Microsoft has already been handing out bans for people playing Forza Horizon 6 early. While it was originally suspected that a mistake in the Steam pre-load caused unencrypted files to be uploaded to the platform, Playground Games has now denied this possibility, which seems to suggest that someone with early access (such as a reviewer) leaked the files instead.

Either way, even as Playground Games continues to threaten “franchise-wide and hardware bans” for those pirating the games, the leak has given us the opportunity to get our first glimpse at performance. System requirements were published more than a month ago, but now we get to see some real-world performance – using AMD’s current best graphics card.

Forza Horizon 6 tested on the RX 9070 XT and Ryzen 7 9800X3D

Thanks to a post on the Radeon subreddit, we have our first look at performance in the latest Forza Horizon entry. The leak has confirmed native FSR 4.1 support, alongside an AMD Adrenalin profile that’s already ready to go. According to the Redditor, VRAM usage says under 15GB at 4K, while managing just over 60 FPS at 4K (FSR 4.1 Balanced) with ray tracing.

System Configuration

• Game Version: 353145
• Driver Version: 32.0.31007.1017
• Windows Version: 10.0.26100.8246
• GPU Model: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
• CPU Model: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 8-Core Processor
• Resolution: 3840 x 2160 @ 180 Hz
• Video Memory: 10.63 GB / 13.32 GB
• System Memory: 16.31 GB / 32.00 GB

Performance Summary

• Achieved: 63 FPS
• Stutter Count: 2
• GPU Limited %: 72.9
• Average Latency: 37.6

Graphics Settings (Selected)

• Upscaling: FSR 4.1 Balanced
• Suggested Preset: Extreme
• Vertical Sync: Off
• Full Screen: On
• Ray Traced Reflections: High
• Ray Traced Global Illumination: High
• Shader Quality: Extreme
• Audio Quality: Ultra
• Volumetric Fog Quality: Extreme

Thanks to u/CatalyticDragon for this translation

We noticed reports of people using ‘burner’ accounts to access Forza Horizon 6 early and safeguard themselves from bans after pirating the game, though the prospect of a hardware ban should be much scarier. Playground Games says it hopes that its fans will “sit tight” and wait for the game to release the normal way.

Forza Horizon 6 launches on May 19 on PC and Xbox Series X|S. Players who have purchased the Premium Edition will enjoy early access to the game, starting on May 15.

About the Author

Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.