The GOTY conversation has a new entry. VGC: The Video Games Podcast dropped its latest episode this week, and hosts Jordan Middler and Chris Scullion spent a significant portion of it debating whether Forza Horizon 6 has the legs to compete for Game of the Year honours.
Here's the thing: the timing of that debate isn't accidental. Just days before the episode went live, VGC published a hands-on feature with the headline "Forza Horizon 6 is on track to be another exceptional open-world racer," which gave Middler and Scullion plenty of material to work with. The hands-on piece set a high bar for expectations, and the podcast leaned into that momentum.
What the hands-on impressions actually said
VGC's preview coverage described Forza Horizon 6 as shaping up to be another strong entry from Playground Games, the studio behind the series since Horizon 2. The language used, "exceptional open-world racer," is the kind of phrasing that tends to stick in pre-release coverage and feed directly into awards-season conversations later in the year.
What most players miss in these early impressions is context: the Forza Horizon series has never actually taken home a major GOTY award at The Game Awards, despite consistently landing in end-of-year conversations. Horizon 5 was widely praised when it launched in 2021 but lost out to It Takes Two. The question the VGC team is really asking is whether this entry can finally break that pattern.
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VGC's hands-on with Forza Horizon 6 published on April 9, 2026, just one day before the podcast episode dropped, making it the freshest source of impressions available right now.
The other stories in the mix
The Forza Horizon 6 discussion wasn't the only topic on the episode. Middler and Scullion also covered Sony scanning a real player into Gran Turismo 7 as part of PlayStation's new Playerbase program, which is a genuinely odd story that sits somewhere between fan service and marketing stunt. The troubled return of James Pond, the 90s platformer parody character whose trademark attempt has reportedly been opposed by the James Bond IP owner, also got airtime.
Pokemon Champions rounds out the episode's main topics, with the podcast touching on what the competitive Pokemon title means for the franchise's future.
The key here is that the VGC team is framing Forza Horizon 6 not just as a good racing game, but as a genuine awards contender worth tracking. That framing matters for how the game gets covered between now and whenever it releases.
Why this podcast conversation carries weight
VGC has 33 articles on Forza Horizon 6 at the time of writing, meaning the outlet has been tracking this game closely. When a publication that deep in coverage starts raising GOTY questions this early, it signals the hands-on impressions were strong enough to warrant that kind of optimism.
Reports also surfaced this week that Forza Horizon 6 is getting its own limited edition Xbox wireless controller and headset, which suggests Microsoft is treating this as a major release rather than a routine sequel drop. That kind of hardware tie-in usually signals a game the publisher expects to move significant numbers.
You can catch the full episode on iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon Music. For more coverage of Forza Horizon 6 as release approaches, keep an eye on our latest gaming news. Make sure to check out more:
