Forza Horizon 6 - General Discussion

[egl92]

Talking about the Renault Spider...

A GT1 version with official support from Renault existed.

It participated in the pre-qualifying sessions for the 1996 24h Le Mans but ultimately did not compete in the race itself.

It did, however, secure a victory in the British GT Championship.

The following year, Renault withdrew from the project, and the car became the Helem V6.

Edit: I found the car @Vincenzo_CVR mentioned.

 

[Komrad Syka]

welp

 

[PJTierney]

View attachment 1566481

welp

This is the second time you’ve posted a screenshot without context.

 

[Digolgrin]

This is the second time you’ve posted a screenshot without context.

I think he's talking about the mixed recent reviews, which does match up with folks saying that Horizon Mascot Party and British Automotive were very weak updates.

 

[Mikey]

I'm not sure what people were hoping for. We got some cool new cars and a new game mode in British Automotive. If the latter is going away then I can understand some people's disappointment though.

 

[GTvsForza]

Seeing how Drift Attack is in the Journal, I don't see them removing it after the Series ends.

 

[Gooby]

Seeing how Drift Attack is in the Journal, I don't see them removing it after the Series ends.

They are not removing it, but I personally hope any future drift zones use this feature.

 

[Mikey]

They are not removing it, but I personally hope any future drift zones use this feature.

Those bonus patches would look really weird drawn on dirt tracks.

 

[Digolgrin]

I'm not sure what people were hoping for. We got some cool new cars and a new game mode in British Automotive. If the latter is going away then I can understand some people's disappointment though.

Folks probably forgot that FH5 was this exact way when it started up. No expansions, so updates mostly consisted of returning cars and Evolving World things that barely affected anything while the real cool stuff was in the Car Pass.

It's just that this time, we actually do have updates that add stuff to the game in meaningful ways! Drift Attack may not have much content but it lays the groundwork for Evolving World Drift Attack circuits in other parts of the map (imagine Hokubu and Soni circuits being temporarily converted to Drift Attack circuits for a drifting oriented Series) and brought a neat Forza Edition to the game, and the Aftermarket takeovers at least made expensive cars and the occasional Wheelspin exclusive more readily available for folks. I think it was just Italian Exotics' crappy execution of the latter idea that sounded alarm bells in people's minds.

It does kinda make me fear for how Horizon Meets will be received, personally, but since the next Series History reward will probably be revealed in two weeks, it should go over okay, at least.

 

[Famine]

View attachment 1566481

welp

I concur.

 

[PJTierney]

I think he's talking about the mixed recent reviews, which does match up with folks saying that Horizon Mascot Party and British Automotive were very weak updates.

If you look at Steam’s language breakdown every language is still in Positive except for Japan, so there’s more to this story then at first glance.

I’m sure Komrad can tell us the full story, but they’ve refused to give any contexts for their posts so far, which should be the bare minimum when posting a screenshot.

 

[Vincenzo_CVR]

It really makes me realize something: a huge chunk of this community genuinely doesn't know what it wants.

For years it was "Give us Japan!" but now that it's here, the complaints haven't stopped. Why? Because it seems many players just wanted a perpetual Tokyo Drift simulator or endless straight highways to top out the exact same modern supercars they drive in every other game. They are completely missing the point of what makes Japanese car culture so rich and fascinating.

Whenever Playground Games actually tries to cater to true automotive history—like adding quirky, unusual, or culturally significant models —a vocal part of the player base whines because it's not the latest generic hypercar.
If we look back at games like the good old GT4, that game taught us to respect and be curious about automotive history. It made us appreciate the small, the weird, and the everyday cars just as much as the race cars. Today's Forza community seems to have lost that curiosity. They chase an unrealistic hype and complain when the game doesn't match the impossibly specific vision they built in their heads, completely ignoring the joy of discovering and driving cars with actual character.
Have we reached a point where people are just addicted to complaining rather than enjoying the drive?

 

[Mikey]

I wonder how many of the people on reddit insisting that the entire dev team should be sacked for making the tricky mega Trailblazer and drift zones so difficult promptly jumped on the "this game just gives out participation trophies for doing nothing" bandwagon and want it to gatekeep progression and rewards for the top 50% of players.

It doesn't help that PG give the impression of being more concerned with getting Fable out of the door than adding compelling free content to Horizon 6, but for now I'm not going to let 3,800 odd PC users dictate my level of enjoyment for a game I'm still playing every day, months after release.

It seems to me that getting the balance right between making the game too easy or too hard for the majority of players involves an ongoing feedback mechanism with publicly available results and this seems to be glaringly absent right now.

