Maverick Games’ Forza Horizon 6 Rival Could be Revealed Next Week

If you’re a gamer and a car enthusiast, then you’ll have spent the last couple of weeks doing one of two things: playing Forza Horizon 6, or experiencing serious FOMO watching other people playing Forza Horizon 6 because you have a PS5 and you can’t get hold of it yet. The long-awaited Japan-set instalment of Playground Games’ open-world racer has instantly doubled down on the franchise’s claim as the market leader in the genre, leaving The Crew Motorfest once again playing catch-up and Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown practically nowhere.

Soon, though, it could face some competition within. Almost two years ago to the day, we first heard about a new ‘narrative-led’ open-world racing game under development by Maverick Games, a new upstart studio founded by Mike Brown, the former creative lead on the Horizon franchise, and it looks like next week, we could hear a whole lot more.

At the time of the original announcement, we knew two major pieces of information: one, that Amazon Games was on board as a publisher, and two, that Jamie Brittain, co-creator of influential UK teen drama series Skins, was on board as lead writer. Since then, one of those things has changed: Amazon announced in February this year that it was no longer tied to the project, but Maverick Games was quick to clarify that the title is still full steam ahead.

We’ve also been treated to a few screenshots, confirming the presence of fully licensed cars, with two Porsches – a 718 Boxster Spyder and an original 930 911 Turbo – seen so far. Also noteworthy is the fact that the Boxster sits on aftermarket HRE wheels, seemingly confirming that some level of car customisation is included. These screenshots also confirm a sunny coastal setting, quite possibly the Italian or French Riviera.

Now, though, Maverick Games looks like it’s finally gearing up for a full announcement. It’s taken to its social media channels to start a cryptic teaser campaign involving, of all things, a Fiat Multipla parked inside its offices. The studio is currently running a YouTube livestream of the Multipla’s interior, complete with a countdown clock that ends at 11am BST on Tuesday, 2 June. 

Also featured is an air freshener with a logo reading ‘R1K Riviera’, possibly hinting at a title and that potential European Riviera setting, which we think we can see a grainy screenshot of in a separate post featuring founder Mike Brown inside the Multipla. That post also includes an invite to Maverick's Discord server teasing more 'leaks', but we haven't found anything else yet.

Presumably, we’ll find out a whole lot more on Tuesday, when this seemingly big announcement comes. It’s not the only challenger to Horizon’s throne being worked on by former Playground staff members, either. The studio’s co-founder, Gavin Raeburn, has since gone on to establish another studio, Lighthouse Games, which confirmed last year it’s working on a “different and disruptive” open-world racer of its own. This could get interesting.