I got fixated on one thing ever since I got my Steam Deck OLED and learned about its emulation capability. That is I aimed to play Need for Speed: Underground 1 and 2 again. I was able to play them during my early teens but having a weak PC back then, I was never able to finish both.
Today, the NFS franchise is far from its glory days. I tried Rivals on my PS4 before and even though critics loved it, it’s not doing it for me. I’m not sure what is missing, until I tried Forza Horizon 6.
Unlike others, I’m coming to this game with a very fresh perspective. This is my first Horizon game, the first racing game on my Steam Deck, and my first racing game after trying out NFS Rivals a few months back on a PS4. I have to thank Playground Games and Xbox Game Studios because FH6 definitely stopped me from going into the rabbit hole of emulation (and its headache) for the original NFS:U series. So what is missing in NFS that I found in FH6? All the other things aside from racing.
Calculated compromise
The Steam Deck is an outdated handheld console by today’s standards. Still, the developers did a great job porting the game to this console because it still gave justice to the glorious scenery of FH6. It’s a matter of adjusting to the kinks of the game.
The first thing you’ll have to deal with is the audio. Only static beats come out of the game upon launch, and it took me the whole introduction chapter to fix it. What worked for me is using Proton Experimental, which is a translation layer in the Deck.
After that, it’s all about setting expectations in the Deck’s settings. I locked my framerate at 30fps and used the “Medium” graphics preset when I am racing. If I wanted to stroll or take pictures, I set the graphics to “High” for those extra details in the reflections. The Deck can still sustain the 30fps rate at that setting, but for races it will lag especially if you’re in Tokyo City.
Battery life is respectable as well. In medium settings I can play up to 3 hours continuously. Although this will depend on your device volume and screen brightness. Bumping the settings to high will yield a 2-hour playtime but more than enough for casual strolling and light tasks.
The weird characters
As I said, I’m not deep in the Horizon franchise. Still, I find its characters and cut scenes so dated. They looked like they were from a game in 2010 when it came to their visuals. I can accept them being like that during a race since FH6 makes the effort to show their face driving the car for real.
The weird thing is, even during the cut scenes, they look like that. If there’s one thing NFS is good at, that is cinematic quality cut scenes or mini movies. In FH6, it seems like all the budget went into the cars, the city, and mountain roads that they forgot they needed to make people too. But this is the only downside I’ve seen in the game. If I have to be nitpicky, I’d wish for an overall playlist as well that plays at random, but having radio stations is cool too.
How they live in Tokyo
I’ve been lucky enough to have been to Tokyo twice, and let me tell you – Playground Games deserves awards for making a very immersive world in Forza Horizon 6.
It’s not a 1:1 creation, but the key characteristics of Tokyo are there. The street lights, road markings, awkward merging points, waiting areas on the sidewalk, the distinct ongoing construction barricades, and even the vending machines on almost every corner. It then goes out onto the wide highways, which will take you to the nearby rural districts and mountain passes, rounded up by a main highway loop. There are even those side stops on the mountains that you’ve seen in Initial D.
The world they created is so big that hours can pass while you are just driving around. There’s a different kind of pleasure when you’re driving fast on the mountains and highways, compared to driving slow inside the city. You can also drive on rivers, sunflower fields, and mountain sides, apart from the official routes. It’s not just an open-world racing game, it’s a beautiful one at that.
What made me fall for Horizon and completely ditch my emulation of NFS is the range of activities. It’s not a simple racing game. It can happen on multiple surfaces, on the mountain roads, streets, parking lots, improvised construction sites, and there are jumps that can change the outcome of the race. Add the mini tasks to uncover the cars and other bonuses and you will really burn through your schedule just enjoying this game.
Side note: I just wish they included Teriyaki Boyz’s Tokyo Drift song into the game.
Peculiar JDM taste
FH6’s introduction is a quick taste of the races you’ll be having. There’s a quick run in Tokyo, on a mountain road, a rally race, and a race against a Gundam, before you head to your first home base which is Mei’s house. There, you’ll go to the city center and will have a race where you’ll use a Nissan Skyline R32.
There are also the quirky JDM cars like the Autozam AZ-1, Honda Acty, Nissan Stagea WC34, a Mitsubishi Mini Cab for Time Attack, and even the Mazda Furai concept. It’s just a massive JDM party over here.
Still, you’ll find your usual Western icons from Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Volkswagen. It even has exotics like the Pagani Huayra, Maserati MC20, and the cover car which is a GR GT Prototype from Toyota Gazoo Racing.
Fine details
Playground Games really is into the nitty gritty of this racing game. Apart from a detailed world, they also made the cars as close to the real thing as arcadely-possible. The most noticeable is the handling of the cars. Acceleration and turning dynamics are different for every car especially in relation to their drivetrain.
Their traction is also another wonderful thing. The cars react differently on dry vs wet asphalt, then there’s gravel, icy roads, and when it rains. You also have to deal with the different surfaces in a single race, making it challenging while keeping up the excitement.
My favorite detail though is your own character’s hands. They could have called it a day but made the effort to animate the correct position when the hands are crossing one over the other. When you reverse, you’ll see your character’s head looking back. Little things that add up to the joy and appreciation I am developing for this game.
I just wish they’d consider adding an option to lock in the season in the game. The seasons change every week and so during my week of shooting for this article, there are no cherry blossoms to be found.
Worth the price?
The price hike of Forza Horizon 6 is understandable once you get the game going. The detailed map alone is worthy of the price bump but they didn’t stop there. All the little improvements add up to a very immersive experience that work-from-home gamers should be careful with. This game will eat up hours of your day for sure.
There are many things to do, you even get a job, then there’s the little streets to discover, cars to be aware of on the side of the road, and the numerous kinds of races that increase in difficulty.
The game is worth every peso even if you get just the standard edition. As for me, I appreciate Playground’s accommodation of the Steam Deck platform. The eye candy isn’t on the same level as a decent PC, but it still puts me in awe once I start this game especially when you go through the mountain passes and little temples. Once everything was driven and drifted, Forza Horizon 6 definitely gave justice to Tokyo and Japan’s car culture in the best way possible.
