Forza Horizon 6 first impressions: A stunning drive through Japan

Last year, I took a trip to Japan, and the place left an impression like no other. The bamboo trees, snowcapped mountains, Monica-level clean (Hello, Friends fans) streets, high-end cars, traditional houses, cherry blossoms… the list goes on and on. When I got back from that trip, all I could do was look at all the photos and videos on my phone to relive the memories. But little did I know that just a little over a year later, I would find myself driving through those same kinds of landscapes once again. Well, not physically, but this time virtually through Forza Horizon 6.

I have already spent more than 5 hours simply cruising through its roads, soaking in the atmosphere. Now, even though the map is not a one-to-one recreation of Japan, it absolutely gets the vibe right. From the narrow countryside roads and mountain passes to the dense city streets glowing under neon lights, the game captures the feeling of being in Japan remarkably well. Here’s what I think of Forza Horizon 6 so far. Read on. 

Also read: Buying Forza Horizon 6? Wait you can play it for free

Forza Horizon 6 looks straight out of a film

Forza Horizon 6 looks like it belongs on the big screen. There were multiple moments where I just stopped driving entirely because the environment looked too beautiful to ignore. 

I am testing the game on my at-home rig, which uses an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti GPU combined with an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D chip, 32GB LPDDR5 RAM and custom water cooling. And on this rig, as I have mentioned already, the game really looks too good to be true.

And a huge credit for this goes to ray tracing, which you can enable by heading over to the in-game settings menu. As soon as I turned Ray Tracing on, I could see the difference. Reflections on cars, roads, shop windows, and even the smallest of water puddles looked super realistic and gave a more immersive touch to the visual experience. 

And when it started raining in the game, roads became mirror-like surfaces that reflected those neon signs and city lights of Tokyo beautifully. Another element that deserves a shoutout is the water texture. 

Beaches, rivers, lakes, and even small streams had an incredibly calming effect thanks to this. I often found myself driving my car all the way to a quiet beach area just to stay there. I parked near the shore, turned on in-game music, and just took in all the views. Doing absolutely nothing. And that is probably the biggest compliment I can give to this game. It creates spaces where you want to just exist and escape reality for a while.

As far as performance is concerned, it has been excellent so far as well. With Nvidia DLSS enabled, I was getting a stable 130 FPS, which made driving feel incredibly smooth. Without Nvidia DLSS, FPS ranged from 60 to 70. Also note that this is with graphic settings maxed out and RT (ray tracing) enabled. 

Cruising feels just as fun as racing

Now, the one thing that surprised me while playing Forza Horizon 6 was how much time I did NOT spend on racing. In fact, I haven’t raced at all beyond the one race that was necessary to reach the open world. Usually, in other racing games like the NFS series or Gran Turismo 7, I rush into events and championships almost immediately. But here, I ignored races entirely for hours because just exploring the world was rewarding enough. The map is packed with scenic locations, hidden roads, photography spots, and environmental details.

Moreover, the developers also want you to explore the map and reward players who do so. Exploration seems to play a much bigger role this time, and players are encouraged to discover locations and take pictures around the map. As someone who spent an unhealthy amount of time taking photos during my real-life Japan trip, this feature instantly clicked with me.

The campaign feels more personal 

The campaign setup also feels like it will let players connect better. Not everyone who enters the world of Forza Horizon is a seasoned car racer. And unlike previous games where you were a superstar racer from the beginning, things are different in Forza Horizon 6. 

Here, you have to earn your place in the Horizon Festival through qualifying events and smaller competitions. It gives the progression system a more grounded feeling, and honestly, it made me connect with my character a lot more.

After all, starting small and slowly rising through the ranks leaves a much more lasting impression than being treated like a celebrity from the start. 

One thing that I was a bit more detailed about, though, is the character creation. I have always loved creating characters in games and trying to make them resemble me as closely as possible. Now I am not asking for Elden Ring-level character customisation with hundreds of sliders and ultra-detailed facial editing, but having more hairstyle options and deeper appearance controls would have been nice. Right now, the system feels a little basic considering how modern and detailed the rest of the game is.

Forza Horizon 6: I cannot wait to play more

Forza Horizon 6 is not just a racing game. It feels like a flawless attempt at recreating the beauty of Japan and ensuring that the players just have a world they can spend hours in.

The game makes you want to drive around endlessly, discover new places, establish an emotional connection with the character you’re controlling and much more. I will elaborate more in my full review later. Now, if you will excuse me, I have way too many roads left to explore.  

Also read: GTA Vice City in 2026: It has more personality than most modern games