Playground Games has pushed a Series 2 update for Forza Horizon 6 today, June 16, landing just ahead of the next wave of live content that kicks off on Thursday, June 18. The patch touches AI behaviour, road discovery tracking, Horizon Play XP scaling, and a notable physics change for Drag Tires that will shake up leaderboards.
What the AI and race start fixes actually change
The headline mechanical change is a fix to Drivatar race start behaviour. Players had been noticing inconsistencies in how AI opponents launched off the line, and this patch addresses that alongside broader difficulty balancing improvements. It is a small but meaningful tweak for anyone who races on higher difficulty settings where AI behaviour directly affects whether a race feels fair or scripted.
Here's the thing: AI fixes in open-world racers rarely get much attention until you notice how much smoother races feel without them. If race starts felt slightly off during Series 1, that should now be resolved.
Road discovery just got a proper tracker
For completionists still working through Japan's road network, the update adds a Roads Driven percentage to the Region Overview screen. Previously, figuring out which roads remained undiscovered meant cross-referencing the mini map and world map, which did not always agree with each other. That inconsistency has also been fixed, alongside a bug where two specific road nodes were permanently stuck as undiscovered regardless of whether players had driven them.
The key here is that road discovery is one of those long-tail activities that can stall out when the feedback loop breaks. Having a clear percentage per region gives players a concrete target instead of aimless exploration.
Horizon Play XP rebalanced, some players skip straight to level 100
The Horizon Play multiplayer mode is getting a significant XP adjustment between levels 26 and 100. Playground Games states this will substantially reduce the time needed to earn the Maxed Out Achievement. Players already at level 25 or above will see their level jump when they next load in, and anyone who has reached level 32 will skip directly to level 100, immediately unlocking associated Badges and the Achievement.
That is a generous retroactive fix for players who put in the grind during Series 1. If you are sitting anywhere above level 25, expect a surprise when you boot up the game.
Drag Tires reclassified, leaderboards affected
The most consequential change for competitive players is the Drag Tire physics adjustment. The team identified that Drag Tires were providing enough lateral grip to function effectively in non-drag events while still reducing Performance Index (PI) significantly. That combination made them an unintended meta choice across multiple event types.
The fix reduces cornering performance on Drag Tires without changing their PI cost. Existing tunes retain their PI rating, but any build relying on Drag Tires outside of drag events will handle noticeably worse. Drag times and Drag Leaderboards are unaffected, but Playground Games confirmed that lap time leaderboard entries set with Drag Tires before this patch will be removed on an ongoing basis.
For anyone who has been tuning builds around Drag Tires in road or circuit events, those setups will need reworking. The PI cost stays the same, but the cornering grip drop is significant enough that you will feel it immediately.
The rest of the patch
Beyond the headliners, the update covers a range of fixes across the board:
- Festival Playlist bugs resolved, including Daily Challenges that could be completed ahead of schedule and missing Completed labels on previous season challenges. All Daily Challenge Points from Series 1 will be retroactively rewarded to players who participated, claimable through Playlist History.
- Visual fixes on Xbox Series X|S address graphical corruption in loading screen transitions, particularly after Horizon Stories and Monthly Rivals. PC players on the High Graphics Preset now get rain particles back.
- Audio on lower-spec devices has been improved, and the air vent volume on the 2010 Lamborghini Murciélago LP 670-4 SV has been adjusted (yes, really).
- Drag Meet and Time Attack Circuit leaderboard display issues in Convoy mode have been addressed.
- Photo Mode lighting inconsistencies when switching times of day are fixed.
Series 2 live challenges begin June 18, bringing a fresh batch of weekly challenges with new car rewards. If you want a full breakdown of what to expect from the season structure and Japan's map, the Forza Horizon 6 guides collection has everything you need to hit the ground running.
