On Thursday, after a lot of rumors and leaks, Xbox officially announced Forza Horizon 6. And yes, as many expected, the next Forza Horizon game is set in Japan and will launch in 2026. We haven’t seen much of the upcoming open-world racing sequel, but we do know that it will have the franchise’s biggest open world, and you can expect a lot to see and do in this big ol’ map.
In a new interview with Gamesradar, Forza Horizon 6 art director Don Arceta claimed that the open-world racer will have the “biggest map yet” in the history of the series. Considering the fact that Forza Horizon 5 was twice the size of the game before that, it seems players will have a lot of digital Japan to explore. But don’t expect Horizon 6‘s Japan to be empty or boring, as Arceta told the outlet that the new map is Playground’s “most full.”
“Like, obviously, we can’t go bigger without filling it with things to do and see,” explained Arceta. “And I think this map that we’ve created for Japan, or Horizon’s version of Japan, is big, but also dense. There’s always something around the corner for you to discover and see. But yeah, it’s bigger. I won’t put a number on it. It is bigger.”
And inside this large open world is Forza Horizon 6‘s version of Tokyo, which the game’s art director calls the “biggest city” the studio has ever created.
“[What] I’m really excited about that is also bigger, is our urban area, which is Tokyo city. That’s the biggest city that we’ve done in a Horizon game yet,” said Areta. “I think people will be most surprised about the city, Tokyo city, because I think it is probably our most ambitious. It’s really layered and complex. And I think players will just enjoy that space. It’ll be something new and fresh.”
Interestingly, as revealed in Gamesradar’s interview, the elevated roadways players will find in Forza Horizon 6′s version of Tokyo were built using the tech the studio created for the Hot Wheels tracks in Forza Horizon 5. Don’t expect any orange plastic tracks around Japan at launch, though. Forza Horizon 6 will arrive sometime in 2026 on Xbox Series X/S and PC, with a PS5 port coming at a later date.
