Ever since they began popping out on PC, the Forza Horizon video games have been a few of the greatest PC ports round, which is a big motive why I take advantage of them every time I take a look at any type of {hardware}. Regardless of the wonderful visuals that this sequence has given us time and time once more, the video games scale exceptionally nicely throughout every kind of {hardware}.
Forza Horizon 6 continues this custom. It is a recreation that appears extremely good on high-end {hardware}, whereas nonetheless operating fairly nicely on low-end GPUs and handhelds. And despite the fact that most individuals should not have any downside operating this recreation on their PCs, I actually wished to take the possibility to tweak with the settings to maximise efficiency whereas nonetheless making the sport look nearly as good as doable.
To do that, I ran the sport on an RTX 5070 – a mid-range GPU – with the aim of operating at 4K with out ever actually dropping beneath 60 fps. And, whereas the 5070 has bother completely maxing out this recreation at a excessive decision, it has loads of room to stretch its legs, so long as you’re aware of your VRAM finances. As a result of in contrast to lots of video games, Forza Horizon 6 will straight up flip off settings like DLSS if you happen to run out of VRAM.
One other Nice PC Recreation
Forza Horizon 6 seems to be operating on an upgraded model of the identical ForzaTech engine as just about each Forza recreation for the final decade. And, in lots of methods, the sport seems to be similar to Forza Horizon 5, simply with extra strong ray tracing and upscaling choices.
And, certain, that’s a bit disappointing if anybody was wishing for some true next-gen racing right here, however what it means is that Playground Video games had a a lot simpler time optimizing it for lower-end {hardware}. So whereas, yeah, there are some particulars within the atmosphere that don’t look nice, like aliasing in energy wires or the PS3-esque character fashions, that’s well worth the commerce off for superior efficiency, particularly in a recreation all about going quick.
Nevertheless, there are some pitfalls that Forza runs into which are a bit of too acquainted to different video games this yr. As an illustration, a few of the ray traced reflections are a bit noisy, significantly on any automotive that’s painted white, or one other mild coloration. I’ve additionally observed some upscaling artifacts round some components of my automotive, although the extremity of this varies from car to car.
However what actually issues for Forza’s Horizon 6’s visuals is how good the vehicles look. And, nicely, similar to with Forza Motorsport 3 and Horizon 5, the vehicles look superb. All the things else is type of secondary anyhow. More often than not, you’re going to be blazing by environments at 100 miles an hour, so if there are some blemishes, you’re not going to note them anyhow. That’s type of the magic of racing video games within the first place, and why this sort of recreation is usually way more photorealistic than any style the place going quick isn’t the entire level.
Perhaps they need to make a photo-real Sonic recreation. Simply saying.
Greatest Settings For Forza Horizon 6
After I was sitting down to seek out the appropriate settings for Forza Horizon 6, I had one clear aim: my automotive must look nearly as good as doable. Fortunately, there are many graphics settings within the recreation that separate automotive element from the remainder of the sport. That is particularly useful on a handheld just like the Xbox Ally X, as a result of with the dearth of robust efficiency, with the ability to goal the horsepower actually helps squeeze out just a few additional frames.
On PC, I tuned Forza Horizon 5 to run in addition to doable on the RTX 5070 at 4K. My aim there was to get adequate efficiency in order that it at all times runs at 60 fps. I additionally wished to ensure there’s sufficient buffer in order that if you undergo an sudden puddle, you don’t dip beneath that 60 fps threshold.
For most individuals, if you happen to simply desire a good ‘set it and overlook it’ preset, the Excessive + RT preset will get you a stable 60-70 fps at 4K with out DLSS. Nevertheless, the sport seems to be a bit extra flat than it ought to, significantly in terms of reflections and element on the vehicles themselves. Nevertheless, the subsequent preset up, Extremely + RT, will drop the RTX 5070 to about 43 fps. That’s not nice, but it surely’s a superb place to begin.
Within the video menu, I received’t be altering a lot. Decision is about to 3840 x 2160, and whereas I favor an unlocked body fee, you’ll be able to set the restrict nonetheless you need right here. Simply be sure that to set Vertical Synchronization to ‘Off’ if you wish to unlock your body fee.
