Forza Horizon 6 had reportedly crossed 500,000 Steam pre-orders by April 15, a full month before its May 19 launch, and it has barely budged from the top of Steam's weekly revenue charts since. For a racing game to pull those numbers before a single player has touched the finished product, something unusual is happening. Here's the thing: that number likely doubled in the weeks that followed, and it points to something bigger than just one good game performing well.
What the Steam charts actually tell us about racing in 2026
To understand why Forza Horizon 6's pre-launch momentum matters, look at what other racing games have managed on Steam recently. The picture is not encouraging for the genre.
Here's how recent racers performed during their launch weeks on Steam's revenue charts:
F1 25 and Assetto Corsa Evo managed top-ten finishes, but those are niche products with dedicated sim communities. Tokyo Xtreme Racer was arguably the most-discussed racing game of 2025 online, yet it never cracked the top ten at any point. Games like Screamer, Carmageddon: Rogue Shift, Ride 6, and MotoGP 26 didn't come close.
Racing games, as a mainstream genre, have quietly collapsed. If you grew up in the 1990s or early 2000s, that probably sounds wrong. Back then, Need for Speed, Ridge Racer, Driver, and GRID were tentpole releases. Now they feel like relics.
Why Forza Horizon is the exception that proves the rule
Forza Horizon 6 sits at No. 5 on the Steam top sellers chart for the week of April 28 to May 5, sandwiched between Far Far West and Diablo IV. That is a genuinely remarkable position for a racing game in 2026, and it only got there because the Horizon series has brand recognition that no other racing franchise currently matches outside of Mario Kart.
The $120 Premium Edition is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here. It includes four days of early access before the May 19 launch date, plus all future DLC. Pre-orders also come with a bonus Pre-Tuned Ferrari J50, though in a game with over 500 cars, that particular incentive feels thin. The real draw is getting in early, and players are clearly paying for it.
For context, Battlefield 6 reportedly had around 1.7 million pre-orders in the week before its October 10 launch. Forza Horizon 6 is not at that level, but for a racing game to sit in that same conversation at all is telling.
The genre gap Forza Horizon is filling alone
What most players miss when they see Horizon 6 charting this high is that there is simply no competition. The release window for the rest of May 2026 is essentially clear of other blockbuster titles. Forza Horizon 6 is not beating a crowded field. It is walking into an empty room.
That does not diminish the achievement, but it does frame it accurately. The series has become the default answer to "what racing game do I buy" for the overwhelming majority of players who are not deep into sim racing. Gran Turismo stays PlayStation-exclusive. Need for Speed has lost its footing. The Horizon series is the last major multiplatform racer that a casual gamer, a PC player, and a console player can all point to simultaneously.
The key here is that Horizon's open-world festival format appeals to people who do not think of themselves as racing game fans. You can spend three hours just cruising Japan's countryside, attending Car Meets, and hunting down barn finds without winning a single race. That accessibility is what separates it from everything else in the genre right now.
That said, Forza Horizon 6 is not reinventing anything. The game plays very similarly to its predecessors, and the discourse around it will likely be brief. Expect a wave of vertical video showing off Japan's roads, and then the conversation will move on. No one is going to be arguing about Horizon 6 the way they argue about a live-service shooter or a sprawling RPG.
For everything confirmed about the Japan setting, Car Meets, fog of war mechanic, cover cars, and editions, our Forza Horizon 6 what to expect guide has the full breakdown ahead of launch.
