Right at the beginning of what would become a few months of unrelenting 2026 summer heat, I found myself in a rather interesting place, smack bang in the middle of the UK: the British Motor Museum.
Since joining the team at Forza and becoming an ambassador for Horizon 6, I’ve had the unique opportunity to experience the connection between real-world car culture and the virtual car culture of gaming. It’s been surreal to be involved in aspects of the latest Forza Horizon release – from its overall direction, feel, and authenticity – to, more importantly, meeting the incredibly talented people behind a franchise that has captivated players for so long.
Earlier in my UK visit, I spent an educational afternoon at Playground Games, meeting some of the key people behind the game and getting a closer look at how every layer of the world we call Forza Horizon 6 comes together. The best part was meeting true petrolheads who genuinely ‘get’ cars and, in particular, JDM culture. I’ll eventually head back there to capture some content for you guys, so you can get a better sense of what it all looks like behind the scenes. My visit was literally just days after Horizon 6 had launched, so everyone was understandably busy.
Besides, it was the game’s official UK launch party – the Horizon Festival – at the aforementioned museum that I was there to cover, and you know the Playground team put on a great show.
To introduce Forza Horizon 6 to British audiences, the event celebrated the UK’s JDM scene, with the car park outside the main building filled with iconic cars, all tastefully modified and lined up for everyone to see.
It’s crazy to think that literally two weeks prior, I was with Fast and Furious actor Sung Kang in Jakarta for the Elite Showdown, and here he was at this event in England too. Sung has been travelling the world to promote his upcoming movie, Drifter, and was doing the rounds with swarms of fans in the UK as well. It’s always awesome to bump into him, especially as he continues to do amazing things to help bridge global car culture.
Inside the museum itself, which is jam-packed with some of Britain’s most important cars ever and is a must-visit if you’re ever in the area, was where the Forza Horizon 6 activation area had been set up.
From this elevated standpoint, you could see the museum exhibitions all around you. But most importantly, cars from the actual game were on display, including a super-clean Honda NSX, an R32 Nissan Skyline GTS-T, and a cute yet menacing Mazda Autozam AZ-1. The Horizon 6 demo was playable either via vividly coloured Forza controllers or, if you preferred the simulator feel, a few rigs.
Along with the car show, an outdoor demo area was set up for stunt driving and drifting throughout the day. The biggest surprise for me was seeing the Driftworks RWB 964 Turbo and getting the chance to chat with Phil, the man behind it.
Just like in Tokyo a couple of months earlier, it was amazing to see global car culture come together to celebrate a game that takes so much inspiration from the world we all love, to the point where Forza Horizon 6 has very much become part of that culture itself. Turnpike is stoked to document it!
Let me know in the comments if there’s anything Forza Horizon-specific you’d like to see us cover, and we’ll see what we can do. In the meantime, there are plenty more Horizon Festival images – and a video – for you to check out below.
