It has finally happened — Forza Horizon is coming to Japan. The Land of the Rising Sun has been one of the most-requested locations for a new Horizon game for years now, and at the 2025 Tokyo Games Show, Microsoft finally announced Japan as the next location in the Horizon series, with the game set to come out some time in 2026.

Now, I'm as excited as the next guy about driving a Skyline GT-R under Mount Fuji, but with the plethora of fantastic locations we've seen the Horizon series go to, I can't help but wonder how the sixth Horizon game would've felt like in other locations that weren't Japan. Sure, we all have our questions about how much 'Japan' will be in Horizon 6, and whether it will be tuner culture-focused or just a Horizon game with a new beautiful country to explore. In the meantime, however, there are plenty of other locations that the series could've gone to, which I certainly hope they do in the future.

The European Alps should've been the next stop for the Horizon festival

Eight Alpine countries to build Forza Horizon 6's beautiful new playground

The Forza Horizon franchise has always excelled when it leans into nature's drama, and there's just no setting that could be more dramatic than the Alps themselves. Imagine racing through tight, snow-lined passes, cutting across alpine meadows, and descending into misty valleys, or the bright sun gently caressing your car as you exit a mountainous tunnel when the seasons change. Games like Steep and Dying Light: The Beast have proven how breathtaking the European highlands can look in motion, and Horizon's engine could easily turn those icy roads into a playground of precise driving.

Fans who miss the crisp, mountainous feel of Horizon 1's Colorado would treat this as a nostalgic callback, but this time, it could've been grander, higher, and, of course, colder. Plus, the potential for dynamic weather in a setting like the Alps would be right off the charts. We could be driving through fog one moment, golden sunlight the next, and then a sudden snowstorm mid-race could change the dynamics radically. Open-world driving is as much about atmosphere as it is about speed, and if Forza Horizon 6 would've gone to the European Alps, it would've been a perfect blend of both.

The tropical island of Hawaii

No other racing game could do Hawaii as much justice as Forza Horizon

Now, some remarkable racing games like The Crew: Motorfest and Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown may have already done Hawaii in the recent past, but Hawaii has still been a dream setting for all Horizon players that somehow keeps slipping through the franchise's fingers. Hawaii is an island that practically begs for a Horizon festival, thanks to its rainforest roads, the black lava plains, an overall geographical setting that is simply unlike anything else on the planet.

With its unparalleled visual quality and a soundtrack that continues to be one of the best in the business, Forza Horizon 6 could've easily taken Hawaii's tropical energy and cranked it up to eleven. Hawaii genuinely comes off as the ultimate 'end-of-an-era' Horizon map, and it could've fused paradise on earth with horsepower in a way no other game could. I know Forza Horizon 6 will probably release in Q4 of 2026 like past Horizon games, but I already have my fingers crossed that Hawaii isn't scratched off the list of potential future locations for the Horizon festival.

Dubai could have given Forza Horizon an all-new identity

I'd give anything for just a Dubai-based Forza Horizon DLC, too

If Forza Horizon is about celebrating cars and car culture, Dubai is about excess, and that right there? That's a match made in heaven. There's an undeniable fantasy to driving a hypercar through neon-lit highways, desert dunes, and glassy cityscapes that look like the future itself. We've seen games like Asphalt visit the desert location, and even some unforgettable action games like Spec Ops: The Line, and the one thing they prove across genres is how unforgettable a setting the UAE manages to be in a video game.

Forza Horizon 6 set in the UAE may have limited the game's biomes since there's no snow or mountains to race through, but imagine ripping across the desert in a dune buggy before drifting into the city, skyscrapers glowing in the distance. The car culture here would fit the Horizon brand perfectly, since it's loud, luxurious, and unapologetically over-the-top. Palm Jumeirah, Burj Khalifa, Yas Marina — these landmarks are built for fast cars and flashy festivals. Such a location for Forza Horizon 6 could've been something that the franchise has never dared to attempt, and would've well and truly given Horizon 6 an all-new identity.

South Africa could've been the perfect Horizon festival host

Players may have found it a little too similar to FH5, though

If Forza really wanted something fresh that pushed boundaries, South Africa was right there. It's a much-requested and discussed location, and its diversity is one of the major reasons behind that. Had Forza Horizon 6 gone to South Africa, you could tear through Cape Town's colorful city streets, drift along coastal highways, and then plunge straight into wide-open savannas filled with wildlife. We've seen glimpses of that part of the world in games like Battlefield 2042, Dirt 5, and even Metal Gear, but nothing has even come close to realizing the full beauty and scale of a country like South Africa.

Picture sunsets over Table Mountain, street races near vineyards, or rally raids across the dusty plains of the continent. Sure, some might say that it would have been too close in tone to Horizon 5's Mexico, but South Africa would have offered a cultural and aesthetic shift with more grit and personality, with a tradition-infused soundtrack to match.

A return to Italy, but bigger

Returning to the Amalfi coastline with 2026 hardware could've been perfect

There's a strong argument to be made that Horizon has never been as effortlessly beautiful as it was in Italy during Forza Horizon 2. The second game's half-Italy, half-France map remains as iconic as ever for its elegance and perfect driving roads. For Forza Horizon 6, a return to Italy on a grander scale could've been a brilliantly poetic choice that the Horizon festival made. Expanding into Sicily's mountain roads, weaving through the Amalfi Coast's pastel towns, or Tuscany's sunlit hills. This would've been AC II meets Driveclub with a dash of Mafia: The Old Country, constructing a painterly world that begs you to slow down and take it in.

The mix of winding vineyard routes, seaside switchbacks, and cobbled piazzas would've brought back that classic Horizon charm that felt a bit missing in the last iteration with Forza Horizon 5. There's so much soul in Italy that it would have made every drive feel like a slow, intimate dance, and Horizon deserves that kind of beauty again.

Did Forza Horizon 6 play it too safe?.

No matter which one of these locations you imagine, it is a bit hard not to feel like Forza Horizon 6 may have played it a little too safe with Japan. I know it's a dream come true for many, but it's also a wildly predictable one. The Forza Horizon series has always thrived in surprise, in the way that the first game made Colorado feel alive, or how Horizon 3 turned Australia into a festival playground.

Each of these settings could've rekindled that sense of discovery, and I do hope that Forza Horizon 7 will make that next leap, but for now, we're left wondering what could've been.