Forza Horizon 6 Festival Playlist Guide: Series 1 ‘Welcome to Japan’ Complete Walkthrough

The Forza Horizon 6 Festival Playlist is a 4-week live service cycle that unlocks after earning your first Wristband and rewards you with free cars, credits, and super wheelspins for completing weekly challenges.

The first Series, titled ‘Welcome to Japan,’ runs May 21 through June 18, 2026, with a 10-car reward pool drawn entirely from Japanese manufacturers.

Unlike FH5, missed playlist cars in FH6 return through the Aftermarket Cars system. The FOMO that frustrated the FH5 community for years is gone, and Series 1 is the most player-friendly Horizon live service launch to date.

This guide covers every reward car, every point threshold, the full Week 1 challenge table, and the fastest route to clearing Series 1 without leaving a single reward behind.

🔑 What is the FH6 Festival Playlist and how does it unlock?

The Forza Horizon 6 Festival Playlist is a rotating live service system that refreshes each week and rewards players with exclusive cars, credits, wheelspins, and super wheelspins for completing races, PR stunts, photo challenges, and rival events.

Before the playlist becomes available, you need to earn your First Wristband. This progression milestone takes about one hour of gameplay to reach. Once unlocked, the Festival Playlist appears on the right side of the pause menu and in the garage interface.

Two separate time structures govern how the Festival Playlist works:

• The Series: a rolling 4-week block that houses all seasonal activity. Series 1, ‘Welcome to Japan,’ covers May 21 to June 18, 2026. Series points accumulate toward the two headline Series-wide reward cars.
• The Season: A 7-day period within the Series. Each season follows a fixed weather pattern (Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring) and introduces a new set of challenges plus two time-gated reward cars exclusive to that 7-day window.

Understanding the distinction between a Series and a season matters for planning your reward schedule. Series governs cumulative points toward the 2008 Mazda Furai (60 pts) and 2010 Nissan 370Z (120 pts).

Each season governs the weekly-exclusive cars locked to their specific 7-day window. Series 1 contains 180 available points across all four seasons. Consistent weekly play earns every car without needing a perfect run.

🎁 What are the rewards in Series 1 ‘Welcome to Japan’?

Ten cars are on the table for Series 1, every one built by a Japanese manufacturer. Two cars are available for the full 4-week Series based on cumulative point totals.

The remaining eight divide into pairs across the four weekly seasons, each pair locked to its 7-day window. Miss a season window and those two cars cannot be earned through the standard Festival Playlist for that run.

Series-wide reward cars (May 21 – June 18, 2026)

The 2008 Mazda Furai (S1 class) is the headline reward of Series 1. The Furai was a one-off concept powered by a modified 450-horsepower 20B three-rotor Wankel engine that never made it to production. Reaching 60 Series points is achievable within the first two seasons.

The 2010 Nissan 370Z rounds out the Series-wide rewards at B class. Stock, it’s a strong platform to tune up into A class for seasonal championships.

Take a look at one of the rewards – Mazda Furai – in this video by AR12Gaming:

Week 1 (Summer, May 21–28): Cars & Challenges

Of everything in Week 1, the 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX MR (A class) has generated the most demand from the community. It ran the turbocharged 4G63 through every generation of the Evo line until Mitsubishi switched to the 4B11T for the EVO X. There’s no better car to put on FH6’s Japanese roads than the AWD icon that defined that era.

The 1999 Toyota Altezza RS200 Z Edition (C class) sits at the other end of the weight spectrum. The 3S-GE naturally aspirated engine keeps it quick enough to hold its own in Retro Saloon events.

Let's have a look at the Mitsubishi together with CONE 11 in this overview:

Week 1 Summer: Full Challenge Table

Week 1 makes both Summer cars (15 pts + 30 pts) achievable in a single session. One point is on the board from Monthly Rivals at Soni Circuit before you have lined up for a single race; the Gazoo Racer Weekly Challenge adds another 5, but it requires owning the 2022 Toyota GR86, bought from the Autoshow or Auction House.

Week 2 (Autumn, May 28 – June 4): Cars & Challenges

The 1997 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec (A class) is among the most iconic Japanese performance cars ever produced. The R33 GT-R V-Spec shipped with active LSD and ATTESA ET-S Pro all-wheel drive, producing 276 horsepower from the RB26DETT twin-turbo inline-six. Driving a Skyline GT-R through FH6’s fictionalized Japanese roads hits differently than any other car in the game.

The 1991 Honda CR-X SiR (C class) was built for Retro Hot Hatch seasonal championships and handles PR stunts well thanks to its low weight.

Week 2 Autumn challenge details will be published here from May 28 onward. Bookmark this page or check back Thursday, May 28 at 1:00 PM UTC.

Here's a brief preview of the Nissan by MotoGames:

Week 3 (Winter, June 4–11): Cars & Challenges

The 2019 Subaru STI S209 (A class) was the first STI model built specifically for the North American market, limited to 209 units and hand-tuned at Fuji Speedway by Subaru Tecnica International. In Winter conditions, FH6’s alpine map sections introduce snow and ice surfaces. The STI S209’s symmetrical all-wheel drive gives it a real edge in seasonal championships that require all-wheel drive.

The 2016 Toyota Land Cruiser Arctic Trucks AT37 (B class) is the utility pick for off-road and snow-surface seasonal events.

Week 3 Winter challenge details will be published here from June 4 onward.

