- Forza Horizon 6’s career mode split into Horizon Festival and Discover Japan strands
- Barn Finds, PR Stunts and Skills events return
- Horizon Rush is a new mode involving challenging obstacle courses
- Restricted access to Hypercars in Horizone Festival, Purple Wristband required
More information has been released about Forza Horizon 6’s career mode, as fans gear up for its 19th May 2026 release on PC and Xbox Series X|S (a PlayStation 5 version will also come later in the year).
Below, we’ll describe what players can expect from the game’s huge career mode, including new events, old favourites and a different approach to progression.
Tourists
Players will arrive in Japan as tourists, and, accompanied by cohorts Mei and Jordy, will attempt to join the Horizon Festival. Jordy is a racing fan, while Mei is a car builder, and is your gateway into Japanese car culture, accompanying players on day trips to help expand their err…. horizons.
To earn a Horizon wristband, players have to compete in the Horizon Qualifiers and Invitational, including Road, Dirt and Cross Country races. Later events are themed, showcasing special feature cars.
In standard FH style, completing these Festival Events, plus PR Stunts and Skills challenges, will aid progression to the next Wristband. Completing an event unlocks its Race Customizer, where you can adjust several factors, like Drivatar numbers, weather, time of day and traffic, among others, increasing replayability.
You can even set up multiplayer events in a similar fashion and set yourself up as the Convoy leader. In multiplayer, it’ll be possible to join Car Meets, recruit more players, create races or indulge in group open-world activities.
Discover Japan
The Discover Japan mode incentivises players to do just that: explore FH 6’s diverse new environment.
Here, players can collect Stamps – a nod to Japan’s prominent philately culture – which are earned by completing in-game tasks. And, to the delight of many Initial D fans, one of these ‘jobs’ involves food delivery. It’s unclear if this will involve tofu or an AE86 Toyota Sprinter Trueno…
Discover Japan will also include nighttime events and touge battles, authentically recreating the clandestine nature of Japanese street racing culture.
More Stamps unlocks new Player Houses with Customisable Garages, and reveals Barn Find Rumours – a classic returning feature for the series. Collecting stamps also leads to The Estate, a sandbox environment where players can build and customise tracks, buildings, and homes.
Stamps and Horizon Festival progress are tracked via your Collection Journal, where players can not only store all their photo mode images, but also collect all the rewards, credits and cosmetics they’ve earned from completing challenges and events.
Legend Island
Earning all seven Festival Wristbands unlocks Legend Island, which features the bespoke motorsport facility, Legend Island Circuit. Only the very fastest of opponents and toughest events will appear here.
One of these, a Goliath race ominously named Colossus, circumnavigates the entire island, giving players an impromptu whistlestop tour.
Horizon Rush
Horizon Rush events are completely new to the FH universe, providing challenging obstacle courses for players to complete under a set time limit. Faster times equal more rewards.
No more information is available for Horizon Rush yet, but it feels like a good opportunity to introduce a ‘No Hesi’-style game mechanic to the series, given its popularity.
Career mode grind?
Interestingly, high-performance Hypercars can’t be used in initial Festival races until a Purple Wristband is earned. Playground Games claims this will be ‘quite late into the game’, forcing players to use lower-powered cars.
This could indicate a career mode focused on grinding results, or it could promote a refreshing, more traditional method of play.
For example, modifying and tuning a car to race against faster opponents could lead to more satisfying gameplay and a deeper connection with vehicles (I remember my sweetly modified Honda Prelude, which took on all comers in Gran Turismo).
The Discover Japan events are entirely separate, however, so players will still be able to access faster cars outside of the normal Festival career mode.
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