Forza Horizon 6 Tokyo: is a 92 on Metacritic worth it?

Is it really worth buying a new racing game five years after the last one shipped, or is it enough to keep playing Forza Horizon 5, which still holds up? If you love the series and have an Xbox Series X or a decent PC, it is worth it. Playground Games and Microsoft shipped the sixth Forza Horizon entry on May 19, and it instantly set a series record with a Metacritic score of 92, the highest in 2026.

The setting this time is Japan, with Tokyo as the central map. It is billed as “the most complex urban space” in the series’ history, reportedly five times larger than any other city in previous Horizon games. In concrete terms, that means tens of kilometers of Shibuya city driving with neon billboards, mountain passes toward Hakone and Fuji, as well as rural roads you rarely see in a game.

The best Horizon map yet

Reviewers are unanimous on one thing: the digital recreation of Japan is the best-looking map the series has ever had. Reflections of neon ads on wet asphalt, interior details of the cafes you drive past, even vending machines with consistent branding.

The British map from the fifth game was the gold standard. Tokyo and its surroundings is now the gold standard. That is a strong claim, because the British map held that title for five years as an industry reference.

Tokyo the city is under-utilised

The reviewers’ biggest gripe: there are fewer races and events inside Tokyo itself than you would expect for a map of that size. Most of the content takes place outside the city, in the mountains or in the countryside. It is a design choice that feels a little defensive, as if Playground Games was not entirely sure how to use city traffic.

In practice, if you bought the game expecting to head into the Shibuya neon every time, you will be slightly disappointed. But where the game does use the city, it uses it brilliantly, there is just less content than there could have been.

Vehicles and driving variety

Forza Horizon 6 ships with over 550 vehicles on day one, an absolute series record. More important than the count is the fact that they actually behave differently: differences between front, rear and all-wheel drive are clear, and surface type (asphalt, gravel, dirt, snow in the mountains) significantly changes the feel.

Japanese tuning culture has its own mode with authentic parts brands and proper drift events. That is content that was not fully developed in previous entries.

Tech and performance

The game on Xbox Series X and a PC with an RTX 4070 or better holds a stable 60 frames per second in quality mode. On Series S the performance mode hits 60 fps but with noticeably lower texture resolution.

A PS5 version has been announced for later, meaning Microsoft holds several months of platform exclusivity. The date for PlayStation is not official but is expected in late 2026 or early 2027.

What you get through Game Pass

Forza Horizon 6 is on Xbox Game Pass from day one, which means if you already pay for the subscription (around $17 a month for Ultimate), you do not have to buy the game separately. It is excellent value and the reason a lot of players sign up for Game Pass exactly when a big release lands.

If you buy the game on its own, the price is 90 euros for the standard edition, or 110 euros for the Premium edition which includes the first year’s seasonal content.

What the player should know

Microsoft Store and Steam both accept most international payment cards for digital purchases. Physical copies for the Xbox Series X carry a slightly higher price in some markets due to distribution.

For the PC version, the Steam release is identical to the Microsoft Store release, but Steam runs more sales throughout the year, which is worth waiting for if you are new to the series rather than a longtime fan. A competitive expansion is announced for October with Hokkaido as a new map, a good moment for new players to jump in with fresh content.