Forza Horizon 6 Tokyo Setting Disappoints Despite New Map Features

2 weeks ago 8

Forza Horizon 6 Has Disappointing Tokyo But Compensates Elsewhere

Published Apr 8, 2026, 8:54 AM EDT

Covering the video games industry since 2017, with experience in news, articles, lists, and reviews (and I blame The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask for that).

If you are a fan of RPGs and want a third-person version: Tayná Garcia is a Brazilian journalist (but you can call her Tay) who ended up working with video games after finishing Zelda: Majora's Mask when she was a kid. With more than eight years of experience in the segment, she has been an assistant editor at Jovem Nerd in the past and is currently a contributor at DualShockers and a writer for gaming magazines for Editora Europa. Oh, and she may like Hideo Kojima a bit too much.

If there’s one thing that always impresses players about Forza Horizon, it is the sheer size and density of its world. And it seems the next entry in the franchise is set to continue that legacy – and, most importantly, in a setting fans have been begging for years already.

That’s because Playground Games revealed the full map for Forza Horizon 6 this Wednesday, April 8, and the series is officially heading to Japan, promising a mix of dense urban centers and breathtaking natural landscapes.

More Verticality and the Shrunken Tokyo

Forza Horizon 6 Has Disappointing Tokyo But Compensates Elsewhere 2

According to the developer's post on X (formerly Twitter), the setting for Forza Horizon 6 is the most dense and vertical in the franchise's history, spanning everything from Tokyo's urban streets to snowy mountain passes.

By looking closely at the entire map, you can definitely feel that (especially the vertical structure), with dimensions appearing similar to those of Forza Horizon 4 and Forza Horizon 5.

The northern section of the map is dominated by winding mountain roads, shifting from snow-capped peaks on the left to lush green highlands, and it is important to highlight that natural landscapes seem to be the predominant theme for most of the tracks this time around.

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However, the elephant in the room is Tokyo, located on the southern coastal end of the map. If you think it looks a bit small for Japan's most famous metropolis, you aren't alone, since many players are already pointing out that Playground Games seems to be missing a large portion of the massive city and throwing away some good opportunities at building iconic urban areas.

While Tokyo might feel undersized, the map compensates with other iconic locations in Japan. Fans spotted what appears to be the Akina Downhill represented almost in its entirety, in the top right, and a section near the center that looks strikingly like Ebisu Minami, the legendary drifting course in Fukushima. You can judge the scale for yourself below:

The setting for Forza Horizon 6 is the most dense and vertical in the franchise's history, spanning everything from Tokyo's urban streets to snowy mountain passes.

Another detail that caught the community's eye is the “Summer Season” tag at the bottom left of the image. This suggests that points of interest in Forza Horizon 6 might change according to the time of year via seasonal patches, meaning the areas can get a few tweaks as time goes by.

While Playground Games hasn't officially confirmed how this model will work, it points toward a dynamic, evolving world, and that definitely increases our hype for Forza Horizon 6, which is set to launch on May 16, 2026, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.