The next phase of Forza Horizon 6 is just around the corner. The game's Series 2 live challenges kick off on Thursday, June 18, bringing a fresh batch of weekly challenges, new reward cars, and plenty of unlocks.
Ahead of the new season, developer Playground Games has rolled out a substantial quality-of-life update. The patch targets some of the community's biggest pain points, including erratic AI behavior, frustrating road discovery bugs, and a massive rebalancing of Horizon Play progression.
Key Update Highlights
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Smarter AI Racing: Playground has adjusted overall difficulty balancing and specifically fixed the chaotic behavior of Drivatar opponents at the very start of races.
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100% Road Discovery Made Easier: If you've been hunting for those last few elusive gray streaks on the map, a new "Roads Driven" percentage has been added to the Region Overview screen. The patch also fixes a bug where two specific road nodes refused to register as discovered.
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Massive Horizon Play XP Boost: Reaching the top ranks in online multiplayer just got a lot faster. Playground has significantly slashed the XP required to climb from Level 26 to Level 100. If you are already Level 32 or higher, you will instantly jump to Level 100 and unlock the "Maxed Out" Achievement upon logging in.
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The Drag Tire Meta is Dead: Drag tires were previously tanking a car's Performance Index (PI) rating while still providing enough cornering grip to dominate non-drag events. Playground has heavily nerfed their lateral grip. Your current PI ratings won't change, but your cornering performance with drag tires will plummet. Note: Leaderboard wipes for times set using the old tire physics are underway.
Full Patch Notes: Forza Horizon 6 – Series 2 Update
General & Performance
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General performance and stability fixes.
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Fixed an issue where launching the game after running Benchmark Mode took longer than expected.
AI
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Improvements made to general difficulty balancing.
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Fixed an issue affecting Drivatar behavior at race starts.
Audio
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Improved audio performance on lower-specification devices.
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Adjusted the volume of the air vents on the 2010 Lamborghini Murciélago LP 670-4 SV.
Badges & Progression
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Screechy Clean Badge: Fixed a bug where progress only tracked during Touge Events.
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Horizon Play Levels: Adjusted XP requirements between Level 26 and Level 100.
Developer Notes: Players at Level 25+ will see a significant level jump and unlock new Badges. Players at Level 32+ will immediately jump to Level 100, unlocking corresponding Badges and the 'Maxed Out' Achievement.
UI & Design
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Fixed a bug where Leaderboards would occasionally display the incorrect drivetrain.
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Fixed an issue with Convoy Leaderboards where times failed to appear consistently for all members at Drag Meets and Time Attack Circuits.
Festival Playlist
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Fixed an issue allowing certain Daily Challenges and a Seasonal Job to be completed ahead of schedule.
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Fixed missing "Completed" labels on Weekly Challenges from prior seasons.
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Fixed an issue preventing Daily Challenges from unlocking for some players.
Developer Notes: All Daily Challenge Points from Series 1 will be retroactively rewarded. To claim them, players must visit the Series 1 page in their Playlist History.
Road Discovery
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Added a Roads Driven percentage tracker to the Region Overview screen.
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Fixed a bug where two specific road nodes would never be marked as "Discovered."
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Fixed visual inconsistencies between the Mini Map and the World Map.
Visuals
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Fixed graphical corruption during loading screen transitions on Xbox Series X|S (most notable in Horizon Stories and after Monthly Rivals Events).
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Fixed a motion blur artifact trailing behind the 2001 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI GSR TM Edition.
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Fixed inconsistent lighting when changing the time of day in Photo Mode.
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Fixed green visual artifacts appearing when taking photos through metal mesh fences.
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Fixed a bug on PC where rain particles were completely disabled on the "High" graphics preset.
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Improved pixelated red smoke rendering in Street Races when using upscaling tech.
Upgrades & Tuning
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Adjusted Drag Tire physics to drastically reduce lateral grip.
Developer Notes: Drag tires were reducing PI significantly while still providing enough lateral grip to be viable outside of Drag Racing. To fix this, we have ensured Drag Tires are no longer optimal outside of drag events. Existing tunes (e.g., an A 700 tune) will keep their PI rating but will suffer significantly reduced cornering performance.
The team is actively working to identify and wipe Leaderboard entries that utilized this unintended Drag Tire advantage prior to the patch. Standard drag times and Drag Leaderboards are unaffected.
Save Data Issues
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If you have experienced save data loss, Playground Games recommends visiting the official Forza Support site for mitigation steps and recovery assistance.
What We Know So Far
Playground Games confirmed that the game is being built for Xbox Series X|S, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, with improved visuals, new mechanics, and environments designed around the storybook theme.
We wanted to create a world that feels like stepping into a storybook — full of wonder, surprises, and discovery around every corner.
— Playground Games
Related Game
Forza Horizon 6
Xbox Series X|S, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5 · Playground Games · Racing, Simulator, Sport, Arcade
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