Up until now, most of what we have learned about Forza Horizon 6 to date has concerned the game’s representation of Japan. What we’ve had less insight into are the improvements that Playground Games have made to car customization. With a roster of 550 cars on launch day, any inroads to a better experience for builders must map onto a massive variety of vehicles, from tiny kei vans to burly off-roaders. It’s clearly been a serious undertaking for the dev team, but it looks to pay off in quality-of-life tweaks and new features that longtime players will appreciate.
First up is the new “Forza aero” kit, and this is probably one of the most hotly requested items on fans’ wishlists. If you’re less familiar with these games, almost every car in a Forza Horizon or Motorsport title has a stock front splitter and rear wing that can be applied even when no other custom parts can. It generally looks the same on everything—which is to say, not very good.
For FH6, however, Forza aero has been reshaped on most vehicles, resulting in parts that actually conform to the lines and proportions of each car independently. You’d never want to touch Forza aero in the past, but now, it might actually be preferable, even to licensed aftermarket parts.
Another big addition is the ability to paint windows, which no Forza game has allowed, shockingly, until now. You’re free to layer windshield banners or entire decals over glass, allowing a whole new dimension to livery editing that previously wasn’t possible in this series. There are also more than 100 new aftermarket wheels that players can choose for their vehicles, and you’ll even be able to equip different sets for the front and rear axles. Redesigned tire sidewalls and treads now show wear in real time, complete with painted stripe markers that fade away with use, just like on real rubber.
Given the game’s setting, kei cars are obviously a huge part of FH6’s car culture. Eagle-eyed players will notice that they all wear plates with the proper designation, as kei-class vehicles should have in Japan. If you’re performing an engine swap on them, you’ll even be able to fit motorcycle engines, which is especially cool; these will rev to unbelievable heights, of course, and sound absurd as they do.
And, speaking of kei cars, we’d be remiss not to call out FH6’s wild new Forza Edition Nissan S-Cargo—a custom build that encapsulates how wild these made-for-the-game Forza Edition vehicles are getting. This S-Cargo apparently started as a joke, inspired by the van’s central seating position. As such, it has one seat, is built on a spaceframe, touts a gigantic rear wing, and features a turbocharger in place of a front headlight, even though its engine is located behind the driver. The frame was actually lifted, so that the piping from the turbo to the engine could be technically feasible, even if inadvisable in real life. Yeah, it’s nuts, and we love it.
Garage customization is a big new part of FH6 that’s sure to appeal to some players. Not only will you be able to choose between different types of spaces, but they’ll be fully open to decoration, from placing props to setting up precisely where your cars sit, and how. Just like cars, you’ll be able to share these designs, too.
Forza Horizon 6’s Customization Improvements and Crazier-Than-Ever Forza Edition Cars | IGN First
There’s plenty more here that the video barely scratched the surface of. The cars themselves look nicer, even if they’ve been in prior Horizon games, thanks to new materials, including new refraction shaders for headlights and taillights and a subtle rainbow effect for polycarbonate. The paint picker—personally, my least favorite part of the Forza experience for decades running at this point—seems to be getting a little better, in that players can now favorite custom colors in certain materials, so that they’re easier to find. It still follows the frustrating logic of picking paint finish before fussing with RGB values, for some reason, but with a game this big, every change takes baby steps.
Got a tip? Reach out to tips@thedrive.com