Forza Horizon 6 has been revealed, and it’s finally taking racing game fans to Japan – a location that developer Playground Games knows players have been wanting since the start of the series. However, the team wanted to ensure that they were being “authentic and respectful with this location.”
Speaking to GamesRadar+, Playground Games art director Don Arceta acknowledges that the upcoming setting has “been something that the fans have been wishing for, ever since Forza Horizon 1, Forza Horizon 2. It’s been kind of a dream location for a lot of players. And even as developers of the series, it’s been a dream location for us as well.” Needless to say, he adds: “So we’re so excited not only that it’s announced, but that the next game actually is in Japan.”
Arceta tells us that choosing a location for the Forza games is “quite a process.” He explains: “It’s like choosing the location for the Olympics, there’s a long list, short list, and there’s a lot of discussion.
“This time around, because of the way the games kind of evolved over each iteration, and actually, in the technology that we have grown and developed to actually create these open worlds, it’s those two things that now made it the right time for, ‘Hey, we can actually do Japan right’, because we can only do Japan once and we want to do it right.”
Part of this also involved “working closely” with cultural consultant Kyoko Yamashita, “to make sure we’re being as authentic and respectful with this location,” Arceta adds.
The result, Arceta believes, may leave fans “surprised” with “just how much more of the culture we’ve tried to integrate into Horizon 6 outside of just the location.” He adds: “They’ll probably learn a bit more about this location than they might expect.”
We’ll just have to wait and see what the team has been cooking up when Forza Horizon 6 launches next year.
In the meantime, be sure to check out our roundup of the best racing games.