For over a decade, the Horizon Festival has operated on a philosophy of instant gratification, showering players with supercars and credits before they’ve finished their first lap. Now, the racing genre is more competitive than ever, and Forza Horizon 6 has finally been confirmed for a Japanese setting. To truly feel modern, FH6 needs to reconsider its sense of progression.
However, that’s not the only problem that holds back the current installment, Forza Horizon 5. The map has beautiful views, but it often feels lifeless. Similarly, there are some car model issues, handling inconsistencies, and the lack of a gripping storyline. Here’s a look at everything Playground Studios needs to improve to make Forza Horizon 6 a cutting-edge game.
The Map
With the next Forza game heading to Japan, we hope it translates to more street racing. The open stretches in the game are fun, but a little variety never hurt anyone. Sharper corners, more traffic, and streets that are buzzing with life would be something that really enhances the look of the game. The map of the previous game, FH5, often felt geographically huge and lacked the density and detail of previous titles.
Exploring the map should feel rewarding; instead of an empty canvas, the Japanese setting should offer a rich tapestry of winding roads and hidden paths. This would truly reward the player with curiosity rather than just offering sheer scale. Other than this, seasons need to be more impactful. It would be really easy if the seasons were optional or selectable for free-roaming, rather than being forced into a specific season for an entire week.
Getting Rid Of Outdated Car Models
Remodelling ancient assets is necessary for the upcoming game. Many cars in the roster are using models that are over a decade old, dating all the way back to Forza Motorsport 4. Either these jagged and inaccurate models need to be rebuilt or removed from the game entirely. This goes most for the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI. The Lancer is the perfect example of an ancient model being reused without proper laser scanning. Some other examples would include the Nissan Silvia Spec-R and the Honda Civic Type R, both of which suffer from the same problems.
The players would prefer that, in the beginning, they get a smaller starting car list if it meant that every car featured laser-scanned accuracy instead of outdated photogrammetry. This would significantly increase the traffic of players flowing into the game for its realistic car models. Don’t get us wrong, most of the cars in the current game look great, but some of them do have inconsistent interiors, jagged edges, and low resolution.
Better Customization
It’s not like the customization options are limited, but it needs to be modernized according to real-life cosmetic customization. The Forza wing should be the first thing to be removed. This standard Forza adjustable wing has remained unchanged since Forza Motorsport 5, and needs to be replaced with more designs to provide some depth to the customization.
Players should be granted full control over how they want to customize their car. This could be a problem because of licensing agreements with many famous brands not wanting their car to be portrayed in a certain way. However, players should be able to add or remove canards, adjust splitters, and have more control over specific body kit parts, similar to the depth in Gran Turismo 7.
An Actual Story
Forza Horizon 6 needs to truly make use of that Japanese vibe, and to do that, they need to get into the story. Japan is the center for racing legends, with many famous stories such as that of Smoky Nagata, Drift Kings, and Midnight Club. We’re not asking them to just copy these inspirations, but to do something that attracts and keeps players glued to the game for a longer period.
Other than that, they should fix the broken economy. Modern Forza games throw supercars at you from day one with easy wheel spins, which destroys the sense of achievement. Horizon 6 should focus on bringing back that grind of earning your way up. They should return to the structure seen in Horizon 1 and 2, where you started with a basic car and worked your way up the hierarchy. Of course, that likely won’t happen the way we imagine it, simply because the current formula works. Still, they can at the very least make the progression more interesting with the right story.
