Pretty incredible, haven't really played FH5 at all in the last year, so Developer Direct completely slipped my mind. I felt an almost uncanny feeling seeing such an 'urban' landscape, while still very much looking like a Horizon game. Have some observations and nitpicks, hopefully I don't come across too negative but here goes.
The lighting still has the 'golden' hue to it that most Horizon games have, in some cases in the trailer and gameplay, it almost still looks like parts of FH5. Some of the flora and earth in the gameplay also didn't have quite have the immediate look or feel of Japan, there's a waterfall scene in particular that looked like it was made of assets from FH5. Obviously its not entirely fair to compare and open world game to a single track, but Fujimi Kaido nailed the aesthetic and feel, from the colours of the natural scenery to the colours of the road, it feels authentic. FH6 seems to still have the pale grey and sun drenched tarmac of FH5, particularly noticeable during the 'time attack' gameplay, and also in the car meet gameplay.
On Time Attack and Car Meets, both look fantastic. Using Daikoku is almost obvious, yet I hadn't even considered that they would, stoked to see it. The time attack gameplay on a clearly Ebisu inspired track was fun too, very smartly integrated as well, feels like a speed zone in a new outfit, but in a good way.
Car list dropping to 550 worries me slightly when thinking of the first year or so of post launch content. Can't help but feel we be receiving a large amount of returning cars for the first year at least. The Japanese additions are undeniably great though. Pretty incredible to see how the relationship with Toyota has developed since the drama of a few games ago.
The map looks fantastic, the additions of the Hakone Turnpike, and the 360 degree circular bridge are great. Both would look unrealistic and otherworldly in pretty much any other location in the world other than Japan. Tokyo will be interesting, it'll be tricky for them to portray the density, while still keeping the roads wide and gameplay friendly like Horizon maps have always been. In that main inner city gameplay clip of the NSX, you can see silhouettes of skyscrapers in the distance, which excites me. It's understated, but really adds to the feeling of scale. Surfers Paradise in FH3 had high rise buildings, but they were fairly sporadic throughout the city, which meant I always felt like you were at edge of the city no matter where you were, rather than in the depths of it.
Im both excited and hesitant for The Estate and Event Lab garages. The idea of having garages on display is something I've wanted for a long time, but personally of what we saw, I thought the obvious Event Lab props making up the garage looked a bit crap? Same as in FH5, the textures of the objects are all quite flat and bland, and the difference in quality is a little jarring when compared to the detail of the rest of the map. I understand technically why the Event Lab props aren't as great, and I think the idea is quite awesome, I just also hope we see houses that have their own beautiful settings curated for the game that aren't reused props.
Finally, a small touch, the HUD looks perfect. They've combined the typical Horizon aesthetic with Japanese graphic design very tastefully. The name is escaping me, but the font used for the speedometer, far more retro that what Horizon games have previously used, but fits perfectly with you see on a lot of Japanese broadcasts and video graphics.
