Racing game addicts are buzzing right now. It’s been centuries since a new Forza Horizon title graced the scene for Xbox and PC. Okay, it hasn’t actually been 100 years – Forza Horizon 5, the current chapter in the Horizon series, launched back in 2021. That’s an eternity in video game years, especially when rumors have been flying about the next Horizon game being based in Japan. Considering 99% of Horizon players online do nothing but drift, Japan is basically the holy grail for Forza fanatics.
And it’s finally happening. Microsoft made it official on January 22 during Developer_Direct 2026, revealing Forza Horizon 6 would take place in Japan and launch on May 19 of this year. The announcement came with a bunch of photos, a teaser video, and too many social media posts to share here. What we didn’t expect, though, was Toyota’s new GR GT being featured so prominently in the promotional material.
The automaker is planning a rebrand of its performance cars that basically makes GR its own brand.
The fact that Horizon 6 was revealed not long after the GR GT has us wondering if there was a deeper Toyota / Microsoft relationship all along here. That’s pure speculation on our part, but the timing is certainly neat. In any case, the production GR GT isn’t expected to go on sale until late this year as a 2027 model. That means the first taste anyone outside of Toyota will have of this new performance car will come through Forza.
Of course, it’s not really a first drive. Even if Forza was a dialed-in, hardcore racing sim, it’s still a digital interpretation of the real thing. But developers have become very good at capturing the visuals and the sounds of cars for the digital world. We’d be lying if we said we weren’t interested in giving the GR GT a virtual rip around Japan. Even in the watered-down arcade physics of the Forza Horizon world, we’re keen to see it outside of press photos and hear its throaty engine.
As a refresher, the real-life GR GT packs a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 engine. It’s a hot-vee layout designed entirely by Toyota, and while specific power figures haven’t been announced yet, Toyota is targeting 641 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque. The engine sits in an all-aluminum body with racing-derived double-wishbone suspension, and it’s all closely related to the Toyota GR GT3 race car that debuted at the same time as the road car. Whether it’s also included in Forza Horizon 6 is unknown.
“The 2025 GR GT Prototype is really special to us because it’s our hero cover car, but it’s also a car that you drive as part of what we call the Initial Experience. It’s the first 10 minutes of the game where you get to drive the car, almost as a prelude.”
– Torben Ellert, Forza Horizon 6 design director
The broad appeal of the Forza Horizon series from the very beginning is the open-world environment. Players can literally drive anywhere they want, when they want, and Forza Horizon 6 has the biggest map thus far. It includes re-creations of urban areas including Tokyo, as well as mountain regions, suburbs, and interpretations of many famous Japanese locations. It also features dynamic seasons similar to previous Forza Horizon titles, meaning the world-famous Japanese cherry blossoms will bloom.
Japanese cars will no doubt feature strongly in the game, but a plethora of American, German, Italian, and other brands will be part of the action. A car list on Forza’s website is being updated through the May 19 launch; there are only 93 cars on it now but the official announcement confirms over 550 available when the servers go live.
From the Lancia to Lamborghinis, this is one of the biggest updates to the game.
More will almost certainly come in the months and years to follow. For reference, Forza Horizon 5 currently has over 900 cars terrorizing the digital Mexican landscape.
Forza Horizon 6 will be available for the Xbox Series X/S, on PC, and later this year for PlayStation 5.
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