FH6 Progression / Wristband Discussion

Forza Horizon Forza Horizon 6 FH6 Discussion
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So with yesterday’s reveal we now know for sure how FH6’s campaign will be structured.

  1. You start as a tourist, and join the festival by competing in the Horizon Qualifiers
  2. Once you’re in the festival, your rank is indicated by your Wristband, like in the first Horizon
  3. Each Wristband level has you competing in faster cars
  4. To get the next Wristband level you complete either Showcases (like the one versus the Gundam) or Horizon Rush events
  5. When you attain the Gold Wristband you become a Legend and gain access to Legend Island, which has its own tracks and exploration to complete.

There are obviously some details we don’t know yet, like how many Wristbands there are or how many Showcases there will be. What are all of your thoughts on this so far? I think it sounds great!

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It’s heavily implied that the starter car (or one of the starter cars) is the GR Yaris. That suggests that the first wristband covers up to at least B class (which is what the Yaris is listed under on the officially revealed car list so far).

If it is locked by performance class, I suspect that being a “visitor” will lock you to B and below, and earning your first wristband and becoming a driver in the festival will earn you A class. By that logic, there would be 4 wristbands to earn (A, S1, S2, R).

It could also be locked by category, which in theory would have 5 wristbands to earn (Road, Dirt, Cross Country, Street, and the new Touge race mode). It’s possible they also kept rallying from the rally adventure expansion, adding a 6th, and who knows how things like the time attack hotlaps will factor into all of that, but 5 is a safe bet.

It could also be a combination of both, with both game modes needing to be unlocked, and then performance classes within those game modes. Assuming the unlock of games modes just gets you access to B and below, that would be 25 wristbands to earn.

I would also guess that the golden wristband is something that can only be earned when all other wristbands are earned, and maybe has a special event or race associated with it as the final test before the endgame opens up (which Legend Island is a part of). So that brings us to 26 total.

So that’s my guess: 26.

It also seems like a good balance point between giving constant rewards to keep the more casual players invested and not being patronizing to the more hardcore players. Of course, that all depends on the length of the campaign as well. Like, is it only going to take one race to win the next wristband? I have no guesses there.

I do think the showcases will be limited to 5 or 6 though, and will represent major milestones, like unlocking all of A class, or completing all of Street racing.

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Length is probably my biggest concern. I’m glad some sense of progression is coming back, but it’ll be meaningless in the long run if only takes a couple of hours to go from chump to champ.

Also, if your prediction of the game starting at B-Class and working your way up from there comes true, that’s also quite of a bit of a bummer. I would’ve preferred starting at the higher end of D-Class instead, even if it wasn’t for very long.

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I’m just basing all of that on how much the Yaris is featured during the talk about being a visitor. There is also that one image prominently shown that has what is implied to be the player character leaning against the GR Yaris. It’s both in the trailer and on the website when they talk about the initial part of progression. Very safe bet it’s a starter car, but not a guarantee.

There are some flaws in my logic though. I mean, R class Cross Country? Don’t really see that being a thing. I mean sure, it’ll be possible in open gameplay, but having it be required as a progression milestone seems awfully ridiculous.

But yeah I was hoping to start a little lower as well.

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Hopefully not, LOL. The Drivatars in Cross Country are already enough of a headache as it is.

But stuff like that is why I’m also holding my reservations on the campaign. From what little we’ve heard so far, it does sound like an improvement over Horizon 5, but how much of an improvement remains to be seen until we know more.

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I could see different levels to work through for different events. Like for Cross Country it would be D, C, B, A. But for street: C, B, A, S1. Etc, etc.

The main reason why initially didn’t think that was because they talked about barring the purchase of certain vehicles until you earned an associated wristband. My immediate thought was “Oh, that must be based on performance class” because that would be the simplest to implement and most straightforward for the player to engage with.

But if it works some other way, then it’s possible that the GR Yaris is just our daily driver that we brought with us to Japan, but we’ll be racing in other cars as we work through the progression. Maybe we use our GR Yaris to win our first wristband, but we’ll have to unlock some stuff before we can use it for more progression.

That’s mostly wishful thinking though. It’s very much against the Forza Horizon mentality to not allow us to utilize that starter car more.

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I have just done a post over on the suggestions hub Proposed Progression

let me know your thoughts and if you like - upvote, i feel it encompasses a lot of peoples suggestions here and in other forums

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Would be cool to see different levels of progression based on difficulty level for both hardcore & casual gamers to enjoy.

