option for curated online races in identical cars are quality-of-life improvements that fans who sunk hundreds of hours into the last game will be salivating for.

Criticisms are few and far between. The biggest is that, with the launch car list trimmed back to 550 vehicles even with new arrivals compared to the 799 we've gotten used to in Forza Horizon 5 after years of updates, there is a more limited garage to choose from. Anyone who has spent significant time with the previous game will notice favourite cars that are no longer available and while some of them will certainly be drip fed back into the game in weekly events, we can't help but feel the car list has been hacked back too aggressively.

Other minor irks are more down to personal preference, for example the new progression system eventually forces you to engage with ambient challenges like speed traps and danger signs, which can feel like a chore if you're mainlining the racing. Also if we never have to do another cross country race in a two-tonne SUV, it'll be too soon.

Regardless, Forza Horizon 6 remains an exceptional driving game and represents the series at the very height of its powers. While the previous instalment was undoubtedly a good game, Mexico and its seasons were fundamentally less varied than what's on offer here in Japan. Describing it as a  return to form feels like too dramatic a statement for a series that never misses, but suffice to say Forza Horizon 6 is the best racing game you'll play this year and probably several more to follow...