Forza Horizon 6 has officially been announced, and will be set in Japan

Forza Horizon 6 has officially been confirmed and, as expected following recent reports, it’s going to be set in Japan.

Microsoft announced the game during an Xbox Tokyo Game Show livestream, stating that it’s set to “launch first on Xbox consoles and PC” next year, implying a PS5 release will come later.

Rather fittingly given the location of the presentation, Forza Horizon 6 will be set in Japan. Previous games were set in Colorado, the French and Italian Rivieras, Australia, Britain and Mexico.

The game will feature both rural and urban parts of Japan, according to art director Don Arceta speaking to the official Xbox Wire blog.

“While we’re not announcing too much in terms of detail right now, we’re excited to show fans the true breadth of beauty – both natural and urban environments – that Japan has to offer,” he said.

“From the neon lights and towering buildings of Tokyo City – one of our most detailed and layered environments to date – to the serenity and natural beauty of Japan’s rural and mountain areas, we think players will be blown away by the open world of Japan that we have built.

“And while we are not necessarily trying to recreate Japan and its environments like for like, our goal has always been to capture the country’s unique cultural essence and present it back in the most Horizon way possible.”

Playground Games also brought in cultural consultant Kyoko Yamashita early in development to ensure the game doesn’t simply look photorealistic but also properly portrays Japanese culture.

“Japan is widely loved, but it can also be widely misread when you only see it from afar,” Yamashita explained. “The team wanted to present more than a postcard or a backdrop – they wanted a lived-in world.

“Having a cultural consultant early helps you make a thousand small, respectful decisions – how neighborhoods sound, even what a sign color communicates about a shop. Those small choices add up to credibility and help avoid stereotypes, while also making it a truly immersive experience for players.”

The game will have changing seasons as in recent Forza Horizon titles. “For Japan, seasonal changes have a dramatic impact on the landscape and playable world, but also hold a deeper cultural meaning for the country and its culture,” Arceta explained.

Yamashita added: “The team has also been able to build a system where seasonal changes truly inform the world – how spring, summer, autumn, and winter subtly shift tone, activity, and sound.

“The team is also really proud of the attention to everyday details: ambient audio like station chimes or summer wind bells that instantly place you without a caption. Those are quiet choices, but they carry a lot of truth.”

It had long been rumoured that a future Forza Horizon game would be set in Japan, and the cat was seemingly let out of the bag last month thanks to a now-deleted Instagram post by an Australian car importer.

Cult and Classic shared an image of a photographer taking pictures of a car, telling its followers: “Exciting news, we have Cody here from @forzahorizonofficial, shooting cars for the next installation in the series. As there are no late-model kei cars in America, he has flown out from the States to use our cars as the basis for their digital versions.”

A kei car is a category of car native to Japan, and is the smallest expressway-legal motor vehicle, typically used by labourers or farmers. Given that virtually all kei cars have been produced in Japan, the most made it apparent that the new Forza Horizon was going to be set there.

Following its release in November 2021, Microsoft claimed Forza Horizon 5 had enjoyed the biggest launch in Xbox history at the time, with more than 10 million players in its first week.

Earlier this year, the game was released on PlayStation 5, where it quickly became a massive hit for Microsoft.

VGC’s Forza Horizon 5 review called the racer “the first essential game of the generation”.

“Forza Horizon 5 is the best game in the series and the best Xbox Series X/S game to date,” we wrote. “Its flawless racing and wealth of activities are backed up by a gorgeous setting and a fantastic new progression system which encourages players to focus on the features they enjoy most. Utterly essential.”