Here’s what you actually do in Forza Horizon 6’s career mode

Forza Horizon 6. Three words – alright, two words and a number, you pedants – which will dominate our year in games throughout 2026. And while we’ll probably get sucked into ranked PvP like we always do, it’s in the career mode where we’ll all probably be spending the most time.

This sixth instalment has a lot of new ideas that shake up the traditional career experience though. As detailed on the game’s official blog recently, here’s what you need to know about your forthcoming Japanese holiday.

You start as a tourist, not a superstar

In the last two Horizons you began as an already established superstar race driver, a celebrity participant in Horizon fest who made the crowds whoop and cheer with every rear axle slip. This time it’s different – you start Horizon 6 as a humble tourist with big dreams of taking part in the festival.

You’re joined by two fellow hopefuls, Jordy and Mei, who’ll discover the world map and its events along with you. You’ve got a lot of exposition to do, you two, so we hope your tutorialising skills are all limbered up.

There’s a qualifier to complete before you enter Horizon Fest

To really sell the idea that you’re starting at ground level and working your way towards vehicular notoriety, this time you’ll have to complete a set of qualifier events and then the Horizon Invitational before you’re given your festival wristband. It may sound like hard graft, but we’ll take that over endlessly refreshing an over-populated ticket website on seven different devices any day.

Horizon events sound… er, the same as they were

“In Forza Horizon 6,” says the blog post, “Festival races are a curated experience, requiring you to enter using a specific set of cars in Road, Dirt and Cross Country events.” So, y’know, like the previous five games.

There may be something new about the “curation” of those events, but to our eye it looks like you’ll be working through a minimap full of event icons and seeing new ones pop up as you complete the last batch. The more Hypercar road races you complete, for example, the more of them you’ll unlock on the map. PR stunts and skills challenges also return, and as before, once you complete an event you’ll unlock its customiser and gain the ability to set the number of Drivatars, number of laps, weather conditions and the like.

Oh and yes, Barn Finds are back. Thank goodness for that special proportion of the population who buys incredible cars, locks them up in the woods in mint conditions, forgets all about them and then launches no legal recourse when you break in and ‘find’ them 20 years later.

Some events are simply about exploring Japan

Aww, this is nice – in addition to the usual Horizon Fest races, Discover Japan events are about immersing yourself in the country’s culture and collecting stamps (which is itself a proud cultural tradition in Japan). It’s not all scenic drives and taking lovely snaps of the view, although we’re pleased to hear that yes, that is part of it. You’re also on food delivery missions, duelling in touge battles and street racing in the dead of night.

Hypercars are a special treat for gaining the purple wristband

Naturally, hypercars are the most sought-after and most-used vehicle category in the Horizon games, because they go very fast indeed and they’re worth preposterous sums of money. But to make their acquisition and use feel a bit more special, Horizon 6 keeps its powder dry by restricting hypercar events until you unlock the purple wristband, apparently quite late into the game.

If you do want to jump straight into the carbon cockpit of a 1,000+bhp monster though, you can do so via the unofficial races in Discover Japan.

Horizon Rush events are about precision, not just speed

Playground Games calls this new event type the “ultimate test of driver against the course”. It’s essentially a time trial meets obstacle course, in tight and twisty urban areas like Tokyo City Docks, the Sotoyama Ski Resort and Irokawa Space Center. The objective is to earn three stars by completing them within a certain time, and we love the sound of testing our spatial awareness and precise handbrake turns, not just our accelerator pedal.