The Forza Horizon 6 launch is right around the corner, and we can’t wait to roam the streets of the Japanese map. And for those that can’t be bothered with waiting, it turns out Forza Horizon 4 is doing a good job of keeping people busy. According to Ben Kerry of Pure Xbox, the seven-year-old game still has a large number of active players on Xbox. The game was delisted in December 2024, which is also when it’s broke its all-time peak playerbase on Steam.
Just driving around the open-world roads of Britain, you’ll still find plenty of players taking part in events and challenging you to head-to-head races. According to SteamDB, it’s still in the top ten most-played racing games right now based on concurrent players. Not bad for a game that you can no longer buy.
What Made Forza Horizon 4 Special?
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Personally, I do believe that Forza Horizon 4 is better than its successor, Forza Horizon 5. It’s a sentiment that is also echoed by the Forza community, as the Great Britain map has more dramatic seasonal changes, higher environmental density, and a world that feels more alive. Mexico is a larger and more technically impressive map on paper, but it feels empty at times.
With Forza Horizon 4, the developers also started leaning into the open-world sandbox feel more than ever. It had an almost “choose your own adventure” type of freedom, which makes the game highly accessible to the gigantic casual audience. Of course, it wasn’t all perfect: the progression system is less rewarding than the previous game, the forced winter season with its low traction was annoying, and the car sounds weren’t the best.
Fortunately, all of these things are being addressed with Forza Horizon 6. The game will feature the iconic wristband progression system, Touge battles, a more immersive and bigger map, and updated car models. FH4 is doing a good job of keeping players busy for now, but it looks like the Forza Horizon 6 launch will be gigantic. The game launches on May 19 on PC, Xbox, and Xbox Cloud Gaming, with early access starting on May 15.
Published: Apr 13, 2026 12:00 pm