Forza Horizon 6 Post-Launch Plans Revealed — Two Expansions, Italian Car Pack, and Big Fixes Coming

Forza Horizon 6 has had one of the best launches in the series’ history and Playground Games isn’t slowing down. Less than a week after the full global launch on May 19, 2026, the studio dropped a detailed thank-you post that wasn’t just back-patting — it laid out real plans for what comes next. Italian car packs, two major expansions, the PS5 version, Drivatar fixes, PC performance work, and an acknowledgment of the controversial Maxed Out achievement. There’s a lot to unpack here.

The Numbers That Justified the Thank-You Post

Before getting into what’s coming, it’s worth understanding why Playground Games felt compelled to make this kind of statement so early. Forza Horizon 6 hit over 280,000 concurrent players on Steam alone at launch — a figure that obliterates Forza Horizon 5’s all-time Steam peak of 81,096. That’s more than three times the previous record, and it’s only counting the PC Steam version. Xbox, Game Pass, and the Windows app aren’t included in that number. The game has also landed a 90+ Metacritic score, making it one of the highest-rated releases of 2026 so far.

Japan was the most-requested Horizon setting since the original game, and Playground delivered — a massive open world that mixes Tokyo’s urban sprawl, mountain touge roads, rural countryside, and Mount Fuji into what the studio described as the most complex and intricate drivable space in franchise history. The reception suggests they got it right.

What’s Confirmed for Post-Launch Content

Playground’s post outlined several pieces of confirmed upcoming content:

• Italian Passion Car Pack — arriving in July 2026, this DLC pack will add a collection of Italian vehicles to the game’s already extensive car roster. For fans of Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Alfa Romeos, this is the obvious first major expansion to the Car Pass.
• Two major expansions — these were teased but not named or dated yet. Both were included as part of the Deluxe Edition ($120), so owners of that version will receive them at no additional cost. Playground confirmed they’re in development and more details will come later.
• PS5 version — Forza Horizon 6 launched as a timed exclusive for Xbox Series X/S and PC on May 19, with the PS5 release promised for “later this year.” No specific date has been confirmed, but this post reaffirmed that commitment is still on track.

The Drivatar AI Problem — Playground Is Investigating

One of the most talked-about issues in the community since launch has been the behaviour of Drivatar AI opponents, particularly at higher difficulty settings. Players have reported that certain Drivatars feel unnaturally fast — not just competitive, but borderline unfair in a way that doesn’t feel like skilled driving, but rather like rubberband AI operating outside the game’s own physics rules.

Specific Drivatars have already become notorious by name in community posts. Bowie_Knife99 and Drathful have been called out repeatedly as particular offenders in online discussions, with players sharing clips of these AI opponents pulling impossible pace. Playground confirmed it’s actively investigating and will share more once a plan is in place and feedback has been sufficiently monitored.

This is a genuinely important fix to get right. Drivatar difficulty tuning has always been a balancing act in the Horizon series, but the gap between “challenging” and “feels like cheating” is especially sensitive in a game where casual accessibility is part of the core appeal. If higher difficulty feels broken rather than hard, it pushes players away from content they’d otherwise enjoy.

PC Issues — Audio, Crashes, Loading, and AMD Performance

The record-breaking PC player numbers came with a downside — a range of platform-specific bugs that have been reported in volume since the Early Access period started on May 15. Playground acknowledged the following issues are currently under investigation:

• Audio crackling — a widespread report affecting various PC hardware configurations
• Game crashes — occurring at various points during play, without a single consistent trigger identified yet
• Loading screen errors — particularly profile loading errors on startup, which Playground issued a hotfix for on May 18 but acknowledged the investigation is ongoing
• AMD-specific framerate and performance issues — players running AMD GPUs have reported performance problems that don’t affect Nvidia hardware at equivalent specs

Playground is asking players experiencing any of these issues to submit detailed reports through the Forza Feedback Portal. They also specifically requested that AMD users confirm they’re running the latest graphics driver before submitting, since driver compatibility is often the root cause for GPU-specific issues at launch. If you’re experiencing any of these problems, updating your driver first is the fastest potential self-fix before waiting on an official patch.

The Maxed Out Achievement — The Community Is Not Happy

This one has generated more community discussion than almost any other topic since launch. The Maxed Out achievement requires players to reach Level 100 in Horizon Play — the game’s multiplayer suite — rather than simply hitting account level 100. This is a meaningful distinction because Horizon Play progression is gated specifically behind multiplayer participation, meaning the achievement essentially demands a significant long-term grind through online modes that many players would prefer to skip.

The frustration isn’t that the achievement exists — it’s that the grind is reportedly enormous. Players who’ve done the math suggest it would take an unrealistic number of hours of purely multiplayer-focused play to complete, effectively making it the kind of achievement that only the most dedicated completionists can realistically chase. For a game that’s built around the freedom to play how you want, forcing a specific and extremely lengthy multiplayer commitment into the completion requirements feels out of step with the rest of the design.

Playground acknowledged the feedback directly and said they’re aware of the community reaction. They haven’t committed to changing the requirement yet, but the fact that it was mentioned by name in a post this early suggests they’re taking it seriously. Whether that means lowering the level requirement, adding alternative progression paths, or something else entirely remains to be seen.

Where Forza Horizon 6 Goes From Here

The picture Playground has painted is of a studio that’s riding a genuinely successful launch while being honest about where the rough edges are. A 90+ Metacritic score and 280,000 concurrent Steam players is a strong foundation, and the content roadmap — Italian car pack, two major expansions, PS5 version — gives the game a healthy long-term trajectory through the rest of 2026 and likely into 2027.

The near-term priority is clearly the PC bug situation and the Drivatar tuning, both of which need to be resolved before the player count momentum can be fully converted into long-term retention. The Maxed Out achievement situation is a slower burn but a real one — ignoring it risks a vocal chunk of the community staying frustrated well into the game’s lifecycle.

For now though, Forza Horizon 6 is in excellent shape. Japan was worth the wait, the numbers prove it, and Playground seems intent on keeping it that way.

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