--- title: "Forza Horizon 6’s Take on Tokyo Looks Beautiful but Barren" date: "2026-03-05" modified: "2026-03-05" authors: - name: "Adam Ismail" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/adam-ismail" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/forza-horizon-6s-take-on-tokyo-looks-beautiful-but-barren" categories: - "Culture" - "News" - "Video Games" --- # Forza Horizon 6’s Take on Tokyo Looks Beautiful but Barren ![Toyota GR GT in Forza Horizon 6]() *\Xbox Game Studios\* Playground Games has given us a glimpse of pure, unadulterated *[Forza Horizon 6]()* gameplay ahead of the May 19 release. It's our first opportunity to sample some of the game's map of Japan at a normal pace, including a slice of the Tokyo city environment and areas immediately beyond its limits, seemingly in a spring or summer setting. And while there's certainly much to like about the world as it stands—the natural areas are gorgeous in a typical *Horizon* fashion, and the urban portions do seem denser and more vertical than anything before—I can't shake a nagging feeling that something was missing during those [nine minutes of cruising](). Let's start with the good. The transition from the countryside into the city, climbing highways with circular overpasses, snaking through the forest until you get that first view of bridges, buildings, and the Tokyo Tower, was impressive. Cities in *Horizon* games have previously felt like afterthoughts to me—a blip, a change of pace, but not rich or deep enough to explore for a length of time. That certainly doesn't appear to be the case here, given the detail of the scenery within *FH6's* rendition of Tokyo, and how the Metropolitan Expressway has been faithfully woven into its fabric. I can't wait to see it at night. The areas beyond the city, too, look wonderful, but you already expected that. The highways are long and mostly straight, giving you ample space to hit top speed in something like a [Saleen S7 LM]()—an oddly niche choice for this gameplay snippet. I particularly liked the stretch that ran along the coast, which appears about six minutes in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCU-woy4BPo All that being said, I can't deny I'm concerned about the vibes, particularly in Tokyo proper. First off, the streets are wide—like, *really* wide. And we knew Playground would go this route to prioritize playability over authenticity. Judging from the result, though, the devs certainly had room to scale roads closer to reality while still being wide enough to comfortably accommodate multiple cars at speed. Plus, blasting through narrow streets can be fun! The surreal expanse of open asphalt in *FH6's* Tokyo leads to another problem, though: It creates space that should be filled, in a bustling metropolis, with cars. And this is a fine line that every open-world [racing game]() has to walk. Throw in too much traffic, and smooth driving becomes impossible; not to mention, syncing all those computer-controlled drones across every player on a server is a bear. But give the city too little, and you end up with the deafening emptiness of this footage. During this slice, we see entire streets in Tokyo connecting major thoroughfares with nary a single car on them. On streets that *should* be more populated, there's only one car as far as the eye can see. Lose the hustle and bustle of traffic in a city like Tokyo, and you lose its soul. There are no sources of ambient noise, and, this being *Forza Horizon*, no pedestrians on sidewalks to really convey the impression that people actually live here and you're not in the modern gaming equivalent of a *Twilight Zone* episode. (No, I don't think you should be able to run over people in *Horizon*, but *Midnight Club: LA* managed to replicate all these ancillary signs of life, sans vehicular manslaughter, and released with only a Teen rating—18 years ago! Surely, *FH6* could do the same.) ![]() ![]() ![]() Everyone plays these games for different reasons. I know plenty of people enjoy *Horizon* together, but, for me, it's always been a more solitary experience. Occasionally, particularly in the *FH4* days, I'd have a small group of friends that I'd hop online with, but we'd never have an objective, so everything would just devolve into donuts and terrorizing traffic until somebody got bored and left. Personally, having just had the opportunity to visit Tokyo for the first time in my life last year, more than anything, I want this to feel like an escape there in a car I love. Which gets to my fear with this game: That Playground has, once again, built a peerlessly rich and detailed world, but didn't go that extra mile to make it feel lived-in and real. At this point, if it comes at the expense of playability, so be it. There is enormous potential here for *FH6* to truly set itself apart from what's come before, in a series that, while very competent, has appeared content to repeatedly deliver a cookie-cutter experience in various locales. Perhaps traffic was turned down for this play session; it definitely seems like it's on a lower setting than [what we saw during the Developer Direct in January](). But even that earlier look felt lacking, so we'll have to see how the final product turns out. It seems *IGN*, who presented this first look, has a month of *FH6* content ahead, so maybe we won't even have to wait that long. *Got a tip? Reach out to tips@thedrive.com* ## Author Adam is a Senior Editor at The Drive, concentrating on curating and developing the site's slate of daily journalism, from initial pitch to final copy edit. When he's not at his desk researching leads and working with writers, he's testing vehicles or reviewing racing games, new and old. He joined The Drive in 2023, following seven years of covering consumer technology and cars. A car lover and gamer since his earliest memories, Adam came to know the automotive world through video games. First it was Daytona USA, Sega Rally, and Ridge Racer; then came Need For Speed, which inspired an encyclopedic knowledge of '90s supercars, and, of course, Gran Turismo. If not for them, he'd assuredly be doing something else right now. Adam is based in the suburbs outside Philly, where there are ample roads for his hot hatch to stretch its legs. In his car, he's probably listening to indie rock, drum and bass, or Yankees baseball. ### Author social links [Bluesky]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()