 

[Vincenzo_CVR]

I wonder how many of the people on reddit insisting that the entire dev team should be sacked for making the tricky mega Trailblazer and drift zones so difficult promptly jumped on the "this game just gives out participation trophies for doing nothing" bandwagon and want to gatekeep progression and rewards for the top 50% of players.

It doesn't help that PG give the impression of being more concerned with getting Fable out of the door than adding compelling free content for the game but for now I'm not going to let 3,800 odd PC users dictate my level of enjoyment with a game I'm still playing every day, months after release.

It seems to me that getting the balance right between making the game too easy or too hard for the majority of players involves an ongoing feedback mechanism with publicly available results and this seems to be glaringly absent right now.

You completely nailed it with the difficulty paradox. The flip-flop between 'this Trailblazer is impossible, fire the devs' and 'this game is just participation trophies' perfectly summarizes the absolute state of the community right now.
I agree with you on PG's priorities too. It definitely feels like their minds are halfway into Fable and the live-service communication is practically non-existent. A transparent feedback loop would definitely help balance things out.
But honestly, just like you, I refuse to let 3,800 Steam reviews dictate my fun. I don't need PG to spoon-feed me a constant stream of hyperactive events to enjoy the game. Give me this beautiful Japanese map, a tight winding road, and hopefully a Suzuki Cappuccino or a forgotten 90s classic, and I'll make my own fun.
The real joy of driving games has always been the cars and the journey itself, not the grind. Glad to see there are still players around here who boot up the game just to enjoy the drive 😌

 

[Mikey]

I don't need PG to spoon-feed me a constant stream of hyperactive events to enjoy the game. Give me this beautiful Japanese map, a tight winding road, and hopefully a Suzuki Cappuccino or a forgotten 90s classic, and I'll make my own fun.

I sure would love a Cappucino to add to my classic kei collection as for me it was one of the standout additions to the early Gran Turismos.

The real joy of driving games has always been the cars and the journey itself, not the grind. Glad to see there are still players around here who boot up the game just to enjoy the drive 😌

Instead of just yanking the power lead when my session is over I like to drive back to whichever house or festival site I've selected as home base before quitting because I enjoy the scenery and handling so much. This certainly wasn't the case for me with the non-Sierra Nueva parts of the previous Mexico map. Had I wanted a truly mindless and repetitive grind, other racing franchises are available.

 

[space_wadet]

There will always be people complaining about the game because the player base is so huge and varied. We tend to group the complaints as coming from a coherent group but it's really not the case. In a way it's an issue PG have created for themselves by trying to make a game that's "for everyone".

I think the biggest "valid" criticism of the game in its current state is the lack of novelty in terms of gameplay compared to previous games. For players who like all kinds of cars, who like building and racing cars just for the sake of it, the game has plenty to offer, that's undeniable. But for more "casual" players (for lack of a better term), the gameplay basically hasn't changed much since the past couple of games. I can understand the game feeling somewhat stale once the novelty of the map wears off. Drift attack is a step in the right direction though, albeit a small one.

If the game wants to keep players engaged in the long term beyond the core of the player base, they need offer a bit more in terms of new gameplay. Not just a few new cars every month through the same old festival playlist, while hoping the player base does their job creating new experiences in Eventlab. The Crew Motorfest (despite its faults) shows that you can do more even with a racing game. Their much deeper brand collabs, better uses of themes for events, expansions of the maps are all things Horizon could implement in some way. Or the online summits for example, which require you to be competitive online to get the best rewards before they're available to all players, is clearly something Horizon would never do in its current state for fear of "gatekeeping" some players, but could be interesting.

IMO, the devs do need to decide whether catering to the core base is enough for them (therefore losing some players, but could focus on better racing and stuff for car nerds), or if they want (need? cough*Gamepass*cough) a larger playerbase, in which case the additions to the game need to be a bit more significant in terms of gameplay.

Let's see what they give us for the 7 Eleven update. If it's just a reskinned konbini with a car meet, a livery you can only get in IRL stores, and PR stunts with some voiceovers, I'm sure I won't be the only one disappointed. But maybe the real novelty will have to wait until the DLCs. We probably all have high hopes & expectations for them.

 

[Mikey]

There will always be people complaining about the game because the player base is so huge and varied. We tend to group the complaints as coming from a coherent group but it's really not the case. In a way it's an issue PG have created for themselves by trying to make a game that's "for everyone".

You're right and, although it's tempting, after slogging through the latest litany of complaints on r/forzahorizon I really need to check myself for falling prey to the celebrated "goomba fallacy".

