Give then current size of FH5’s map which is 107km / 41sq miles I have plotted a box on google earth to theorize on what the payable areas of the map might be.
The picture looks to be taken roughly in this area around Lake Kawaguchi.
Fitting as there seems to be a quaint little bridge, and several Museums in this area.
I think it might be a fair guess to say that the majority of the map will be created around this general area with creative liberties of course. As with the Mexico map that has locations from all over Mexico that are hundreds of miles apart in real life - we will probably have other locations from Japan shoe-horned into this map - more so than being a 1:1 recreation of what I have outlined above.
Some Theories: I do not think we will be driving around on Mt. Fuji itself given that by it is bigger in area than the current size of the FH5 map. If we were on Fuji it would be the entire map not just one corner of it. What I predict here is: Fuji will loom in the background of our map foreboding and ever present from every angle. The game will take place around this lake and surrounding areas.
It appears that we will have some form of Highway 137 wrapping around the lake, and 707 the bridge in the picture.
Mt. Kurodaki is likely to be the primary mountain we run up and down given the many observation points along its roadway giant tunnel, and general proximity to the picture location.
Oh yeah, there is a tunnel on highway 137 as well heading up Mt. Kurodaki. Oh and those nice sweeping turns on the left…. ohhhhhhh (smells tire smoke)
All in all - I cannot wait for this.. if Fuji is lumbering in the background and the sky-box\environments look even half as good as it does today - it’s going to be spectacular.. I can’t wait to watch the sun set behind it.
Am I dead on? Am I nuts? What do you think about the proposed location of the game based on this or other info? Add your thoughts.
See you all in Japan!
Also: congratulations to T10 and PPG for your success in creating a truly exceptional game that I consider one of the GOAT in the overall genre of car games.
However, it has already been mentioned that the city of Tokyo will be featured, so I expect a mix of biomes and distinctive locations that are not limited to the area around Mount Fuji.
That looks way too big to be a Horizon map given how much level of detail is usually put in the map. Not even games like Test Drive Unlimited or the Crew had that much level of detail for their map sizes. Also, I think a lot of people seriously don’t realize how much space a real circuit built to scale would take on a standard Horizon map. Suzuka being that small in that picture alone tells me this map size is highly unrealistic for Horizon’s usually standard of graphics fidelity.
They could, but it doesn’t change the fact that this likely isn’t a leak. Even if it was, it’d likely only be concept art that’d be heavily trimmed down for the final product.
So in the pic of the area from the trailer , is right here on this map where the red dot is. They already said Tokyo is confirmed , this area is confirmed . and in the pic you can see that same lake with buildings around it , with mt fuji in the back and then that would mean Tokyo is on the other side of mt fuji . It’s way too professional
I only guess that hakone and fujimi kaido from fm2023 will be included in fh6 map, otherwise there would be no point of remastering fujimi kaido in dying game.
Even if the main map itself isn’t significantly larger than 5’s. I do suspect lots of crunching had been done in order to fit everything. And it definitely won’t go unnoticed. It would be pretty cool if not essential if they manage to tie-in the expansions to the main map. This would alleviate a bit of that frustration i think but i fully expect a lot of people to complain about something not being on a 1:1 scale. I do hope thought they don’t just toss “it’s 1.5 times larger” for it to turn out a good chunk of these expanded areas are empty open fields.
To me what matters is: How they’ve balanced the roads? How dense but not too dense the map is. Like i don’t expect every road to be as tight as in the Rally expansion in fh5. But i expect a significantly more packed up map compared to 5. I expect there will be a varied highway system. And if they stayed true to Japan, i think we’ll most definitely get vastly better highways compared to H4 and 5. I expect more roads that are suited for drifting. And especially for the lower class cars. I expect more fleshed out towns and smaller cities not like in previous games where it was mostly just a single road with a couple of buildings on the side. I hope they’ll be pedestrians. (but i doubt they’ll do it and drop the game rating)
I hope weather changes are more pronounced and even harsher. And hope they don’t shy away from bringing the game a more warmer color tone as opposed to Horizon 4 and especially 5’s washy looking visuals. They gotta keep it as stylized as possible while maintaining authenticity and not overdoing their color scheme to a point where it messes up how correct the colors are.
I’m very curious to see how Cross Country events are going to be implemented. Japan isn’t exactly known for it’s in-depth off-roading culture. It has one, but it’s not a huge segment of their car culture like it is everywhere else. Japan is also very dense geographically speaking. The only common type of open area it has is farmland, which will no doubt be featured in the game, but it’s slim pickings otherwise for Cross Country events.
Also, a bit of a sidenote, I’m kind of bummed we’re going to another country where a majority of the coastal roads are barely above sea level. I want to drive along dead-drop cliffs by the ocean again.
Maybe they could have most cross country events based around a certain biome? Like in Forza Horizon 3? I wouldn’t mind a bigger emphasis on road/street racing and ofc dirt/rally over CC. Every single map after Horizon 2 has essentially been an offroad map, on top of all the offroad and weather expansions. A tone shift from that would be appreciated as a change.
How about dirt racing? They still gonna make them mixed surfaces events where it’s 60-80 % done on asphalt? I hope not.
I’m sure that’s guaranteed. I never had any doubt that dirt trails would be in the game for the rally cars. I’m just thinking more about the cross country events because we’ll have an overabundance of SUVs, Buggies, UTVs, Prerunners, and Stadium Trucks if off-roading isn’t implemented very well.
I mean, to be fair, cross country events as they are now are kind of garbage anyways, so maybe this is an opportunity to “reboot” them, for the lack of a better word. I’d just hate to see off-roading get so deemphasized that the car list will turn into a Motorsport 7 situation.
*As others have pointed out, Tokyo City has been confirmed as part of the world/map
“From the neon lights and towering buildings of Tokyo City – one of our most detailed and layered environments to date – to the serenity and natural beauty of Japan’s rural and mountain areas, we think players will be blown away by the open world of Japan that we have built.”*
However, the buried lede is: Larger Map than FH5.
Forza Horizon 6 art director Don Arceta claimed that the open-world racer will have the “biggest map yet” in the history of the series. …. “And I think this map that we’ve created for Japan, or Horizon’s version of Japan, is big, but also dense. There’s always something around the corner for you to discover and see. But yeah, it’s bigger. I won’t put a number on it. It is bigger.”
I’m going to again suggest that we won’t be Driving on Mt Fuji in this game.. my main reason isn’t even map size - although that is also part of it - but it is more or less that it’s Sacred, as are most of the forests surrounding it - We will be respectful of culture here.. just like we aren’t allowed to climb most of the ruins in FH5. With this in mind, and looking at google earth I would then expect the pic from the teaser to be in the North West Corner of the map, with Tokyo City occupying the majority of the East side of the map if not the entire South East side of the map.
Then again - when you look at where locations in FH5 map are compared to real life and figure out that Playa Azul is on the west coast, not the east coast.. and Cabo is technically Baja California SUR trying to flesh this out based on reality is nigh impossible… “creative liberties” indeed.
just a theory
and in the pic you can see that same lake with buildings around it , with mt fuji in the back and then that would mean Tokyo is on the other side of mt fuji . It’s way too professional 