Here's a quick look at the Subaru by Calem MrNazreenn:

Week 4 (Spring, June 11–18): Cars & Challenges

The 1996 Toyota Starlet Glanza V (D class) runs the 4E-FTE turbocharged engine: 133 horsepower in a car weighing around 920 kg. That power-to-weight ratio is what made the Glanza V a cult Japanese tuner car.

The 1974 Toyota Corolla SR5 (D class) closes Series 1 on a heritage note that fits the Japan theme. Both D class vehicles excel in the Spring Seasonal Championships that restrict participants to older, lower-PI vehicles.

Week 4 Spring challenge details will be published here from June 11 onward.

🤔 How are weekly challenges structured in FH6?

Each weekly season within the Forza Horizon 6 Festival Playlist contains around a dozen challenge activities covering different event formats. The Festival Playlist awards a flat point value per completed activity. Finish first or finish last, the point award is the same.

Series 1 runs across thirteen challenge types:

1. Monthly Rivals
2. Weekly Challenge
3. Daily Challenges
4. Road Seasonal Championship
5. Street Seasonal Championship
6. Dirt Seasonal Championship
7. Speed Trap PR Stunt
8. Danger Sign PR Stunt
9. Treasure Hunt
10. Photo Challenge
11. Horizon Open
12. Hide & Seek
13. Time Attack

Weekly challenges reset every Thursday at 1:00 PM UTC. Monthly Rivals works differently from everything else: it resets once per Series, not weekly. Clear it in Week 1 and those 4 points count toward your cumulative total for the full run.

Road, Street, and Dirt Seasonal Championships each pay out 5 points, plus a bonus car that sits outside the main two weekly rewards. Run all three in one week and you pocket 15 points while picking up three extra cars on top of the headline pair.

Week 1’s bonus cars:

1. 1989 Toyota MR2 SC (Road Championship)
2. 2021 Pagani Huayra R (Street Championship)
3. 2021 McLaren Sabre (Dirt Championship)

💀 What are FH6 PR Stunts, Speed Traps and Danger Signs?

PR Stunts in Forza Horizon 6 are fixed roadside challenges that measure your vehicle’s speed, jump distance, or lap time at specific map locations. Completing a PR Stunt at Bronze rating or higher earns Festival Playlist points. Each season introduces new Speed Trap and Danger Sign PR Stunt variants tied to the current weather conditions and map region.

Speed Trap: Bamboo Hilltop (Week 1)

Your job is to hit a target speed through a fixed point on the gravel road. Approach from the east side and accelerate early. The speed measurement window opens before the visible marker, so building speed before the sign ensures you peak within the scoring zone. Any A class Japanese car with all-wheel drive reaches Bronze without difficulty.

Danger Sign: Airfield Takeoff (Week 1)

Distance is what counts here: get as far as you can off the ramp. To clear the Airfield Takeoff, reduce speed through the approach corner and apply full throttle on the straight immediately before the ramp.

Overpowering the corner creates a trajectory that misses the optimal launch angle. If you fail twice with the same car, switch to a heavier vehicle with higher launch speed rather than retrying the same line.

Time Attack: Sekibe (Week 1)

The Sekibe Time Attack runs through FH6’s rural rice-field road section. A class cars with strong grip ratings and low aerodynamic drag complete the circuit fastest. At 3 points in under 2 minutes, the Sekibe Time Attack is the best solo points-per-minute event in Week 1.

Photo Challenge: Festival Vibes (Week 1)

The Photo Challenge requires you to enter Photo Mode at the Horizon Festival main stage and capture any car. Drive to the Festival site, open Photo Mode, take a single photograph, and collect 2 points in under 60 seconds.

Complete this activity first every week to start your session with an immediate point.

🏎 How many points do you need to unlock each reward car?

To unlock each reward car in Series 1: Welcome to Japan, players must reach specific point thresholds within the correct time window: either within a specific 7-day season or across the full 28-day Series. Points earned during a season count toward both the season threshold and the cumulative Series total simultaneously.

The most important thresholds to prioritize are the Series-wide 60-point and 115-point milestones. With 45 points available in Week 1 alone, players who complete most Summer challenges will reach the Mazda Furai threshold (60 pts) by the end of Week 2 without a single perfect completion run.

😔 Can you miss playlist cars in FH6?

Forza Horizon 6 is the first Horizon game to offer three separate recovery routes for missed playlist cars. In FH5, missing a weekly car meant waiting for a community event or paying elevated Auction House prices. That’s no longer the case. If you miss a weekly playlist car during its active season window, three recovery paths remain available.

Recovery Path 1: Series History Rewards

The Series History Rewards system tracks your lifetime Festival Playlist points accumulated across every Series in FH6. Certain cars unlock not based on a single series window but based on cumulative lifetime totals.

As you accumulate points through future Series, older reward cars become accessible at specific milestone thresholds. History Rewards are permanent and not time-gated.

Recovery Path 2: Aftermarket Cars

Cars from expired weekly playlists cycle into the Aftermarket Cars system, a rotating personal storefront where missed vehicles become purchasable with in-game credits.

The Aftermarket inventory is unique to each player and refreshes on a personal schedule, so the same car will not appear in all players’ storefronts simultaneously.

Recovery Path 3: Auction House

Players who earned a playlist car during its active window can list it on the FH6 Auction House for other players to bid on. Auction House prices for high-demand cars, such as the 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX MR (A class) or the 1997 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec (A class), will reflect community demand. Popular cars may require significant in-game credit reserves.