Forza Horizon 6 marks the longest gap in the series history, launching almost five years after its predecessor. But for Playground Games, it’s been in the making for much longer.
“It’s been 14 years in the making since the very first one [Forza Horizon game] launched in Colorado,” Production Director Mike Bennett told Traxion at a celebratory launch event held at Caffeine & Machine in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Bennett is referring to the wait for the series to feature the most fan-requested location: “Japan was always very near the top of the wish list for a lot of people, including us,” he revealed.
“We reached a point in tech where we can do Japan justice”
“We always go through a process after every Horizon game where we have a long list of locations, then a shortlist,” Art Director Don Arceta explained about the process for selecting each game’s setting.
“Japan has been on that shortlist forever. The pitches evolved for each game in the series. This time, we reached a point in tech where we can do Japan justice.” The result is spectacular, with a rich and diverse map that ranks among the franchise’s best.
Making Tokyo Forza Horizon 6’s central urban space was “a big decision,” according to Bennett. “A large proportion of our technical investments went into allowing us to build a space like that,” he said.
“If you look at the previous two games, we had Guanajuato and Edinburgh, which are amazing cities, but look very different compared to what we did in Tokyo. If we had tried to take on this location earlier, it would have taken a very different form.”
When choosing which elements of Japan to include, Arceta explained that Playground Games starts with recreating key landmarks, such as Tokyo Tower and Nachi Falls.
“We always say it’s like a holiday going to that destination. This time, we really leaned into that tourist vibe,” he said. “We try to collect the landmarks Japan is known for. Then, we look at the biome.”
This meant recreating some of Japan’s best driving roads. “There’s Bandai Zuma, Mount Haruna and even the Venus skyline, which is an amazing driving road along the highlands. There are all these awesome areas in Japan that we wanted to capture. We took all those places and condensed them.”
“It’s our version of what that location would look like through the lens of Horizon”
“That beginning, formative stage of building the world is one of the most fun parts,” added Bennett. “You’re putting together this crazy collage, assembling all these little vignettes and trying to give people a flavour of the different things they have seen or imagined.
“It’s not a pastiche, but it’s our version of what that location would look like through the lens of Horizon.”
“One of the things I’ve loved seeing the most in Japan is the smaller, grassroots race circuits that they have,” he continued.
These are represented in time attack circuits that you can seamlessly enter and start hot lapping at your leisure. “We built it to make it a cool visual and driving experience,” Bennett reflected. “But then our game design team elevated it beyond what we originally even thought of.”
Forza Horizon 6’s abundance of car parks and convenience stores (known as ‘conbinis’) also lean into Japan’s rich car culture. “We wanted to create areas where car enthusiasts can just enjoy, take pictures and role-play,” said Arceta. “We put as much detail and attention into the environment to support that fantasy.”
“You’re never too far away from a car park, a layby, or somewhere that you can just park up, appreciate the scenery and spot the iconic Mount Fuji up in the distance,” Bennett added. “Hopefully we’ll see players indulging in that as the game goes live.”
Ditching the last-generation consoles also helped Playground Games realise this vision, as Forza Horizon 6 marks the first game in the series to skip Xbox One since the second game.
“Dropping last-gen was good for us,” said Arceta. “It definitely gave us some headroom. Being our second title in the current generation, we’re able to leverage all that tech from the last game and improve it.”
“We spend every moment of every day focusing on the tiniest little details”
To say that Forza Horizon 5 was a monumental success is an understatement. Bolstered by Game Pass, it attracted over 10 million players in its first week, while the PlayStation 5 version sold over five million copies – an impressive feat for a game that’s nearly five years old.
This, combined with the long-awaited Japan location, put additional pressure on Playground Games to meet Forza Horizon 6’s lofty expectations.
“We’re always our own worst critics,” said Bennett. “We spend every moment of every day focusing on the tiniest little details and thinking ‘we’re not quite happy enough with this, or ‘this could be better.’”
“That’s the lens you see the game through for a lot of the time. While you still feel proud of where you’ve got to, for it to then be out there and for people to say ‘we really love what the team has built’ – it’s a really great feeling.”
Since Forza Horizon 5 launched, Playground Games has seen significant team shuffles, with the last game’s creative director and the studio co-founder leaving to form rival studios Maverick Games and Lighthouse Games.
“The overarching feeling is that we just want to make this one even better than the last, regardless of what’s happened with the previous one,” said Bennett.
“We always look at the next game as a healthy challenge,” Arceta added. “We try to push ourselves, but in a healthy way.
“I guess this one is a bit different because it’s a location that we know comes with so much expectation. That additional expectation was different from any other Horizon we’ve done before.”
“Shipping any game is a massive challenge,” reflected Bennett. “It’s a huge undertaking involving hundreds of people. It’s humbling seeing the volume of positive reactions.”
“It’s such a cathartic experience where we put our blood and sweat into this game and so much passion, and then now it’s out and being received well,” added Arceta. “It’s just a great feeling.”
You can watch or listen to our full interview with Playground Games in the latest episode of the Traxion Control podcast on YouTube and Spotify.
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