Meet the Three Pathways of Progression in Forza Horizon 6

With the return of the iconic Wristband system in Forza Horizon 6, we wanted to ensure your progression felt natural and rewarding for everything you do in the game.

While the Wristbands are central to your journey through the Horizon Festival, obtaining Stamps and filling out your Collection Journal will represent all the discoveries you’ve made throughout your travels in Japan.

These progression layers are fundamental to the campaign mode we’ve built in Forza Horizon 6, however for those of you who enjoy racing or drifting in online multiplayer, or battling it out with the wider community in our selection of new and returning game modes, we also have Horizon Play, and it too features its own progression.

These live alongside the standard player levelling and prestige system you’ll recognize from our previous games, representing your overall dedication to playing Forza Horizon 6. In addition, Wheelspins also return; however, you will only be able to obtain these once you’ve qualified for the Horizon Festival. To maintain the integrity of the progression at the heart of this game, we’ve rebalanced Wheelspins, and especially Super Wheelspins, to be rarer to earn throughout playing the game and more rewarding when you do spin them.

With those details in mind, in this blog, we’re going to take a closer look at the three main types of progression paths that await you in Japan.

Wristbands

Wristbands are your ticket to be invited to new events at the Horizon Festival, and as you earn new Wristbands, you will get to participate in races with higher car class restrictions.

Official events of the Horizon Festival include Road, Dirt and Cross Country Races, each with specialized car themes, as well as Time Attack Circuits, Drag Meets, PR Stunts and Bonus Boards. To receive your first Wristband, you will need to complete the Horizon Qualifiers and the Horizon Invitational.

Remember, after a race has been completed for the first time, the Race Customizer will be unlocked for that specific event, allowing you to use any car in your garage on subsequent replays, as well as customize the experience in other ways.

Once you’ve accumulated enough progress, a new Wristband Event becomes available. These include our classic Showcase Events and new Horizon Rush obstacle challenges – you must complete them to obtain your next Wristband.

In total, there are 7 Festival Wristbands to earn in Forza Horizon 6. The Gold Wristband is the most coveted of them all, as that will allow you to enter Legend Island and compete in special new events, including our longest Goliath race yet!

Stamps

Everything you find in Japan earns you progress towards your next Stamp.

That includes things like collecting and customizing cars, photographing murals, and smashing mascots. It also means finding landmarks, joining Mei on her day tours of Japan, completing Street and Touge Races, earning additional income at the Raku-Raku food delivery job, and so much more.

Collecting Stamps for your Collection Journal unlocks Barn Find Rumors and new homes to buy around Japan. Once you’ve obtained your first Stamp, Mei will introduce you to her grandparent’s long abandoned Estate, where you can build and decorate directly in the open world to create the home of your dreams.

There are 7 Stamps to obtain in Discover Japan, and these are inspired by Japan’s rich stamp collecting history. Japan has a long-standing tradition of recording one's journey. Collecting stamps is an extension of this culture, carrying a deeper meaning than just collecting souvenirs. It is about the joy of obtaining a physical 'proof of visit.’ The process of filling up a stamp book itself serves as a 'visualization of memories' – a reflection of the history and scenery encountered along the way.

For more details on how Wristbands and Stamps are at the heart of your campaign progression in Forza Horizon 6, check out this blog.

Horizon Play

The Horizon Festival is an exciting place to explore solo, and it’s even better when you’re with your friends. Whether you’re driving together on the map, racking up cooperative LINK Skills, playing through Horizon Festival and Discover Japan events in coop, participating in any of our Shared World Meetups, or building custom races together in CoLab, there are plenty of ways to enjoy Forza Horizon 6 with others by your side – including Horizon Play.

Horizon Play is our suite of game modes designed to be fun and competitive. These include The Eliminator: our open-world battle royale mode; Hide & Seek: a game of chases where the Hider must stay hidden from their opponents; Touge Showdown: two-player head-to-head championships with three races; and Spec Racing: a new mode where everyone is racing stock cars and the only differentiator is pure skill.

In addition, there are standard free-for-all Horizon Racing and Horizon Drift modes, and if you have preferences in the cars you are driving, then custom matchmaking is the place to be. In Custom Racing you get to set the car class and race type, while Custom Drifting allows you to choose the car class and drive type.

Horizon Play also introduces its own levelling system. You’ll earn XP by simply playing in Horizon Play game modes, obtaining a new Badge for every 10 ranks you achieve – up to Level 100. You’ll unlock additional Badges by completing a set number of each type of Horizon Play game mode and earning Skills.

There is also some crossover with your campaign progress too. Each Horizon Play level you achieve – up to Level 25 – grants you Horizon Festival Points towards your next Wristband. There are also additional rewards you can obtain from engaging with Horizon Play that will benefit your campaign progression.

Moreover, we’ve given Horizon Play its own Leaderboards. Series Standing Leaderboards are available for each game mode and display the top performing players for the current series. When a new Festival Playlist Series begins, these leaderboards are reset.

We can’t wait to see you all racing, drifting and battling it out for fun and fame in Horizon Play when Forza Horizon 6 Early Access begins later this week.

Japan Awaits!

Secure your ticket to Japan because the wait is almost over!

Forza Horizon 6 is coming to Xbox Series X|S consoles and PC on May 19 and to PlayStation 5 later this year, with Early Access included in the Premium Edition. Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass members can also purchase the Premium Upgrade to play the full game up to four days early starting on May 15.

Pre-orders are now live on Microsoft Store and Steam. If you purchase the game before its release, you will receive an exclusive, pre-tuned Ferrari J50! You can also add the game to your Wishlist on the PlayStation Store to be notified of availability.

Click here to learn more about the three different pre-order bundles for Forza Horizon 6 and the additional content included in the Deluxe and Premium Editions.

Chat about everything Forza Horizon 6 related in our Forza Discord server. Plus, be sure to follow @ForzaHorizon social channels on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter) to get all the latest updates from the Horizon Festival.