A very powerful factor to alter on this menu is the upscaling. When you’re on an AMD GPU, you’ll be able to allow FSR 3.1.5, whereas Intel GPU customers can allow XeSS. For Nvidia customers, the sport additionally helps just about each DLSS function below the solar. As a common rule of thumb, I like to recommend upscaling on the ‘High quality’ preset for 1080p, ‘Balanced’ for 1440p, and ‘Efficiency’ for 4K. Nevertheless, as a result of Forza Horizon 5 runs nearly as good because it does, I set DLSS to ‘Balanced’ for the RTX 5070.
You may also change your FoV for all of your totally different digicam views right here, however that doesn’t actually have an effect on efficiency. So, be happy to set that as large or as slim as your little coronary heart needs.
All the extra nitty-gritty graphics settings are within the ‘Graphics & Efficiency’ tab, and I’ll break down roughly what each does, in addition to what I’d advocate for each a mid-range GPU just like the RTX 5070 and for a handheld just like the Xbox Ally X or the Steam Deck.
Automobile Degree of Element
This modifications the mannequin element and mesh high quality for all of the vehicles within the recreation. This could have an effect on your VRAM utilization, so I’d decrease it if you happen to’re beginning to stutter. However, that is Forza and the vehicles are tremendous necessary, so I’d flip down the opposite degree of element choices earlier than I contact this one.
Mid-Vary PC: Extremely
Handheld: Excessive
Atmosphere Texture High quality
This one is fairly easy, and simply modifications the decision of environmental textures. As a result of the RTX 5070 solely has 12GB of RAM, and we wish to allow DLSS to spice up our body fee, I’d decrease this all the way down to Excessive. It doesn’t make that a lot of a distinction, and it’ll give the upscaling algorithm some reminiscence to work with.
Mid-Vary PC: Excessive
Handheld: Excessive
Atmosphere Geometry High quality
This merely modifications the mesh high quality for all of the objects within the atmosphere. I’d depart this larger, particularly since you’re going to be spending a major period of time chasing down mascots to smash together with your automotive, however that is sadly tied to texture high quality.
Mid-range PC: Excessive
Handheld: Excessive
Automobile Reflection High quality
One other easy one! This simply modifications the standard of reflections on the inside and exterior of your automotive. These are essentially the most noticeable reflections within the recreation, and this setting does so much to spice up the sport’s presentation. Nevertheless, it’s very heavy in your GPU, so minimize this if you happen to’re struggling to get good efficiency.
Mid-range PC: Excessive
Handheld: Excessive
Display screen House Reflections High quality
This modifications the standard of non-ray traced reflections. This mainly reuses information from the at the moment rendered body to roughly calculate what every reflection ought to seem like. That is one other very heavy setting, however it’s routinely disabled if you happen to allow ray traced reflections.
Mid-range PC: Off
Handheld: Medium or Off
Ray traced Reflections High quality
This modifications the standard of ray traced reflections all through your entire recreation. When you don’t have an RT-capable card, I wouldn’t even attempt turning this on. Nevertheless, it’s really not that heavy on the RTX 5070, particularly if you happen to’re not attempting to max it out. There are lots of reflective surfaces on this recreation too, so it actually does do so much to make the sport look higher.
Mid-range PC: Medium
Handheld: Off
Shadow High quality
This modifications each the decision of shadows, and the way usually they replace. As a result of every little thing on this recreation strikes so quick, there’s lots of potential for shadows to quickly change as your standpoint modifications. It’s nonetheless not well worth the efficiency value to maximise this, although, so I’d hold it at excessive.
Mid-range PC: Excessive
Handheld: Low
Evening Shadows
This provides shadows to sure mild sources at evening, principally simply your headlights and road lights. The setting does add moonlight shadows at its highest setting, however that’s one thing you must solely actually allow when you’ve got a high-end GPU, or if you happen to’re shifting all the way down to 1440p.