Hardcore mode to start it bog standard E class Kei car & work your way up from there.

Casual mode to allow you to start with a wider choice of cars unlocked.

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While this is nice and all, I hope they don’t keep events purely tied to a certain car class even if you complete them. This was an issue with the first Forza Horizon and FH5’s Hot Wheels expansion, where in the latter, you had to use workarounds with EventLab just so you can race certain events with any car you want. Basically: even if you completed the events there, they remain tied to a specific car class, and you can only replay them with the restricted car class.

I made a suggestion where, if you complete a race event, it should be available to replay on all available car classes (depending on your wristband progression; gold wristband means every car class in the game), so that once you’ve beaten all the races as you would with the game’s progression model, you’re free to do them all over again however you like, using any car you want, without needing to use workarounds through EventLab.

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Today we’ve published a blog about the campaign and wristbands:

Please read through and let us know if you have any additional questions!

Blog details

It’s already been a month since we showed you Forza Horizon 6 at Developer_Direct and we’ve loved reading and watching your reactions to the game! One topic we continue to hear your requests for more details on is the campaign. In this blog, we’re taking a deep dive into how Forza Horizon 6 combines exploration and Festival racing in solo and cooperative gameplay, all with a renewed focus on progression.

In Forza Horizon 4, you arrived in Britain as a Superstar of the Horizon Festival. In Forza Horizon 5, your success as a racing champion continued in Mexico. In Forza Horizon 6, however, you’ll start the game as a tourist in Japan, with a dream of joining the Horizon Festival. None of that past fame is carried with you. You’ll need to build a name for yourself and prove you have everything that it takes to become a Horizon Legend.

When you first land in Japan, you won’t be by yourself. Two new Horizon characters, Mei and Jordy, also share your dream of joining the Horizon Festival, and they will be there to help you qualify and discover everything Japan has to offer. Jordy is a passionate motorsports enthusiast who understands the competitiveness of racing, while Mei is an experienced Japanese car builder, and will provide cultural insights and introductions on your journey throughout Japan. You can join her for authentic day trips to experience the unique brilliance of each region, and she will be there for you every step of the way to Legend Island.

To make it into the Horizon Festival, you’ll have to complete the Horizon Qualifiers and then the Horizon Invitational, earning your first Wristband. In Forza Horizon 6, Festival races are a curated experience, requiring you to enter using a specific set of cars in Road, Dirt and Cross Country events. With each new Wristband that you earn, you’ll be invited to compete in more events around Japan, and as you rise through the ranks of the Horizon Festival, these races will feature car themes – challenging you to master faster, more thrilling cars. Completing Festival Events, as well as activities like PR Stunts and Skills, will help you progress towards your next Wristband.

After a race has been completed for the first time, the Race Customizer will be unlocked for that specific event. In the event setup menu, you can adjust the number of Drivatars (up to 11), season, weather, time of day, time progression, number of laps, Rewind availability, camera lock, and traffic. By default, the Race Customizer will select a Car Theme that matches your current car, and there are also several other Car Themes to choose from, including pre-made classes and type-based restrictions. If you prefer, you can even pick each individual car that is permitted for the event.

If you’re playing with friends and set up an event as the Convoy leader, the rest of the Convoy will join you and play that event the same way you shaped it. Convoys are the best way to play Forza Horizon 6 together. If you’re looking for more players, you can always casually drive to a Car Meet and join or start a Convoy, and from there, participate in open world activities alongside each other or set up fun and unique events using the Race Customizer.

Once you’ve earned enough progress, you must complete a thrilling Wristband Event to earn your next Wristband. These include spectacular Showcase Events – you might have caught a glimpse of ‘Chaser Zero’, Horizon’s own racing mech at the end of the Developer_Direct video – as well as the brand-new Horizon Rush events featuring exciting locations at Tokyo City Docks, the Sotoyama Ski Resort and Irokawa Space Center.

Horizon Rush is the ultimate test of a driver against the course. Complete exhilarating obstacle courses as quicky as possible to earn the maximum stars. Throughout the course, splits will track your time helping you improve, whether you’re aiming for three stars, or the top of the leaderboards.

