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Forza Horizon 6 Scores 2 Golden Joystick Awards 2026 Nominations for Visual Design and Console Game of the Year

Playground Games’ open-world racer earns recognition for its striking Japanese setting and competes for the prestigious Console Game of the Year award.

By , Senior Content Writer 1 min read

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Forza Horizon 6 showcases high-speed racing across its detailed Japanese open world. (Image via Playground Games, Xbox)

Forza Horizon 6 has secured two nominations at the Golden Joystick Awards 2026, earning recognition in Best Visual Design and Console Game of the Year. The nominations place Playground Games’ latest racing title among several major releases competing for recognition at one of gaming’s longest-running public-voted awards.

The full 2026 shortlist was revealed on September 25, with public voting now underway. GamesRadar’s Golden Joystick Awards 2026 nominations confirms Forza Horizon 6’s two-category appearance.

Forza Horizon 6 Recognized for Its Visual Design

The Best Visual Design category highlights games with distinctive visual identities, and Forza Horizon 6 faces competition from CONTROL Resonant, Orbitals, Phonopolis, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, and SAROS.

The nomination is particularly notable given the game’s recreation of Japan. Playground Games designed Forza Horizon 6 around diverse Japanese environments, including urban districts, mountain roads and rural areas. The developer describes the game as featuring its most dense map yet, with Tokyo City serving as the largest urban area in the series.

Forza Horizon 6 recreates Tokyo and Japan’s urban driving environments. (Image via Playground Games, Xbox)

The PC version also received enhanced graphical features, including ray-traced reflections and global illumination, further emphasizing the game’s visual presentation.

Forza Horizon 6 is also nominated for Console Game of the Year, joining 007: First Light, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, Nioh 3, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Pokémon Pokopia, PRAGMATA, Resident Evil Requiem and SAROS.

The game launched on Xbox Series X|S and PC on May 19, 2026, with a PlayStation 5 version scheduled for later in the year. It features more than 550 cars and allows players to explore Japan through solo and cooperative experiences.

Public voting for the current Golden Joystick categories remains open until October 23, while the awards ceremony is scheduled for November 11 in London.

Racing; Open-world; Driving
Verified since 2020 Senior Content Writer

Justin Oneal is a Senior Content Writer at OtakuKart and one of the publication's most prolific contributors, with nearly 1,000 published articles. His coverage spans anime, manga, manhwa chapter releases, gaming, and lifestyle pieces, with a parallel passion for political commentary and a personal YouTube presence.

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