Forza Horizon 6 Goes Italian: a Temerario, a Pantera GT5 and a Pop-Up Exotic Dealer in Japan

Forza Horizon 6 spent its first two months proving how good Japan is as a car game sandbox. For its third season, Playground Games went the other way and flooded the map with Italian metal. The Italian Exotics update started downloading July 13 on Xbox Series X|S, the Xbox app on PC and Steam, and the Festival Playlist series behind it opened July 16. It runs through Aug. 13.

The update itself is free. Around it Playground stacked a paid car pack, a pop-up dealership, 52 new EventLab props and a wipe of every Rivals leaderboard. Here is what is worth your time.

Ten reward cars, three of them new

Playground's own rundown lists 10 Festival Playlist reward cars this series, three of them new to Horizon. The headliner is the 2024 Lamborghini Temerario, which Traxion describes as the hybrid replacement for the Huracán. It unlocks at 80 points and stays available for all four weeks. The 2022 Ferrari 296 GTB is the top prize at 160 points.

The rest come in weekly pairs, each with a cheap car and a pricier one:

• July 16 to 23: 1984 De Tomaso Pantera GT5 (20 points, new to Horizon) and 2004 Maserati MC12 (40 points)
• July 23 to 30: 2017 Abarth 124 Spider (20 points) and 2020 Lamborghini Huracán EVO (40 points)
• July 30 to Aug. 6: 1982 Lancia 037 Stradale (20 points) and 2020 Ferrari Roma (40 points)
• Aug. 6 to 13: 2022 Lamborghini Huracán EVO Spyder (20 points, new to Horizon) and 2022 Pagani Huayra R (40 points)

The Pantera GT5 is the one to circle. It is the flared, winged 1980s version of the De Tomaso, a bedroom poster car, and it only costs 20 points in the first week. The Lancia 037 Stradale, the road version of Lancia's Group B rally car, is the other easy grab. There is also a Series History reward for long-time players: the 1972 Mazda Cosmo 110S Series II unlocks at 500 lifetime Playlist points, and anyone who already qualified can claim it during this series.

A pop-up Italian dealer near Horizon Stadium

The Italian Aftermarket Takeover drops a limited-time dealership near Horizon Stadium in the Shimanoyama region. Its stock rotates through six cars that were only available from Wheelspins: the 1984 Ferrari 288 GTO, 2012 Ferrari 599XX Evolution, 2019 Ferrari F8 Tributo, 2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4, 2011 Lamborghini Sesto Elemento and 1999 Lamborghini Diablo GTR. If you have been spinning for a Sesto Elemento since launch, this is your chance to just buy one.

The Italian Passion Car Pack

The paid add-on went live July 14 and comes free with the Premium Edition or Premium Upgrade. It has four cars. The 2025 Ferrari F80 gets 1,200 hp and a braking system co-developed with Brembo, according to Forza's notes. The 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB4 Spider is one of 10 built. The 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia GTAm brings 533 hp and a roll cage where the back seat used to be. The deep cut is the 1990 Alfa Romeo SE 048SP, a Group C prototype with a Ferrari-sourced 3.5-liter V12 of roughly 680 hp.

Car Pass, fixes and a clean slate

Car Pass owners get one car every Thursday, and this batch wanders away from Italy: a 2003 Aston Martin DB7 GT on July 16, a 1972 Nissan Patrol on July 23, a 2024 Toyota Prius Prime XSE Premium on July 30 and a 1972 Honda Z GT on Aug. 6. A Patrol and a Honda Z in the same month is a very specific kind of good taste.

The patch side matters too. Playground says it reduced AI collisions on corner entry, removed the Auction House price cap for cars you cannot buy in the Autoshow and closed several exploits, including XP and credit farming with Auto Drive while AFK. Every Rivals leaderboard was wiped because of unrealistic times, though Collection Journal items earned from clean laps stay unlocked. PR Stunt leaderboards will be cleared later, once fixes roll out, with no date given.

Traxion also picked out a few smaller items from the full notes: new stock exhaust audio for the 2016 Alfa Romeo Giulia, a new race exhaust sound for the 296 GTB and a fix for a 1995 Toyota MR2 GT that could stop dead on a curb. For a series built around Italian cars, getting the Ferrari to sound right is a good place to start.