 

[Vincenzo_CVR]

There will always be people complaining about the game because the player base is so huge and varied. We tend to group the complaints as coming from a coherent group but it's really not the case. In a way it's an issue PG have created for themselves by trying to make a game that's "for everyone".

I think the biggest "valid" criticism of the game in its current state is the lack of novelty in terms of gameplay compared to previous games. For players who like all kinds of cars, who like building and racing cars just for the sake of it, the game has plenty to offer, that's undeniable. But for more "casual" players (for lack of a better term), the gameplay basically hasn't changed much since the past couple of games. I can understand the game feeling somewhat stale once the novelty of the map wears off. Drift attack is a step in the right direction though, albeit a small one.

If the game wants to keep players engaged in the long term beyond the core of the player base, they need offer a bit more in terms of new gameplay. Not just a few new cars every month through the same old festival playlist, while hoping the player base does their job creating new experiences in Eventlab. The Crew Motorfest (despite its faults) shows that you can do more even with a racing game. Their much deeper brand collabs, better uses of themes for events, expansions of the maps are all things Horizon could implement in some way. Or the online summits for example, which require you to be competitive online to get the best rewards before they're available to all players, is clearly something Horizon would never do in its current state for fear of "gatekeeping" some players, but could be interesting.

IMO, the devs do need to decide whether catering to the core base is enough for them (therefore losing some players, but could focus on better racing and stuff for car nerds), or if they want (need? cough*Gamepass*cough) a larger playerbase, in which case the additions to the game need to be a bit more significant in terms of gameplay.

Let's see what they give us for the 7 Eleven update. If it's just a reskinned konbini with a car meet, a livery you can only get in IRL stores, and PR stunts with some voiceovers, I'm sure I won't be the only one disappointed. But maybe the real novelty will have to wait until the DLCs. We probably all have high hopes & expectations for them.

Spot on analysis. You perfectly summarized the 'for everyone' curse that Playground Games has trapped themselves in.
Because of the Game Pass model, they are constantly forced to chase casual player retention. But for casuals, once the sheer novelty of driving around Japan wears off, the core gameplay loop feels stale because it hasn't evolved. Meanwhile, they are leaving the actual car nerds—the ones who actually keep the game alive long-term—starving for deeper automotive and cultural integration.

 

[Populuxe]

Here’s something odd about the Temerario I just discovered. In stock form, the car is S2/801. Unsurprisingly, if you put on wheels that are the same weight as stock, it stays S2/801.

Even less surprisingly, if you install wheels that are one step heavier (+18 lbs/+8 kg in this case), it nerfs the PI by one point, bringing it to the top of S1 class.

The odd part is that if you install wheels that are one step lighter, that also nerfs the PI by a point. Drop your car’s class by making it better.

 

[CarbonDaimon]

 

[Mikey]

View attachment 1566602

The Spin-Off That Ate The Franchise

 

[Nacho Libre]

The Spin-Off That Ate The Franchise

We could argue that going "more realistic" is not what the videogame crowd wants in general. Gran Turismo gets away with their "real driving simulator" (real simulator being an oxymoron) mantra, but in general the game is as approachable as Forza Horizon games. I should now, I play them both.

 

[T G M]

Spot on analysis. You perfectly summarized the 'for everyone' curse that Playground Games has trapped themselves in.
Because of the Game Pass model, they are constantly forced to chase casual player retention. But for casuals, once the sheer novelty of driving around Japan wears off, the core gameplay loop feels stale because it hasn't evolved. Meanwhile, they are leaving the actual car nerds—the ones who actually keep the game alive long-term—starving for deeper automotive and cultural integration.

I put 2000+ hours into FH5, pushed auto to the point of holding WR's at the end of my time with it, did countless tests including the Trial cars practically every week for 2+ years straight and tried doing something serious with every car no matter how stupid or rubbish they were, I've already dropped back to playlist only with FH6 and I'm even half a***ing that.

I've seen/explored most of FH6's cars in the previous game, due to the horrible balance I know how good/bad any new car will be without even having to drive it (the recent Ginetta for instance, if you know the system it's obvious it would be as strong as it is just in the upgrades/tuning menus) and I don't like a good chunk of the courses, I think FH6 has by far the worst track design in the series so far.

I'm very simple when it comes to a racing game, all I want is plenty to do with interesting cars, good tracks and solid physics, all FH6 has for me currently is the latter, and that's something that's always been present in this franchise so there's nothing new or fresh there, it's the first FH since the original that I pre-ordered so as much as I know people at the opposite end of the enjoyment scale to me love to do it I don't feel one bit satisfied or pleased saying any of this nor am I going to be smarmy or sanctimonious with those loving it, I thought this game would be 'the' FH for me, that everything I've enjoyed with this franchise over the last 14 years would all come together into one incredible package, instead this is the quickest that my interest has ever dropped off in a FH game.