Obtain all 7 Festival Wristbands, and you’ll become a Horizon Legend. That title grants you access to Legend Island, an exclusive space reserved for the greatest drivers, featuring the challenging Legend Island Circuit and unique events including our longest Goliath event ever – the Colossus, which loops the entire map on the freeway. It’s the perfect place for R-class cars. Making it to Legend Island will be a true accomplishment and a reflection of your skills and determination.

While the Horizon Festival provides a progression-driven structure, Japan is also an incredible place to be explored at your own pace. That’s where Discover Japan comes in. While the Horizon Festival focuses on earning Wristbands, Discover Japan is all about obtaining Stamps – a system inspired by Japan’s rich stamp collecting history.

Whether you’re taking photos while cruising the roads of Japan, delivering food as a side hustle, collecting new cars, or playing through Horizon Stories, you will always be earning progress towards your next Stamp. As part of Discover Japan, you can also compete in Touge Battles and thrilling night-time Street Races, which are the perfect place to race the cars you might not be able to use in Festival Events just yet.

With the structured restrictions of the Horizon Festival, Hypercars can’t be used in Festival races until you’ve obtained at least the Purple Wristband, which is quite late into the game. This means players who want to stay engaged in the stricter progression system can do that in the official Horizon Festival events, while others who want to immediately jump into the fastest cars will have unofficial events as part of Discover Japan open to them.

Collecting Stamps for your Collection Journal will unlock new Player Houses around Japan with Customizable Garages for you to buy, as well as Barn Find Rumors and The Estate – a mountain valley where you can build and decorate directly in the open world.

You’ll track your campaign progression across both Horizon Festival and Discover Japan in the Collection Journal. Each of these paths can be progressed at your leisure. If you’re the type of player who wants to embark on your own road trips, there’s great news for you too – everything that you discover in Japan is tracked in your Collection Journal. It’s also where you can redeem unique rewards for completing specific activities and challenges, and these will include cars, credits, and cosmetic items.

Additionally, anything that you photograph for your Collection Journal will be saved there, so you always have a wonderful keepsake of your adventures to look back on. And if you capture a better photo later, you can even swap them out!

What’s more, for the first time in a Forza Horizon game, cross-save between Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, PlayStation 5, and Steam is supported. That means your Forza Horizon 6 campaign progress follows you no matter which device you’re discovering Japan on.

Whether you prefer to race or explore, Forza Horizon 6 delivers an expansive campaign full of depth, freedom and progression, and we can’t wait for you to experience it.

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FH6 Calendar and Announcements
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That is exactly how it works. Once you complete the race you can customize it to be however you like, including car type.

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Progression is back! so good! They stated we can customise events after completion which is great news, wondering if we are also able to link events together to create our own championships too…

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The fact that there is no mention of it is very disheartening.

If I were them I probably wouldn’t tie championships (especially custom championships) to main progression either. That’s endgame content. So the fact that they’re not mentioned in this post is understandable.

However, if I were them, I’d be advertising custom championships in a big way, as early as possible. Endgame racing depth, particularly single player and convoy endgame depth, is such a massive issue not just in this game, but in the genre as a whole, and while I have very little idea as to the programming difficulties potential solutions present, from a gameplay design perspective these solutions are embarrassingly simple and often (but not always) blindingly obvious.

But the dire situation also presents opportunity. If the Forza: Horizon series can be first to market with these solutions, they’ll solidify themselves as the rulers of the genre for many more years to come.

I know several people, including myself, whose decision on this game hinges on a custom championship announcement. I’ll probably get the game regardless, hard for me to resist the allure of a good driving sandbox, but an announcement on custom championships means the difference between pre-ordering the ultimate edition vs waiting for review for just the base game. But there are others in my friend group where it’s the difference between buy or pass. FH5 ran out of steam far too quickly for them and they don’t want to commit to a purchase again without the promise of a fleshed out endgame. And I don’t blame them.

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Couldn’t agree more. Look — I’m no game designer by any means, just another keyboard warrior — but honestly I can’t imagine it being that difficult to implement something like one of the following:

Option A
Drive up to an already completed championship → select Custom → set my preferred rules: drivatar difficulty, weather, car type, class, laps, etc. Then just complete the championship in whatever car I want.

Option B
Drive up to an area or previously completed race → select “Custom Championship” → choose 3 or so races or race types, combine them together, and set my own rules, laps, and restrictions.

Option C (The Crew Motorfest approach — massive endgame value)
You can replay every championship whenever you want, in different car classes and variants. It ties into achievements, progression, and rewards, which actually gives players a reason to keep playing long-term.

