Brief background: r/BuiltFromTheGroundUp was formed in reaction to the poor launch of Forza Motorsport 2023, where it now critically discusses racing games in general. Opinions come from racing game fans (myself included) who want to vent their displeasure about current trends in racing games broadly, rather than any one specific game.
When the teaser for Forza Horizon 6 dropped, one member asked the community whether or not we thought FH6 would be pivot point. Over 200 replies were recorded, and this is an aggregated analysis of the most common complaints. Since FH6 is still somewhat early in development, I figured now would be a good time to list the pain points people have that, hopefully, can be addressed in FH6.
These are the complaints that came up most often, aggregated into a list with excerpts for quick context.
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Map authenticity and road scale are unrealistic
Players expect narrower, more detailed roads and believable geography for Japan.
Instead, concern about open-fields (especially The Eliminator), wide-road map design.
āSeriously all I want is a more realistic mapā¦ give us narrower roads and finer details.ā Reddit
āIf the roads are wide as hell and most of the map is open fields, no.ā Reddit
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Cringey writing and cultural tone
Concerns about forced slang, language swaps, and dialogue that undercuts immersion.
āIām so not looking forward to the cringy lines.ā Reddit
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Narrow clichƩs of Japanese car culture
Fears that representation will fixate on a few memes and ignore breadth.
āI really despise how Japanese car culture has been reduced to Skylineā¦ Tougeā¦ Drift.ā Reddit
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Shallow progression and low challenge
Complaints that rewards are handed out too easily and career structure feels trivial.
āProgression is nonexistent and everything gets handed to you.ā Reddit
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FOMO and time-gated car acquisition
Cars locked behind playlists or limited-time events are seen as anti-fun.
āHereās a ton of 15+ year old JDM car models with half of them locked behind [a] FOMO Playlistā¦ā Reddit
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Car list bloat and limited customization depth
Quantity over quality; duplicated variants; outdated models; very few bespoke custom parts.
āSmaller car lists allows more time for development of each car, more quality per car.ā Reddit
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Offline single-player is under-served
Replayability is perceived as online-centric; story modes feel weak.
āThere is 0 replayability for offline gamersā¦ Racing games areā¦ rooted in offline story modes.ā Reddit
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Online reliability and flow problems
Lack of multiplayer depth and matchmaking stability issues.
āThe online play is boringā¦ and the servers were unstable for over 2 months after release.ā Reddit
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Festival-game fatigue; preference for street-racing narrative
Many want less āfestivalā framing and more grounded street-racing stories.
āIām tired of festival racers, give us street racing and realistic stories again.ā Reddit
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Missing world details hurt immersion
Small but telling omissions make the world feel less alive.
āā¦not a single gas station on the entire map.ā Reddit
8 Likes
This is a very good summary of the concerns held by members on that side of the community. As someone who criticizes Forza Horizon regularly because I care about the franchise, I agree with a vast majority of the points raised here, because a lot of them are the sins of the father, aka Horizon 5. Itād be a massive shame if any of these were to repeat.
That being said though, the only critique I strongly disagree with the complaint of the Festival backdrop. Itās admittedly an overused trope for racing games now, but the Festival setting is really too integral to the Horizon formula to just go and drop it. And while street racing has always been a core feature of the Horizon games, I think it would a massive mistake to completely zero in on it only. Horizon isnāt Need for Speed, and with Microsoft very intent on keeping the age ratings low for all Horizon games going forward, I just donāt see it happening, or being executed well.
5 Likes
My biggest problem with the festival started with Australia, you were welcomed as the King of Horizon and that carries through 4 and 5. Youāre already a big shot, nothing to prove really, youāre reputation precedes you. We need a new narrative around you, as a character.
Since this is set in Japan, the players backstory should be wiped clean, an outcast or gaijin (outsider). Earn the respect of the other Horizon invitees (much like the first game).
5 Likes
I doubt that they would have announced the game if they were still early in development. Theyāve had extra time to develop it and now have whatās left of Turn 10 to help finish it off (complete it or run it into the ground, depending on your view of T10).
2 Likes
So another Carbon, Most Wanted, Pro Street etc all been done before.
