Forza Horizon 6 Launches May 19, GR GT is the Star Car

Forza Horizon 6 promises the largest, densest map of any Horizon title, plus over 550 cars at launch.

After finally confirming last year that Forza Horizon 6 would be heading to Japan, developer Playground Games on Thursday shared more details on the game. A developer diary has shed light on multiple aspects of the title, from environments to events to cars, while also confirming there's not much time left to wait. Xbox and PC players will be able to enjoy Forza Horizon 6 starting May 19, while PlayStation gamers will see the game launch before the end of the year.

Understandably, nailing the unique feel and culture of Japan is both a challenge and extremely important for the game. Playground Games sent teams to Japan to capture dang near everything; 24-hour sky cycles (across all four seasons), ambient sounds, photogrammetry of trees, even how cherry blossoms fall to the ground—or get blown across a twisty mountain pass by a pair of cars on a touge run.

There's a wide variety of environs showcased in the trailer, playing like a greatest hits of Japanese car culture. The touge sections look appropriately narrow and there's a faithful recreation of the famous Daikoku Parking Area. According to Playground, it was important to capture the contrast of Japan—urban and rural, modern and traditional—but not necessarily do 1:1 copies.

"It’s easy to think of an authentic space as a recreation of a place, but it’s less about that accuracy, and more about the feel of it,” design director Torben Ellert explains. “If you think about driving in Tokyo, for example, what does that look like? What are the things that make it feel like this place? You’d see it in the distance from the freeways, before passing through the suburbs, then suddenly you’re in downtown, surrounded by skyscrapers. It’s about looking at roads, references, thinking about what you see in each place and how it feels when you turn a corner. You don’t recreate every corner – you recreate the experience of having something revealed when you get there."

The Tokyo City section of the game will be larger than any previous urban location in the franchise. With the additional verticality of the FH6 map, Playground Games is calling it five times the size, in fact.

At launch, Forza Horizon 6 will have 550 cars, a significant drop from where FH5 ended after years of post-launch additions, but a high starting point. While many of the cars have already shown up in either that title or Forza Motorsport 2023, there are still some new additions to the franchise spotted in this new gameplay demo. Obviously the star of the show is the 2025 GR GT Prototype, the literal cover car and one of our most anticipated new vehicles of 2026. The twin-turbo V8 hybrid supercar will be joined on the cover by the slightly more down-to-earth 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser.

While there are plenty of hypercars and European high-performance models in the trailer, there's an expected focus on Japanese models, from small kei-class sports cars like the Honda Beat and Mazda Autozam AZ-1 to the Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution, Toyota Chaser, Honda e and City Turbo II, and more. We also spotted the current Acura Integra.

Sure enough, customization remains a core tenet of the game, and it looks even more intensive than before.

Horizon 6 will retain the traditional wristband-based form of progression found in prior games, with a few twists. In keeping with the Japanese setting, a new Journal feature will gain stamps and memorabilia as the player advances across the world and explores new landmarks. It will be customizable as well, allowing players to add their own photos.

Another new feature is known as simply The Estate. A blank canvas of land for every player, The Estate allows folks to build up a location all their own, including creating custom tracks. This sandbox requires credits to place items, which players will earn naturally as they make game progress. Forza Horizon 5 already has custom events and routes available with placable items—this is simply the natural evolution of that.

Playground Games confirmed that Forza Horizon 6 will launch on Xbox and PC May 19, 2026. Those who pre-order the Premium Edition will get access four days early. While there is currently no precise PlayStation 5 release date, FH6 is said to arrive "later in 2026" and can be added to PlayStation Store wishlists now.

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