Honestly, I hope they’re watching or listening to this feedback, because in my eyes this is huge. And let’s be real — this will likely be the only Forza Horizon title for at least the next 5 years… so give us a proper endgame.

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Option B is kind of like how it worked in FH3 (you could choose up to 10). If a new version included the option of playing open matchmade PvE and PvP on top of the traditional single-player/Convoy PvP/Convoy PvE they might want to consider limiting that number to 5, but beyond open matchmaking considerations, I don’t see any gameplay design reasons to put any limits in the mode.

Another, perhaps more modern solution is to have either a tab in the menus or a location on the map (or both) where players can go and set up their own events. This is a more modern and more flexible solution because it allows for options like having blueprints and sharecodes for sharing events easily amongst the community, and you can also have an option that just spits out random championships similar to how Tour does in 5 that players can just jump into instantly if they choose.

With these systems, you want to make it as powerful and flexible as possible for those who do want to engage with these systems, while also considering making it unobtrusive for those who don’t want to engage and quick and easy for those who want that endless endgame content but don’t want to build it themselves.

I think the map location and menu tab can fulfill all three group’s demands. It’s easy to ignore for those who don’t want to engage, can be as powerful as our imagination allows for those who do, and provides a steady stream of content (both generated and shared) for those in between.

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Fantastic idea. Can definitely see the benefits of incorporating it into the menu UI and or a centralized location!

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This is fantastic and close to what I suggested long ago (curated events and only have the ability to customize/tailor event after you become Legend/Boss). My only concern now are the preorder bonuses, is there a way to toggle the bonuses off until later on in progression to get the authentic FH6 progression?

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In Forza Horizon 6, Festival races are a curated experience, requiring you to enter using a specific set of cars in Road, Dirt and Cross Country events.

After a race has been completed for the first time, the Race Customizer will be unlocked for that specific event. In the event setup menu, you can adjust the number of Drivatars (up to 11), season, weather, time of day, time progression..

By default, the Race Customizer will select a Car Theme that matches your current car,

I really like hearing the words “curated experience”. But i’m not seeing any mention of championships. Personally i would’ve wanted to get at least some bulk of pre-made championship into the main progression. And maybe unlock more of them once we’ve reached a legendary status.

The stamps system almost seems like a parallel progression system. Sort of like an evolution of the Horizon Adventure from Horizon 5 but seemingly more structured? And ofc, street racing is again sort of side-lined. I always found it interesting how Horizon games tend to sidetrack Street Racing maybe so that they’re able to “not condemn it” for the car manufacturers that wouldn’t wanna participate otherwise.
It was only in H5 where they made it part of the festival, which didn’t make much sense. Hopefully this time around it’ll have more of an impact as part of the Journal/Stamp collection system.

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At least on Steam (don’t know how it works on Xbox) you could simply skip installing the VIP DLC. Or even after you’ve installed the game, for as long as you haven’t opened it and logged into your account, you could go to Game properties - DLC - untick the box = No bonuses.

An actual killswitch would be better tho. Because from what i understand, once the VIP is activated you’re not able to reverse it. It’s basically tied to your account forever. If lets say you wanted to do a fresh playthrough of the game without those bonuses, you would need a brand new Microsoft account.

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Subjectively, I agree, I think championships would make for great progression, and would help us become more attached to our cars as we progress.

Objectively though, if I were sitting in the seat of game director, I’d save championships for endgame activity.

Believe it or not, there is a group of people who hate championships, and while I struggle to understand, I also wouldn’t want to say their way of playing the game is invalid, especially when accommodating them is so easy.

There is also the matter of new players to the franchise. Throwing championships at them early on can be intimidating, even off putting. As someone who onboarded into the franchise in FH3, I really liked doing some championships as part of progression, but if they had been required early, I’m not so sure my onboarding process would have been as smooth.

In game design, there are two types of rewards to give players. I forget the names of them, but one is the type that adds something to the gameplay (example: getting a new weapon in a shooter or a new power in a 3rd person adventure game), and the other is a symbol with no other purpose beyond recognition (wristbands, achievements, cosmetics).

I’m a big fan of the former, and custom championships could act as a great progression reward. PGG does seem very willing to do both, considering they are locking an entire island behind a progression goal.

I do know that if custom championships are a thing, my own community will be creating our own “game within the game” with it’s own rules and progression. Trying to be as objective as possible, that seems like the best of both worlds to me.

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