 

[Vincenzo_CVR]

I put 2000+ hours into FH5, pushed auto to the point of holding WR's at the end of my time with it, did countless tests including the Trial cars practically every week for 2+ years straight and tried doing something serious with every car no matter how stupid or rubbish they were, I've already dropped back to playlist only with FH6 and I'm even half a***ing that.

I've seen/explored most of FH6's cars in the previous game, due to the horrible balance I know how good/bad any new car will be without even having to drive it (the recent Ginetta for instance, if you know the system it's obvious it would be as strong as it is just in the upgrades/tuning menus) and I don't like a good chunk of the courses, I think FH6 has by far the worst track design in the series so far.

I'm very simple when it comes to a racing game, all I want is plenty to do with interesting cars, good tracks and solid physics, all FH6 has for me currently is the latter, and that's something that's always been present in this franchise so there's nothing new or fresh there, it's the first FH since the original that I pre-ordered so as much as I know people at the opposite end of the enjoyment scale to me love to do it I don't feel one bit satisfied or pleased saying any of this nor am I going to be smarmy or sanctimonious with those loving it, I thought this game would be 'the' FH for me, that everything I've enjoyed with this franchise over the last 14 years would all come together into one incredible package, instead this is the quickest that my interest has ever dropped off in a FH game.

I really respect the honesty and the tone of your post. It's refreshing to read genuine criticism without the usual toxicity, I agree with some of your points. For example, we both agree that some of the tracks should be much better (and damn, way too many off-road races... I'm really not a fan of those). And yes, I've driven the Ginetta with my usual group of friends—that car is an absolute OP/Meta beast.

Glad I could add something to this thread with my thoughts. That was a really constructive discussion. Happy to share my opinion with all of you.

 

[Digolgrin]

Spot on analysis. You perfectly summarized the 'for everyone' curse that Playground Games has trapped themselves in.
Because of the Game Pass model, they are constantly forced to chase casual player retention. But for casuals, once the sheer novelty of driving around Japan wears off, the core gameplay loop feels stale because it hasn't evolved. Meanwhile, they are leaving the actual car nerds—the ones who actually keep the game alive long-term—starving for deeper automotive and cultural integration.

Honestly, I think the same line of thinking that even genuine critics are pursuing is the same line of thinking that led us to Mexico in the first place. If nothing else, what that map (and Hot Wheels Park) was perfect for was allowing them to push their hypercars to the limit at every given opportunity, precisely because it was so flat and full of high-speed corners.

If FH7 goes to Germany, which I imagine it will, it'll probably do just that with its map--cater to the high-speed Autobahn and just double down on Mexico's design decisions, and abandon what makes Japan so great: its scenic topography and the very concept of constantly going 'higher' the farther north you go. The fact that you can see Mount Fuji from almost anywhere on the map makes Japan worth it for me.

 

[Vincenzo_CVR]

Honestly, I think the same line of thinking that even genuine critics are pursuing is the same line of thinking that led us to Mexico in the first place. If nothing else, what that map (and Hot Wheels Park) was perfect for was allowing them to push their hypercars to the limit at every given opportunity, precisely because it was so flat and full of high-speed corners.

If FH7 goes to Germany, which I imagine it will, it'll probably do just that with its map: cater to the high-speed Autobahn and just double down on Mexico's design decisions, and abandon what makes Japan so great: its scenic topography and the very concept of constantly going 'higher' the farther north you go. The fact that you can see Mount Fuji from almost anywhere on the map makes Japan worth it for me.

It would be a massive step backward if PG listens to these complaints and turns FH7 into an 'Autobahn hypercar simulator,' abandoning the topographic character we finally got here... Japan gave us a map meant for driving, while a lot of people clearly just want a map meant for speeding. I really hope the devs stick to this scenic philosophy :-(

 

[Digolgrin]

It would be a massive step backward if PG listens to these complaints and turns FH7 into an 'Autobahn hypercar simulator,' abandoning the topographic character we finally got here... Japan gave us a map meant for driving, while a lot of people clearly just want a map meant for speeding. I really hope the devs stick to this scenic philosophy :-(

The sad thing is, they probably won't stick with Japan at this rate. I assume Expansion 1 will appear to double down while also offering bones for those fans, but Expansion 2 will be where we know for sure what PG's sentiment is.