The latest open-world racer is a stunning virtual road trip through Japan, and it’s perfect for explorers.
For the last week, I’ve spent every evening unwinding by speeding through the Japanese countryside, blaring Babymetal as I take in the sights. Forza Horizon 6 is ostensibly a racing game, one in which you play an up-and-coming driver intent on making a name for themselves. But, like the rest of the series, it’s also an open world, one in which you can spend as much — or, in my case, substantially more — time exploring as you do racing. And it’s that element that’s substantially improved in Horizon 6. It’s a combination of structure and setting: The fictional take on Japan isn’t just the largest map in a Horizon game, but it’s also incredibly diverse, and the game lets you approach it however you like. Horizon 6 spans from the glowing streets of Tokyo to icy roads at the base of Mount Fuji, and I’m not going to stop until I’ve driven down every last one of them.
The stated goal in Horizon 6, as with its predecessors, is to move upward through the ranks at the Horizon Festival, a connected series of driving events spread across a single geographical area, in this case the whole of Japan. This can include everything from drag races to dirt tracks to performing stunts off of ramps placed precariously on the edge of a cliff. As you compete, you earn points, which will nab you wristbands that in turn open up more events where you can earn even more points. It’s a relatively open-ended structure, allowing you to mostly focus on the competitions you enjoy or are good at and avoid the rest.