Mid-Vary PC: Extremely
Handheld: Off
Display screen House World Illumination High quality
This improves ambient lighting, which does so much for making the sport extra atmospheric. It’s a pleasant contact, however world illumination at all times comes with a heavy efficiency value, so it’s one of many first issues I’d minimize if you happen to’re operating into efficiency issues. Plus, if you happen to activate ray traced world illumination, SSGI will get disabled routinely.
Mid-range PC: Off
Handheld: Medium
Ray Traced World Illumination High quality
This does the identical factor as Display screen House World Illumination, however extra precisely, and with a much bigger efficiency value. Even at low, RTGI seems to be higher than SSGI, so I’d simply set it to low when you’ve got an RT-capable GPU, after which when you’ve got the horsepower for it, you’ll be able to flip it up for even higher lighting.
Mid-range PC: Low
Handheld: Off
Shader High quality
The sport claims that this modifications the “visible constancy of the supplies and lighting”, nonetheless, irrespective of how a lot I mess with this setting, I don’t actually discover a distinction. Nevertheless, I didn’t do a lot pixel peeping this time round. Fortunately, it doesn’t actually have an effect on efficiency that a lot, so I simply depart it at extremely.
Mid-range PC: Extremely
Handheld: Excessive
Deformable Terrain High quality
This modifications the standard of dust, mud, or another type of terrain that’s gonna get torn up by your tires. Surprisingly, it doesn’t have an effect on efficiency an excessive amount of on a desktop, however it should begin to hamper efficiency on a handheld.
Mid-Vary PC: Excessive
Handheld: Medium
Particle Results
This simply modifications the standard and amount of particles which are flung up if you’re driving round Japan. This could harm efficiency a bit if you’re driving by puddles or mud, and also you’re flinging particles in every single place. I’d depart it at excessive.
Mid-range PC: Excessive
Handheld: Medium
Volumetric Fog High quality
There’s a ton of fog in Forza Horizon 5, significantly when it’s raining. This was one of many first issues I attempted to show down to save lots of efficiency, particularly as a result of the built-in benchmark is, nicely, fairly foggy. To my shock, although, this didn’t actually change efficiency in any respect. And, as a result of it seems to be nice, flip it up a bit!
Mid-range PC: Extremely
Handheld: Medium
Each Lens Results and Movement Blur High quality are totally aesthetic decisions. Neither one goes to have an effect on efficiency that a lot, so flip them up or down relying in your desire.
With all the advisable settings, I used to be capable of get my framerate as much as 70 fps within the built-in benchmark, which is correct the place I wished it. I did wish to take a look at it within the precise recreation, too, although, so I set a body counter and simply performed the sport usually for an hour.
And, let me inform you, Forza Horizon 6 runs like an absolute dream now. Within the open world with these settings, the RTX 5070 sits round 90 fps more often than not, and solely actually dips to 70 fps in races with lots of reflective puddles and particle results. It doesn’t matter what I attempted, I couldn’t get this mid-range GPU to drop beneath 60 fps, and that’s with none body era.
The RTX 5070 isn’t even marketed as a 4K graphics card, however a minimum of in Forza Horizon 6, it doesn’t appear to be the bar to get good efficiency at that decision may be very excessive.
Even on a handheld, Forza Horizon 6 runs fairly nicely. Actually, my advisable settings are a mixture of the medium and excessive presets, and when the Xbox Ally X is plugged in, I can get between 50-60 fps, typically even stretching as much as 70. Then, after I unplug it and run the hand-held on its lowest energy settings, I’m nonetheless capable of get round 30 fps, which is completely effective if you happen to’re simply attempting to stretch some battery life out of the factor.
I went into Forza Horizon 6 anticipating good efficiency out of it – in any case, the system necessities are fairly modest. However I’m nonetheless stunned at simply how nicely this recreation runs, even on low-end {hardware}. For a way dire the PC {hardware} world is correct now, a minimum of there are some video games that’ll run nicely on just about something. That’s my silver lining proper now.
Jackie Thomas is the {Hardware} and Shopping for Guides Editor at IGN and the PC elements queen. You possibly can observe her @Jackiecobra