Now that FH5 is completely slowing down, let's make predictions on FH6

[GBalao888]

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Forza Horizon 5 has had a good run for three and a half years so far, but as of series 43 (Midnight Muscle) and the announcement of the game coming to PS5, it's becoming obvious that Playground are starting to slow down and planning to sunset further development on the game once it comes to PS5 and "Horizon Realms" is introduced. This means that Forza Horizon 6 could be near, but we know absolutely nothing about it.

Here are some predictions I'd make for FH6:

To be released for Xbox Series X/S, PC (Microsoft ecosystem and Steam), with a PS5 version at a later date

Location: South Korea

Spoiler

While it's understandable that the fans would want a location that's either Japan or Germany, it would be too ambitious for FH6, not to mention it would clash with games such as Tokyo Xtreme Racer and Assetto Corsa EVO.

The increasing presence of Hyundai vehicles in both FH5 and FM8 may seem to suggest that if it's anything by past trends of cars coming as DLC, such as for example, Australian cars added to FM6 hinting to FH3 being set in Australia, and British cars leaked for FM7 back then hinting to FH4 being set in Scotland, then it's likely FH6 could be set in South Korea. Come to think of it, a South Korean map for FH6 would bring back the diversity not seen since FH4, plus the "seasons" system could be put in place again.

Car count: Over 950 to 1,000 cars

Spoiler

Taking into consideration every single car in FH5, licensing not withstanding, with the exception of Forza Editions, Welcome Pack cars, promotional cars and even the "movie cars" (Fast X, Barbie, Universal), FH5 would have 849 cars. Fans wouldn't want to see cars from the previous game omitted at launch and held back as "recycled" content for a particular update or series, so it's best that no car from the previous game, assuming there are no licensing issues, would ever be left behind.

This would result in FH6 releasing with the largest car list in Forza history, and it's apparent they'll want to go for 950 to 1,000 cars, and that's rather plenty to add for the next game at launch. However, some car models are being re-scanned ahead in advance and it's likely these will end up in this game.

Personally, I don't want to see any Forza Editions or Welcome Pack cars anymore as they artificially increase the car count with them not being actual cars to look forward to.

Other: No more FOMO mechanics

Spoiler

One of the biggest complaints surrounding FH5 is the FOMO aspect which revolves around the Festival Playlist, where usually, new cars get added every month, and players have a one-week window to obtain a new car. While it does take about an hour or so to obtain one or both cars from a week in the Festival Playlist, some players would have reasons for being unable to play, and that this will eventually bore players into doing something like this.

A solution would be to make the Festival Playlist cars available in the Autoshow once the playlist has ended, so that players could buy them with in-game credits, so that it's always available for them even if they have missed out. If players won the reward car from the Festival Playlist, then that would mean a free reward car they can use before it's available on the Autoshow.

These mechanics also encourage bad habits such as "sniping" auctions in the Auction House with hyper-inflated prices, and that the Backstage mechanic isn't any better as a solution - while these cars may end up there, a selection of cars picked by Playground potentially coming to the Backstage are picked by popular vote, with the winning duo of cars eventually making their way in. And with Backstage Passes being the main currency of getting such cars, you could only get these cars once, which means that should you want to buy a duplicate, or accidentally sold or removed one, you're out of luck.

 

[AudiMan2011]

China or Korea could be a realistic bet for location, but I'd expect PG to triple down on the live service FOMO mechanics because its all about player retention.

As for the cover car, I'd take a punt on the Corvette C8 ZR1.

 

[sirjim73]

I think the location is likely to be Asia due to the previous games being Europe then South America, so Asia seems a logical step (a bit like the location rotation in the GTA games).

As for cars at launch 500-600 same as FH5 and same as FM23. The reason, the remainder will be held back and drip fed through FOMO.

I also expect Wheelspins to be significantly reduced and the collection of cars to be a lot slower, the same as it is FM23.

As @AudiMan2011 says, it's all about player retention and in Microsoft's case, specifically it's about recurring Game Pass logins.

I expect FH6 to have an even longer target lifespan than FH5, which was longer than FH4 before it. I expect FH6 to be targeted at 5 years, another reason for holding back a lot of cars as FOMO. FH7 will not appear until 2031 my opinion, assuming FH6 launches end of 2025.

Also, the announcement of FH6 and the first trailer - I am betting that will be on 2nd May, the 20th anniversary. I am expecting a trailer for Horizon Realms that day as well. That might even be the day FH5 releases on PS5.

We'll also see some kind of trailer for whatever is being added to FM23 on that date (including the new "fan favourite track), I believe.

 

[GlamFM]

Im also thinking Asia, but I’m hoping for Japan.

I think we’ll hear about it this year - maybe TGA and it comes out Summer 2026.

 

[Digolgrin]

I'm betting Germany, if only for the reason of "Korea or China would be the first Horizon setting since Colorado in FH1 not to be linked to a World Rally Championship route," alongside the suspicious opening of German language social media accounts for Horizon and Forza as a whole. Asian settings would be neat but there would definitely be Certain Folks who would lambast the game for going anywhere near China. Besides, if you're looking at trends in recent additions, Germany, or at least cars from German-owned manufacturers, made up a lot of the last few updates, not counting Horizon Extreme and Midnight Muscle.

If we're talkin' in terms of live service and any gimmicks that the game will bring... I think there'll be a much larger emphasis on UGC. Everything EventLab 2.0 did in FH5 would be carried over to FH6, including EventLab Island, but now EventLab will basically replace the Blueprint Editor from prior games and act as something of a Custom Race feature for the PG-built routes around the map; you'd be able to tweak the number of laps that you run if it's a circuit, what your opponents might be, the car restrictions you want to set for your friends or anyone who wants to play your EventLab, and so on. Call it EventLab 3.0, and make it the same sort of thing Playground uses for Seasonal Championships in the Playlist.

Speaking of the Playlist, I think I agree with @sirjim73, it'll probably be brought closer to FM2023 in terms of functionality, but I think it'll still have some of what made FH5's Festival Playlists work--i.e. the use of Hard-to-Finds to help new players catch up with veterans and the general ease of earning the new cars. Horizon's style of FOMO is dastardly effective, look at how it captured me for over three years--why would PG stop that to lean into a more diabolical means of securing player retention? They'll probably try to find the best of both worlds.