I like the carry over as it takes a lot of hours in each game and itās also a āthank youā from PlayGround Games that youāve been here from day one and also new players get the same as a āthank you for playing our game and welcome to Horizonā. No I donāt like that.
2 Likes
Three of your points I agree with:
- Car Bloat
- Offline content lacking
- Matchmaking and something to be done about rammers and people who are in it just to ram.
In my opinion having this on GamePass day one is a mistake as when you give it away free it attracts this behaviour. Having to Pay for the game will eliminate so many who just want to troll and destroy everyoneās good time.
Great post 
1 Like
There were rammers before Game Pass. I think itās Forzaās short 3 lap races and poor AI that encourage & incentivise getting to the front ASAP that induces some of this behaviour, even in team events. The rest is current norms of selfish behaviour in general transferring into gaming. People either donāt know any better or donāt care.
6 Likes
True I just donāt like new games going onto GP full stop. They should at least be out in stores a year before going on it.
Itās far too easy now for people to load the game and ruin it for everyone.
Iād like to see a penalty type system where if youāre egregiously ramming race on race to not be able to race online for a period of time.
Like Smite 2 if you leave the match you get a deserter penalty.
1 Like
Interesting the people who are wary of too much emphasis on āJDM cultureā which will include drifting.
Whereas the drifters are looking forward to a far more developed drifting scene in FH6 given that it was largely neglected in FH5.
Not that all that canāt be navigated of course - but it might be a source of tension to watch for.
4 Likes
I can do without the whole āyouāre a rookie thingā and you get insulted/talked down to by the old lags that are already there but then you earn their respect by winning. Thatās been done a thousand times. Iām a little tired of it if Iām honest.
They should do a murder mystery. Youāre the experienced detective brought in from abroad & thereās been a murder in mysterious circumstances & you gotta sort it all out with the local detective. Cue an amusing culture clash like Danny Glover & Mel Gibson. Now thatās somethinā to freshen it up.
You could even be given the old Jag as your starter car like Inspector Morse as you interrogate the hidden jealousies and motivations of a Cluedo range of characters.
Bit late for this title but if that isnāt something new to rejig the formula for the 7th installment, well, I donāt know what is.
1 Like
Sounds good, I really think after years of neglecting the single player experience they have to put some effort into it.
4 Likes
I think the complaint is less about the idea of a festival setting itself to be more like NFS, and more about how flagellating the whole thing has become.
Carryover is cool, sure, but that leaves the narrative in a spot where it has no choice but to stroke that for essentially the whole game. FH5 had a massive problem where the majority of dialogue ended with ābut thatās no problem for a superstar!ā and it was seriously grating. Nobody talks like that. FH4 had the self-respect to not be so hyper about it. This isnāt even getting into the super weird stories FH5 had, trauma dumping and Papa Fernandoā¦
Thereās a middle ground here. The Xbox Wire referred to āworking up as a Legendā, and I see that as either good or bad: Either youāre recognized from past Horizons but Horizon Japan is like āoh yeah? prove itā, or they double down on manic dialogue to somehow ascend the player from superstar to legend for the annals of racing history. No matter how you slice it, Iām not confident in PGG to make a sound call. Hell, I even agree with @Patrick_Moon500, just do something else entirely.
If the narrative carries over from FH5, gameplay ramifications are obvious: No limits, no bounds, everything all the time all at once. Narrative becoming more restrained has a direct affect on the tone of the game. So, if they were to restrain the narrative, then that would likely be reflected in some modicum of structured, reigned-in progression instead of, you know, all 3 starter cars given to you regardless of initial choice.
3 Likes
I guess Iām not one of the āI want it all nowā crowd. I like actual progression in a game. Yes, it has been done before, but itās a racing game, what do you (anyone) expect? Going too far off the reservation and you end up with an RPG that has cars in it. Motorsport tried the RPG elements, failed from the jump. The Crew (OG) had a decent blend of story to gameplay, but in the end just ended up like a NFS copy/paste similar to Undercover/The Run/Payback.
1 Like
The only thing I want is better races in so far as on the side of Motorsport handling. To have a system in place for perpetual rammers. I donāt want to be inundated with cars from the jump. The narrative is not important to me. I just want better quality game play.
So Iām not gonna debate you on this as the narrative and such is more important to you and your voice should be heard.