When it comes to racing games, Forza Horizon 6 is as beginner-friendly as it can be. Like we pointed out in our review, “At the Horizon Festival, the vibes are good, the music’s banging, everyone loves cars, everyone’s a friend. You can progress meaningfully in the game by playing online or solo, by racing, drifting, exploring, collecting, tuning, painting, or taking photos. It’s chill.”
No welcoming context is enough to make a new player feel completely at ease with the amount of content and systems present in this game. Besides, you learn a thing or two after spending hours with the game — which we did! So, here are 10 Forza Horizon 6 beginner’s tips and tricks to reach the podium or just vibe in Japan.
Stamps are as important as wristbands
Forza Horizon 6 isn’t just about racing around Japan. Exploring each region and discovering landmarks while bumping tunes on the radio is also one of Forza‘s high points. As you discover more areas, complete stories, or take photos of landmarks, you’ll earn Discover Japan points and gain stamps in the process. As you earn stamps, you’ll receive hints for barn finds and unlock more houses to purchase. These are also locked behind stamp progression, so if you don’t explore, you won’t be able to find these rare cars or purchase new houses.
Make your own playlist of songs
While Forza Horizon 6 features nine radio stations featuring different music genres, you will quickly get tired of them. This is a fairly long game, so listening to the same song multiple times is inevitable. That’s why you should reduce the in-game music volume, make your own playlist outside the game, and explore Japan listening to music that really motivates you. It can be the same five songs you listen to every day on your phone or a two-hour-long YouTube video playing some City Pop hits. Create your own soundtrack, but one capable of taking you to the finish line.
Repeat races and rewind to become a better driver
There are many elements to consider during a race that you only truly understand after experiencing a track for the first time — such as where you can push your car to pass the one in front of you or when you shouldn’t accelerate. By repeating a course or rewinding a corner, you can apply what you have learned and maybe achieve a better time. You don’t need to spend hours on the same track, especially at the beginning of the game, but it’s important to know when to come back and practice. It will even help you in future races on different tracks.
Adjust your settings
There are a ton of settings in Forza Horizon 6 that will help you improve at the game and focus on the road. A simple setting to adjust is your difficulty. At higher difficulties, you’ll earn more credits, which means you can buy your favorite car in no time. However, if you find that the race is getting a little too difficult, you can lower the setting just before a race.
There are also a lot of visual accessibility settings that allow you to reduce the visual clutter, so you can focus on driving. We also recommend turning on Proximity Radar in the “HUD & Gameplay” menu to help you see cars approaching from behind you. Alternatively, you can increase your camera’s FOV in the “Video” menu, so you can get a wider view of your surroundings.
If you just want more cars, buy those you find on the map
Forza Horizon 6 is all about cars. Old, new, classic, modern — all types of cars! To obtain as many as possible, you need to think carefully about how you spend your credits. You should always try to pay the lowest price, which means avoiding buying cars from the Autoshow and focusing on checking the ones you find across the map. Whenever you’re driving to a new race, keep your eyes open for the green CT icons. They indicate cars for sale, and they always come with a discount.
But if you don’t want to buy them, wait until you win more cars
Cheap cars are great, but maybe you don’t want to buy them for the sake of filling your garage. Good news: you don’t have to! As you play the game, you’ll earn free cars. They come from wheelspins, completed challenges, and even by progressing through the campaign chapters. Far from being the best cars in the game, Forza Horizon 6 still rewards you with solid vehicles that can carry you through the campaign without any issues. Use them until you find one that is worth spending your money on.
Become an automotive aficionado photographer
As you progress in the game, you will find yourself seeking for any Horizon Festival points you can get to rank up and unlock more features. While racing is the main source of points you have in Forza Horizon 6, a simple way to earn extra points is by taking pictures of your cars. Among the challenges available in the Horizon Festival mode, you will find Horizon Promo, which rewards you with 10 Horizon Festival points whenever you photograph one of the hundreds of cars in the game.
If you see a car with a camera icon above it, make sure to take a photo of it! Also, we recommend taking a photo of cars at the start of a race to quickly fill up the Horizon Promo section of the collection journal.
Take the time to enjoy the view while driving to a race
Just driving a cool car and seeing the beautiful landscapes of Japan is as fun as participating in races. Taking the time to drive along the hundreds of roads in the game offers more benefits than just digital tourism, though. As you head to a new race, you can find all kinds of side content to engage with, from mascots to photography spots. By collecting these between races, you can slowly but effectively complete these secondary challenges that offer great rewards like exclusive cars. In addition, breaking mascots is a solid passive source of income in this game. Sure, there are occasions where it feels like driving to a new race will take forever, but trust us. Driving there is worth it!
You can fast travel to basically anywhere you have already visited
When we say that you should drive to places, we’re not saying that you should never fast travel. In fact, Forza Horizon 6 has a great system that literally allows you to teleport almost anywhere on the map. You don’t need to select a point of interest or a checkpoint to move almost instantaneously to the other side of the map. You can just choose the middle of the road as your fast-travel stop, with nothing nearby except mascots waiting to be smashed with your car. But there’s a catch: you must have visited the place before you can fast travel to it. So explore every corner of the map to come back later with a click of a button.
Investing in your estate might be worth it
Base building might not sound as exciting as driving a car at 200 km/h. However, it can be profitable in the long term. Early in the game, you will have the opportunity to buy the Estate, the only house whose exterior you can customize. Once you’re satisfied with how it looks, you can share it, and receive daily payouts from it. It’s not much, but it is easy money. You just need to open the “My Horizon” menu and go to the message center to claim any daily payouts you have. So make sure your estate looks good, and just wait for that sweet, sweet money to roll into your pockets.
