Image credit: Xbox Game Studios

Playground Games does it again: equal parts adept teacher and artisanal tour guide, Forza Horizon 6 takes the lessons from 14 years of series history and applies them with panache.

Forza Horizon 6 does not reinvent the wheel. It doesn't need to. The latest open-world racing behemoth from Playground Games instead rethinks and reworks the five titles that came before, trimming the fat and reintroducing the best bits to make Forza Horizon 6 the cleanest, buzziest, and most engrossing experience it can be, all galvanised by a stunning Japanese backdrop, and flavoured by decades of well-researched Japanese car culture. I think Horizon 6 is the highlight in a pantheon of already great racing experiences, and shows Playground Games as a developer at its peak. This is the best racing series in gaming, but that accolade comes with some caveats.

Let's tackle the thorniest issue first; progression.…